Six Point Sweet Action

It's been one of those Brooklyn summers where the sun pounds you like a hammer. Day after day brutal heat and relentless humidity, it’s the kind of weather that keeps the sweat-gland industry solvent. Lucky for me then, that Brooklyn is a self-regulating organism that, over the past several millenia has evolved a protective cooling mechanism, the Six Point Brewery and, its wonderful Sweet Action cream ale. Served ice cold in a dark corner of one of the borough’s plentiful watering holes, it’s like having your own personal air conditioning angel beating its wings over your head. Appearance-wise it’s copper-colored and a bit cloudy, with robust carbonation (enough head to lace the glass, but not so much that you need to wipe your face after each sip). And heed well this beer’s name, they’re trying to be up front with you. There’s a whole lot of sweet in this beer, hell you’ll even find hints of banana and peach playing with one another in its complex malt profile. But, and see this is why it's special, despite that big sweet smooch up front, there’s a massive bitter snap of hoppiness right behind it that pulls the whole thing back into balance like one of those impossible-looking balance sculptures you see in the Sky Mall catalog. Taking a sip of Sweet Action is like jumping off the hot, sun-baked rocks at the quarry and into the icy depths of the river. Neither part of the sensation is complete without its opposite. And when the Brooklyn sun’s having a “let’s take it out on the humans” day, you’ll have a hard time finding better refuge.