I went out with my friend Ryan tonight to watch Game 1 of the NBA Finals.  He was craving some wings from Hooters so being the good friend I am, I headed up to my local Hooters and ordered myself an ice cold Miller Lite.  Thankfully, they were served ice cold in a frozen mug so at least my taste buds were completely frozen, and rendered useless.  That’s a blessing when forced to drink a BMC product.  Anyway, it was difficult, but somehow I finished the mug.  Then another…and another.  I’m such a trooper!

By the time the OKC Thunder had dismantled the Miami LeBrons I was ready to head home and grab a craft beer and watch the end of the Astros game.  Since they were playing in San Francisco I decided to have a beer from Anchor Brewing which is located in San Fran.  I really love this brewery, but I’ve never had their Summer Beer so that’s what I chose as the BOTG.

The crisp, clean flavors of Anchor Summer ® Beer are refreshingly light, a thirst-quenching American-style filtered wheat beer.

Released each year in advance of the summer season, Anchor Summer ® Beer is an all-malt beer, with over 50% of its malt derived from malted wheat. It is fermented with a traditional top-fermenting “ale” yeast, yielding a clean, balanced flavor that highlights the refreshingly light flavor of malted wheat. The head is unusually abundant due to the natural protein deposits of wheat, with a thick consistency similar to meringue.

First brewed in the summer of 1984, Anchor Summer ® Beer is the first American wheat beer in modern times. Anchor Summer ® Beer is intended to be a lighter beer for those who don’t want to sacrifice tradition or character.

Made in San Francisco. I wish I was there watching the Astros in that beautiful ballpark.

I didn’t want to drink anything too heavy since I was already full of wings and beer, and I certainly wanted to choose something with a lower alcohol content.  Anchor’s Summer Beer only has 4.5% ABV.  That’s practically a session beer!

I wish Hooters served beers like this.

Beer Review:
Summer Beer poured up crystal clear.  It’s definitely a filtered wheat beer.  The color is dark yellow and almost a rose gold color.  The head is a bit larger than a finger width, and very creamy.  There’s a lot of spiderweb lacing as well when the head finally recedes.  It certainly looks refreshing!

There isn’t a whole lot going on with the aroma of this beer, but there are prominent notes of grassy wheat and grain.  I also get a faint whiff of citrus.

The taste of this beer is exactly what I was looking for.  Simple, smooth, and refreshing.  Summer Beer’s taste is big on wheat grains and pale malts. I get notes of toasted white bread, and pleasant hints of lemon zest and orange.  The hops go well with the wheat flavor and are earthy and grassy. There are just enough hops to give it a slightly bitter finish.

Summer Beer is pretty darn good.  It seems like it’s designed to be light, refreshing, and sessionable.  I only had one tonight, but this beer definitely went down easy.  It would go absolutely perfect with an afternoon baseball game here in Houston, TX.  I give it a Double!

Astros Review:
When the Astros play on the West Coast I can hardly ever stay up to watch the entire game.  It doesn’t make it any easier when I head to Hooters before the game starts and stuff myself.  Therefore, I have to admit that I did not catch the entire game.  I was greeted with the unhappy final score of 6-3 when I woke up on Wednesday morning.

It was only 3-1 when I headed to bed, but what made that even more discouraging was the fact that Bud Norris had to leave the game in the 4th inning with a knee injury.  I don’t know how serious it is, but I imagine he will miss at least a few starts.

I know that the Astros don’t have enough talent right now to make a World Series run, but we can’t catch any breaks either.  Injuries and illnesses have really been piling up for this young team.  In my opinion the lack of consistency is one of the biggest reasons that we have been struggling so much lately.  I wish we could just settle on a lineup and run the same guys out there day after day for a month.  That would be nice.

The main positive note from the game has to be Brian Bixler’s performance.  2-for-4 with 2 RBIs easily make him the Astros player of the game.  He’s clearly only up here while the guys ahead of him are injured, but it’s nice to see him have a big game.  Sadly, he’s 7 years too late to be a member of the Killer B’s.  Bzzzzzzz.

Go ‘Stros!