Mama's Little Yella Pills is perfect for summer

MAMA'S LITTLE YELLA PILS

Type: pilsner
Maker: Oskar Blues Brewery, Longmont, Colo.
Alcohol: 5.3 percent
Cost: $1.99 for 12 ounces at Total Wine & More, 741 First Colonial Road, Virginia Beach

When I was scouring the shelves looking for something different, this little yellow can jumped out at me immediately. "That's hilarious!" I said as I read the can. It's a great play on words, and it did the trick: I bought it. (It's not the first to parody the pils name, either. Dogfish Head once had a pilsner called Prescription Pils, but it was rejected.)

Yella Pils is a German-Czech-style pilsner beer that couldn't be more perfect for the heat of summer. First of all, it's in cans, which makes it ultra-portable on trips and keeps the light out better than a bottle could. This means fresher, better beer. Oskar Blues Brewery has it right, and it was one of the first craft breweries to start canning its beer.

It looks like your typical fizzy, yellow beer but is immensely more flavorful. Pouring a bright, straw-gold body with a wispy white head, it smells lightly sweet with cereal grain, biscuit and a light floral edge. The hops are dialed down and balanced with a bit of a spicy, floral quality.

The flavor is excellent, balanced and full-flavored for such a light-bodied beer. The malt flavors spread across the tongue with sweet, grainy and bready flavors thanks to the German malt and yeast. Hops then hit the palate with a pronounced spicy, grassy, floral flavor that really hangs on until the last sip, ending with a pleasant bitterness (where the Czech influence comes in).

A top-shelf pilsner, it's one of my top picks for summer. Oskar Blues always pulls off great canned beer, and this is one "prescription" I'd like to keep.

- Eric Trotman