River Horse Summer Ale

"The Calm Before the Storm"

I own a home at the Jersey shore. Through some hard work and a fair amount of luck, I’ve been fortunate enough to make it my full-time summer home. As much as I love the warm sand, cool ocean breezes and time with family and friends during the island’s summers, I’ve come to appreciate the serenity of the off-season.

The long off-season provides opportunities to sneak down by myself to “work” on the house for a couple of days. With the exception of the sea birds and a few locals, this work is done in complete solitude. With the start of Memorial Day weekend just hours away, today marks the last day of the off-season. Regardless of what the calendar says, this weekend is the official start of summer for those of us in the Mid-Atlantic States.

It is with a complex blend of emotions that I sit here watching that big orange ball sinking into the bay for the last time this off-season. There’s the clear taste of anticipation of the great memories we’ll create in the summer to come, blended with a hint of melancholy as I toast the end of the off-season with a new friend, River Horse Brewing Co.’s Summer Ale.

The composition of this great brew is as complex as my emotions. It’s a full-bodied ale, with a hint of fruit flavors that you can’t quite put a name to. The good folks at River Horse Brewery in Lambertville, NJ have expertly crafted this fine ale for our summer refreshment. For me, its most appealing attribute is what the beer lacks; the overpowering fruit flavors you get with many mass-produced summer beers. Like the off-season at the beach, it’s not the sounds that bring you back, it’s the silence.

For now, this beer is available exclusively in PA, NJ, NY, CT, DE, VA, MA, MD and RI. For those of you in or near one of these states, visit www.riverhorse.com to find a distributor. If there are no distributors near you, have a Corona “with fruit” for now and check back in July for my next pick.

Cheers,
dg

June 2009