ExploringMaine.com

Switch gathers tasters to sample the season's local brews
By Avery Yale Kamila, The Maine Switch

Ah, summer. The time for general slacking, lobster overindulgence, black fly insanity and, most importantly, keeping the fridge and cooler stocked with nothing but ice cold beer. There's only one problem (other than those black flies): What beer do you choose?

The options seem endless. Any beer store worth its hops is overflowing with summer brews at this time of year. As you stare at the rows and rows of amber goodness, it's easy to let your eyes glaze over and to allow your arm to reflexively grab your go-to brand's seasonal six-pack of sunshine. But are you making the best pick?

To ensure that no faithful Switch reader squanders his or her short-lived summer by drinking beer that's not best suited to each individual palette, we gathered a group of rowdy beer drinkers to taste this year's crop of local brewskis. But before anyone could taste these beers, yours truly had to actually buy them. Using my trusty friend the internet as a guide, I put together a list of which local brewers had cooked up summer beers and then ventured out to find them.

I had no problem scoring Gritty's Vactionland, Geary's Summer, Sebago Hefe-Weizen, Shipyard Summer, Andrew's Summer Golden or Casco Bay Summer. But where were the Carrabassett and Sea Dog summers I'd read about online? After much driving around without luck, I decided to start working the phones.

A few calls in, I found myself talking to a very helpful guy over at Shipyard. He informed me that the company had recently bought Carrabassett and they hadn't gotten around to brewing the summer beer (or updating the website). More puzzling was what I learned about Sea Dog (which also is brewed by Shipyard).

Turns out that Nappi, the exclusive Greater Portland beer distributor, declined to take the Sea Dog Summer. However, Federal Distributors is selling it. The problem for us in the Portland area is that Federal only distributes as far south as Lisbon.

The bottom line: If you're a fan of Sea Dog Summer, you'll have to head up to the Lewiston-Auburn area to score some. (And since gas costs about $27 a gallon, I made an executive decision to pretend Sea Dog Summer doesn't exist.)

The toughest job you'll ever love

Not just anyone can be a Switch beer taster. It takes a discerning palate, a reasonable alcohol tolerance and a willingness to share your deepest, darkest beer drinking thoughts. It also doesn't hurt if you can add and make slightly intelligent (read: legible) comments after trying six beers.

A group of 22 tasters brave enough to take this challenge gathered last week at the bibliophile's food and drink heaven of Rabelais books on Middle Street in Portland. I have to admit, many of these tasters intimidated me.

Take Carter Thomas, who wrote a beer drinking column for "The Bowdoin Orient" while an undergrad. Or engineer Matt Hill, who wanted to know if I'd considered the probability that tasters' scores would inevitably rise as the tasting progressed. (Actually, he may be on to something there, although the tasting results proved inconclusive.) And then there was someone (who will remain nameless) with the forethought to wear her summer-ready "you are my sunshine" undies.

As the testing got underway, the crowd became increasingly boisterous. There were calls to bring out the funnels and long conversations about the best way to define mouthfeel (most of which cannot be printed here). Since this was a blind tasting, some fretted that they would trash their favorite beer and others were certain they knew which brands they were tasting.

But once the last of the beer was gone and the results had been tallied, it became clear that the local beers of summer rate almost equally. With one clear exception. Casco Bay Summer Ale rose to the top with a full point advantage over the other beers. But would you expect less from a beer touting itself as bringing "sunshine to your stomach"? I'm sure a certain sunshiny-underwear wearer would agree.

SWITCH TASTER'S TOP PICK

Casco Bay Summer

"It's really well balanced and has great acidity. There's not a very strong aroma, but it's smooth while packing a little punch," Rebecca Mullins

"Second helpings a must. The glass is not tall enough. Get some," Carter Thomas

"I'd have another few of these. Good light summer taste of refreshment. Probably the winner," Elliot May

"I could drink more than one of these," John Dennison

"Now that is a summer beer," John Seymore

"Not sure if the buzz is kicking in or if someone spiked my beer, but ... ye-ah! Bartender, bring me a six-pack!" Will Thomas

Andrew's Summer Golden Ale

"Honey, citrusy smell, cloudy, very light. It has a more interesting taste than the first two," Sarah Trent

"As dry as a Barry Manilow concert," Carter Thomas

"Sweet, honey with a slightly bitter aftertaste," Peter Miller

Geary's Summer Ale

"Warm, rich amber color. Slightly dry feeling in my mouth. Aftertaste is apparent," Derek Veilleux

"Nice flavor. Would hold up well to spicy food," Suzanne Hamlin

"Slightly fruity finish and aroma. Good amount of carbonation, slightly hoppy," Brian Allenby

Gritty McDuff's Vacationland Ale

"Malty, hoppy most traditional beer taste to me. Full, rich taste," Samantha Lindgren

"Clear, concise amber with a murky translucent look. A little chipper," Elliot May

"The best so far. A good ‘drinking' beer for a day of committed beer drinking," Brandi Neal

Sebago Hefe-Weizen

"Great summer brew. Refreshingly supercalifragilistic expialidociously good," Adam Hill

"A unique taste — I kind of like it. I should really get some for my fridge ... Maybe I already have some?" Erin Anderson

"I taste cloves? Or nutmeg, or something. I like the aftertaste," Gwen Merrick

Shipyard Summer Ale

"Very effervescent, easy going down with a strong bite aftertaste that fades almost immediately," Matt Hill

"A very good funnel beer," Casey O'Callaghan

"Would be a party pleaser as it's not too in-your-face," Emily Koehn