Beer of the week (June 7th)

With Summer in full swing, I thought out would do a Summer theme for the next few weeks or so. Today I ran by Total Wine and Spirits (great beer selection) and ended up with a mixed sixer of:

Bay Harbor Blueberry Ale
Sierra Nevada Summerfest
Redhook Summerye
Sam Adams Summer Ale
Flying Dog Gold Scratch

...and just to be different: Dogfishhead Raison D'etre

By the time this set is gone, the first of the Oktoberfests will be arriving so that will probably be the next "set"

The Bay Harbor Blueberry Ale is a well made fruit beer from Maine. Two problems usually occur when mimicking the Belgian style. 1.) Overpowering fruit flavor (the ol' cherry syrup in beer syndrome) or 2.) It is so similar to a standard lager you would be hard pressed to tell the difference. Bay Harbor does it right! Highly drinkable, and highly flavorful. It is much more refreshing than its dubbel-esque appearance would have you believe. If someone gave this to me without telling me what it was, I am not sure I could tell what fruit it was. When you know it is Blueberry it is like reading lyrics to a song and it flows nicely. This is the first time I have tried this brewer so I am looking forward to sampling more and you should be too.

--Joey