Here in northwest Connecticut we seem to skip very quickly from winter to summer. Spring is very short-lived. One day it's gray and the temperatures struggling to hit 50 degrees. The next day it's in the 80s and humid as can be. Or so it seems.

So it's time to switch over to summer brews. I don't believe I even sampled any spring seasonals this year. The transition in the weather has been so quick that the beer transition has gone just as fast.

One thing I'm noticing is how many more of the craft brews are coming to us in cans. In fact just about every summer brew I am currently sampling is in a can. Case in point is this week's beer which comes to us from Magic Hat, the erstwhile Vermont craft brewer located in South Burlington, VT.

One of the offerings in their summer seasonal sampler (try saying that three time fast!) is a wheat ale they call Stealin' Time. I suppose the intent behind the name is to capture the lazy, hazy days of summer that should be passed contentedly sipping a brew such as this one.

There is definitely the cloudy appearance one often sees in wheat ales. A quick whiff brings a somewhat sweet malty aroma. 

Then you take the first sip. You get a slight prickly sensation on the tip of the tongue. But then there is the spicy snap in the flavor. That is when you read the can a little more carefully and discover that Stealin' Time is a wheat ale brewed with ginger. And the pieces fall into place. That taste sensation was akin to a ginger snap cookie, or maybe even a hint of pumpkin pie. Not as sweet of course. Just a hint, but not enough to destroy the balance or the tasting experience.

The spicy ginger snap flavor lingers a while in the aftertaste as you swallow. Not overpowering or too sweet. Just enough to remind you there is ginger in this here brew.

Stealin' Time is a simple concoction perfect for summer time. Complex enough to be interesting, not so complex as to get in its own way and destroy the light mood. At 5.5% abv it's what you would expect from Magic Hat in the summer. Interesting enough to keep you drinking it. But unpretentious as befitting the season and the warmer weather.

I give Magic Hat's Stealin' Time 6 mugs out of 10.

Will return in future weeks with more summer brews.

Ever since discovering the joys of craft beers with more flavor and complexity than the mass produced pablum of our youth that was passed off to us as beer, I have been a bottle snob. Cans were associated with that swill of the lowest common denominator. There was also the feeling that cans imparted a "tinny" taste to the beer, while bottles would keep the brews clean and fresh.

Along comes New England Brewing Company of Woodbridge, CT to try and get me (and presumably others) to change my mind. So far, so good.

It boggles me that I must have driven past this brewery a number of times. We often go to the New Haven train station when taking a train into New York city. And we also dropped our sons off at the New Haven train station many times during their college years. Depending on the route taken when returning home we would have driven right past New England brewing. So I should be able to find them easily in the future for a tour and tasting. And they sell growlers on the premises as well. So they will put their beer into glass after all.

The brew I sampled first is the Sea Hag, an IPA. Not sure of the derivation of the name, but it is cool. 

As you can see the beer has a light golden color. I found it to be lighter in color than most IPA's I've had lately. The lightness carries through to the body as well.

There is definitely a strong aroma of both pine and citrus that greets you when you bring the beer near. The first taste sensation is a malty one with a slight prickly sensation on the tongue. There is a pronounced citrus flavor in the aftertaste. The overall flavor of the beer dissipates quickly upon swallowing, but the citrus flavor did linger for a bit.

Overall an enjoyable and easy to drink beer. There are better and more complex IPA's out there, but this one is very drinkable and would be easy to have as a session, all night brew.

And it is has opened me up to the possibility of having quality microbrews from a can. 

For that alone I give Sea Hag IPA 7 mugs out of 10.

I searched their web site for an explanation as to why they decided on cans rather than bottles. They make a point of stating they were among the first microbrews to do so, but don't provide any reasoning. If I do end up there for a tour someday I'll be sure to ask and let you know.

And I look forward to trying more canned goods from New England Brewing.