Spring Beer Speculation: Spicy, Slightly Sweet and Bitter?

Re-posted from my blog: Malted Musings.

First off, rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated! I haven't fallen into a deep beer-induced depression based on this ridiculous freezing weather we've been having: I've just been moving.

As it turns out: moving is kinda tough sometimes. But the gears were greased with plenty of pizza, beer, and spirits, so at the end of the day I'm settled comfortably with enough space (wife-permitting) to throw in a kegerator one of these days.

This blog post serves as a two part update. First up: speculation on spring beers. As is the trend, spring beer has been on the market from the macro guys --and some of the bigger craft breweries-- for some time now. Sam Adams has offered up their Alpine Spring (which is essentially a bitter hefeweizen) that actually serves as a pretty good bridge between cold winter months and the not-so-warm spring we've been having.

Blue Moon also put their Valencia Grove on the market awhile back to serve as their spring offering. The Valencia is decidedly too sweet for me and maintains that syrupy malting flavor that usually goes hand-in-hand with extract (or syrup) sweeteners. Be that as it may, these styles are the direction that I see most beer going to in the spring.

So what's my speculation? Honestly I imagine a lot of breweries to go the above way; go with something slightly sweet and bitter (maybe unfiltered) that gives sweetness with a bite. Nothing wrong with that and (truth be told) many breweries have been experimenting with throwing different kind of fruit profiles in their spring brews, which is always fun.

What I'd like to see for spring, though, is something that takes a completely different direction: why not a lighter styled ESB? Maintain some sweet malting, but leave the profile fairly flat with maybe just a hint of sweeter fruits or malting on the back end. Or, add some spice! I had the Chipotle Chocolate Truffle Stout from Thomas Hooker awhile back, and it got me thinking: why aren't there more spicy beers?

I think spice would have a great place in spring beer, maybe aim for something like a Bloody Mary? Think a medium bodied beer with some sort of dense citrus overtones and then a kick of hot-spiciness on the back end! Ok so that may not be the most approachable, but I think it could still bridge the gap between cold weather (with the spice) and warmer weather (with dense citrusy notes). Given the fact that many CT breweries are spreading their wings and trying new styles, I'm sure that some spring beers will come out that serve to surprise me.

 As a second quick point: as said above, my month-long absence was brought about by a move. Now that it's done I should hopefully be back to a blog-a-week update schedule (hopefully, but hey you never know). During my absence I was building in-roads with the beer community though! And by that I mean I started playing with the Hartford Wanderers Rugby Club. A good bunch of lads, I fully expect my, uh, "subject knowledge" of beer to go nowhere but up as I spend more time scrumming, rucking, and generally trying to push people over into mud pits.

  If you're looking for something to do tonight (or want to get connected with your local rugby club) head over to Penny Pound at the Red Rock Tavern. From 7 - 10 PM it's $10 for all you can drink Ten Penny(or until the tap runs out). There's also going to be a 50/50 raffle and Wanderers bumper stickers. Also, you can cross "drinking with a rugby club" off you bucket list! Follow me on on Blogger, Twitter, and Facebook for more beer ramblings and malted musings.