Getting back into prime patio sitting season, let’s hope the April showers are over and done with and we can move on to the May flowers. The beers this month are somewhat varied, but they all pair well with the outdoors and the sun on your face. Speaking of patios, after the Brews and Tunes at the end of last month, the BG Mellow Mushroom almost certainly still has many of the limited release and aged beers still available this month until the kegs run dry. Go check them out and sit on that patio if you don’t have one of your own.
Three Floyds Lazersnake is totally radical even from across the room. Straight out of an 80s album cover, this is an American IPA packed with citrus flavors like orange, grapefruit, and lemon. There’s a good bitterness to balance the whole thing out, but as is the Three Floyds style, they once again were able to get just the right mix of fruity and floral. With little to no piney or grassy flavor one might expect in certain pale ales, Lazersnake is one of my favorite beers of the style, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys fruity beers and is considering branching out into pale ales. It’s also very smooth and the above average ABV of 7% is very well hidden, making it quite the drinkable beer for this spring weather.
Sweetwater Brewing in Atlanta expanded their distribution to Kentucky about a year ago or so, and you know what that means: new beers to try. Peach, Love, and Happiness is a peach berliner weisse which is a mildly sour style of beer. Coming from the Peach State, you can trust they’ve done a splendid job at getting the peaches in there just right. The aroma has hints of peach and the taste is that of peaches and also a little lemon. This beer is only vaguely sweet, but enough that if you wanted to have it with a slice of pie for dessert it would feel right. PL&H is also immensely drinkable, and it is an ideal outside weather beer. I cannot advocate this beer more highly as a “casual, sitting on a porch swing at dusk, drinking a beer” beer. Sounds nice, right?
Left Hand Brewing’s flagship beer, Sawtooth Ale, is an amber ale which has withstood the test of time by continuing to be great from the start. Nothing too wild about this beer, it isn’t super hoppy or sour or chocolatey but it also isn’t plain Jane mild and boring. It’s a great “middle of the road” beer, as are many amber ales I’ve had in the past. For anyone who is a fan of Fat Tire by New Belgium, it’s the same style, but I prefer Sawtooth. I believe it has more flavor and is lightly hopped just the right amount to match the level of bready malts that you get up front. As a light, crisp beer, Sawtooth is another outdoor session ale great for a bonfire or barbecue.
This last drink is not technically a beer, but it’s got alcohol and it has beer in the name, so it’ll be all right. Not Your Father’s Root Beer is one malt beverage of many from the Small Town Brewery. Some others include Not Your Mother’s Iced Tea and Not Your Father’s Mountain Ale, which is basically a boozy Mountain Dew. Those I have not tried personally, but I have had the Root Beer, and it was better than I expected. The 6% alcohol is almost completely masked by the sarsaparilla and vanilla. Don’t let the kids get hold of this, they might not even realize there’s anything different about it until they start slurring their words. I say that because it really is well made and for anyone who is a fan of root beer and also wants to get a buzz going, Not Your Father’s Root Beer is a pretty solid meeting of the two. I’ve also used this to make a root beer float, and I’m telling you people, it was pretty dang good.
-by Josh Helton
