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ABV primer: the over/under

Kate Bernot, February 9, 2017

ABV primer: the over/under

Beer

These dozen brews show that even if you think you know what to expect ABV-wise, you should probably still check the label.

Summer can last forever if you have a bottle of @perennialbeer Von Pampelmuse in hand! 😎This is Perennial's base Berlinerweisse fermented with Mandarin orange and Rio Red grapefruit, so catch us riding out the last of summer and getting our vitamin C in beer form.

We said we'd sell our souls for a rerelease of @lostabbey's Track 11 from the brewery's 2012 Ultimate Box Set ... and we got our wish. Lost Abbey brought back the bourbon barrel-aged barleywine with peaches and black tea, renaming it The Devil Went Down to Georgia and letting it loose across its distribution territory in late August. Charlie Daniels himself would be proud.

You'd loved @madtreebrewing's Dreamsicle kölsch at the taproom. Then, behold, the brewery announced the cult favorite would be released in cans ... except it was an April Fool's joke. That's not the kind of thing you joke about, so following calls, emails and even a petition, MadTree finally made good and canned this bad boy. With flavors of vanilla bean and orange peel to mimic the ice cream pop we all love, Dreamsicle tastes like sweet, sweet victory for all its loyal fans.

It's an unwritten rule: Before you drink a can of @soprobrewco Selfie Destruct, you take a selfie. THEN you can enjoy the Cashmere-, Mosaic- and Simcoe-hopped IPA's flavors of strawberries and cream mixed with pineapple, grapefruit and donut holes.

Give this collab between @boulevard_beer, @azwilderness and @creaturecomfortsbeer a whiff and you might be fooled into thinking it's your everyday lager; crackery grain, whiffs of sulfur and just a little peach fuzz are all you get. But its additions of peach, lemon zest and Riesling grape juice reveal themselves on the tongue, while the swallow is all oak, gently toasted, with a lemon-custard-and-rose-petal finish.

I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine, thanks to @starcutciders (the cider division of @shortsbrewing). Michigan cherries give the semi-sweet cider a flavor like cherry cobbler: baked sweet stone fruit, buttery vanilla, apples with brown sugar. The sugary apples temper the tart cherries, though there's still a mild acidic sting that needles the tongue through the long finish. Knock it off, Squishy!

Summer can't stick around forever, and this @benchmarkbrewing Blond is the perfect companion to wind down porch season. Just a touch of characterful brioche sweetness from the malts combined with a quiet but concise hop bitterness and a mellow 4.5% ABV makes for one easy-drinking late summer beer.