REVIEW: Anderson Valley Summer Solstice

Another Summer seasonal today. This time from California's Anderson Valley Brewing Company. This is a bit of a different Summer ale. Most Summer beers are wheat ales, pilseners, saisons, and the like. Beers that are lighter, sweet, go down easy and quench the thirst. This one though? On the can it's billed as an ale brewed with natural flavors added. Ale brewed with natural flavors? That's bringing to mind the pumpkin and Christmas ales that are brewed in the Fall with spices added. Very odd. I checked Beer Advocate and they bill it as a cream ale. OK, that makes a bit more sense, but those natural flavors still have me a bit confused and intrigued. Let's see what we have here. To the beer!

Summer Solstice pours a deep robust coppery orange color with fiery red highlights. Two fingers of off white head recede fairly quickly. As you can see from the photo, a very pretty beer.

Once I stick my nose in there I start to see where those natural flavors are coming in, with hints of vanilla and toffee. Very sweet and malty.

That sweet maltiness carries over into the flavor where it creates a cream ale that tastes almost like a cream soda! Those vanilla and toffee flavors mix with hints at a bready caramel malt character. There's no real hop flavor to speak of here, and only 4 IBUs. Just enough to give balance and give a slight crisp finish but not so much as to take away from the cream soda flavors.

This is one of the more interesting and creative beers I've had while doing this blog. Like I said before Anderson Valley has abandoned all of the conventions that usually apply to Summer seasonals and created something absolutely unique. And quite tasty to boot! This is a fascinating take on a 'cream' ale. Well worth checking out.

HD