By Aillinn Brennan • Special to The Current
If wine is your drink but you want to see what’s up with craft beer. Here’s two for you to try. How about the Champagne of beer? An American Brut IPA is a new style out of California. This beer has lots of nose tickling bubbles and is bone dry.
It exudes fruit forward flavors and aromas by using the technique, late hopping. When late hopping, hops are added during the latter part of the boil which imparts more pronounced hop flavors and aromas in the beer. Brut IPA’s are medium on the alcohol by volume scale or “ABV” at around 6-8%.
Another fun wine-to-beer cross over style is fruit beer. As the name suggests, fruit beers spend some time with fruit in the brewing process. Seasonal fruit additions such as cherries or raspberries make these beers burst with fresh fruit zing and are crisp and clean on the palate. The ABV of fruit beers range from super low 2% all the way up to 13% which is the ABV of a typical glass of wine. Keep in mind most bottle beers and pub pours are 12 oz, so remember one of those is like two glasses of wine. To avoid TOO much fun in the sun read the label!
Summer is the time of year many breweries come out with Berliner Weisse, a wheat ale. Berliners are much lighter in ABV, typically in the 2.8-3.4% range, so you can hang all afternoon with them. Their refreshing tartness makes them very food friendly pairing perfectly with a local harvest salad to rich BBQ spare ribs and everything in between.
Cloudy in the glass, these beers are often unfiltered. AND if your “hopped” out this might be your beer because some don’t even have any hops at all.
Hopping on, another trending style is New England IPA aka Hazy, Juicy, IPA. Characteristic of IPAs in general, this beer will be hop forward, however seeks a less bitter balance. The addition of wheat or oats results in its hazy, cloudy appearance. These brews are typically in the medium range for ABV.
Some other light, luscious, fruity styles to discover are Saisons, Pilsners, Kölsch, Wit and Gose beers. Here is Jim Thorpe our awesome pubs are sporting all these styles and more! So hop around town and discover your summer brew style!
Aillinn Brennan is proprietor of The Marion Hose Bar located at 16 W. Broadway in Jim Thorpe.
For more visit www.marionhosebar.com
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