5 Summer Beers You Should Try

Recently, while reading the TAG 5: Summer beers, I started compiling my own list of summer beers, and it’s now complete. This is not so much a list of my favorite summer beers of all time, but a list of my favorite summer beers right now. Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to try each of these beers and let me know what you think of them. Each has something different to offer, and I strongly recommend to you that you at least try them, even if you don’t accept your mission to bars.

Summer beers should be flavorful but refreshing. The beer should be able to cool you off when sunning or swimming at the lake, or right after you’ve finished mowing the lawn or working in the garden. They should never be too strong, and anything over 6% ABV is probably pushing it (although Ranger IPA made this list, weighing in a 6.5%). The idea should be that these beers will cut through the heat of a late summer evening, when the air is close and the sun seems like it will never set.

These beers are also great for sitting outside with friends at night while cooking meat on the grill, or while just chatting in a circle under the stars.

1. Schlafly Summer Lager (a.k.a Schlafly Helles) – Schlafly Brewery – Helles Lager – 4.5% ABV – This beer is a fantastic summer beer. It’s a full-flavored lager beer with a good, slightly sweet, bready backbone and just the right amount of hops to balance without overpowering the flavor. This beer is a light straw color and crystal clear. Best thing about this beer? It comes in cans, so you can take it on the river. This beer is easily a 3.5 out of 5 pints on my pint glass scale.

2. Ranger IPA – New Belgium Brewing Company – IPA – 6.5% ABV – This beer is great. For the money, you would be very hard-pressed to find a better IPA, although there are some which can give it a run. The beer pours a clear golden orange color with a white, foamy head. The aroma from this beer is what sells it, as it’s full of delicious citrus and grapefruit with just a little freshly cut grass. The flavor is bitter (after all, it is an IPA), but very well balanced with a full bodied sweetness that shows through. The beer finished clean, leaving your tongue wanting more. This beer is currently one of my favorites and I rate it at 4 out of 5 pints.

3. Boulevard Zôn – Boulevard Brewing Company – White ale (witbier) – 4.4% ABV – Flemish for “sun,” Zôn is a fantastic representation of the Belgian white ale style known as witbier. It is very cloudy and straw colored with a white head. The aroma is full of orange and citrus, with a little bit of pear. The flavor is very representative of a witbier style, which can be very hard to balance, but Boulevard does a bang-up job. There is orange and coriander mixed in with the lemony sweetness of the wheat malt. It has a nice yeasty flavor, as well, but the citric tartness cuts through it leaving a mildly spiced finish. 3.5 out of 5 pints.

4. Mueller Munich Lager – Springfield Brewing Company – Munich Lager – 4-5% ABV – This is a standard for summer in SGF. Spend an evening sitting outside at the Brewco sipping on this or their wheat beer, and you’ll have a good night. The Munich Lager is a great example of the style, and is clean and refreshing. It pours straw colored, but crystal clear with minimal white head. The aroma is mostly bread with a little bit of hops. The flavor is crisp and clean with a lot of carbonation to cut through everything else. The flavor is slightly grassy, but in a good way, and there is some slightly toasted flavors to balance everything out. This beer is easy to drink a lot of, so be careful getting home. 3 out of 5 pints.

5. Hazed and Infused – Boulder Beer Company – American Pale Ale – 4.85% ABV – My friend Brett might say I saved the best for last with this one. This beer is a great example of an American Pale Ale. They don’t bother worrying about clarity, so the beer comes by the haze naturally. The “Infused” part is a dry-hopping with Crystal and Centennial hops (a hint – “C” hops are usually very citrusy). It pours a hazy amber color with white head, and it has a VERY fragrant aroma that consists of a little bit of cut grass and a lot of citrus. It has a very full body and a pronounced citrus flavor which includes grapefruit, some lemon and lime, and a bit of pine in the finish. These hop-associated flavors are balanced by a caramel and toffee flavor from the malt. Crisp finish makes it easily drinkable. 4 out of 5 pints.

Think I forgot a beer or think I maybe haven’t tried one you love? Let me know in the comments or discuss them in TAGSGF’s forum. I’ll be sure to try and review as many beers as I can that are suggested. I’ll try to post a review per week this summer, so if you want me to review your favorite, please let me know.