Summer Beers To Refresh Your Palate

Need a little life injected into your choice for a cooler full of summer beers. Try these refreshers that I selected for a segment on WTOC's Mid-Morning Live on May 26.

Anchor Summer Beer: From America's true pioneer of craft brewing comes this first ever -- in modern times -- American made wheat beer -- first introduced in 1984. Light, crisp refreshing.

Highland St. Therese Pale Ale: From the mountains of Asheville, NC, comes this classic, mildly citrusy pale ale. Assertive hops -- a great all-around beer.

New Belgium Somersault: From the brewer of wildly popular Fat Tire comes a mildly hoppy brew that cavorts around the palate like a Russian gymnast. The refresher here comes from ingredients that offer subtle flavors of apricot and ginger.

Terrapin Sunray Wheat: From Athen's-based brewer Terrapin comes another wheat beer with a Savannah connection. Sunray Wheat is a German-style unfiltered wheat beer brewed with a touch of local Georgia Coast Tupelo honey from the Savannah Bee Company. Its inviting banana and sweet clove like aroma gives way to a pleasant, clean finish with a hint of tartness.

O'Dempsey's Big Red Ale: Another Georgia brewer, O'Dempsey's, brings an Irish-style red ale to the summer table that's loaded with body, plenty of refreshing hoppiness and lots of flavorful character. The brewery is a great success story -- home brewer turned micro brewery!

Bell's Oberon Ale: Vacationers to Michigan have raved about that state's Bell's beer for years -- and now the flagship, Oberon Ale, is available in Georgia. It's a wheat ale fermented with Bell's signature house ale yeast, mixing a spicy hop character with mildly fruity aromas. The addition of wheat malt lends a smooth mouthfeel, making it a classic summer beer.

Samuel Smith's Organic Strawberry Ale: If you told me I would like a fruit beer -- much less strawberry -- I would have laughed out loud. But the reality is I really love this English made strawberry ale. The flavor comes after a bright, refreshing start -- leaving just a hint of strawberry on the finish. It's not overly sweet -- nor cloying. Darned good beer -- it just happens to have a hint of strawberry.

Second Line brings the real taste of a New Orleans Po' Boy to Savannah's Factor's Walk

  You can read my review of Second Line in this coming week's Connect Savannah, but for those of you who scan the blog from afar, I wanted to give you a sneak peek.

Second Line Hot Roast Beef Po' Boy. Photo with

Hipstamatic for iPad by Tim Rutherford.

  I was thrilled to find a genuine New Orleans' Po' Boy on the banks of the Savannah River. My recent trips to NOLA have been a let down. There's plenty of great, regional chow going down -- but far outside the heavily trod districts where most tourists belly up for Crescent City eats.
  The owners of Second Line are Hurricane Katrina refugees who found their roots stuck in Savannah. Bless them and bless us. They bring authenticity and integrity to the Po' Boy scene in Savannah. My hot roast beef was amazing -- and the gravy soaked bread was to die for. The menu also includes Po' Boys crafted with cold beef, hot turkey, ham and cheese, meat ball, blackened chicken or shrimp, and crawfish. A Muffaletta got high marks from a former NOLA native -- and I'm about to talk myself into running over for a Debris Po' Boy (hot roast beef, ham and turkey under Second Line's housemade gravy) for lunch
  Of course, count on red beans and rice, gumbos and shrimp Creole.
  The space is funky, eclectic and dripping with the same benign decay that is the hallmark of New Orleans' best dives. Cold beer includes, naturally, Abita. There is also a small, consumer driven wine list.
  The restaurant's name refers to a tradition in brass band parades in New Orleans, Louisiana. The "main line" is the main section of the parade, or the members of the actual club with the parading permit; those who follow the band just to enjoy the music are called the "second line." The second line's style of traditional dance, in which participants walk and sometimes twirl a parasol or handkerchief in the air, is called "second lining." It has been called "the quintessential New Orleans art form — a jazz funeral without a body."
  There's nothing second line about Second Line.
306 W. Upper Factor's Walk
Savannah GA 31401
912.335.1754
Monday-Wednesday 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m; Thursday-Saturday until 3 a.m.
Live jazz on Friday nights