16 oz. Growler - ~$6
- Purchased at Monkey Town Brewing Company
Background
A month or so ago, I saw a Facebook post from Monkey Town stating that they had received a shipment of Sun Drop soda syrup, destined to be used in a beer. I had no idea what Sun Drop is (hey, I didn’t grow up around here), but it sounded intriguing. Today was the day the beer dropped and I got to give this new creation a try.
They are calling this the latest installment in the “Soda Series,” although I seem to have missed every previous installment. I need to pay closer attention, I guess. The beer is called “Drops of Golden Sun.” Here’s what else they had to say on Facebook:
This is a sweet, faintly tart blonde ale that was brewed with lemon, lime and orange zest and juice, as well as Sundrop Syrup that was added straight to the kegs!
We tried to be as ‘local’ as possible with this beer: it was brewed with yeast provided by Nashville’s Bootleg Biology yeast lab as well as souring bacteria that was harvested from flowers from Middle TN and the Sundrop Syrup of course being from our great state.
We worked w/ VonSeitz Theoreticales and TN Craft Beer Magazine on this one and are very pleased with how it turned out. We hope you all will like this as much as we do.
As usual with their more limited-run beers, this brew is limited to one serving per customer…generally a 13 ounce pour in the restaurant, though they also okayed a 16 oz growler fill so I could bring it home.
Notes
The beer is very light amber, almost yellow in color, so really in the glass it’s almost a pilsner look, with just a touch more red and slightly less translucent. The citrus is very strong in this beer. I had trouble separating out the Sundrop soda syrup from the lemon, lime and orange flavors from the zest during the brewing process. It was definitely very sweet and it left me wondering if this should be classified as a shandy…a mixture of a beer and a soft drink.
Certainly, it was refreshing and easy to drink…a third of the glass was gone before I got this far in writing this review! I paired it with the new Partagas Legend blend from General Cigar (full review to come soon) and found that the cigar was a little stronger than needed for this beer (although I was planning on having another beer later and it would definitely need the darker flavors of this cigar).
Even as the beer warmed slightly as I sat outside, it got better. Most good beer should actually be consumed at more than ice cold temperatures…in the low 30s, the flavor of any beer is sapped. The Drops of Golden Sun got fruitier and more intense…tons of citrus, with loads of maltiness and just a touch of hops. This is a great summer beer and something I hope shows up on a regular basis during warmer months here in east Tennessee.
As always, I should note that Monkey Town Brewing Company is located in Dayton, Tennessee, my hometown. Their beer is available at their restaurant location in downtown Dayton, as well as a couple satellite pubs in the region. If you are in the Chattanooga area and enjoy a good beer, I highly recommend making the 45 minute drive up to Dayton.
