Tasting the summer packGet the most out of your summer beer tasting

It’s summer, the ultimate beer season! A time for hazy, sunny days relaxing in the garden, a park or on the beach. For packing beers into an ice box, or in a mixture of salt water and ice cubes to keep them cool all afternoon.

To make it easier for you to enjoy the wonderful British summer, we’ve put together a pack filled with beers that are light and fresh, and simply perfect for sunny days and warm nights. Want to host a summer beer tasting? This pack has you covered.

Most of the beers in this pack go well with summer salads, chicken or fish. All you need to add is some crusty bread and you have yourself a simple, well-balanced summer meal.

These beers can be shared among two or three people. For tasting, we’d normally recommend a maximum of around 6 beers, but since these beers are low in alcohol, there are some extras.

A quick tasting tip: make sure you drink plenty of water between the beers. This quenches the thirst and helps you clean your taste pallet every time.

1. A light, white opening

With a light body, fresh character and very mild bitterness, white beer generally lends itself well to begin a tasting. Seumerfeugel from Texels is perfect for this: brewed with wheat, it has a fresh citrus touch and a mild bitter flavour. Yet this beer, inspired by the many bathers who visit Texel, is not a standard wheat beer. It is brewed with samphire, which gives it a light silver aftertaste. It’s surprisingly thirst-quenching!

If you’re tasting with a companion, let them start with Walhalla Minerva. It’s a white beer brewed with spelt, among other things. Lemon juice makes it even fresher and more fruity.

2. Bière Blanche

Because white beers are such a hit in the summertime, we will continue on that same train. Next up, a French white beer.

Brasserie Pietra Colomba is a spicy white beer. It’s brewed in Corsica with herbs from the island that fit nicely with this wheat beer, making for an interesting taste experience. The alternative option is Ninkasi Blanche, brewed on the soleil route in Lyon. The citra-hop gives a modest fruity kick.

3. Summer IPA

Next, we’ll taste a Session IPA: this means low alcohol with a lot of flavour. In the summer pack you will find two tropical varieties that we will choose from.

Thornbridge Brewery is located in the Peak District, so while it’s not exactly in a tropical paradise, this brewery does manage to produce fabulous summer beers with tropical flavours! You can taste this in the next beer, Am:Pm. That fruity taste actually comes from the hops - there is no fruit anywhere near the brewing kettle in this beer.

Dreaming of relaxing on the beach? Then choose Life's a Beach from Jopen next. It’s light-footed and also full of hop flavors. Smell it before tasting and imagine yourself lying in a hammock on a tropical beach...

4. Fruit beer

Beers brewed with fruit always taste good in the summer, even when they’re not especially sweet. The fourth beer on the tasting agenda is Fierce Cranachan Killer: a beer based on a classic Scottish dessert and brewed with raspberries, which show up well in the aroma. The taste is nicely balanced, because the fruit is not too prominent in this pale ale. The aftertaste is fresh and slightly bitter.

Fruit is also a key element in the Pineapple Weizen from Het Uiltje, though again, doesn’t dominate the beer. This is unmistakably a weizen with its aromas of banana and clove. The pineapple is nicely subtle and gives it that summery feeling.

Want to taste how a bitter fruit naturally fits into a hoppy beer? Choose High Wire Grapefruit from Magic Rock as your next beer. Besides the grapefruit you can also taste tropical fruit, with an aftertaste that is strong and bitter.

5. Summer in Belgium

For the fifth course we go to Belgium. Open up your Chouffe Soleil - the sunny version of the heavier blonde La Chouffe, an iconic beer. The Soleil is fresh and fruity with a typical spicy aftertaste.

Or, go for Malheur 6. This is a Belgian blonde that’s not too sweet, with a soft, fresh aftertaste. The vibrant and fruity character makes it a beautiful summer option.

6. Summery hops

You can brew a cracking summer beer with hops - we'll prove it in these next few beers! 

The next bottle to crack into is the tropical fruit bowl, Oedipus Pais Tropical. No fruit is used to brew this one, but there are 6 different types of hops: Columbus, Sorachi Ace, Simcoe, Citra, Mandarina Bavaria and Centennial, which are all hops that give off fruit flavors. The ample hopping here also makes the beer slightly more bitter.

Or choose Wazig from Bruut, a misty IPA, also full of fruit flavors that only come from the hops. This beer is not so sweet but has a dry aftertaste.

You can also opt for a slightly darker beer at this stage. Red Rocket from Two Chefs Brewing, the proof that a darker beer fits very well in the summer: hoppy, tasty and light-footed with a fine, spicy-bitter finish.

7. The grand finale

We'll finish the tasting by picking out the final beers in the pack. These are the heaviest beers, but at around 7% they’re still light enough for a summer tasting. Surf Ale from Davo, for example, is a fruity IPA that's full of hoppy aromas. The other option is Vuig Tuig from De Eeuwige Jeugd, which offers everything you can expect from an IPA: lots of hops, which produce rosy notes, with grapefruit and a decent bitterness.

Haven't ordered your Summer Pack yet? Start planning your beer tasting by clicking the button below!

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