Anderson Valley Summer Solstice Cerveza Crema

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

Appears a deep red amber with a 1 finger ivory head that stays for a minute before fizzing out. Virtually no lacing is left behind. Smell is of sweet caramel malt with a creamy vanilla scent coming from the glass. Taste is of caramel malt, cream, and vanilla. Mouthfeel is slightly chewy, medium bodied, smooth, along with low levels of carbonation. It’s also slightly thin. Drinkability is ok. a little too much though for a Summer brew. Seems like this is the Winter Solstice that’s been watered down considerably.

Creamy, spicey nose. Hoppy, spicey, and again..creamy flavor. Not the most hoppy beer out there, but I think thats kind of the point of a summer beer. To be light, and easy to make a session out of. Enjoy on the boat dock!

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.

12 oz. Clear dark brown with a small spit of creamy foam. Molasses and chocolate aroma. Tastes of caramel, chocolate, vanilla cream and slight woody herb hops. Light-medium body is very lightly carbonated and has just enough dryness on the end.

Pours a cloudy amber colour with a medium frothy off white head. Aroma of toasted malts and some fruits. Initial taste of strong strawberry hard candy(very similar to a blow pop or other strawberry candies), although toasty in the background. Still remaining sweet throughout and finishing dry with some bitter hops. Palate duration does cut short, would have liked to see the duration on this one. Some head retention, light-medium bodied. Overall an interesting one.

Bottle from the Utah State liquor store. Pours a clear ruby with a small off-white head. The aroma is very interesting; fruity, almost watermelon notes along with sweet caramel and candy. Very nice. The taste was just decent; some sweet caramel and honey, a good malt presence, and overall a very creamy and easygoing body. Nice. I really liked that aroma.

On tap at The Red in Santa Cruz. Poured into a nonic. Orange body with a tannish head that starts out thick but fades rather quickly. Decent lacing. Aroma is pale malt with vanilla and buttery overtones. Flavor is creamy, literally. Almost like a little half & half packet was dumped into a kolsch. Is it diacetyl? I don’t know. Anyway, there’s also an even vanilla wafer note. Pretty one dimensional and rather sweet but I imagine this is pretty standard for the style. Full mouthfeel with lots of carbonation. Maybe a little too thick and chewy for the low ABV and lack of complexity. Pretty drinkable.

Surprisingly good summer beer. Very creamy with some pineapple-ish flavors, almost creamsicle-like. Some spices on the finish. Smooth, creamy mouthfeel. Refreshing but not boring like a lot of the watery summer beers out there.