At first glance, it seems beer is primarily a summer drink and in hot days every beer can do the job. By spreading the culture of beer drinking, the innovative flavours and brewing methods with more and more various types of this enticing drink, we started to differ beer in terms of occasion and even in the season when a certain beer should be served best. Did you know that since 2007 every first Friday in August is celebrated as World beer day and it is dedicated to all beer lovers, beer brewers, hoppers and pub owners? In Slovenia, it has been officially celebrated since 2016.
“Our general belief is that light beers are more summery and the dark ones that usually contain more alcohol are preferred in the winter,” explains the brewer and beer expert Sašo Drobež who runs our Beer Tasting in Ljubljana. “In the summer we drink beer with less alcohol and moderate bitterness. We have a long lager beer tradition and the most famous are Laško and Union, which are excellent for the summer thirst. Worldwide as well as in our country we can witness the trend of sour beers. Due to their acidity, fruit flavour and low alcohol level are ideal for quenching thirst,” Sašo says.
An example of Slovenian excellent sour beer is Summer Snow from Barut brewery. It is a Berliner Weisse, fermented with wild Brettanomyces yeasts. Summer Snow is a gentle beer with acid notes of white grapes with a characteristic dry wine character as a pleasant freshness. This beer is also recommendable for the sour beer beginners.
Another great summer friendly Slovenian beer is a lager Šlagerica from a boutique brewery Mali Grad. Other wonderful summer ale beers are also Nolan (Mister brewery), Vega (Maister brewery), Combat Wombat (Human Fish brewery), Fruitpocalyps (Lobik brewery), English Pale Ale (LOO-BLAH-NAH brewery). We also need to mention the new style of NEIPA (New England IPA), which, due to its strong fruit flavour, is similar to an alcohol juice. Among these excellent beers shines out Cashmere from Green Gold Brewing. Its taste resembles forest fruits with a feeling of a pleasant refreshing taste in the mouth. It is suitable for summer indulgence or refreshing fun as it is enriched with the smell and taste of summer fruits. Their beer is a European novelty and because of its sweetness, it will please all those who are not really bitter beer lovers.
