Bottle/Tap: Tap
On a trip to Strangebrew a few weeks back I decided to try a few of the spring beers they were rolling out. One of these beers happened to be from Smuttynose, and I was a little cautious. I have to be honest when I say that I don’t really care for Smuttynose, but I wanted to give them a fair shot and ordered a Star Island Single.
This beer was a hazy golden color, like a hefeweizen, but tasted nothing like a hefeweizen. At first I thought maybe the keg had gone bad, but I wasn’t impressed at all. I was hoping that maybe it would smooth out over the course of the glass and get better, no such luck. This beer had a very strange flavor that wasn’t sitting well with me.
I remembered what I had said last year about citrus and summer beers: when you get the chance try throwing in lemon, lime or orange to improve flavor, and for once I heeded my own advice. One person at our table had an extra orange slice that I put to good use in the bottom of my glass, swished around a bit, then sampled and noticed a huge difference. This beer was made for orange slices and not much else.
With warm air coming in and summer beers on the shelves remember to try citrus to help improve flavor or cut out the bitter taste. Experimenting is the best way to find out what citrus goes with what beer, but be daring and creatively mix whatever you can get your hands on. If it weren’t for the orange, this beer would have been awful. I probably won’t order it again, but you can give it a go if you feel daring
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