hell or high watermelon wheat beer

There are things that I slurp and chug, and then there are things that I sip and savor–  a summer beer is some where in-between. Not watery swill, but a bright and drinkable (less drunkable), easily refillable consumable.   Enough to quench one’s thirst without inducing dizziness.   Here are a list of beers that to seem to best answer the question, what is a summer beer?

• HELL OR HIGH WATERMELON WHEAT BEER {can; 21st amendment brewerey; san francisco, ca} “We start by brewing a classic American wheat beer, which undergoes a traditional secondary fermentation using fresh watermelon. A straw-colored, refreshing beer with a kiss of watermelon aroma and flavor.”

• FESTINA PECHE {bottle; dogfish head brewerey; rehobeth beach, de} “A refreshing neo-BerlinerWeisse fermented with honest-to-goodness peaches to (get this!) 4.5% abv! Because extreme beers don’t have to be extremely boozy! Available in 4-pack and draft during the sweaty months. Sadly, there are only a few breweries left in Berlin still brewing the BerlinerWeissestyle which is characterized by its intense tartness (some say sour).”

• BROOKLYN LAGER {can; brooklyn brewerey, brooklyn, ny}  “Brooklyn Lager, the Brewery’s flagship label, is New York’s “hometown” beer, brewed to a pre-Prohibition recipe that dates back to the days when Brooklyn was the brewing capital of the East Coast. Brooklyn Lager has won numerous awards.”

• NATIONAL BOHEMIAN {can; eponymous; milwaukee, wi} “A treasured mid-Atlantic brand since 1885. National Bohemian, or Natty Boh is Baltimore’s signature beer and a legend among American beers.  In the late ’40s, canned beer started becoming popular and National was the first brewer in the U.S. to put six-packs of cans on the market. In following decade, National Brewing continued to proudly represent Baltimore and the Maryland shore, adopting the now famous slogan: “From the Land of Pleasant Living.”

• THE LOVE {bottle; starr hill brewery; nelson co, va} “The Love is an unfiltered wheat beer, also known as a hefeweizen. It is distinguished by its extremely light body and flavored with hints of banana and clove. A slice of lemon can complement this refreshing brew.  A friend of mine would smuggle wheat-beer yeast back from a brewery in Germany, and he won the National Home Brewers’ Competition one year with this yeast that he’d smuggled. I asked him if he would ‘share the love’ and let us borrow the yeast, and 10 years later he finally did.”

• DALES PALE ALE {can; oskar brewery; lyons, co} “America’s first hand-canned craft beer is a voluminously hopped mutha that delivers a hoppy nose, assertive-but-balanced flavors of pale malts and hops from start to finish. First canned in 2002, Dale’s Pale Ale is a hearty (6.5% and 65 IBUs), critically acclaimed trailblazer that has changed the way craft beer fiends perceive canned beer.”

Mike and Zuzka found themselves in New Orleans last night, as part of their cross-country trip, and dove right into the party.  Thanks for the photos and videos Z (including this one).

Here is a homemade hangover remedy that really helped with my ‘dark-and-stormy’ night of rum drinking.  Anybody have other remedies for hangovers?

• grate 2 carrots
• grate 1 apple
• grate 2 tsp ginger
• add 1 c water
• add 1 Tbsp agave nectar
• blend in blender, then strain through cheese cloth
• chase with 2 ibuprofen