Beer is the perfect summer drink and if you enjoy partaking in a pint or two then there’s more of it than ever to choose from. Tickle your taste buds with Drinks Editor James Viner’s selection of three cool, delectable, high-quality beers that will hit the spot in the heat, making your summer shine just a little brighter.
1) Tropical Welsh Wonder
Tiny Rebel Clwb Tropicana Tropical IPA, 330ml can
(£2.00-£2.20, Waitrose/beerhawk.co.uk, Alc 5.5%)
In a nod to celebrating the start of the Welsh lamb season I’ve selected this gem. It’s a beer that hollers its joie de vivre from the rooftops and is designed to be drunk in the company of friends and gulped, rather than analysed. Tiny Rebel’s an award-winning brewery from Newport, South Wales, founded in 2012. They’re the youngest and only brewery in Wales to win ‘Champion Beer of Britain’ and to have won gold, silver and bronze in the Champion Beer of Wales competition (in their first year). This juicy fruit salad’s chock-full of American hops and packed full of flavour with enough peach and tropical fruit notes to make you feel that you’re getting your five-a-day fruit quota. Be sure to visit the eponymous 26-tap bar on Cardiff’s Westgate too. Lechyd da!
- Vegan-Friendly English Craft Lager for Pilsner Fans
The Society’s English Lager, Leicestershire, 330ml bottle
(£2.25, The Wine Society, Alc 3.8%)
From the Leicestershire/Northamptonshire border with love comes this scrumptious riff on the classic Czech beer style, with a crisp and clean mouth feel, measured malt flavours and a dry, hoppy finish that makes you want to start drinking it all over again. It’s the first beer to bear The Wine Society’s name and was made with German hops and malts by an Italian at craft lager specialists Braybrooke Beer Co. using a Hungarian brew kit. Unfiltered and unpasteurised to retain maximum flavour, it’s thirst-quenching and very stylish – an ideal bottom-fermented beer for those witty conversations with friends.
3) Energizing Belgian Witbier
Vedett Extra White Witbier, Belgium, 330ml bottle
(£1.79-£2.35, drinksupermarket.com/beerhawk.co.uk/beerwulf.com/beermerchants.com, Alc 4.7%)
‘White beer’ is Belgium’s historically important unfiltered and top-fermented style of wheat beer brewed with an unusual grain bill using spices and fruit – mainly orange peel and coriander – that’s wonderfully revitalising in the midsummer heat. This delicious wit was launched in 2008 and is zesty and crisp with quenching citrus and moderate spice tones; the flavours explode on the tongue, offering both complexity and supreme refreshment. Refreshingly dry and terrifically drinkable. A classy match for salads, goat’s cheese and moules frites.
DID YOU KNOW? ‘Zythophile’ is the term given to a beer lover
STICKER: “A FINE BEER MAY BE JUDGED WITH ONE SIP, BUT IT’S BETTER TO BE THOROUGHLY SURE.”
CZECH PROVERB
Follow James on Twitter @QuixoticWine
