Anderson Valley Brewing Company Summer Solstice

Hello beer lovers and welcome to another edition of the NorCal Beer Blog's brew review.

Tonight’s featured beer is Anderson Valley Brewing Company Summer Solstice. I deviated a little with the last couple posts, but now I’m back on the “my wife’s favorite beers” theme. As I’ve stated many times before (read about it here) I’m a fan of Anderson Valley Brewing Company and enjoy the styles and types of beers they brew. AVBC Winter Solstice is one that I eagerly await each year and my wife feels that way about Summer Solstice. Both are fantastic and I happily drink both when they are in season.

From the Anderson Valley Brewing Company website: “Summer Solstice Seasonal Ale is not just your average summer seasonal. This unique copper colored ale is smooth, malty, and lightly sweet, with a delicate hint of spice for that oh-so-drinkable, extra velvety flavor.

As with all of our products, Summer Solstice Seasonal Ale is never sterile filtered nor heat pasteurized.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours a wonderful dark copper caramel color with a creamy off-white head and nice lacing.

Aroma: Creamy and sweet – caramel and biscuit malts with toffee, vanilla and slight hop aroma.

Taste: Biscuit and caramel malts, creamy with a noticeable vanilla front, English toffee and just the slightest hint of hops.

Overall: This beer is off the scale delicious. At 5% ABV this is an easy session beer. Every year I purchase a case of two for my wife and I tend to drink at least half of it. Recently I found a case at Costco and if AVBC keeps that up it will be all too easy to have cases around the house. A+ beer from an A+ brewery!

Cheers!

Mark Harvey