May is a great month. The days are long, the sky is clear, and summer is just around the corner. Flowers are blooming. Trees are bursting with blossoms. The universe seems to be calling out “SIEZE THE DAY!” like Robin Williams in The Dead Poets Society. With all of that fresh energy comes a lot of new beer.
We’ve gone ahead and made a list of beers that are generally released in the spring and are worth a little digging to get ahold of. While there are fresh batches of several of these beers being released right now, we added a couple of cool almost-summertime standards in the mix, too.
DARK LORD RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STOUT — 3 FLOYDS BREWING
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This is a killer Imperial Stout coming in at a 15 percent ABV. The beer is brewed with coffee, Mexican vanilla, and Indian sugar — giving it a big flavor and a sweet finish. Expect a lot of toffee, coffee, tobacco, caramel, dried fruits, and maybe even some sweetness, akin to figs and apples. 3 Floyds only releases this one on a single day in April, so get down to your local craft beer store now, they’re sure to be running out soon.
E. — HILL FARMSTEAD BREWERY
Hill Farmstead brews up a new batch of E. around Easter. Then it’s aged for at least two years in oak. This farmhouse ale is a very special beer that’s made Belgian style but tastes more like an American pale ale. It’s definitely funky with big hits of oak, lemons, grapefruit, and a little fruity sweetness. The flavors take you straight back to the farm and those nice, warm May days.
GRAPEFRUIT SCULPIN — BALLAST POINT
Ballast Point’s award-winning America IPA is available year round. So this isn’t necessarily a ‘spring’ beer. It just tastes really good in spring. This citrus heavy beer is refreshing and reminds you that summer is just around the corner. The beer adds in grapefruit to amp up its already fruity nature. That citrus accents the sweet fruits like mangos and peaches, all of which combines nicely with a crisp hoppiness.
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WHERE THE HELLES SUMMER? — SOUTHERN TIER BREWING
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German Helles styles are simple lagers that get the job done. This golden-hued beer has a wonderful balance of malt and hop with a very clean taste. It’ll have you longing for long days spent outside quaffing down mug after mug of beer.
Southern Tier releases new batches of this one every spring. Hey! That’s right now!
BEER CAMP GOLDEN IPA — SIERRA NEVADA BREWING
This spring seasonal from Sierra Nevada is a great experimental beer. They’ve taken the classic American IPA model of citrus and hop and added wheat malt to give is a little more depth and dryness. Overall the wheat mellows out the citrus and hops and makes this a very easy to drink beer on a spring day.
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BELGIAN STYLE PALE ALE — UPSLOPE BREWING
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This spring release from Upslope hits the Belgian style nail square on the head. The use of Trappist yeasts certainly helps. Each can will give you a nice dose of fruitiness, hinged on tartness and banana. There’s also good hints of coriander, yeast, and an ever so slight spiciness lurking at the end.
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JAMMER — SIXPOINT BREWERY
This Gose style beer from Sixpoint is a little bit of mad science, according to the brewers. The german wheat beer has heavy hits of pear and apricot mixing with pink sea salts and plenty of coriander. This may be an acquired taste for many. But if you like tart, salty, and herb forward beers, then this is the one for you.
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KING JULIUS — TREE HOUSE BREWING
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Tree House just released this year’s Julius. It’s a Double American IPA (or Imperial IPA if you’re being super technical) that packs a massive fruit punch. Expect to get a big tropical fruit hit off the nose right away. Beer drinkers often liken this one to drinking a tropical fruit smoothie in beer form. The brilliance of the beer comes in the balance of solid IPA piney hoppiness that melds with all that sweet fruit.
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LUCKY 13 — LAGUNITAS
Lucky 13 is released every year between April and June — so May is the perfect time to stock up. The “ultra-mega-mondo” red ale has a great balance of hops, malt, and florals which leans more towards an IPA than a standard pale ale. It’s a classic Lagunitas beer that should be on every spring BBQ picnic table.
SEAQUENCH ALE — DOGFISH HEAD BREWING
Dogfish Head is the Doc Brown of craft beer. They’re thinking fourth-dimensionally and making the “crazy” a reality. Seaquench Ale is a blend of three different beers into one tart, sweet, dry, salty, malty beer with a little hop for good measure. The blend is a “straightforward Kolsch with lots of wheat and Munich Malt, then we brew a salty Gose with black limes, coriander, and our sea salt. We follow it all up with a citrusy-tart Berlinerweiss made with lime juice and lime peel.” Three amazing beers styles in one handy bottle. Weird, but nice.
