Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Ale, Prohibition Speakeasy beer & Anchor Summer beer

A certain fish was kind enough to bring a sample selection of beers when she returned to Oz from her USA holiday so I thought I would quickly review the ones I have tasted so far on this blog. Whilst this is a small sample - it definitely illustrates how craft beer is being dominated by the American microbreweries. All of these are sterling tipples, and whilst I feel that Australia's craft brewing scene is producing some top shelf beers (like Murray's Brewing and Holgate), I think we have a way to go to catch up with the sheer breadth of quality offerings America has.

Little Sumpin' is a very surprising beer. I hadn't heard of this little microbrewery out of Petaluma, California before and so I had no idea what to expect. It's a whopping 7.5% ABV and is 64.2 IBU, something that you usually only find when you stray into the India Pale Ale styles. What makes this even more surprising is that it's a 'Wheat-esque beer' which appears to mean they boost the body and mouth feel with the addition of wheat malt to the standard base Pale malts. As you can see, it pours a wonderful clear golden beer with a stark white frothy head that hangs around for the entire beer. Hop aromas are instantly detectable and the healthy body is just packed to the brim with hop bitterness (though not overpowering) and the passionfruit and summer fruit cocktail flavours I've come to associate with Galaxy hops. This beer finished far too quickly and I found myself craving more. It's a shame it cannot be bought in Australia yet - we really are missing out on something wonderful.

4.5 / 5 coasters

Prohibition speakeasy beer is an American Amber Ale brewed by a San Francisco Brewery that claims links to the original breweries from the Bay area. It's a hefty 6.1% ABV that pours with an off-white head that dissipates fairly quickly. The caramel sweetness of the malts are very prominent in the beer as are the fruit flavours and bitterness from the hops, which strangely make an odd combination. I feel that a lower ABV would allow the hops to take centre stage and prevent this odd dichotomy of sweetness and bitterness in the one glass. It's a nice beer, but I feel that compared with the others, it doesn't quite stack up in the quality stakes. A lingering finish that is light on bitterness rounds off the palate. It's nice, but doesn't have me wishing for more.

3.5 / 5 coasters

Anchor Summer beer is a lightly hopped wheat beer brewed out of the Anchor Brewery in San Francisco.

The Anchor Brewery has been brewing since 1896, and they are famous for their Steam Beer, a lager brewed at higher than normal temperature and characterised by a higher carbonation level.

The Summer beer is 50% wheat malt, fermented with ale yeast, and is filtered to give a clean and crisp beverage that is anything but usual. Missing are those common vanilla, banana or clove notes that one gets with traditional wheat beer. Instead we have light fruit flavours from the Golding and Glacier hops poking through a light-bodied straw-coloured beer that sits under a persistent white frothy head. It has an almost bready/biscuit like palate that finishes quickly and cleanly. It is definitely a quaffer, and could handle being downed by the pint on a hot summers afternoon accompanied by a spicy lamb burger with sweet potato wedges.

4 / 5 coasters