"Citrusinensis" Pale Ale, Lagunitas Brewing Company

"Citrusinensis"  Pale Ale Brewed with natural blood orange juice.

What you say, a Lagunitas beer at Ballast Point prices?! It's true. The second in the "One Hitter" series (I wonder what they are referring to)?  of 2016 this popular beer returns for a cameo after a successful run in 2015. With fruit, spice and vegetable infused beers seemingly in vogue this year - watermelon, cactus, pineapple, mango, habanero, chai tea and the like - this one works well. Using the juice of squeezed sanguinello blood oranges to create a wheatier version of new Dogtown pale ale the result is a refreshingly hopped pale-ish ale with a huge citrus burst. The resulting elixir pours a hazy orange, bright and tangy with a crisp refreshing finish with no hint of the substantial 7.9% ABV apparent.

Very limited so pick it up now! "Citrusinensis Pale Ale" by Lagunitas (Petaluma, CA and Chicago, IL) $13.99, six pack bottles.

Summit 30th Anniversary "Us" and "Them"

All Summit all the time on today's beer cast as they celebrate an incredible milestone - their 30th anniversary (yikes)! in the brewing business. As someone old enough to remember visiting the rather humble (ok dingy) beginnings in a former auto parts garage on University Avenue in St Paul - don't let these boyish good looks fool you, I really am that fucking old - I  doubt even supremo Mark Stutrud could envisage how H-U-G-E Summit (of course named after the iconic Victorian boulevard in the Capitol city) would become from those humble beginnings in 1986. Incidentally a year that appears to have sucked in general - Challenger space shuttle disaster, Iran contra affair, Chernobyl nuclear disaster etc. I think Summit deserves a collective thanks (and Stutrud in particular for ignoring the rather frosty advice offered by the Brewer's Association - obviously not penned from Tony Robbins, when first starting) from a generation of Minnesotans now drinking good beer and saving this author from the perils of the green death, Pig's Eye and Carling Black Label, I mean nothing screams "crossover" beer like EPA!

"Us and Them" marks the 21st in the acclaimed unchained series and Brewer Gabe Smoley takes a rather unique and provocative approach with his turn at the plate - creating two unique threads from the de constructed mash of the cult classic Saga IPA. "Parti-Gyle" brewing - creating two beers from the same mash - dates from the early 19th Century, total product from a brew was known as a "gyle". A labor intensive process to be sure, especially hand sorting to create a mixed six pack!

First running , "Us" produces a hoppy and intense IPA powered by 90 IBU's of bitterness, dry hopped with Rakau hops from New Zealand that adds bold tropical and resinous pine notes to the beer. Listed at 7.2% ABV I have it on good authority that it's closer to 8.4%.

Second distinct thread "Them" from the same mash creates a subtle but complex session or small beer that has been dry hopped with American citra hops ( strongly associated with "Torpedo" from Sierra Nevada) It's listed as 4% ABV (4.5% in reality) with 55 IBU's. Surprising myself I am more partial to "Them" finding it bright and citrusy and interesting. "And who knows which is which and who is who". Both beers utilize an American yeast strain.

Also noteworthy is the 30th Anniversary Double IPA, with hints of tangerine,honey and pleasant distinct tropical slant for an enjoyable drinking experience. 8.5% ABV, tall boy 4 packs  a bargain at $9.99.

"Us and Them" Summit Unchained 21 available for a limited time at $9.99 a sixer.