Sweet Action with True Blood

 Sweet Action refers to the beer not what's happening on screen

Sunday was the premiere of season 4 of True Blood.  While all the vamps, werewolves and other supernatural critters rose to the occasion I poured a Sixpoint Brewing Sweet Action and kicked back in my leather chair for the Sunday night freak fest. Both the show and the beer impressed.

Sweet Action is listed as a cream ale which means nothing to me as a style.  The only cream ale I've ever had is Genesee Cream Ale and that was at least 20 years ago.  Doing some research on Wikipedia and Beer Advocate quickly brought me up to speed. The descriptions are fairly vague but basically it's a top fermenting ale, sometimes finished with lager yeast.  Typically lower in hops, light in color and body. Thankfully Sweet Action breaks from those overly bland guidelines.

Sweet Action pours a hazy deep gold with a thin white head that quickly fades. Flavors of citrus, vanilla and mango all come out. However this seems like one of those beers that if a 100 different people tried it you'd get a 100 different flavor descriptions. The hops that show in the aroma stay fairly mellow in the taste. It's all very well balanced. This is a summer comfort beer in a good way. No hop assault here.  At 5.2% abv session purist will hate that I call this a session beer.  However as smooth and easy drinking as it is it's nothing but sessionable. Sweet Action delivers balanced flavors, a touch of sweet and enough bitter to let you know there is nothing macro about it. The 16 ounce can makes it great for around the pool or as the perfect accessory to the mower when working on the lawn.

As for True Blood if your unaware of the whole series you have a little catching up to do (click on the link above).  For those in the know the premiere offered a few surprises and laid the ground work for what should be a good season. There is no question what I'll be watching on Sunday night.