English Syle Summer Ale

Jester King Brewing

So if you have never heard of an English Summer-Style Ale do not feel alone. It is a style that is not common in the United States but Jester King has nailed it with this beer.

The beer pours great and maintains just the right amount of carbonation through out the session. The beer is brewed with "Burtonized" water (they added water minerals to match Burton on the Themes), Golden Promise base malt, a touch of Caramalt and malted wheat, and East Kent Golding hops during the boil and in the whirlpool. This gives the beer a light body, clean fruity taste just right for Texas summers.

They fermented in stainless steel with West Yorkshire yeast. Unfiltered, unpasteurized!

Most of the batch was force carbonated and packaged in cans and kegs. However, I am told that they filled a handful of firkins that will be served at Jester King using a traditional beer engine which would produce an awesome historically acutate flavor.

If your a fan of English Ales then this is your beer!

From The Brewers Association Sytle Guide:

• English-Style Summer Ale
• Color: Straw to gold
• Clarity: Chill haze is acceptable at low temperatures
• Perceived Malt Aroma & Flavor: Residual malt sweetness is low to medium. Torrified or malted wheat is often used in quantities of 25 percent or less. Malt attributes such as biscuity or low levels of caramel are present.
• Perceived Hop Aroma & Flavor: Low to medium, expressed as floral, herbal, earthy, stone fruit, citrus or other attributes. Hop flavor should not be assertive and should be well balanced with malt character.
• Perceived Bitterness: Medium-low to medium
• Fermentation Characteristics: Mild carbonation traditionally characterizes draft-cask versions, but in bottled versions, a slight increase in carbon dioxide content is acceptable. Fruity esters are low to medium. Diacetyl and DMS should not be present.
• Body: Low to medium-low
• Additional notes: The overall impression is refreshing and thirst quenching

Cali Green

Brash Brewing

Frist I love the graphics on the can. They are simple but catch your eye. The name is on the front and the side has a jellyfish.

The beer pours awesome with great head and clarity.

This beer is hopped with Centennial, Amarillo, Simcoe, and Falconer's Flight, grapefruit, pine resin, and citrus flavors are present with a dry, clean and bitter finish

I have had this beer in can and on tap. Both experiences were good but I did prefer it from the tap which is to be expected,.

If you like West Coast Style IPAs then this is one to try!

NANI?!

Jester King Brewery

The beer pours nice with great head. It has a grassy smell which is to style. The taste is clean strange taste with appears early but it just drops by and vanishes as you finish your swallow to leave you with nothing. This is most likly

To craft this crisp stunner, the Jester King crew started with a delicate base brewed with jasmine rice. They hopped it with Sorachi Ace — a rarely seen variety originally developed for Sapporo — before lagering the brew for eight weeks. 

Overall the beer is very drinkable for a hot day I just do not think I am a fan. I was left wanting more flavor at the end. But if you like clean Japanese Rice lagers than you should give this a chance

Allgood

Oak Highlands Brewing

I had this on tap but it arrived with great head that maintiained throughout the session. It has strong cereal and grass or hay smell and taste. While it is crisp it taste more like a Pale Ale than a Kolsch.

This is the first beer I have had from Oak Highlands Brewing and I could not find much in formation about the brewery except that it has opened in 2025. This is one I would try again to see if it improves.

Gold

Live Oak Brewing

This is a tale of why you should clean your beer fridge out. While working on this months beer reviews I found a single can of Gold from my friends at Live Oak Brewing.

This beer poured nice head but that quickly disipated but it maintained carbonation.

It is a north German-style pilsner, cousin to our Czech-style Pilz, brewed with generous additions of Hallertau noble hops. The German lager yeast and lengthy secondary conditioning produces a crisp, bright, and very clean beer that really lets the flavors of the malt and hops shine through.

I have had this beer before and found it to be a great beer for a hot day. But this time as I sipped my first sip I noticed that something was off. It tasted a bit more like a light big beer. Some of the robust flavor was gone. It tasted old so I checked the can date. I read 1/30/2024. This beer was 19 months old!!! What amazed me was that while it had changed flavors it was still very drinkable. I was amazed since average selflife of of a Pilsner is 3 to 6 months. The fact that it had held up so well is a testimate to the quality of the beer and craftmansship of the brewers.

So why included it in the reveiw? I include it just to show that a beer well made will last longer than expected and to promote the idea that we should all go through our beer fridge and weed out old beers.