by dbmanager
Saturday May 8, 2010 @ 23:06 PM
I just brewed "Summer Haze" today. It was a hugely popular beer we had on tap for most of last summer. Describing it however is tricky. The grist bill of Summer Haze is made with pilsner malt, malted wheat, un-malted wheat, flaked barley, and flaked corn. It is lightly hopped with Fuggles and lightly spiced with coriander, lemon zest, and South African Rooibos herbal tea. It is fermented with an English ale yeast strain. This beer was influenced by both English summer ales and American wheat beers. It is served unfiltered and garnished with a slice of lemon. I would never garnish a Bavarian Hefeweizen with lemon but it works well with this beer. The acidity of the lemon helps balance the beer and bring out the refreshing qualities. The English ale yeast strain provides some interesting fruity notes that are not normally present in American wheat beers and the spices help maintain the complexity with each spice not being individually noticeable.
I'm a big a fan of beer styles and brewing true to style but this one doesn't quite fit. Oh well, I need to loosen up so look forward to a few more beers that blurr styles in the future. But for now how do I describe this English influenced, multi-grain, lightly spiced ale in a couple of words? I'm not quite sure. I can raid the description from last year I guess. Regardless how I describe it on our menu, we will be tapping the Summer Haze on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend and will keep it on tap all summer. I'm looking forward to it.
Cheers,
Jason
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