BEST SEASONAL SUDS
Don’t scoff at fruit beer — at least not until you’ve tried a bottle from Almanac Beer Co. Jesse Friedman and Damian Fagan make but one kind of small-batch beer a season, testing and re-tasting until they’ve hit upon the perfect produce with which to pair their bottlings. But we’re not talking coupling suggestions here. Almanac chooses an agricultural partner for each of its releases, adding to that beer’s standard mash bright harvest flavors from places like Kingsburg’s Hamada Farms, source of enviable citrus fruits, and Heirloom Organic Gardens, whose springtime fennel graces this year’s earthy Bière de Mars. Each release is limited, stamped with an eye-catching label, and let to ferment a third time in the bottle itself, lending each sip a sprightly, effervescent fizz.