When we visited the Pelican Pub & Brewery back during Memorial Day, I picked up a couple of bottles to bring home: the 2010 Saison du Pelican, and (thinking ahead to this week, actually) the Surfer’s Summer Ale.

Here’s their description:

The Summer Ales of England inspire our well-loved seasonal beer, Surfer’s Summer Ale. With a brilliant gold color, and a fruity, floral, and herbal aroma from Glacier hops, Surfer’s Summer Ale is a refreshing, tasty brew. A sweet, toasted malt flavor comes from the Golden Promise malt, and combines with a bread-like wheat charecter to give this beer a full-bodied, rounded malt aspect. Finishing smooth and clean, Surfer’s Summer Ale exhibits a wonderful balance and character.

Indeed, while drinking Surfer’s Summer Ale I did think of light English beers; the earthy-English hop character from the Glacier hops are what brings that out. It’s light and very easy to drink at 5.3% alcohol by volume.

Appearance: Clear and golden with crisp white head that’s very generous.

Smell: Clean, light, hints of caramel/crystal malts and the barest note of hops.

Taste: Surprisingly up-front bitter with earthy, sticky hops. But is balances well with a light malt backbone that’s very clean and bready and dry. Simple and tasty.

Mouthfeel: Light, clean, hoppy-dry finish—refreshing.

Overall: Excellent beer, elegant in its simplicity with a satisfying hop presence.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B in six reviews. On RateBeer, it scores 3.03 out of 5, and is in their 46th overall percentile (71st for the style).