Seasonals in the sun

It's a random medley of Irish beers today, broadly on theme of summer special editions.

Larkin's produced a radler especially for SuperValu in Raheny and I have my old multimedia mucker Brian to thank for shipping it my way. It's nice to see the brewery returning to lager, even if it's one with lemonade in it. The result is called Taste of Raheny and is 3.5% ABV. It's a pleasing golden colour and smells properly crisp, like a pilsner should, plus just a hint of sweet lemon. The flavour is a wee bit disappointing, in that there's not much of it. Hooray for no cloying and sticky fizzy pop, but boo for the absence of the beer character suggested by the aroma. 7-Up-like lemon and lime is about the extent of the taste. I guess the basic requirements are met: it's very easy drinking and quenches a thirst admirably. It left me hankering for more of a beer character, however.

Witbier is an obvious choice for summer seasonals and Two Sides has produced one, via Third Barrel as usual, called One Wit Wonder. It's low-strength at 4.8% ABV and suspiciously orange in colour, so faithfulness to the style marked out by Hoegaarden does not seem to have been a factor. A banana aroma and banana flavour is further evidence of this. First impression, then, is of something that looks, smells and tastes more like a weissbier than a wit. There's a pleasing spice level, which could be construed as Belgian but equally would not be out of place in weissbier, while the only unmistakably witbier element is a pinch of sweet lemonade citrus. I'm quibbling about style, but the fact is that a pint of this on a warm evening was extremely welcome. It's easy drinking despite the esters and has plenty of cleansing carbonation. Job done, no fuss.

Lough Gill has also given us a pun-tastic witbier, in the form of Get Wit It, brewed for Aldi. This one is 5.2% ABV and most definitely yellow rather than orange in colour. The aroma has exactly the right amount of citrus promise mixing with Belgian yeast spice. Alas this doesn't translate very well to the flavour and I found it a bit bland, the husky grain side more prominent than any fruit, herbs or spices. Like the one above, there's an estery quality too, not quite full-on banana but certainly heading in that direction. There's a substantial density to the whole thing as well, something that prevents from being purely an easy-drinking refresher. It's inoffensive, and full marks for that aroma, but the rest doesn't pull its weight. I think brewers underestimate how hard it is to make really good witbier.

Rye River celebrates the dog days, Rhineland style, with Die Hundestage Köter Kölsch, a straight-up recreation of Cologne's native lager style, brewed in collaboration with London brewery Old Street. And straight-up it very much is: impeccably clear and golden, and crisp as the day as long, when the day is very long. There's a very faint fruit element, summery again like raspberry and strawberry, but it's faint and doesn't interfere with the essential lageriness. The German hopping is floral rather than grassy. 5% ABV makes it a little on the strong side for thirst-quenching quaffing, and I think the subtle complexity makes it worth taking a little time over. They've overstated the refreshment power here but that doesn't bother me. I'm happy to sip at leisure whatever the weather.

Something classy for dessert: Tarte Tatin from Otterbank. It's not an explicitly summer beer but it was in the fridge and I wanted to drink it. Blended saisons, mixed with apple juice and fermented with Brettanomyces is the précis, the result being 6% ABV and an opaque shade of orange with lots of busy foam. There's quite a striking sourness in the aroma, though a sticky pie-filling apple sauce element too. Its flavour is calmer and more integrated than all of this suggests. It's very much still a saison at heart, with all the dry crispness and earthy tones which go along with that. The Brett funk and sour culture are a sideshow to this, though a welcome one, adding complexity without trying to dominate the picture. And then the residual apple sweetness brings a different aspect and helps balance it. While it might seem like a novelty beer on paper, this is fully coherent, original and delicious.

We turn into August and autumn will be here soon enough. I still have room for a few more summer cans yet, however.