River Horse Summer Blonde: 10 Beers of Summer

When it comes to beer, New Jersey is underrated. Sure, we don't host iconic breweries like Dogfish Head or Stone or Shiner or Samuel Adams or New Glarus, but we do have fantastic beer. Hell, believe it or not, when it comes to beer distribution New Jersey is one of the best in the nation. You can get a wider variety of beers here than you can in just about every other state, including California's much heralded beer scene.

Being underrated is too bad, because New Jersey has a few really great breweries. River Horse is one of them ... and since we're celebrating summer beer, let's celebrate their Summer Blonde Ale, a beer that is (obviously) intended for the summer months.

This is a light, refreshing, vaguely Belgian-style blonde ale that is as crisp and refreshing as summer beers come. The ABV is low, just 4.5% (it used to be as low as 4%), but it has more taste than the most common beers in its weight class. There is a vaguely grass-like character to the malts balanced by a lemon-tinged bitterness. Neither are strong -- compared to other golden ales they are pretty much nonexistent -- but that's the point. Nothing overpowering, nothing fancy, just simple, subdued, slightly zesty (but not too much!), and utterly drinkable.

Nothing wrong with that.

If you dig summer beers, be sure to enter to win loads of awesome summer beer stuff! It's EASY!