McNeills Summer Bitter

Brewed by McNeills Brewery
Style: Bitter
Brattleboro, Vermont USA

No real aroma. Smooth mouthfeel like velvet and very nice going down. Well balanced and very nice-a.

Light brown sugary color. Sweet fruity smell. Smooth. Easy and yummy to drink. Very good!

2004 bottle: Pours to a nice deep amber orange color with a medium foamy white head. Aroma has peaches, apples, caramel, toffee, and some hops. Tastes excellent with a nice light body, easy carbonation, bitter but not very acidic. Some malt, fruit, toffee, light hops. Carbonation is perfect, feels like I’m drinking this beer on cask even though it’s from a bottle. I have yet to try a beer from McNeill’s that is not almost perfectly balanced. I don’t know how they do it.

2004 bottle sample June 2004, compliments of Bucknaked. Pours really well. Good foamy head, white and lacing. Dark brown to dark amber orange straw. Big bubbles. Bottle conditioned. Aroma of light light fruit (nectarines, peaches). Some caramel and toffee, but light and not overly sweet. Hops are juicy, bursting with flavor, but not tremendously bitter, which is great. Balance is yet again wonderful, not too sweet, not too bitter. So drinkable, medium light body, some light fruit hints on the finish. Carbonation on this must be all natural from the bottle conditioning, it’s perfect. Fruity and lightly bitter, balanced. This is about as good as it gets for a summer session ale. This should be classified as a bitter, not an amber, I would think.

On cask at the brewery, 8/5/2005. Wonderful! I’m glad it holds up to my memory. Just perfect influence from the yeast, moderately dry fruitiness, nectarines and apricots, creating almost a cedar/beechwood sort of effect, with flavorful English hops, grassy, sweaty, hay-like at times and an engaging, lovely mouthfeel. Pours bright and seemed in top condition. Good to see that McNeill’s takes care of their cask properly. I think they pulled it through a sparkler though.

On cask the the brewpub: Light amber in color with a large white head. aroma of flowers,malt and apples. Flavors of light apples,hops and a slight sourness.

On cask at the brewpub: Light hazy orange with a fluffy white head that doesn’t want to leave. Light flowery aroma, with bit of malts. Light bodied and very lightly carbonated. Starts and ends bitter with a long aftertaste. One very refreshing brew.

Cask @ brewery. Hazy golden amber. Foamy whitish head. Cookie nose, faint herbal hops. Pale malts, faintly sweet, light bodied, very refreshing, quite drinkable. Nice fruitiness, grassy hop ending. Pleasantly balanced, a great summer brew. Is this really an amber?

On cask at the brewery. $2.75 a pint. What a bargain! Hazy amber, with a thick dollop of casky head riding atop. Sadly, the head all but disappeared as the glass emptied. Malty aroma, with an agressive hop nose. Light bodied and refreshing. Plenty of hops, considering how light it is. Malts are very mild. Citric flavor, hops, slight apple flavor. Finish is nice and bitter. Quenched my thirst like a champ.