So far this week, I’ve let my friends do all the work. Not today… now it’s my turn. So without wasting time, I’ll get right to it.

Many pubs and restaurants allow you to make mix & match six packs. Personally, I enjoy heading over to the little pizza joint down the road and throwing together a sixer of stuff I’ve never tired or haven’t had in awhile. Sometimes you hit big on a beer that you’ve wanted to try and it rocks your world. Other times you give something a go because it looks interesting (like Magic Hat’s Wacko) and it’s just a disappointment.

Here’s my attempt at helping you put together a Summer “mix six” that won’t disappointment. In no particular order, here are six brews perfect for a sunny day (and, no, despite a compelling argument, Miller Lite is not included).

Strawberry Wheat– Lancaster Brewing Company

A year-round brew that is solid anytime of the year, but makes my heart swoon on a hot Summer day. The best kind of fruit beer is one that has enough flavor without the fruit flavor to stand on its own and this one surely does. The strawberry flavor is what cranks it from 10 to 11, though. Such a great Summer beer, I just don’t know how else to say it.

Apricot Wheat – Ithaca Beer Company

My second favorite fruit, wheat beer… though Long Trail’s Blackbeary Wheat is stellar, as well… Ithaca’s subtle apricot kiss makes this a perfect poolside beer. Many swear by Pyramid’s Apricot Weizen, but Ithaca had me at hello.

Samuel Adams Summer Ale – Boston Beer Company

The most common summer ale in America and, thankfully, it’s a great one. Grains of paradise need to be highlighted more often in beers if you ask me. The best part of this one is that you can find it everywhere. Sam Adams seasonals ae great in that way… solid beers than you can drink at almost any restaurant.

Monk’s Café Flemish Sour Ale – Browerij Van Steenberge

Brewed exclusively for Monk’s Café in Philly, this Belgian brew is a perfect example of a Flander’s Red style. Unlike the sour hefewiezen I brewed last year, this is meant to be sour… and how beautiful that sourness is. This one may take getting used to, but once you begin to feel this one it can skyrocket up your list of Summer thirst quenchers.

Philadelphia Pale Ale – Yards Brewing Company

I’m no hop head, so the terms “pale ale” don’t usually attract me. However, the words “Yards Brewing Company” do. The makers of one of my favorite session ales, Brawler, hit home with the classic, crisp pale ale flavor. Nothing too bitter, but no overly lush malt flavor. This is an easy drinking, refreshing pale ale.

Blanche De Bruxelles – Brasserie Lefervre

We briefly discussed witbiers earlier this week, this one’s my favorite. With the Mannekin Pis statue on the front, this tastes more like that of an angel. Listen up, Hoegaarden, this is what you are supposed to taste like. A pinnacle of the style in my estimation, but then again, who am I?

So, grab your empty sixer and fill it on up, here’s 6 of my Summer faves… if you can’t find these then make up your own, but make sure to choose some beers that aren’t too heavy, because in these hotter Summer days and warm Summer nights, you don’t want to be weighed down by your beer. Cheers!

Before I begin, two quick housekeeping issues for my readers… first, I am postponing the 10 in 10 until next week. I have a good deal of things to throw in there, but haven’t had the chance to put them together. Second, there are only a few more beer posts likely on this site, as my beer commentary will be moving to my new site due to launch in March sometime. One more thing, unrelated to the site, but important to beer folks… Weyerbacher was forced to pull Zotten from the shelves due to copyright issues: read about it here. Thanks, now read on…

Saturday, February 13, 2010 marked the first full meeting of the Beer Snob Bible Club. The first scheduled meeting a few months back became just a small hang out of 3 of us with the beer and not much Bible. Last week, however, was different… a successful meeting of Christian men who want to drink a couple of pints and discuss their faith.

A day before Valentine’s Day, the intention was to drink Yards Love Stout and discuss Galatians 5:1-15. During the two weeks prior to the meeting, I searched and called and found that Love Stout is only being made available via kegs this year. A huge disappointment, the only other “love” themed beers I could find (with the help of Greg from Frank Smith’s) were Voodoo Love Child and Two-Hearted Ale. VLC didn’t really fit the theme and is quite an expensive beer. Two Hearted is a great beer, but since I am not an IPA guy, I decided that the remainder of a case would sit in my house altogether too long. Instead, I deviated from the theme when purchasing the replacement beer and used the opportunity to buy a case of a beer I’d wanted an excuse to buy a case of, Weyerbacher Fireside Ale.

The choice was a good one… and it seemed to go over quite well to all of the snobs and burgeoning snobs in attendance. Beer Advocate and ratebeer both consider the style of this ale a “smoked beer”. So we looked together at the BCJP style guidelines for 22B “Other Smoked Beer”, discussed how the beer was similar to the German Rauchbier style, despite being an ale. Then we tasted the beer. All of us enjoyed it, some noting hints of bready flavor and texture, others highlighting the smokiness, and still others discussing the alcohol warmth. After some discussion, we began to look at the context of Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

Through a nice, deep discussion, what we ended up keying on the second part of Galatians 5:6, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Everything centers around love, whether it be how we worship, how we work, or how we treat people everyday. What Paul was aiming at was how the church in Galatia was overly concerned with everything else, forgetting the most important piece… LOVE.

And after we prayed, we finished our beers. After warming some, there weren’t many new flavors we found in the beer, but the smokiness seemed much stronger, as did the alcohol warmth. My father, a novice in the world of beer snobbery, even commented on how he could really taste these flavors after the beer warmed a bit.

Overall, it was a great first event. Good beer, great discussion, and even greater fellowship. If you live within a shot of Reading, PA, email me. You are all welcome to join us!

Next month, we’ll be drinking something from Stegmaier, saluting how March comes in like a lion (brewed at the Lion Brewery), and sharing about the Lamb (it is Easter time after all).

Thanks for keeping up with us! Before you leave, check out how Weyerbacher makes one of my favorite beers, Heresy:

Presenting… the Winners of Beerfest Contests!

Joshua won the Guess What’s in My Pint Contest rewarding him with CDs by UUVVWWZ and The Rural Alberta Advantage.

ginacuce and BBBellezza won the ReTweet Contest.

ginacuce won a copy of the Strictly Background soundtrack.

BBBellezza won a copy of The Young Werewolves CD.

and…

our final contest, the Beer Quiz, was won by NJ native Patti Bright with a score of 7 correct answers. Her prize is a Killian’s bottle opener keychain, a bottle of Apollo, and CDs by Paulson and LA Symphony.

Here are the correct answers to the quiz (questions can be found here):

1. Hamm’s

John Cusack routinely drinks decent beer in his films. Nothing high end, but never piss, either… often local or small-ish breweries.

2. Git-R-Done

I’m sure this isn’t very good, but it’s fun nonetheless.

3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Holy Grail Ale

Unfortunately the beer is not nearly as entertaining as the movie, which itself is quite overrated actually.

4. Goldings

Mentioned in the previous contest post… used in most English ales.

5. Fuller’s

The only British brewery allowed call it’s bitter an ESB is Fuller’s. Many American breweries have bitters called ESB’s, but in Britain the name is a trademark

6. 1987

While Yuengling is the oldest active American brewery, the beer that put them on the map is the same age as my little sister.

7. Ballantine

Now Ballantine is a malt liquor consumed by college kids and drunks, however it was once a highly regarded pale ale.

8. Death Penalty

In some texts it is noted, specifically, that offenders were to be drowned in the swill they had created by watering down the valued beverage.

9. Miller Lite

While it cannot be denied that Miller Lite is crap, it can also be noted that the Philadelphia eagles will be the cream of the crop in the NFC in 2009, relegating the Giants to #2 in the East and displacing the Cards as the NFC champs.

10. Charlie

Charlie was a great one off brew by Weyerbacher… so great in fact that they gave it a permanent name and a place on the seasonal brewing list.

All prizes will be shipped by Wednesday. I hope everyone enjoyed TPM Beerfest. The final post for this week long extravaganza is actually being featured on my wife’s blog, an excerpt is below but the full piece can be found here.

As a beer geek, I enjoy craft brews, almost exclusively. One thing that many geeks like me try to do is buy local. Supporting local brewers supports your local economy and provides you with fresher beer. It’s the best way to do it.

Luckily, I reside in Pennsylvania, home of MANY great breweries. On my webpage, thepaintedman.com, I intend to feature a semi-regular column on my favorite PA craft breweries. I figured, I will share my first of such columns with the readership of this fine website, as well.

Today, I the Chubby Hubby, want to highlight my favorite three PA breweries, Weyerbacher (Easton), Stoudt’s (Adamstown), and Yards (Philadelphia).

I had intended on getting a few things up today, but a busy day of cleaning the house followed by a date with the Missus kept me from getting it all done.

Therefore… I am going to postpone the results until Monday morning and extend Beerfest through Tuesday. Honey Lager review and PA craft brewery piece on 3 of my faves (Weyebacher, Stoudt’s, and Yards) are still coming by Tuesday AM.

The site will then return to it’s regularly scheduled program… including reviews of Harry Potter, the new Rootbeer EP, JustMe, and more.

Since no one visits the site over the weekend anyway, I’m taking tomorrow off… well, not really… I’ll be cleaning the house more and spending time with the in-laws. For now, enjoy this:

To Brawl… definitely!

Yards describes Brawler as follows:

Boasting superior taste and champion flavor, the Brawler is crafted in the style of English session ales. This malt-forward, ruby colored ale is great for when you want to go a few rounds.

While I’m not so sure I’d call it “ruby” colored, I would agree that it is a malt-forward beer of superior taste and flavor. I poured my bottle (chilled for over a week in my fridge) into a regular pint glass. This was not my first taste of Brawler, but it was the first I had stopped to take notes on. Here are the tasting notes from my Beer Journal:

Appearance:
thepaintedman rates this:

The translucent dark amber/brown color is beautiful. I know this is my type of beer from the start. No sentiment, pours with a small head that it maintains throughout.

Aroma:
thepaintedman rates this:

The beer lacks in this department. While there is nothing to deter one from wanting a sip, nothing wows me either. Mild aroma, slight sweetness, no hints of diacetyl that I could tell.

Flavor:
thepaintedman rates this:

This is by no means a big beer, full of big flavor. However, the flavor has a beautiful and simple overall quality. Smooth throughout, very malt-forward, but not overpoweringly so.

Palate/Mouthfeel:
thepaintedman rates this:

This is what my Aunt Debbie calls a chewing beer, but I wouldn’t class it as such. It’s a tad chewy, but heavy or stout-like at all. It has great body and, as noted above, is very smooth. It does have an ever so slight aftertaste that isn’t entirely desirable. It’s not really noticeable until later into the pint.

Overall Rating:
thepaintedman rates this:

Overall, an excellent session beer that makes me wish I was sitting at an English pub chatting it up with a few old chaps. Definitely worth a drink or six!

Thanks for reading. Cheers!