May 6, 2016

Starr Hill Sublime

I particularly enjoyed what Starr Hill had done with their King of Hop imperial IPA by adding lemon and lime zest to the brew. It added a playful, earthy citrus zing to an already darn tasty beer. The brewery has now taken a 4.7% ABV witbier and done the same thing. I’m not sure whether Sublime is based off of a current staple (I don’t believe it is), but the bonus of both lemon and lime zest to a solid little beer makes for a refreshing brew.

Part of their Heavy Rotation Series, Sublime will be released four times a year. It’s wheat-y, lightly citrusy character is certainly ideal for the start of Spring, despite all of the rain we’ve been having here in Virginia the past couple of weeks. The zest gives the brew a brightness that some witbiers lack — as a result the brew is quite refreshing and goes down easily.

Witbiers aren’t necessarily a big part of my diet, but I can see Sublime entering into the beer fridge fairly frequently this Summer. The light bodied brew has a nice blend of flavors and enough of a uniqueness (thanks to the citrus zest) to set it apart from the array of other witbiers, hefeweizens and the like that start appearing on shelves about this time of year.

This is a review of a promotional sample.