Big Sky Brewing Co.
Missoula, Montana
Available: AK, CA, ID, MN, NV, ND, OR, SD, WA, WI, WY
Big Sky Brewing Co. has just become the first small brewing company in North America to use a new aluminum package: the AlumaBottle, which is shaped like a bottle, but made from aluminum. The bottle can be filled on the existing bottling line, but the filled container is as light as a can. The aluminium containers to allow beer drinkers to take beer where glass containers aren’t allowed or are inconvenient.
Alcohol (wt.): 3.8
Alcohol (vol.): 4.7
Color: 7
Bitterness: 20
Gravity: 1046
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A quiet head and pleasing color make for a good start on this beer. The honey is right there in the nose, and follows one right onto the palate. A faint and elusive spice factor comes forth, but its exact nature remains hidden. The overall effect is one of smoothness and balance. This would indeed be a pleasant lawnmower beer with a second serving most welcome.
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For us pointy-headed Northeasterners, Montana’s Big Sky country calls up images of taciturn folks with pick-up trucks and guns – not “Summer Honey”. Well, the beer is golden and raises a nice white head. The nose is almost exactly like creamed corn, a sweet aroma with sulfurous honey notes. The sweetness continues on the tongue, round and soft, drying cleanly into the finish. Complex it isn’t, but neither is a summer day. Throw those shrimp on the grill and get out the mango salsa.
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Rocky head (the metaphor fits mountainous Montana). Bronze color. Syrupy aroma. Honey on toast? Honeyed in the palate, too, with flowery suggestions of orange-blossom. Citrussy. Some lemony, refreshing, acidity. A soothing, cookie-like, malty sweetness in the middle. Nutty dryness, slightly bitter, in the finish. Lightly appetizing. Well balanced. A gentle beer.
