Shmaltz Brewing Company’s He’Brew beer has quite the balancing
act going on beneath its humorous exterior. With its history in San Francisco
and its brand-new brewery in New York, no other brewery is as immersed in the struggle of
balancing the country’s craft beer tastes.
The bicoastal brewery is leaning East Coast in its summer
seasons, putting out a lager for summer with greater hop presence than your typical
Sam Adams lager. It’s the first lager for Shmaltz, and it includes caramel pils
and rye malts.
David’s Slingshot hoppy summer lager is somewhere between a
pale ale and an IPA, with a moderate hop bite and a hint of maltiness. It has
all the hallmarks of a summer sipper: Good flavor that doesn’t overpower, lower
alcohol (5.5 percent ABV) so it doesn’t creep up on you in the sun, drinkability
and refreshing carbonation.
All it needs, really, is a repackaging. Put it in a can,
sell it in six-packs, and sell each six-pack with a tube for the river and you’ve
got a fine summer afternoon.
