The Livin's Easy

We are creatures of habit here at Dumbarton's Beer. We happen upon a style of beer and latch on like a parasite fish to a shark. This past winter we put away our share of stouts - coffee stouts, oak barrel-aged stouts, stouty stouts.

This week we are reminded that mid-Atlantic summers are hot, hazy, humid with a chance of late-day thunderstorms (strong in some areas). Who needs Doug Kammerer?

Summer is basically here and we need a new regular brew. Something we can call "user friendly". So, we went searching and by searching we went far and wide to one grocery store. See, the key to being user friendly is easy access. If it's the best summer beer ever but is hard to find it's not, by definition, user friendly. It should also be at least moderately budget friendly. Paying $15 for a sixer is not an option for an everyday beer. Actually, paying $15 for a sixer is virtually an abomination but that's for another day.

Being wrong all the time pays off

All of this led us to Troegs Hopback Amber Ale. Troegs is one of those brewers where you get more quality than you pay for. The brothers will never compete with Budweiser or PBR in terms of price but you can't beat bang for the buck.

Hopback Amber Ale is an American Amber Red Ale. Because we're aiming for an everyday brew we'll skip the particulars. It's a nice red brew with a caramel sweet foundation followed by mild hoppy bitterness.

Hopback is well balanced, which is key because sweet can become too much in the summer season. It's not particularly refreshing but real beer should never be described as "refreshing". We pictured it in a glass but we implore you to drink it straight from the bottle.