4 Beers To Welcome Spring With

By Adam Franklin-Lyons

It would appear that this will be my final entry on the Yale Sustainable Blog (can a blog really be sustainable?  Good question) as a Yale student.  Graduation looms in May, which brings to mind parties, which should usually involve beers.  Many European traditions have some spring like beer, and while not all look forward to the hot days of summer – some of them remain darker and complex – and they present some of the more classic beer styles.  So here’s a list of great spring inspired beers to go out with a bang. 

Ommegang Hennepin – 7.5% ABV

Spring beer used to be quite common since brewing in winter proves easier than in summer when one doesn’t have temperature controlled environments (just ask a bootleg sort of homebrewer.)  In Belgium, the traditional spring ale was either a Biere de Mars (literally, March beer) or a Saison, sometimes called a Saison de Lente.  Well, both march and lent have passed, but a good saison is still a good saison.  Ommegang makes some of the best Belgian style ales in the US, located in upstate New York, both their classic Ommegang belgian ale and the Saison style Hennepin are available year round.    Bright and Effervescent with a thick white head, Hennepin is more complex than it at first appears.  It pours cloudy with the scent of classic belgian yeast giving the beer a slightly tart note standard in Belgian farmhouse ales.  Try it as they do in Belgium with a good medium cheese sprinkled with celery salt.

Thomas Hooker Liberator Doppelbock – 8% ABV and Victory Brewing St. Boisterous – 7.3%

Bocks are the classic spring beers of Germany and come in several stripes.  There’s the lighter flavored Maibocks like St. Boisterous, regular old bocks, with their sweet, lightly hopped flavor and then there’s the stronger often raisiny Doppelbocks.  A hearty Doppelbock seems a good choice for this spring, which has been particularly cold and soggy.  Perhaps the most classic of these  would be the Ayinger Celebrator from Germany, but the local version from Thomas Hooker (in this case, “local” also reads “cheaper”) hits the mark.  Brewed entirely with German malts and the classic German hops of Spalter and Hallertauer (with just a bit of Czech Saaz thrown in for aroma) the Liberator is everything one wants in a Doppelbock – malty and dark with mild hop aroma, more sweet than bitter with hints of chocolate and dry fruit.  Easily found throughout Connecticut and good for these cold days…grab one now before that 80 degree day on Sunday shows up.  If you don’t manage to find a Doppelbock, and May comes around with some nice hot days, transition to the Maibock.  Slightly lighter in both color and body, you can find St. Boisterous usually starting at the end of April and throughout May.  Also made with German malts and hops, St. Boisterous has less of the real caramel and chocolate of the Doppelbock and a brighter hop nose from the use of whole flower hops.  When you’re through with these great beers, you’ll be ready for the wheat beers of summer.

Le Domaine Dupont Hard Cider – 5% ABV

No, it’s not a beer.  But if you’ve never had a solid French farmhouse cider, you’re missing something.  The British ciders – Strongbow or Blackthorn – and their mass-market American imitations like Cider Jack or Woodchuck are all better known than the French producers, but the difference is huge.  British dry cider goes down like water with a light fruity nose and some residual sweetness.  French ciders, of which Domaine Dupont is a classic, have a much more complex nose sometimes with a hint of hay in the aroma.  The flavor is usually drier and richer as well with a lingering sparkly-white foam.  Finally, if you run across it, try the local version: Farnum Hill out of New Hampshire (not available in CT, but they are in NYC), also in the French style.

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