Anderson Valley Summer Solstice Cerveza Crema

Brewed by Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Style: Cream Ale
Boonville, California USA

I appreciate a brewery being brave enough to produce the unusual, but I don’t like the taste of this one. Not too sweet or too dry, good texture. Flavor is a citrus, herbal, and slightly flowery.

There is a very malty smell to this cream ale.It looks more like a brown ale than a summer ale, which is where the cream comes in. I love the name and the label, but the beer is just okay,not great. It is easy on the palate because it is not bitter or hoppy, but has a cream flavor just as the name describes.

Pours clear copper with gold edges and thin tan head. The mild aroma is malts, grains and caramel with a estery-ness that makes it seem like lager yeast notes in the background. The taste begins sweet with malts, a sense of corn and caramel. It then moves towards sugary sweet malts and mild floral hops by midway. It ends with a lingering mixture of caramel, again mild ester notes seeming like a lager yeast quality, mild cherry and red apple candy. It is a bit on the sweet side.

Cloudy brownish color. Smells of malts and spices. Has a nice sweeter flavor full of different spices. Tastes of caramel, vanilla, and nutmeg. Not much of an aftertaste. An overall pleasant brew.

Pours a dark golden color with a small, foamy white head that leaves some sudsy lacing behind. The aroma shows notes of honey, sweet vanilla cream, grains, and some floral hops. The flavor follows with the sweetened grains, mild floral hops, and the sweet cream. Medium bodied with decent carbonation and a creamy mouthfeel. Easily drinkable, but maybe a touch too much cream for me.

Pours a deep reddish copper into a shaker. Head quickly dissipates to skim surface leaving no lacing. Mild caramel and toffee aromas. Crisp with sweet candy corn upfront turning to a darker caramel in the astringent finish.

Pours light amber, small white head, no lacing. Aroma is sweet, cream-soda like. The taste is sweet at first, then moves through a variety of flavors, from cola to citrus to a buttery creaminess to sarsparilla. I really enjoyed this, as I do every year.

The aroma is sweet and malty with caramel, grassy hops, and a touch of butter scotch and water. The appearance is deep amber with a foamy head. The flavor is buttery and a bit hoppy but mostly it is dominated by caramel. The palate is average. Overall a nice beer.