Blowing Rock Summer Ale

In the summertime, brewing companies use the term summertime ale or summer ale on their summer seasonal beers. Those two, summertime ale and summer ale are broad when being used in a descriptive use. There are so many different kinds of summer type beers out there. There is wheat, wheat with a fruit, Klösch, white (wit), fruit beers, shandies, radlers, lagers, pilsners, and IPA. These summer type beers tend to have a lower abv than other seasonal beers. I look forward to all the summery beers.  So here is one Summer Ale from the Blowing Rock Brewing Company in Hickory North Carolina, this is there Summer Ale (Belgian Witbier), 5.0% ABV. Their Summer Ale is brewed with sweet orange peel, Curacao bitter orange peel, and coriander. Blowing Rock Summer Ale pours a medium orange goldish color with a three-finger fluffy white head that sticks around for a nice amount of time before fading into somewhat thin lacing on the glass. I found some light coming through a bit, not a whole lot and there is a decent amount of carbonation bubbles to it. The aroma is a bit spicy on my nose from the coriander. There is also a sweet and bitter orange peel scent clashing together. The taste on this Summer Ale is a tiny bit sweet at first for a second or two then becomes slightly bitter and the spice coriander hits. I found the taste to be more of the coriander then anything else. It wasn’t so bad but just a bit too much in my opinion. There is some citrus flavor the quickly fades in and out on the back. The mouthfeel is medium and has a spiced coriander finish that leads into a slightly bitter orange and big spiced coriander aftertaste. With every sip of Summer Ale,  I really tasted a big-spiced coriander wave with a tinge of orange peel. This beer wasn’t what I was expecting it to be, but not really a letdown. I mean I didn’t think it was so bad, it’s somewhat good, just not great. So I would give this a B-. I mean I’ve had some world glass Belgian style Witbiers before and this is that, but it sill somewhat good, but needs to have less of a big spiced flavor. I would have this again soon. So if you have not had Blowing Rock Brewing Companies Summer Ale, then go out and try it for yourself. Have a happy and safe Fourth of July Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!