It’s probably time to put those stouts and porters away until the temperatures dip again. With spring here and summer on the way, the dark, heavy and boozy brews just don’t sound quite as appealing as they did a couple months ago.
But a light, refreshing beer that you can drink several of without falling off your lawn chair? That’s more like it.
For local craft brewers, the summer months offer a chance to tinker with something that isn’t really known for tasting great or tasting much like anything at all — light beer.
Kevin DeLange, founder of Dry Dock Brewing in Aurora, said summer seasonals are always fun because they present brewers with a challenge: How do you make a beer that stays light and refreshing and still packs the flavors beer lovers are looking for?
DeLange says he aims for summer beers that are balanced, not too hoppy, not too heavy on the malt, but still flavorful. Summer beers should be “session beers,” the kind you can drink a few of in one sitting.
This summer, one of Dry Dock’s seasonal will be a Colorado Freedom Memorial Blonde Ale that will hopefully hit store shelves around Memorial Day. DeLange said the beer might be the lightest he has ever made, but it’s still flavorful. Some of the proceeds will be donated to the Colorado Freedom Memorial near Buckley Air Force Base.
Dry Dock is also making a small batch of lime beer that will be available at area Old Chicago restaurants around Cinco De Mayo.
If the awfulness that is so many mass-produced lime beers makes you want to stay away, DeLange says to think again.
Instead of the sour, melted green popsicle flavor found in some lime beers, DeLange said Dry Dock went with real fresh kafir limes and some dehydrated limes. The fresh ingredients will make a difference.
“We’re trying to make one that actually tastes good, so we used real ingredients,” he said.
At Copper Kettle Brewing in Denver, Kristen Kozik said this summer the brewery is bringing back two popular summer brews: the Basil Blonde, a German blonde ale with fresh basil mixed in, and the La Poloma Whit, a citrusy Belgian white.
Kozik said they aim for summer beers that are refreshing and have a low alcohol content.
That lower alcohol content means you can down a couple and have room for more.
And at Mu Brewery, the new brewery and tasting room on East Colfax Avenue, founder and brewer Nathan Flatland has two seasonals planned for Mu’s first summer.
One will be a strawberry blonde, and the other a cucumber-mint ale. If cucumber and mint sound a bit exotic, Flatland says that’s kind of the point.
Small batches of seasonal brews, he said, mean the brewer can take some chances and if it’s bad, that’s okay, too.
Coming Summer Seasonals
Dry Dock Brewery:
Colorado Freedom Memorial
Blonde Ale
Kaffir Lime Ale
Copper Kettle Brewing:
Basil Blonde
La Poloma Whit
Mu Brewery:
Strawberry Blonde Ale
Cucumber Mint Ale