Review: Newcastle Summer Ale
Don’t look at the label and taste this one blind: Newcastle’s new, limited edition Summer Ale has no resemblance to its better-known, Browner big brother at all.
This golden lager is instead a moderately-to-heavily hopped version of a standard ale, refreshing but bracing with its bitterness. There’s a surprising amount of sweetness in the finish — maybe a hint of the Newcastle Brown Ale heritage. Otherwise, the flavors run toward citrus more often than not.
Overall, there’s nothing here that any serious beer fan is going to fall over himself about, but it has enough charm to merit sipping on, indeed, a hot summer day.
4.4% abv.
B- / $8 per six-pack