It's June 21st, the first full day of Summer 2021. We've reached what I call "hella hot" as of Saturday. If you've been around the blog for a while, you might know what that means. 

Bell's released Mango Oberon last summer. I drank it on one of those hella hot early-July days and loved it. You can believe I was ecstatic when Tropical Oberon was announced in late May. I knew I had to try it. And, now that summer's officially begun and the days are heating up, I figure the time's come at last. So throw on some shades and pull up a city pop playlist on YouTube: It's Tropical Oberon Time.

Bell's' Oberon is a summer constant. I have some when the air turns hot each year. Usually, I pick up a sixer or two and a mini-keg (I plow through the latter over the course of a week). Sure, it drops in March but I don't want an Oberon until it's hella hot out. The world needs the heat to make the beer special.

No Lottie today--she's busy sleeping off a big weekend.

Well, now we have today. It's 95° and, until moments ago, sunny. An Oberon would be especially nice today, sure, but I'm doing one better. See, on July 6th, Bell's announced that a mango variant of their ultra-popular summertime wheat ale was being bottled. To my utter delight, I found it stocked at a local grocery store last week. I'm happy to pop into it amid today's rumbling thunder and break it down for you.

Not too long ago Bell's Brewery, Inc. (hailing from That State Up North) got into some hot water with Innovation Brewing (of South Carolina). From what I gathered Bell's didn't like Innovation's name (Bell's had a bumper sticker that said "innovation" (or something of the sort) years and years ago. Anyway, I had heard that lawyers were involved. And then, like magic, I heard nothing else about it. I'm sure a quick google search would turn up more info, but I don't really care.

As far as this all concerns me is as follows: I boycotted Bell's for a bit. But, eventually, I decided that I like their beer too much to care about something of which I'm only really half sure (I've had different people involved tell me different things).


What this means is that today I'm able to sit here with a clean conscience and enjoy the bottle of Oberon before me.