BEER REVIEWS in New York: Some Summer Time Brews

My search for the best beer in New York continues….

As you might have guessed, I’ve been drinking a lot of beer this summer. Below are a few of the seasonal brews I’ve sampled recently:

ALFRESCO CUCUMBER from Wild East Brewing

I’ve had a few cucumber beers in the past and generally they don’t seem to do it for me. So why did I invest in this can which clearly spelled out its ingredients on the label? Don’t know. I keep hoping it clicks for me. I like beer and I don’t hate cucumbers.

I must say Wild East’s latest cucumber beer is the best one I’ve tried so far. They smartly add the summer time vegetable into a kölsch and I think it mostly works.

The cucumber is very subtle and could easily be confused for peppers or other green things with a vegetal aroma. To me, it’s mostly cucumber peels that rear their head here.

It works well in the background and makes for pleasant grain-forward beer. It’s very bubbly with wet grains on the nose and a malty, slightly sweet finish.  Easy drinking and the cucumber was far from offensive.

EL TREN RAPIDO from Kings County Brewers Collective

I rarely drink anything resembling a Mexican lager unless I am in Mexico or time traveled back to my college days.

But I found a can of KCBC’s offering and it was only $2!! Score! That’s cheaper than a Corona!

A very healthy effervescence showed up easily in the crystal clear golden liquid. It drinks very clean and has that grainy lager flavor without the overly bitter acidity finish like most mass produced beers of this style.

It’s not overly complex but it’s a really great summer beer if you’re looking for a change from the craft centric IPAs and sours.

 GOSE NO.1 from EBBS Brewing Company

Ebbs is one of the newest  breweries in the city. It was formed after Mikkeller closed its Citi Field brewery and some of the brewers and owners (including the son of the former owner of the Mets) formed another company.

Ebbs is now brewed in Williamsburg and their beer has popped up at some local beer shops and the very well-stocked Bowery Whole Foods, where I picked up their Gose No.1

Their IPA’s are up to No. 7, but this is still the only Gose they have released and if the future ones are like this one, we are in for some puckering goodness.

Gose No. 1 is brewed with watermelon and salt. Generally I’m not a huge fan of the intense gose style and watermelon in beer can get awfully sweet. My worrying was for naught.

The pale clear golden liquid had a hint of melon on the nose. The drinking was very balanced. Not too sour or too sweet, but somewhere pleasantly in the middle.I definitely picked up real watermelon notes on the front and the beer finished with a smooth sourness and a refreshing hint of sea salt. This was a home run.

 BLUSH ROSE IPA from TALEA Beer Co.

I’m looking forward to one day visiting the Talea tasting room in Williamsburg, but for now, I’ve just sipped my way through a few of their fruit-centric beers.

This one was one I actually shared with my non-beer drinking mother and while she only had a few sips, she kind of liked it.

I, however, was not as big of a fan here. The ruby beer had a healthy carbonation and a bouquet of floral fruity notes. But that was where my love for the beer ended. It drank much more like a tannic wine than an IPA.

There was not much sweetness but a good deal of heat from the alcohol. A few fruits revealed themselves subtly from peach to strawberries. But none of them lingered long enough for me to hold on to the flavor.

I’m not much of a wine drinker and this was definitely more of a wine than a beer in terms of flavor. I know one of Talea’s goals is to reach people who may not normally fluctuate towards beer and in this case, they succeeded. But it wasn’t for me.

GREENHOUSE BLACK LAGER from EVIL TWIN BREWING

Evil Twin has released a few of these oak aged lagers recently but this particular one was released last December and I just got around to cracking the can open.

It seems the difference between this one and the most recently released Black Lager is that this one advertised the addition of an old world German hops called Hersbrucker. That name doesn’t get thrown around in the craft world nearly as often as Mosaic or Cascade.

But many of these Greenhouse Lagers are also conditioned on American Oak Foudre, much like this one.

The long description (or name of the beer), sounds as complex and as unusual as many of Evil Twin’s creations, but in actual taste this one is quite simple and almost a bit too understated.

I detected basically nothing on the nose of this dark cola brown beer with lots of active bubbles and a tight thin head. Perhaps there was a little bit of molasses lingering in the aroma, but I couldn’t get much else. Was my nose having an off night? Possibly.

There are also wasn’t much going on when sipping it. There were slight toasty malt note and hints of oak and spices, but it was all very subtle. No question it was drinkable, but at the high price of an Evil Twin beer and the excitement of the ingredients, I would have hoped for more complexity in the final product.

Is Wild East Brewing’s Al Fresco Cucumber the best beer in NY? It’s an interesting summer beer with all the refreshing light body of a kölsch with hints of vegetal greens and an easy drinking grain flavor.  8 out of 10.

Is Kings County Brewers Collective’s El Tren Rapido the best beer in NY? I don’t normally go for Mexican style lagers, but this one gets an 8 out of 10 for its smooth easy drinking quality without any of the funky aftertaste of the mass produced beers of this style.

Is EBBS Brewing’s Gose No.1 the best beer in NY? The authentic sweetness of watermelon is balanced beautifully with a restrained sour yeast and a refreshing addition of summer sea salt. 9 out of 10.

Is Talea Beer Co’s Blush Rosé IPA the best beer in NY? For fruit-forward wine drinkers, this is the beer for you, but if you’re looking for a fruit-centric IPA, I can’t imagine the tannic beer will be your thing. Others will disagree but I give it a 6 out of 10.

Is Evil Twin Brewing’s Greenhouse Black Lager with Hersbrucker Hops Conditioned on American Oak Foudre the best beer in NY? It is pretty easily forgettable with a disappointing amount of subtlety. I get that’s the point of this beer and style, but I would have liked a bit more flavor for the price. So it gets a 7out of 10.