The third canned offering under the Saranac name from this prolific brewery. Their flagship Saranac Pale Ale showed up in 12 oz. and pint-sized cans last summer, and this year Summer Ale became the second of their 30-plus seasonals to benefit from the portability and protection of cans. The first was a limited canned run of their Pomegranate Wheat that they did back in 2008.

From the Saranac site:

"With more than 2,800 bodies of water in the Adirondacks, it's not too hard to find a sunny place to relax, rest your feet and look out over the water. To celebrate summer in the Adirondacks, we've brewed a beer with generous amounts of wheat malt for a light, refreshing taste. Look for subtle hints of lemon."

Here we go...

Pour - bright gold color with a thin but sturdy head and decent lacing.

Aroma - somewhat bready nose with faint notes of dry lemon citrus.  

Taste - starts off with a fairly strong tart lemon flavor before some sourness latches to the palate. Tight carbonation with a crisp mouthfeel dashes the sourness away at the finish leaving a rather dry, almost powdery citrus aftertaste similar to grated lemon peel.

Overall - a unique summer beer that is worth trying again. This is not your super sweet shandy-like brew, but one that offers more on the sour end of the lemon spectrum. Its light, thin body is always a plus for summer drinking, and the dry finish helped this one go down quickly.  Recommended if you liked the now-retired Pete’s Wicked Summer Brew.

Note - Saranac Brewing Company, which is a division of the FX Matt Company, has brewed and bottled at least 42 different brands in the past few years. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a few more of those in cans. Perhaps their IPA or Black Forest would be good candidates?