The Bar Towel

Christoffel Blond (LCBO #696955)
Fuller's Organic Honey Dew (#676858)
Belhaven Blueberry Beer (#676866)
Shepherd Neame Goldings Summer Hop Ale (#676874)
Liefmans Frambozenbier (#439984)
Floris Ninkeberry (#479154)
St. Louis Premium Kriek (4 x 250ml cans) (#676890)

Wow... sweeeeeet!

Judging from that list it's a good thing I stocked up on the 60min ipa.

I haven't contacted the LCBO at all! Honest!

There's two non-fruity beers there. I won't bother with the Christoffel unlike many of you but the Shepherd Neame Goldings sounds interesting. I'm looking forward to the Fuller's as I quite like their London Pride and ESB offerings.

I'll probably skip the Floris as the Ninkeberry failed to interest me one time at Smokeless. Based on the last failure of St. Louis (gueuze) I'll likely only give the Kriek one, er, four kicks at the can. They should have dropped those two for a banana and a vanilla beer...

Kriek in a can?

Well, if they're going to give us a bunch of fruity & summery beers, at least there are a couple of decent ones. The Liefmans in particular is very good. And the Fullers and Shepherd Neame look like they'll be nice enough. So it's not a total write-off.

This is one of the worst summer releases ever. The Christoffel is good and the Liefman's is decent (though I personally loathe fruit beer), but to add two English beers that are, by all reviews, mediocre at best...that's disappointing. There are so many better UK beers in the golden ale/ summer beer category. Aside from that, why no hefeweizen (either German or American)? Sad.

This is one of the worst summer releases ever

Agreed. Apart perhaps from the Shepherd Neame, nothing appeals to me at all. I will give the Fuller's a try out of respect for their other excellent products and Christoffel is a nice hoppy lager, but really!

Man, this is a disappointment. Who is the genius that arbitrarily decides what the flavours of the season are? Summer = fruit beer? As Jon points out, the need for a weizen is acute, as that is really the best bet for the summer. My favourites for the summer weather are crisp IPAs and wheat beers of all denominations. I agree that I will try the Fullers out of respect, as I have always loved their beers, but come on. Disappointing in the extreme.

When I talked to the seasonal lady (at the time of the winter release), she said they already had some hefeweizens lined up?

I LOVED those hefeweizens last year!

Responsible Drinker wrote:I LOVED those hefeweizens last year!

Agreed. Those were a great treat to pick up on the way home from work to enjoy on the patio. Especially if this summer is as warm as last, I really don't feel like sucking back... Liefmans? The Schofferhofer (sp?), among others, was a nice refreshing beer to enjoy in the 30+ weather. Damn those LCBO heathens!

Belhaven Fruit Beer is one of the worst beers I have ever had. Why repeat the experiement? Thanks God for summer travel season into the USA.

Wheat a minute!

Okay, they did go Wheat/Hefe-crazy last year, and this year is themed a little different, more tutti-frooty.

If you want Hefeweizen, at least buy Paulaner HW at the Beer Store, it's better than any HW's we got last year... this, and the two Schneider products are representative of the German style.

Locally we have the fair Magnotta WW, the supreme Denisons Weisse on draught, and for a little twist the spicy Mill Street Belgian Wit in bottles is also forthcoming. So... I don't want to hear any of you complaining if you aren't at least trying these five or six exisitng options!

By the way Christoffel is a Pilsener (I guess a sub-class of Lager but an important distinction.) Big aromatic delicate hops; serious beer to grab really fresh and religiously guard it from light & heat, like any truly noble Pilsener. Un-opened cases are best obviously.

Too bad about the general weakness of the summer release, but the LC have made one or two good choices we can thank them for; let's do that while making further suggestions in our e-mails.

While I enjoy hefeweizens I did think the focus on them last summer was a bit much. Since I'm someone who likes variety when I'm drinking, I'd prefer more broad releases than themed ones. Maybe do one type each of typical summer brews.

Bah! The ultimate Summer beer is a nice Russian Imperial Stout. Stone's got it all figured out.

So many fruity beers, so few pansy-ass friends.