What should I brew?

[andre the giant]

I'm having a gathering in early July. I want to make two brews that will go nicely with the summer heat. One of the beers needs to be "light" enough that it will have some appeal with the BL crowd.

I still have plenty of darker beers on hand, plus a decent amount of Hefeweizen and Belgian Wit grand cru. So I was thinking about an IPA for one of the beers, and a blueberry ale for the other. (Other possibilities I can think of are pale ale and Irish red.) I'm avoiding lagers because I don't have a beer fridge yet, and they tend to take longer to brew.

Do any of you have any other suggestions on a relatively quick turnaround, light, refreshing beer for a summer gathering?

It will be the maiden voyage of the new basement brewing station. I'm excited!

 

[Ivan Lendl]

its not really a summer beer but everyone seems to like stouts. They are quick too, especially the weeny 1.040 og ones. Even the most hardcore non-bitter drinking girlscouts will drink a bitter/roasted guiness, just tell them its a guinees clone and theyll love it!

 

[cweston]

I would probably do an APA--practically everyone who likes beer likes an APA.

You could go light on the crystal malt (like 6-8 ozs of 20L crystal) and shoot for about 35 IBUs and low FG and you'd have a dry, light color, light flavor summer APA that should be OK for the yellow beer crowd. It'd also be ready pretty fast.

 

[david_42]

Can't go wrong with a Mild or an English bitter (not an ESB). Great session ales and BMC drinkers might actually like them.

 

[clayof2day]

I just transferred a cream ale to the secondary and it seems like it'll be a great summertime drinker. 2 lbs. corn, 0.5 lb. crytal 20L, some 2 row and whatever hops you choose, mine came in about 16 IBUs. Great maltiness, seems like a winner for summer. Only drawback was I had highest efficiency yet (used 5.2 stabilizer, seemed to really help) and its a bit higher in alcohol than planned. Not a bad thing, just might do a little more to ya if you're drinking 3-4 on a hot day!