After Ryan Urban, the illustrious editor of the Barron News-Shield, left a comment on one of my posts, I thought that my next beer purchase should be something from up north. He had mentioned Earth Rider's North Tower stout in his comment so I figured I'd get some of their brew to sample, at least to start. I don't know if there was a supply chain shortage or what, but I found absolutely no beer there from the Superior brewery. However, there was plenty of beer from Ashland's South Shore Brewery, 65 miles to the east of Superior, to be had. Definitely up north.
South Shore has been around since 1995 making it part of the old guard of microbrewing here in Wisconsin. Over the years it seems like its availability here in Madison has come and gone. It'd be in coolers down here for a stretch and then disappear. A couple years later it would reappear as if by magic. I don't recall the last time this revenant brand returned to these parts but it has been here for a while now, it seems. Unfortunately, the Woodman's here on the east side only carries their nut brown ale and stout so I must go elsewhere for their other flavors.
Last year I thoroughly enjoyed their nut brown ale and I've sampled their stout so I sought out something new. There was a mix 12-pack with the nut brown, a Wisconsin pale ale, a cream ale, and pilsner. I think it was that configuration, anyway. I got scared at the prospect of a pale ale in my refrigerator giving rise to a tropical fruit miasma which would infect all of the other beers and make them taste like Hawaiian Punch so I opted for a six-pack of Northern Lights, that cream ale.
Billed as a cream ale with herbs, I was intrigued. I like a good gruit and so I was inclined to find out what the folks at South Shore had come up with to replace or complement hops.
Cream ales are all around light. They are pale in color, they are easy on the palate with a bit of grain taste, usually with corn, and just a smidge of hops for some balance. Maybe a little fruitiness from the yeast but generally very lager-like. This being the case, I expected the herbs to be more than subtle background accents. How herby would this stuff be?
I've read that the cream ale evolved as a response to the popularity to American pale lagers. "We've gotta get in on this fizzy yellow stuff action," sayeth the mid-19th century brewers in America. Northern Lights fits the bill. It was clear and a brilliant yellow topped with a head of white, loose foam. And it had staying power. It looked fizzy too with a fair number of bubbles to been seen inside the glass.
The beer had a very mild citrus scent along with something that I thought might be ginger. But ginger is a spice and not a herb, right? Or is South Shore using "herbs" as a catch-all for non-hoppy seasoning? While it may not have been ginger, it had a mild peppery pungency just like ginger. My nose also caught something minty. Juniper? Was there hyssop in this stuff?
As expected, Northern Lights had a light body and a good, solid fizziness to it. It tasted much like it smelled with a gingery flavor that reminded me of the ginger lager from Herbiery. And there was something minty along with what I thought was sage. As the beer warmed, a mild grainy sweetness emerged as swell as a floral aspect. The sweetness and the ginger/minty combo lasted into the finish and gently faded to allow just the barest hints of dryness and bitterness to emerge.
While I liked this beer, I find myself ambivalent about it, mainly because of the ginger taste. That flavor in beer just comes across to me rather dully like a Schweppes ginger ale and my brain keeps wondering why it doesn't have that sharp, zesty zing to it like a Goslings or Reed's ginger beer. It tastes OK but something seems missing. Beyond this, I really enjoyed the other flavors here, especially that floral taste that came out as the brew warmed up a little. Outside of the herbs, the beer was light and easy going with a bit of crisp bite to it.
A good side step from the norm.
Junk food pairing: Northern Lights will pair well with other herb-flavored foods such as dill pickle popcorn, which I highly recommend.
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