Cisco Brewers - Sankaty Light Lager

A light lager, huh? Yeah, that’s what we thought too, and then we tried it. The mega breweries, with their desire for ever lighter and flavorless beers made from high levels of rice and corn, could learn a thing or two from this brew. Cisco brewer Jay Harman is highly skilled; it takes a tremendously deft touch to brew this type of beer this well, as there’s nothing to hide behind if you screw up. Your recipe has to be perfect, and you have to brew it perfectly. This golden-straw colored brew presents a nice cap of crisp white foam in the glass, along with a very inviting aroma profile. Look for the pils malt to offer a lightly bready quality while the noble Tettnang hops overlay it with a somewhat spicy, sweetly floral note that also conjures a bit of earthiness and a touch of citrus zest. On the palate, the relatively low dose of hops stands out nicely against the light crackery malt backdrop. In fact, for a light lager the hop presence and bitterness is quite pronounced (consider that your average light beer comes in at barely half the IBUs, if that). Expect a moderate lemon-like acidity to persist as the very mild malt sweetness drops away in the finish, offering a crispness that cleanses the palate and readies it for another sip of this quenching, refreshing brew. This light-bodied, low-ABV beer is perfect for casual drinking, any warm weather event, and mid-day summer moments at the helm of the family grill. Cheers!

Cisco Brewers was founded when homebrewers Randy & Wendy Hudson crossed paths with Dean & Melissa Long, the founders and owners of Nantucket Vineyard. Wendy had gained experience homebrewing with friends in California, and in 1992 she met Randy after moving back to the island. Intuitively she knew Randy would be a great brewer, so she bought him a brew kit. As he started brewing, he found that his experience working at a local bakery gave him a certain instinct for working with yeast and grain, so after one batch using malt extract, Randy left the guidebook behind and converted a rarely used pasta roller into a grain mill. He developed new recipes that not only he enjoyed, but impressed Wendy too. It was a match made in beer heaven.

Around this time Randy and Wendy met the Longs, who had established Nantucket Vineyard on the western half of the island back in 1981. It was a fortuitous encounter; because the Longs needed help at the winery, and the Hudsons needed a home, Randy and Wendy moved in to a loft above the winery. Eventually, the Hudsons made the decision to start selling beer, and Cisco Brewers was born. Initially, their entire “nano-brewery” as Wendy refers to it existed almost entirely outside in the Longs’ backyard. In 1996 they met Jay Harman, another aspiring brewer who had wanted to establish a brewery on the island until he discovered the Hudsons had beaten him to it. So Jay joined Cisco to help run the operation, and as evidence of his dedication, he personally capped sixty thousand bottles by hand in his first year alone (the “nano-brewery” was a very labor intensive operation at that time!).

Dean had a new building constructed to house both the growing brewery and winery operation in 1996. It was also around this time that Dean began sensing the synergy between their current products and high-proof spirits. A few other craft breweries have established successful distilleries in recent years (Dogfish Head and Rogue come to mind), but Dean’s foresight at that time was impressive. Triple Eight Distillery began producing spirits in 2000 and now offers an excellent line of Vodka, Whiskey, Rum, and Gin. For more information, visit them at www.ciscobrewers.com or call (508) 325-5929.