Narragansett Summer Ale | Narragansett Brewing Co.
Brewed by:
Narragansett Brewing Co.
Rhode Island, United States
narragansettbeer.com
Style: American Blonde Ale
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 4.20%
Availability: Summer
Notes / Commercial Description:
Narragansett Summer is a light session ale made with two row pale malt and citra hops. The citra hops are a very popular, newer variety that deliver aromas of citrus and passion fruit without overpowering the taste buds. The beer is blonde in color and the mild kiss of the hops complement the pale malt perfectly, making it extremely drinkable.
24 IBU
Added by BeerAdvocate on 04-15-2011
Ratings: 450 | Reviews: 126
Reviews by Botulizard:
3.25/5 rDev -10.2%
Botulizard, May 20, 2014
More User Reviews:
3.46/5 rDev -4.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
Poured into an imperial pint glass a clear light golden with a 1/2 finger white head atop.Aromas were real light a bit of floral hops and toasted grain,really light to be honest.grainy with mild sweetness on the palate,a light smattering of leafy hops,a decent toasted ceral grain note in the finish.It's not bad...maybe rated to high but it's good for what it is,a summertime quaffer.
385 characters
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
Poured into an imperial pint glass a clear light golden with a 1/2 finger white head atop.Aromas were real light a bit of floral hops and toasted grain,really light to be honest.grainy with mild sweetness on the palate,a light smattering of leafy hops,a decent toasted ceral grain note in the finish.It's not bad...maybe rated to high but it's good for what it is,a summertime quaffer.
385 characters
3.69/5 rDev +1.9%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.51/5 rDev -3%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 3.5
16oz Tallboy ... no freshness date.
Starts off with a massive head, bright yellow clarity shines in front of me. Mild cracker maltiness and faint spicy citric hop. Semi-light body, crisp and clean. Light maltiness, bready with a light biscuity or almost husky flavor. Middling bitterness for balance. Faint twang of lemon zest from the hops, clean dry finish.
Quaffable summer ale, a solid brew all around.
408 characters
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 3.5
16oz Tallboy ... no freshness date.
Starts off with a massive head, bright yellow clarity shines in front of me. Mild cracker maltiness and faint spicy citric hop. Semi-light body, crisp and clean. Light maltiness, bready with a light biscuity or almost husky flavor. Middling bitterness for balance. Faint twang of lemon zest from the hops, clean dry finish.
Quaffable summer ale, a solid brew all around.
408 characters
3.68/5 rDev +1.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Appearance: 2 inch head with a rocky top, gold in color, clear, high carbonation
Smell: faint pine and grass
Taste: sweet grass, caramel, and pine hops at the end.
Mouthfeel: high carbonation, sweet start then the hops kick in to make it slightly bitter, light bodied
Overall: Best thing I have had from 'Gansett and what I would describe as a perfect lawnmower beer. Enough strength and beer taste to quench the thrist and keep on going. Complex enough to make me want the full six.
487 characters
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Appearance: 2 inch head with a rocky top, gold in color, clear, high carbonation
Smell: faint pine and grass
Taste: sweet grass, caramel, and pine hops at the end.
Mouthfeel: high carbonation, sweet start then the hops kick in to make it slightly bitter, light bodied
Overall: Best thing I have had from 'Gansett and what I would describe as a perfect lawnmower beer. Enough strength and beer taste to quench the thrist and keep on going. Complex enough to make me want the full six.
487 characters
3.45/5 rDev -4.7%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25
3.71/5 rDev +2.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Summer Ale opens to a sweet, fruity nose with bits of grain added for complexity and to keep things from becoming overly sweet. The sugars bring brown sugar and an assortment of fruit esters, including strong berry aromas, as well as lesser apricots and oranges. Just as strong, however, are the hop aromas, which bring large lemon and grapefruit notes, the citrusy side being obviously heavily favored here. Biscuit, cracker, floury baguette, and light touches of grassy wet wheat help earth the beer. Overall, this is a nice nose, offering a good range of sweet, citrusy notes that go nicely with the summer months, but that are also decently nuanced in and of themselves.
On the tongue, the beer opens with a small hop blast of pine and pink grapefruit, which moves smoothly into a main body that is heavily grain, with toast, biscuit, cracker, Grape Nuts cereal, and grassy wet wheat notes, as well as touches of rice. These mix with a light brown sugar and fruit ester (orange, berry, apricot) sugary note, here much less potent than on the nose. In subsequent sips much of the nuance is lost, and the hops drown out much of the sugars and finer bread notes, so that grapefruit, pine, and Grape Nuts cereal notes dominate, though the flavors are still crisp and refreshing. The aftertaste is mainly hoppy, with grapefruit and pine lingering on the tongue in medium-light strength for a decent while. Mouthfeel is medium-light, and carbonation is medium.
Overall, this is decent summer fare, with a good arrangement of flavors in decent quantities, the beer obviously designed to be light, crisp, and refreshing, while still maintaining good flavors, and succeeding very nicely in doing so. It’s a bit of a shame that the initial flavors couldn’t last longer, and that the hops come to so heavily dominate the beer over time, but this is still a very nice brew.
1,871 characters
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Summer Ale opens to a sweet, fruity nose with bits of grain added for complexity and to keep things from becoming overly sweet. The sugars bring brown sugar and an assortment of fruit esters, including strong berry aromas, as well as lesser apricots and oranges. Just as strong, however, are the hop aromas, which bring large lemon and grapefruit notes, the citrusy side being obviously heavily favored here. Biscuit, cracker, floury baguette, and light touches of grassy wet wheat help earth the beer. Overall, this is a nice nose, offering a good range of sweet, citrusy notes that go nicely with the summer months, but that are also decently nuanced in and of themselves.
On the tongue, the beer opens with a small hop blast of pine and pink grapefruit, which moves smoothly into a main body that is heavily grain, with toast, biscuit, cracker, Grape Nuts cereal, and grassy wet wheat notes, as well as touches of rice. These mix with a light brown sugar and fruit ester (orange, berry, apricot) sugary note, here much less potent than on the nose. In subsequent sips much of the nuance is lost, and the hops drown out much of the sugars and finer bread notes, so that grapefruit, pine, and Grape Nuts cereal notes dominate, though the flavors are still crisp and refreshing. The aftertaste is mainly hoppy, with grapefruit and pine lingering on the tongue in medium-light strength for a decent while. Mouthfeel is medium-light, and carbonation is medium.
Overall, this is decent summer fare, with a good arrangement of flavors in decent quantities, the beer obviously designed to be light, crisp, and refreshing, while still maintaining good flavors, and succeeding very nicely in doing so. It’s a bit of a shame that the initial flavors couldn’t last longer, and that the hops come to so heavily dominate the beer over time, but this is still a very nice brew.
1,871 characters
3.79/5 rDev +4.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Pouring from the 16oz can, this one comes out a nice golden color, clear, with a smallish white head that doesn't leave much lacing. Smell is pretty grainy, kiss of herbal hops on the backend, somewhat sweet. Pretty solid flavor here, though, nice malt beginnings are somewhat sweet, almost pilsner like. It's washed away by some herbal and spicy hops, hint of lemon, fairly bitter. Pretty crisp finish, feel is very bubbly, light, not dry. Overall this isn't too shabby, when I first tried it I thought it was a pilsner, due to the color, body, and hops, but turns out this is a blonde ale.
591 characters
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Pouring from the 16oz can, this one comes out a nice golden color, clear, with a smallish white head that doesn't leave much lacing. Smell is pretty grainy, kiss of herbal hops on the backend, somewhat sweet. Pretty solid flavor here, though, nice malt beginnings are somewhat sweet, almost pilsner like. It's washed away by some herbal and spicy hops, hint of lemon, fairly bitter. Pretty crisp finish, feel is very bubbly, light, not dry. Overall this isn't too shabby, when I first tried it I thought it was a pilsner, due to the color, body, and hops, but turns out this is a blonde ale.
591 characters
3.43/5 rDev -5.2%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
4.35/5 rDev +20.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Tallboy poured into an imperial pint glass.
Pours beautifully. An inviting golden color topped off by an impressive white head.
The smell of Summer Ale is equally enticing. A great combination of hops and malt. Nothing overpowering, just a great combination of subtle scents.
The appearance and smell are great, but it's the taste and mouth feel that make this an exceptional beer. The subtle, citrus scents detected in the nose are amplified in the taste. A nice citrus blast with a dash of grassy notes and sweet malts. The mouth feel is totally unexpected from such a low ABV beer.
Over the past few months I've been able to drink a lot of fantastic beers from all over the country, but this one might be the MVP of the Summer. It's perfectly priced, extremely refreshing, highly drinkable, and it appeals to both craft and non-craft drinkers.
851 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Tallboy poured into an imperial pint glass.
Pours beautifully. An inviting golden color topped off by an impressive white head.
The smell of Summer Ale is equally enticing. A great combination of hops and malt. Nothing overpowering, just a great combination of subtle scents.
The appearance and smell are great, but it's the taste and mouth feel that make this an exceptional beer. The subtle, citrus scents detected in the nose are amplified in the taste. A nice citrus blast with a dash of grassy notes and sweet malts. The mouth feel is totally unexpected from such a low ABV beer.
Over the past few months I've been able to drink a lot of fantastic beers from all over the country, but this one might be the MVP of the Summer. It's perfectly priced, extremely refreshing, highly drinkable, and it appeals to both craft and non-craft drinkers.
851 characters
3.85/5 rDev +6.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
16oz can poured into a tulip.
A: Pours a clear golden pale yellow with a puffy 2 finger white head. Leaves some nice spots of lacing on the side of the glass. Tons of visible carbonation.
S: Nice blend of the citra hops and a solid malt backbone. Reminds me a touch of a belgian style with the orange notes and malts.
T: Very enjoyable, well balanced beer. Right off the bat I get a decent malting providing a crackery bread like quality. As with the aroma, citra hops poke there head in to say hello. Lingers with a pale malt taste and a touch of hop earthiness.
M: Light body with ample carbonation. Crisp finish. Defines the sessionable beer category.
Overall great for the warm weather or anything outdoors. Will be picking this one up again.
755 characters
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
16oz can poured into a tulip.
A: Pours a clear golden pale yellow with a puffy 2 finger white head. Leaves some nice spots of lacing on the side of the glass. Tons of visible carbonation.
S: Nice blend of the citra hops and a solid malt backbone. Reminds me a touch of a belgian style with the orange notes and malts.
T: Very enjoyable, well balanced beer. Right off the bat I get a decent malting providing a crackery bread like quality. As with the aroma, citra hops poke there head in to say hello. Lingers with a pale malt taste and a touch of hop earthiness.
M: Light body with ample carbonation. Crisp finish. Defines the sessionable beer category.
Overall great for the warm weather or anything outdoors. Will be picking this one up again.
755 characters
Narragansett Summer Ale from Narragansett Brewing Co.
Beer rating:
46.7% out of
100 with
450 ratings