Summit Herkulean Woods Review

Name: Summit Herkulean Woods
Style: California Common
ABV: 8.2% 

Happy Birthday to me! Today I celebrate another year of being alive. To mark this momentous occasion, I've decided to have a beer!

That's right, it's time to look at one of newest releases in Summit Brewing's Unchained Series. This time around it's Herkulean Woods, an Imperial California Common Lager that is brewed with Maple Syrup and Spruce Tips. I have mixed emotions about trying this out; On one hand, I have never had a bad beer in the Unchained Series (let alone from Summit). On the flipside, the very first Imperial California Common I had did not exactly go over well with me so I'm mildly apprehensive as to how this will be.

Herkulean Woods pours a very clear copper color with a foamy khaki colored head. There's nothing here in terms of carbonation save for a couple of bubbles and the lacing retention is solid.

In the nose, I'm picking up on some lager yeasts with some mildly roasty malts. To go along with that is some mild maple sweetness, mild floral hoppiness and some very faint spruce notes.

The flavor is fairly lager yeast forward with the maple syrup playing a much more active role in the center of the palate. The spruce notes and roasted malts come into play on the back end of the flavor and helps finish it off appropriately. There's also a mild hoppiness that encompasses the flavor and gives it a nice dimension.

The palate possesses a moderately weighted body but light carbonation. Despite the presence of maple syrup, I'm surprised to see there is no thickness in here. Regardless, this is pretty easy to drink.

For a while, I didn't think that an Imperial California Common could work, but Summit managed to pull it off quite well. While I think the maple aspect was just right, I think it could've used a little more spruce in the taste but it's a minor gripe in the grand scheme of things. Be sure to grab this up before it's gone forever because a Fresh Hop IPA from them is coming!

Summit Herkulean Woods - 8.5/10

Summit Fest Bier Review

Name: Summit Fest Bier
Style: Märzen/Oktoberfest
ABV: 5.5%

Well, it's been a very long and eventful weekend but it was a very good one nonetheless. After everything that has transpired over this busy weekend, it's time to unwind and take a look at the latest offering in the Unchained Series from Summit Brewing Company.

For their newest release, they have decided to give us Fest Bier: an Märzen/Oktoberfest beer.....during the spring season when most beers tend to be....not Oktoberfest style beers. It's an unusual choice for a style especially at this time of year I will admit. However, I'm not ready to discount it on those merits so let's dive right in.

Fest Bier pours a clear orange color with a white & voluminous foamy head. There is some moderate carbonation visible in the glass and the lacing left behind is fair and sticky

The nose starts off with a toasted barley and Munich malt aroma. Followed by that are some faint spiced notes and a mild hoppiness. Smells pretty good but again, it's rather weird to be having this at the time of year.

The flavor is has some strong yeasty and toasted barley notes. There's a fairly strong Munich malt back here with some pretty strong floral hops and light spiciness. The palate is moderately weighted and the carbonation also matches the weight in terms of intensity.

Oktoberfest/Märzen style beers are not exactly at the top of my list of favorite beer styles but this was pretty good! The flavor is different enough to where it's able to set itself apart from others in the same category (something which I think is an issue with the style), yet it tastes good enough to where I would have no problem drinking this again. Since Summit already has an Oktoberfest, I'd love to see them use the recipe they used in this beer for their annual Oktoberfest.

Summit Fest Bier - 8.5/10

Summit Biere de Garde Review

Name: Summit Biere de Garde
Style: Biére De Garde
ABV: 7.3%

In my previous Unchained Review for Another IPA, I mentioned that Summit Brewing would be releasing their next Unchained with a fancy new label as part of their redesign campaign which kicked off earlier this year. Well true to their word, they have indeed changed the design of their label to reflect

The latest release in Summit's Unchained Series is a Biere de Garde, a Farmhouse-Style Ale that originates from France; In case the name wasn't already a big enough giveaway as it is. I've only had a couple of Biere de Garde style ales, namely from Flying Dog & Schell's so it'll be interesting to see how this turns out.

Summit Biere de Garde pours an almost black color which becomes a dark crimson red when held up to a light. The head is rather fizzy and fades away fast and the carbonation, while harder to see, is moderate in appearance.

The aroma has some cloves & toffee notes with some Belgian yeasts, caramel and a mild but noticable sweet cherry tartness. Overall a very interesting mixture in the nose.

The flavor is starts out with a toffee and caramel sweetness. This is followed by some floral hops, cherries, Belgian yeasts and cloves. The aftertaste consists of roasted barley & mild cherry tartness. The body is thick and heavy. The mild carbonation is a welcome compliment to the overall flavor so extra points for that.

There's a chance I may be alone in saying this but I think this is the best Unchained offering yet. I really admire the taste, particularly with the cherries and how well it blends in with the Farmhouse-style flavor. There's still a couple of months left until the next Unchained beer comes out so grab this while you still can!

Summit Biere de Garde - 9/10

Summit Another IPA Review

Name: Summit Another IPA
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 5.6%


I'm beginning to suspect that Summit Brewing has an IPA fetish and for a good reason. You see, they already have 3 IPAs in their lineup: Horizon Red, Sága, and their aptly named India Pale Ale. That was until one day earlier this year when this gem popped up in my Twitter feed. Due to Blogger's lackluster support for embedded videos which I need, I've had no choice but to link it.

For the lazy or those not interested in watching a movie, it's a video to promote the newest beer in the Unchained series: Another IPA. No, that's not a typo, that's the actual name; Very Ironic/Tongue-In-Cheek/etc. name. This'll be the last Unchained release that uses the the label you see above as they are changing the design to reflect Summit's new design.

Well, let's give Summit's usual label a good old fashioned Irish Wake and take a look at this, shall we?

Another IPA pours a hazy yellow color with a foamy/filmy/chunky looking head. You know when the head on the beer starts to go away and what you are left with is a filmy head with some chunky balls of foam on the surface? It's like that. The lacing it leaves behind is decent.

For an IPA, it's rather fruity smelling with some citrus hops, tangerines, caramel, light mango, piney hops and some pale malts.

The taste is alot more piney hop forward with some mild citrus hops, pale malts, barley and some pils-grassiness. For an IPA, it's quite earthy.

It's very heavy both in terms of body weight and carbonation. Not really quite ideal considering the style of beer.

It's got a decent taste and the earthiness actually is quite nice but the body is mismatched compared to overall flavor. It's a good IPA but I'll stick with Summit's existing IPAs as I think they are much better.

Summit Another IPA - 7.5/10