About a half mile down the road from my house is a fully-functioning farm stand. As the warmer months commence, the farm opens up for flower sales and concludes in the fall with pumpkins and other Autumn-related accoutrements. In between, the farm sells its own produce: corn, tomatoes, squash and a couple dozen more vegetables and fruits. It’s not uncommon for my wife, my kids and me to take the dog for a walk to the farm to get vegetables and fruit for the upcoming week. Insert any joke you may, but, yes, usually we bring our own reusable bags, too.
In a world where growers and wholesalers have been able to use technology to bend the laws of space and time in order to give us our seasonal produce year round, going to the farm is an anachronistic pleasure. The benefit of supporting a local business aside, there’s something magical in squeezing and examining fresh tomatoes, amidst the imperfections only a family farm can produce, for the best ones for tonight’s salad.
In the beer business, the term “seasonal” has become synonymous with limited release, rather than a reflection of actual seasonal brewing processes and ingredients. Bound by constraints of time and the availability of ingredients, seasonal beer reflects more the type of beer a brewery thinks we should drink (see: lighter, low-ABV beers in the summer; heavier, darker seasonals in the wintertime). This isn’t the breweries’ fault, but it lies in the challenge of being at the behest of agriculture. Sometimes the crop is too big; sometimes it is too small. Sometimes it comes too early; sometimes it doesn’t come at all.
It’s much more practical to rely on the basic format of giving beer drinkers a style of beer more amenable to the weather. That said, there are breweries that are undertaking the challenge to utilize localized and seasonal ingredients in their beer. And just like nothing tastes better than a farm-fresh tomato in the summertime, craft breweries around the country are banking that there will be nothing better than a beer that takes advantage of what grows around them naturally.
Blackberries (Long Trail Blackbeary Wheat)
“For almost 20 years, the release of Blackbeary Wheat has helped mark the start of summertime for craft beer fans around Vermont,” Long Trail co-head brewer Sam Clemens says.
Plums/Pluerries (Allagash Shiro’s Delight)
Shiro’s Delight is a blend of two beers, actually. The Belgian-style base beer, Interlude, is aged over plums and pluerries (a hybrid of plums and cherries), and those two beers are then blended together. The plums and pluerries are of multiple varieties, but one varietal was called “Shiro,” the other “Delight” – hence the name, “Shiro’s Delight.” Allagash has been using fresh fruit in their beer for years, but it’s not without challenges.
“With low alcohol and hop profiles, it’s a cocktail disguised as a wonderfully balanced beer,” founding brewer Stephen Hale says.
Passionfruit (Modern Times Fruitlands)
Not to get too Gose-forward, but any beer list about seasonal ingredient must include this gem by San Diego’s coolest brewery, Modern Times.
Raspberries (Hardywood Park Raspberry Stout)
Granted, summer isn’t really stout season, but for this there might have to be an exception. The Raspberry Stout made by the folks at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery down in Virginia is an imperial stout made with cacao nibs and locally-sourced raspberries.
Cucumber (Flat 12 Cucumber Kolsch)
Fresh cucumbers in a salad, a glass of water or on a sandwich are a summertime game-changer. They’re not missed when they’re absent, but their presence kicks everything up a notch. A well-made kolsch, too, is a great addition to a summer beer lineup.[…]
