Beat the Pumpkin Beer Blues

   
     We're an anxious bunch here in the States. Winter celebrations start in November, swim suits go on sale in February and everything pumpkin comes out in August! But August is the hottest month of the year and Summer doesn't technically start until the last week in September! It's been humid here the last week or so and there is no way, even though school has started for many, that I could choke down a syrupy, heavy or pumpkin brewed beer right now. So soak up the remaining weeks of summer my friends, or better yet, drink it up with my list of 2019 summer time faves and beat the pumpkin beer (Halloween is two months away) blues!
    These beers I can't get off my mind. You know the song, "You were always on my mind"?  Okay, maybe not, but you get the point. These beer leave more than a good first impression, these beers have you contemplating their superior taste for days even weeks and leave happy memories on your taste buds. So without further ado, here they are, in no particular order.

    First up, Ghostfish's Belgian White Shrounded Summit. I've heard so many things about Ghostfish out of Seattle, but I figured it was just good ol' Seattle hipster hype. Nope, not hype. This was rich, refreshing and so damn good. I made my husband stop setting up out campsite and try it.  Then I snatched it right back, because I couldn't part with more than a drop. What can I say?  I'm a giving wife! If someone brought me a 6 pack of this first thing in the morning, I'd find it very hard not to crack one for breakfast and another for second breakfast.
 



     Next up, Beautiful Funeral, a Raspberry Gose Sour by Claim 52. This is to die for. 110 percent tastiest sour ever! This beer, like its' name, makes you feel like you have died and gone to heaven. It the perfect raio of jucy, sweet, sour and complicated. You know when you see the manager/owner of Growl Movement in Keizer, Oregon, ever so proudly and elegantly drinking this bright fuchsia beer in a fancy glass while mingling with pale ale drinking, construction workers, that this beer is amaze-balls. No shame there! And I mean, it sure would make a beautiful funeral! If it was served at mine, I'd probably come back from the dead, to take one more sip! Here's me and my beautiful SIL. Just look how happy I am! And checkout that color!

     

     

    While we are talking Raspberry Sours, here is another favorite. Kulshan's Raspberry Gose really stands out.  Many raspberry sours taste like a popcicle, but this beer coming from the Raspberry capital of America (Whatcom County WA.), makes no artificial excuses.  This sours tastes like raspberries picked right off the bush, perfectly tangy and sweet. Kulshan knows they are on to something too, they moved this tasty beauty straight into cans and right into the grocery store.

    

For this next beer you will want to put on your roller skates and put up your mirror ball and say yes to those long summer nights. (Yes, I just quoted Grease, and I'm already regretting it).  Aslan's Lemonade Disco Berliner Weisse, is an easy drinking, tastes like real lemonade, perfectly sour, I can't believe there is alcohol in this beer, beer.  It is almost so non beer like, that it's hard to put it on a beer list, BUT, even my husband liked it and didn't think it was too girly.  It's a great gateway beer to give to your girlfriends and you can buy it in a cool holographic can! So if you don't want to give up on that tropical summer feeling just yet, grab a sixer and lay back on your hammock! 

     I've already mentioned Twin Sisters Brewing David Hassleheff Hefeweizen, but I would be remiss if I did not add it to this list.  After all, whats more summer inspired than the image of feathered hair, boobs and six packs running up and down the beach?! This Hefewizen is refreshing, but also has a nice thick malty taste to it, making it complex enough to last beyond the summer months.  If you need to see a picture of this beer, check out my previous review on Twin Sisters Brewering, until then enjoy some nostalgia.

Brown Sour: top right corner

     Now last, but not least is a truly revolutionary beer! And I know they aren't the only ones doing it ( I need to try Wander's, I hear it is equally delicious), but New Belgium's 2015 LaFolie vintage, traditional oak aged sour brown ale is amazing!  I would never think to make a brown a sour and I was very skeptical at first, but OMG! yes OMG. If you like browns and sours separately, this is the perfect ying and yang of the two flavors.  It has a nice sour bite at first taste that rounds out nicely in your mouth, leaving a perfect brown ale flavor! Now I now this doesn't sound like a typically summer beer, but I did first try it this summer, so deal with it. And you could look at it like a brown that is now better suited for summer or yes even a great transitional beer for leaving summer behind and welcoming fall... and yes pumpkin beers.

   Thanks for reading and now get to drinking! And if you must start consuming pumpkin beer before summer is through, do me a favor and start with the original, still the best of all, Maine's very own Shipyard Pumpkin Ale! Cheers!