Anderson Valley Brewing Summer Solstice Review

Having been born and raised in Chico California Sierra Nevada Brewery and brews have a special place in my heart. I love the over hoppy big strong flavors of their stupendous beers. Some people don’t like the fragrant boutique and bitter spicy flavors but to me it is home. I have a certain fondness for the pale ale; it was my first taste of microbrew, setting me on the path out of darkness that is major breweries and into the blissful world of home and microbreweries. Last summer a wise and insightful friend of mine introduced me to a small brewery, located in the northern coastal range of California, Anderson Valley Brewing Company aka The Legendary Boonville Beer. I have tried most of their beers and I think they are quality crafted beverages but one of their suds rise’s to the top, Summer Solstice Cerveza Crema. As I pop open my 4th bottle in about 45 minutes I have to consider that the SSCC maybe the best beer ever brewed. Seriously, I would do bad things unforgivable things to get my shaky hands on another 6 pack of this stuff. The refreshing malty flavor of this beer makes it undeniable delicious. SSCC has a perfectly balanced sweet after taste that compliments the essential beer flavor and keeps you chugging one after another. It is not a “flavored” beer like some other major brewers, cough Anheuser Busch cough, that taste like shaved ice flavoring mixed with beer. On a side note AVB offers a few of their delectable beers, including SSCC, in a can. These cans have a special lining inside so you don’t get that silver bullet piss and aluminum taste as well as a special carrier that keeps crap off the top of the beers and is harder for animals to get their heads stuck in. Back to the point, I would murder puppies for a 22 ouncer of this stuff. The velvet creamy taste makes you ignore the borderline racist reason AVB named this drink of the gods Cerveza Crema; “this beer has become a favorite among many of our Hispanic friends, so it’s named in their honor”. I have to point out that this is a light summertime seasonal ale and some may call me a beer namby-pamby because I am not raving about an over hopped barely drinkable full-bodied beer. I only have this to say to those people; when it s good it’s good so suck it! A home brewer friend of mine pointed out that the trend in breweries to try and make the hoppiest bitter fierce beer they can is the equivalent of a chef seeing how much salt he can put in a soup before people will stop eating it. I applaud AVB for proving to us in the beer snob world; it is possible to make a light summertime ale tasty and full flavored. Needless to say you need to try this beer. Request the local store where you get your fire water carry Summer Solstice Cerveza Crema and all the other fine ales by The Legendary Boonville Brewery.

Anthony
Ps I know I can’t spell or punctuate correctly