Summer beer breezes in

Beer. Summer.

Two simple words, but they echo in the mind like an incantation, conjuring up images of friends gathered around an ice-filled tub of bottled brews, office workers tossing off suit jackets and saluting the evening with a few cool ones on the deck, mountain bikers quenching their thirst after a hot afternoon on the trail.

A growing number of West Coast craft brewers have been capitalizing on the magical association of summer and beer by releasing seasonal summer beers. These beers are available for a limited time, typically from late May through September. They’re the flip side of the more familiar winter-release or holiday beers you see in stores between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. And they’re just one of a number of creative innovations that have made craft beers the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. alcoholic beverage industry.

Anchor began the trend more than 20 years ago with a summer-release wheat beer, recently renamed Anchor Summer Beer. A few other West Coast breweries, including Sierra Nevada, whose Pilsener-style lager Summerfest was a California State Fair gold medal winner in 1999, have regularly included a summer-release beer in their annual rotation. But the numbers are increasing, and this year several well-regarded breweries are releasing summer beers in a variety of styles, including pale ales, wheat beers and even a sweet Mexican-style beer. Additional breweries are planning summer seasonals for the future.

The summer beers represent a departure from the rich, high-alcohol, hoppy beers that have made the reputations of the West Coast’s finest breweries, but they are characteristic of the philosophy of the craft brewers, a stable group of players whose menus of beers are ever changing -- a business approach that experts say has fueled the industry’s growth.

“A lot of what’s going on in the drinking scene is that consumers are looking for innovation and new ideas,” says Ray Daniels, director of craft beer marketing of the Brewers Assn., a nonprofit trade organization formed earlier this year by the merger of two longtime brewers’ groups. “Certainly we’ve seen spirits get attention for innovation,” he says, “and the whole craft brewing industry is a creative engine, constantly turning out new flavors and new brands.”

New drink, same brewers

Labeled with come-hither names like Lazy Days (Grant’s), Summer Solstice Cerveza Crema (Anderson Valley), Stinson Beach Peach (Marin Brewing Co.) and Endless Summer Light (Karl Strauss), summer-release beers are marketed as novelties, with the lure being mood and lifestyle. They’re also, in the case of the best-known craft breweries, something different and unusual from trusted producers.

Anderson Valley Brewing Co. President Ken Allen says his company added a new summer-release beer this year specifically to go after two market segments: Latinos and women. Already among the several seasonals Anderson Valley brews (including a few “winter warmers”) was a summer beer called High Rollers Wheat Beer. This year Summer Solstice, made in a lighter, sweeter style inspired by Mexican beers -- but not, says Allen, emulating them -- joined the lineup.

“We’re known for producing very hoppy beers. This is the exact opposite. It’s very sweet -- doesn’t impart any bitterness whatsoever -- but it’s not syrupy or cloying.”

Summer Solstice has lower alcohol (5.5%, as opposed to the company’s Winter Solstice ale, which weighs in at 7.2%), and, according to Allen, the inclusion of roasted grains makes it ideal for pairing with barbecue. But it has the richness and body to make a satisfying late-afternoon stand-alone or to drink with one of those plates of cheese, sausage and crackers that ends up being a lazy summer dinner.

Another brewery beloved of beer enthusiasts, Sierra Nevada, has an atypical summer beer.

“We wanted to make a lighter beer than our flagship Pale Ale,” says Steve Grossman, a distribution manager at Sierra Nevada. “It gets real hot in Chico [where the brewery is located] in the summer.”

Sierra Nevada’s Summerfest has 5% alcohol, as opposed to 5.8% for Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. It’s a lager, so it’s also made with a different yeast at lower temperatures. The recipe incorporates German Pilsener malt and Saaz hops, a Czech variety, “so it has a real Pilsener-style flavor profile,” he says, while the company’s pale ale is made with its signature domestic Cascade hops.

“The ingredients are different and the processes are different,” Grossman says.

Summerfest might be a surprise for Sierra Nevada fans who routinely order the brewery’s food-friendly pale ale, but it’s so well made that it takes no getting used to: the color of pale straw as it pours, a whiff of honey in the glass, lively flavor and a long finish. It demonstrates that a beer doesn’t have to be full-bodied and rich to be good.

Thirst quenchers

Craft breweries have made their reputations, for the most part, on monster brews, full-bodied beers that have nothing in common with mainstream brands such as Bud or Heineken. But as Grossman points out, “every beer has its season,” and the flagship brews of these companies aren’t made for quenching thirst on a 95-degree afternoon. With seasonal-release beers, brew masters can experiment with the lighter-bodied styles -- and beer lovers can try something new. If it’s a hit, you can bet it’ll be back next summer.

Although there are different styles -- Anchor Summer Beer is a wheat beer, Alaskan Summer Ale is a Kolsch-style beer and Grant’s Lazy Days is a pale ale -- these are beers for quaffing, not for serious contemplation. Because they tend to be lower in alcohol and light-bodied, they’re great for parties. They don’t offer the complexity that serious beer drinkers like to match with serious cooking, but instead are the kind of refreshing drink you look for when you’re hot and thirsty.

Fritz Maytag, brew master at Anchor, calls Anchor Summer Beer “lawn mower beer.” Even a beer geek works up a sweat out in the yard and looks for a thirst-quenching drink that won’t dominate the senses all afternoon. Anchor Summer is dry in the mouth and refreshing, with good body and a clean finish.

Historic precedent

Although today’s thirst for novelty is largely the force behind summer beers, there’s historic precedent for the practice of releasing a special beer for the hot months.

“In the old days,” says the Brewers Assn.’s Daniels, “they did not brew during the summer months because the wild yeasts, pollen and other stuff that was present in the fields and atmosphere would cause havoc with the brewing. They would make special beers during the end of the spring brewing season and then put beer aside for summer consumption and start brewing again in the fall.” And there are also some products, he points out, that have been brewed traditionally for the season. “In Germany there’s Maibock,” he says, “released in May, lighter in color and hoppier than the normal winter bock beers would be. Another example is a Belgian beer called saison. It was brewed to be served to farmhands while they were working.”

Summer beers are more readily available in bottles than on tap at most bars and restaurants because competition for “handles” is fierce and goes to breweries’ best-known and most popular beers, not to brews that are available in limited quantities for a limited time. But at establishments such as the Yard House restaurants, where there are dozens of beers on tap, you’ll find a selection.

Be sure to buy from retailers who keep the beer cool, and when you get where you’re going -- home, patio party, picnic -- refrigerate your purchase immediately or put it on ice. That’s as serious as you’ll want to be about summer beers. Thank goodness.

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Now ready for quaffing

The Times tasting panel met recently for a tasting of West Coast craft brewery summer-release beers available in the L.A. area. On the panel were food editor Leslie Brenner, deputy food editor Betty Baboujon, staff writer Charles Perry and owner and beer sommelier of Father’s Office, Sang Yoon.

Overall, these were low-alcohol, light-bodied, quaffable beers, but refreshing and drinkable. They’re not age-able. They are made in a variety of styles and are not the characteristically big, hoppy beers West Coast craft breweries are known for.

The beers are listed in the order of the panel’s preference.

Sierra Nevada Summerfest. Dry and balanced, this Pilsener-style lager was the liveliest of the summer beers we tasted, with chamomile and honey on the nose (“mountain meadows”) and flavors of citrus and honey. It was the hoppiest too. Available at Beverages & More stores, www.bevmo.com; John & Pete’s Fine Wines & Spirits in West Hollywood, (310) 657-3080; Vendome Liquor in Toluca Lake, (818) 766-9593, and Beverly Hills, (310) 276-9463; Wally’s Wine & Spirits in West L.A., (310) 475-0606; and Whole Foods stores, www.wholefoods.com. About $7 to $9 per six-pack.

Anderson Valley Summer Solstice Cerveza Crema. With wood tones in the color, a foamy head, brown sugar and butterscotch on the nose and tastes of toffee and butterscotch, this creamy brew was described as “a butterball” and “desserty” by tasters, who also liked its “rainwater soft” mouth-feel. Available at selected Beverages & More stores; Vendome Liquor in Beverly Hills; and Wally’s Wine & Spirits in West L.A. About $7 to $9 per six-pack.

Anchor Summer Beer. A straw-colored wheat beer with a generous head. Tasters detected sherry or mango aromas and found it “very malty” with “dry straw” and “woody” notes and a dry finish. Available at Wally’s Wine & Spirits in West L.A.; Vendome Liquor in Beverly Hills, Toluca Lake and Studio City, (818) 766-5272; and at Whole Foods stores. About $9 to $9.50 per six-pack.

Grant’s Lazy Days. Light amber in color, with aromas of freshly cut hay. “Grassy” and “delicious” with a short, dry finish. Available at Vendome Liquor in Toluca Lake; Whole Foods stores; and Greenblatt’s in Hollywood, (323) 656-0606. About $7 to $8 per six-pack.

Alaskan Summer Ale. A Kolsch-style beer with a light honey color, this creamy textured brew had a light “banana-bread” nose, a sweet flavor and a pleasant, lightly bitter finish. Available at Beverages & More stores; Liquid Wine & Spirits in Chatsworth, (818) 709-5019; Hi Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, (949) 650-8463; and at Vendome Liquor in Toluca Lake and Studio City. About $8 per six-pack.

Lagunitas No. 10 Ale. This light-bodied beer had a nose described by some tasters as “metallic”; others picked up the scent of cured meats. It was lightly hoppy, with some vanilla in the flavor. “I don’t dislike it,” noted one taster. Available at Beverages & More stores, Hi Time Wine Cellars and selected Whole Foods stores. About $3 per 22-ounce bottle.

Full Sail Session Premium Lager. This lager had a “funky” “vegetal” nose that blew off quickly. Tasters thought it was “one-dimensional” and “boring,” with a sweet finish. “Can we make Budweiser?” was one taster’s rhetorical question to the brewers. “Who cares?” Available at Vendome Liquor in Toluca Lake. About $8 per six-pack.

Karl Strauss Endless Summer Light. This light beer had a greenish tinge and an alfalfa taste. “Yuck,” was one taster’s comment, and another said, “It’s gross.” Available at Beverages & More stores. About $7 per six-pack.