I tried three new beers on Easter Sunday, celebrating a little bit of a spring rebirth on my own. One was from Magic Hat, the other two were from Samuel Adams, and I liked all three.

But I have a complaint. All three beers will be available only in mixed packs. That means to get these beers that I like, I will have to buy them along with beers that I don’t like.

I often buy mixed packs. They are perfect when I find a new brewery and want to try everything a company makes. And they are good when we are having guests, because even though I don’t like a particular beer, one of the guests probably will.

But when, like George Thorogood, I drink alone, it means I have to force myself to drink beer I really don’t like or just store it until such time as I have company who might like it.

So, I beg the brewers, please sell these specialty beers in six-packs as well as the mixed 12-packs. I’m not the only one with this complaint.

All three beers son-in-law Christian and I tasted were a light golden color, had a white head that disappeared fairly quickly, and were designed for summer drinking.

We started with Samuel Adams East-West Kolsch. Kolsch is a German style of beer, a light ale that is usually less bitter than a pilsner. It had a wonderful floral aroma, a bit of sweetness and a lingering flavor, and comes in at 5.01 percent alcohol.

Christian, who is more of a tea drinker than I am, detected the hints of jasmine, and the label said it was aged on jasmine. Granddaughter Brighid coincidentally was drinking some jasmine iced tea at the time, and once I tasted that, I could immediately pick it up in the beer. The beer was really quite nice. (The iced tea wasn’t bad, either.)

The Samuel Adams Rustic Saison farmhouse ale was a much more complex beer, with a mix of honey and yeasty aroma. The flavor began sweet with a bit of bitterness at the end. It is a low-alcohol beer at 4.35 percent, which is typical of Saisons, which were brewed to quench farmers’ thirst at lunch but still let them go back to work in the afternoon.

The Magic Hat Single Chair is a limited release that has been available only in Vermont, where Magic Hat is based, and honors the Mad River Glen ski area. This is the first time it has been released in 12-ounce bottles.

It has a sweet, light malt flavor and just a bit of bitterness, but it’s wonderfully well balanced and a very good beer.

Now, here’s what else you get to drink when you buy these mixed packs.

The Samuel Adams Summer Style Mix Pack, in addition to the kolsch and the saison, has the flagship Boston Lager; the Latitude 48 IPA, which is a good IPA but not outstanding; Sam Adams Summer, which has too much lemon for my taste; and Sam Adams Light, which tradition holds I open when Boston sports teams are in trouble during important games. With the Celtics and Bruins in the playoffs, the Light could disappear quickly.

In addition to the Single Chair, Magic Hat’s Summer Scene comes with Magic Hat No. 9, the company flagship, which I don’t much like; Blind Faith: Summer IPA on Tour, which was in last year’s summer collection and, like Latitude 48, is good but not great; and Wacko, a bright pink summer beer brewed with beets that I surprised myself by liking quite a bit when I tasted it last summer. 

BAXTER BREWING CO. in Lewiston is expanding after only three months in business.

This is good, because on a fishing trip early in April, I decided I wanted to take good canned beer just because the cans are easy to haul.

I bought Narragansett Bock ahead of time, but I wanted to pick up Baxter’s Pamola Xtra Pale Ale during lunch hour so I could leave for camp directly from work and make no stops along the way. It took three stops downtown before I found some.

Luke Livingston, founder and president of Baxter, said the 30-barrel brewhouse with two 60-barrel fermenters and two 120-barrel conditioning tanks can produce 4,200 cases weekly. With two new fermenters and one more conditioning tank, he said, the company will be able to double its capacity.

“Demand has been absolutely phenomenal,” Livingston said in a press release announcing the expansion.

He also said that with more capacity, the company will be able to introduce new varieties to the lineup. And that is what I am looking forward to. 

Tom Atwell can be contacted at 791-6362 or at tatwell@pressherald.com 

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