Magic Hat Circus Boy - ($7.95 for a six-pack at Uncle Tom's Market)
As the summer months fade and all eyes turn towards fall, most jovial beer drinkers can only sigh as their beloved summer ales begin to leave the shelves and empty out of taps everywhere. I suffered this exact fate just Tuesday night at Sea Dog, when the bartender could offer me only a Red Ale rather than my usual Summer Wheat. Instead of fits of rage and bouts of profanity, I offered him a simple smile and a $5 bill. For I, my friends, have found a place where summer breezes on eternally; a place where amber prevails over darkness and smoothness triumphs over puckered lips and watery eyes. Just the other day, at a little slice of heaven called Uncle Tom's Market, I found the Circus, Boy.
Now this is not to say that I used Tom's keg-littered back room as a personal jungle gym. What I did instead was to pick up Magic Hat's delectable spice/herb/vegetable Circus Boy beer brewed in Burlington, Vermont. (Note: Magic Hat classifies Circus Boy as a "Hefenweizen," a German beer known for its cloudy nature and wheat taste. After more research, however, I discovered that the presence of lemon technically qualifies it as a spice/herb/vegetable beer.) But don't be fooled by the fancy terminology. This is not your mother's V8.
After my purchase, I sat down with some friends for the first of what I expect to become weekly beer tastings at Pine Street B (invitation only, please). The group's positive reaction came as a surprise to me, at least until I tried it for myself. Circus Boy boasts an amber orange color and an overwhelming taste of citrus infused with wheat. My good friend and frequent beer-drinking partner Ted Upton remarked boldly that Circus Boy went down "smoother than a summer ale." Not to be outdone, roommate and infamous Boston beer aficionado Eric Gutierrez added, Circus Boy "tastes like a summer ale with the lemon already squeezed in." Indeed, cracking the beers filled the room with a sweet lemon aroma. The first sip went down so smoothly that it was as if my stomach stole the pleasure of tasting the first sip directly from my taste buds.
Undeniably, my friends and I took an immediate liking to the sneaky little Circus Boy. However, there are some qualities of this beer that need to be noted before all heads can bow to its divine omnipotence. Firstly, though your taste buds will deceive you, Circus Boy is not a summer ale. Like most microbrews, Circus Boy is best drank from a glass, leaving the last centimeter of sediment remaining in the bottle.
The other quality of Circus Boy that you are sure to notice is that, though crisp and smooth, it is almost impenetrable by light, even in a clean glass. The back of every bottle states: "Circus Boy is cloudy by nature, like Burlington, Vermont, itself." If you're like me, this doesn't exactly inspire carefree consumption, but rather makes me wonder what nasty storm cloud this beer fell out of and who could be sick enough to bottle it. But fear not?cloudiness is typical of many beers. Besides, even paradise is cloudy sometimes, right?
In the end, Magic Hat's Circus Boy left me filled with hope. I no longer need to linger beneath the taps for the last drops of summer ale. Circus Boy is light and smooth and delicious. Hell, each bottle cap even offers a nifty phrase, like the alcoholic equivalent of Snapple. And as my first cap humbly told me: "If you can spare one, share one."