Friday Beer Reco: Field House’s Nordic Dry-Hopped Sour Is an All-Terrain Beast

Remember those Dennis Leary Ford F-150 commercials?

The actor (known by firefighters for Rescue Me and just sort of vaguely familiar to the rest of us) would essentially mansplain Ford’s bonafides at the viewer, imploring the consumer to live a “meat and potatoes” life, while a graphic designer throws bold-fonted words on top of pictures of trucks.

I’ve never bought a Ford, so I think it would be a stretch to say that the marketing campaign “worked” on me, but I also haven’t forgotten about it. Who could really?

And, for some reason, it really came to mind when I cracked open one of Field House Brewing’s latest efforts. You see, Leary hammered home the idea that you only need this one truck—the Ford F-150 of course—and that it could handle all kinds of terrain, battle all types of weather and be the only truck you need.

On that last point, Field House’s Nordic Dry-Hopped Sour would probably not be my choice for a desert island beer. But it certainly is in the conversation for both the best and most adaptable beers I’ve had this year. By that I mean that this is very, very much an every-type-of-weather beer, something that is quite rare in a sour.

Instead of being fruity or overly sweet, the NDH (like NPH, but good) is juicy and perfectly tart—ideal for both walking in the rain and sipping on a sunny patio. It’s jumped up to the very top of the list of best beers I’ve had this year.

Okay fine, I’ll run that through a Dennis Leary translator for you:

“Alright bucko, time to sit down and strap in. Ditch that cranberry peach sour and we can talk about a real beer, one that you can drink through the THUNDER and the RAIN and hey, it works on sunny days too. Not enough for you? How about a 6.7 alcohol percentage and a kickass label that you can show off to your bougie friends? Now you’re along for the ride—kumbaya, cowabunga let’s go.”