Causes for celebration

It's still high summer in my notes backlog. Here's a few cans Rascals sent out over the last season.

I managed to find twenty minutes of al fresco beer drinking time and spent it with Pink Lemonade Sour. It's certainly pink, hibiscus doing what hibiscus does. It's hazy with that, and doesn't really form a head for any length of time, neither which is a surprise for this kind of beer. The aroma is that of a soft drink, promising some sort of flavoured processed sugar but being vague on the details. The body is quite light, as expected at 4% ABV, but it's not watery and it carries a decent amount of flavour complexity. It opens sweet, with the summery raspberry and cherry of hibiscus. When the sweetness fades, it becomes a crisp and refreshing job, akin to biting into a cold slice of watermelon. The bite grows into a full sour kick in the final stage, cleansing any of the initial sugar still drifting around. That's a slow-motion account of what happens, but really you can just drink this. And while it might appear to be pitched at those psychopaths who believe they don't like beer, it is very much a beer all the way through.

Celebrating 90 years of the Molloy's drinks business, The Craic Is 90 is 4.2% ABV, pale yellow and hazy, though the brewery doesn't assign it any style beyond "ale". To me, it's a very familiar American-style light pale ale, brimming with zesty lemon though never quite hitting full-throttle grapefruit. The base is thick enough to carry a decent amount of bitter acidity, and the whole thing brings a sense of high-end or homemade lemonade, perfect for relaxing sun-downers. It would theoretically work as a happy, social, party beer too, drinkable into the early hours, by people younger than me.

For the second in the brewery's IPA Outbreak series, a Session IPA of 4.4% ABV, brewed with Citra, Galaxy and Mosaic. It's almost clear too, only slightly foggy yellow in the glass. The Mosaic delivers in the aroma, making it smell deliciously melon-like -- honeydew and cantaloupe -- and very similar to the mighty Little Fawn, my session IPA archetype. The flavour continues that way, which is a bit of a one-note, but a note I like hearing. There's just enough bitterness to balance it, but nothing I would describe as Citra's doing, while the Galaxy almost seems to be asleep on the job. Where it falls down a little is the texture: while it was enjoyable for almost the whole first half, there's a wateriness which creeps in when it gets even slightly warm. It means that the lovely melons wear off faster than they should. I guess they've taken the "session" aspect seriously as it's very drinkable and leaves no aftertaste, but I think it would have benefited from the same sort of malt treatment as the previous beer.

You may need to do your own folkloric research on "Shemozzle": I can only say it's a frequently used word in southern GAA circles, though more for the innocent sort of on-pitch shoving and tugging that they do, rather than my native Ulster where conflict tends not to have cute and beer-appropriate labels applied. Anyway, this is a hazy IPA brewed in collaboration with Sudden Death when they were over for Rascals's festival back in May. It smells a bit hot, all of its 6.4% ABV and more. The savoury side of haze is very much to the fore -- onions, garlic, armpit sweat -- which is unfortunate. They seem to have gone for an accentuated bitterness but without the sharp and piney aspect of the west coast. I don't think the east coast lays any claim to the salty, vegetal bitterness on display here. It doesn't really work. Haze needs fruit, and this has none. It is at least sharp and clean, suggesting perhaps the influence of Sudden Death's German heritage. I'm not a fan, however: too much that is wrong with hazy IPA is on display here. On the slim off-chance that my opinions count for anything, there are lessons to be learned.

Light and simple: that's the way to go for summer beer. Save the sweaty haze for colder days.