Anderson Valley Brewing Co. – Summer Solstice – This beer is obviously out of season but as usual I don’t care since I drank it in season. This beer is considered a cream ale but it is certainly different than the other two (Wolf’s Ridge & Hardywood) that I have tasted this year. It’s style of malt is completely different getting an amber hue instead of the usual straw yellow. They do toss in some hops but it’s the lowest IBU I have seen at 6. Wolf’s Ridge is listed at 13 while Hardywood is listed their IBU at 18 so this is a common trait of all three. The other thing that all three have in common is the fact that they are all session beers. Anderson Valley has a 5.0% ABV so it’s second highest between them which is still pretty low. The malt makes all the difference for this cream ale which is why I like it the best. Anderson Valley is out of California so they ship just about anywhere. When summer hits next year, kick back with one of these brews.

Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits – Sculpin India Pale Ale – This company is out of San Diego so they named their IPA after a fish. They don’t admit to which hops they used to create this beer but they do note that they hop it at five different stages. Earlier stages are normally for bitterness, later stages are for the other tastes from hops and the latest stage is to help create an aroma from the hops. Ballast Point feels like it evokes a myriad of fruit which I didn’t quite get but it was a nice complex flavor. Because the hops were applied in stages, it isn’t overly bitter. It also comes in at a somewhat modest 70 IBU for an IPA. Sevens were the second most popular number for this beer as it was 7.0% ABV so it’ll do the trick in a hurry. If you feel like tasting their beer, click on this link which allows you to find out if you can get their beer shipped to you. Nice. It’s worth the wait time.

Left Hand Brewing Co. – Wake Up Dead Nitro – Every now and again, I remember that I don’t need to feed the craft beer beast known as IPAs. My favorites in that category are Black IPAs which employ roasted malt. That version of malt is normally used in stouts. Wake Up Dead Nitro happens to be an an Imperial version of a stout. Imperials do have a tendency to be more hoppy than a regular stout and this one is no exception at 45 IBU. It’s needed to stand up to the strong taste of the roasted malts or else it’d be hidden in the beer. Left Hand uses seven types of malt in this bad boy so that’s a heavy dose to counter. As with many of their other beers, it is done very well. As with an imperial beverage, the ABV is pretty high at 10.2% so you need to make sure to take your time drinking this one. Left Hand distributes to large swaths of this country and this one is a year around offering so no excuses to not try it. If you don’t see the Nitro version, just snag one of the regular ones.