exploring the appeal of summer beers

Summer on the Seacoast is a fine mix of sultry heat, ocean breezes and tasty barbeques. It’s enough to make you thirsty—thirsty for beer. Beginning each spring, a number of local and regional breweries produce seasonal brews that offer relief from the heat while complementing the feel and flavors of summer.

On Thursday, April 24, Redhook Brewery in Portsmouth will host a summer release party for its seasonal beer, Sunrye. As if the dawning of summer isn’t reason enough to celebrate, the kickoff party commemorates the impending season with kegs of Sunrye, live reggae and free giveaways.

Most of the events Redhook hosts throughout the year are concerts focused on the music. But the Sunrye party is “really focused on the beer,” said Jessica Watts, event coordinator for Redhook.

During a recent visit to the Cataqua Pub at Redhook, Watts placed a Sunrye sample on the pub table. With light pouring in from the pub’s great windows, the beer took on a luminescent, golden hue, like honey or a wheat field at sunset. The taste is light, crisp, and, as head brewer Doug MacNair puts it, complex. 

“To me, there are two big beer seasons,” MacNair said. The first occurs in late-fall and throughout the winter, when cold temperatures and heavy foods necessitate hearty, complex beers. The second season emerges in spring and lasts through the summer, when long, hot days, often filled with outdoor activity, make people thirsty for light, refreshing beverages. Sunrye is Redhook’s answer to that seasonal thirst. It uses soft, floral hops, which MacNair described as delicate. Most summer beers run the risk of either being too hoppy and thus too bitter, or too light and thus not very complex. What makes Sunrye distinct is, well, the rye.

MacNair compares rye as an ingredient in beer to salt as an ingredient in food. When seasoning a dish, salt is added not for its own flavor, but for the way in which it brings out the flavor of other, subtler ingredients. Rye works the same way, bringing out the flavor of the delicate hops and subtle malts.

“Most craft seasonals tend to be big, robust ales,” MacNair said. He described Sunrye as a light, crisp summer beer with a backbone. “There is a lot to interest you, but it’s still a light beer,” he said.

MacNair has been with Redhook for 20 years, and 12 of those years have been spent in Portsmouth. Prior to moving to New England, he worked at Redhook’s headquarters in Seattle, Wash. Sunrye was first brewed in 2003. In 2006, Sunrye was awarded the Great American Beer Festival’s silver medal. MacNair has had to produce 10 to 15 percent more Sunrye each year to meet increased demand.

Brewing begins in mid-March. Sunrye is probably the most challenging Redhook product to make, MacNair said. “You’re dealing with such delicate flavors to get the right balance,” he said. Despite the challenges, MacNair and his crew will produce 60 brews of Sunrye, with each brew equivalent to 100 barrels. The production room at Redhook looks more like an airplane hanger than a brewing room, with two- and three-story tanks standing in orderly ranks.

MacNair praised the diversity of craft breweries in the Northeast. Typically, when beer lovers pray to the gods of microbrews, they face toward the Pacific Northwest, where craft beers are as common as rainy days. But in recent decades, New England has also produced a number of divinely inspired regional breweries, including a few on the Seacoast.

Smuttynose is one such brewery. The Portsmouth-based microbrewery offers Smuttynose Summer Weizen, a wheat ale brewed with a combination of domestic and continental wheat and barley malts. It is lightly hopped and fermented with Belgian wit yeast. First brewed in 2006, the Summer Weizen is available from May though August.

Another popular summer beer is Samuel Adam’s Summer Ale. This American wheat ale uses malted wheat, lemon zest and grains of paradise, a pepper from Africa first used as a brewing spice in the 13th century. Samuel Adam’s Summer ale is refreshing, although not particularly complex.

MacNair recommends pairing Summer beer with poultry or seafood. Any sort of light, summery fare would match well. It can also be used to flavor a marinade or salad dressing, like vinaigrette.

Right now, there are several 16,000-gallon tanks filled with Sunrye at Redhok Brewery, waiting to be poured. A number of gallons have already been shipped out to bars, restaurants and stores throughout the area.
This year, the first keg will be tapped at the release party on April 24. Radio DJs Baker and Stoney, from WHEB, will be on hand to MC the party, and Boston-based reggae group NODDACLU will provide righteous rhythms. 
Representatives from Sunday River will also be on hand, giving away free passes to its new mountain bike park. Philbrick’s Sports of Dover will raffle off a mountain bike, and the brewery will dole out Frisbees and other summer essentials. Although the kickoff party is open to all ages, the raffles and giveaways are reserved for the 21-plus crowd.

The brewery plans to hold the party indoors, but if nice weather holds out, it might be moved outside, Watts said. While it may be a little early to break out the flip-flops and beach umbrella, the unveiling of summer beers represents another cleared hurtle in the race toward summer bliss.