Otter Summer Ale

Since my last post, I have been hard at work sampling a variety of New England summer beers from Booth Bay Harbor, Maine all the way back here to Long Beach Island ('tis the season, after all!).

My travels included some great bass fishing in Maine, running my first 5K on July 4th and a lot of rain (think build an ark and pair up animals).  Despite all of that activity and battling the elements, I made the time to sample some great beers on behalf of you, our CreditGumbo.com visitors.

The beers included a couple of tasty beers from Portland and had a wonderful Hefeweizen at The Liberal Cup in Hallowell, Maine (if you find yourself in Hallowell, stop in for one of their small batch craft beers and a bowl of their Beer Cheese soup – worth every calorie). 

Despite my big adventures up north, I ended up returning to the beach without having had a beer that inspired a July post.  That was before this weekend when, ironically, I discovered my favorite New England beer of the summer right here at the Jersey Shore.

Like most summer weekends, we had some good friends coming in for a little beach and boating.   Therefore, I made the journey over the bridge to the mainland for something suitable for us to toast what was sure to be another glorious Friday evening sunset.  

As I perused the summer beer selection, a Vermont beer caught my eye.  It’s the Otter Summer Ale from Otter Creek Brewing Company in Middlebury, Vermont.

Like last month's pick, it has a very subtle citrus flavor and a really clean, crisp taste.  It is slightly more tart and has a very traditional wheat beer flavor and finish.  The label on the bottle suggests that you serve it with a slice of lemon, but we enjoyed it straight out of the bottle all weekend long.  We do recommend adding a few good friends and a sunset view.

Otter Creek beers are currently available at select distributors in 20 states.  For information and a retailer near you, visit www.ottercreekbrewing.com.

Cheers,
dg

July 2009