Summa Down Unda Archives - Cape May Brewing Co

Like many of you out there, 2020 was shaping up to be a great year for Cape May Brewing Company. We had all of our ducks in a row: for the first time, we came out with a set-in-stone release schedule, we knew which brands were being retired and which ones were making a comeback, we had a strong schedule of draft-only beers, and it looked like we’d have smooth sailing until 2021.

Then… COVID.

While the trials and tribulations of an independent brewery due to COVID pale in comparison to the folks on the front lines fighting the disease and the millions of families throughout our country who have been stricken, when the pandemic hit, we had some realigning to do.

With bars and restaurants closed, it didn’t make sense to pursue the draft-only releases we’d had planned. With our own Tasting Room closed, Tasting Room-only releases were out the door. So, we focused on our canned releases.

Then, as things began to reopen a little, we began to return to our Tasting Room-only releases, cautiously re-adding them to the schedule to gauge the response.

And… the response was good.

Considering the fact that we had ingredients in-house for many of our Tasting Room-only and draft variety releases, we began putting them back on the schedule, with some of those draft brands being reimagined as Tasting Room-only releases. We put our crack design team on the case, asking them to whip up some can designs for these unexpected releases, got them approved by the guv’mint, and got things rolling.

Such is the story of Summa Down Unda — a hazy kiwi pale ale inspired by one of our favorite New Zealand hops, with a name more suited for the frigid days of winter than the dog days of summer.

Yet… it releases on Friday, on a day that the temperature is expected to top out in the 80s, only in the Tasting Room!

It’s cold.

Like… soooooo cold….

Granted, Cape May is a little warmer than the -6° in Madison, Wisconsin right now, but bear in mind that we’re on a little, tiny cape jutting out between the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay: the wind whipping through the Cape May Airport is nothing short of life-draining.

It’s cold.

We wish we had the foresight to winter somewhere warmer. Somewhere south of the equator, perhaps. Somewhere down under. Where it’s summer.

Instead, we brewed up a crushable pale ale with Citra and Moteuka — one of our favorite New Zealand hops with big citrus notes of tropical fruits and lemon zest — and a kiss of Kiwi juice as a nod to the Kiwis down under.

And, just to make sure everyone wishes they were relaxing on Piha Beach or exploring terrain that makes you think you just stepped into a Tolkien novel (or, at the very least, the Peter Jackson film adaptation thereof), we called it Summa Down Unda.

Summa Down Unda Returns!

Summa Down Unda