Name: Summer Ale

Brewery: Narragansett

Style: Blonde ale

Price: $9.69 per 6 pack (16 oz. cans)

ABV: 4.2 percent

IBU: 24

Final Grade: B

Score: 36

Dear simpletons,

I know you don’t think you like “beer.” You’ve got a taste for brands with the words “Lite” or “Extra” or “Ultra” in the name, and think the good shit comes with a slice of lime. “Beer” comes in one color — coincidentally, the same shade of yellow as when it exits your bladder — and can only be differentiated from competing brands by commercials that are as tasteless as what you’re holding wrapped in a coozie. I respect that. (Actually, I don’t.) Nevertheless, I’d like to present you with an opportunity.

I guess my shed is a little colder than I thought.

My stronger beers were OK, but the session beer I brewed didn’t have the alcohol content to keep it from freezing amid the cold New Hampshire nights. Most of them survived, but this one didn’t make it. When I went to pick it up, the top of the bottle just broke off in my hand.
Ah well, it’s still good. And the one I brewed up today is extra special. It’s a saison, brewed with a bit of cardamom, grain of …

Scenes like this inspired me to take it a little easy and brew a session beer.

It’s been a while since I made anything less than a 6% abv, and though I’d been hankering for a bourbon stout, I found another recipe that seemed just right for the New England fall. It goes as follows:
5 lb. pale malt
.5 lb. Munich malt
5.5 oz. roasted barley
5 oz. smoked malt
1 oz. Fuggle hop pellets (60 min.)
Scottish ale yeast
Mash grains in 7 quarts of water at 170-degrees F. Hold at 152-degrees for 1 hour. Mash …