16 Summer Beers Ranked
In much of the U.S., winter weather lingered well into spring. So the end of the school year is arriving with a fair amount of surprise—but it’s bringing with the beginning of Summer Beer Season.
Already at our local craft beer store, Ale Yeah!, we found 16 promising looking summer beers to taste. The styles range from the typical (wheat ales and lagers) to the unexpected (a watermelon ale and a pre-Prohibition-style beer). We started our tasting blind before realizing we at least needed to know the style to better understand the brewer’s target. Thanks to Ale Yeah!’s Carey Charles for joining six Paste staffers in the tasting.
Here are 16 Summer Beers, ranked for your drinking pleasure:
16. 21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon
Brewery: 21st Amendment Brewery
City: San Francisco
Style: Fruit Beer
ABV: 5.5%
Before we revealed what this beer was, our tasters knew there was something odd in the mix but couldn’t quite figure it out: “Cucumbers,” thought one. “French Fries,” thought another. “Fish,” thought a few. Watermelon wasn’t on anyone’s mind. Drinking it again after knowing this was 21st Century’s Hell or High Watermelon helped pinpoint the strangeness, but we’ll be consuming our watermelon and beer separately this summer.
15. Sweetwater Road Trip
Brewery: Sweetwater Brewing Company
City: Atlanta
Style: Blond Ale
ABV: 5.3%
We’re pretty devoted fans of our city’s biggest brewery, but the Road Trip, while mild and sunny at first takes a turn for the worse by the time the destination arrives with a bitter, metallic aftertaste.
14. Southern Tier 2X Steam
Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company
City: Lakewood, N.Y.
Style: Double Uncommon
ABV: 8%
Southern Tier’s 2X Steam isn’t bad, but it’s a cozy turtleneck in a rack of beach shirts—there’s nothing summery about this beer. Heavy, boozy and spicy, this 8% curiosity uses lager yeast and a healthy dose of hops and malts. Save your bottles for chillier weather.
13. Left Hand Good Juju
Brewery: Left Hand Brewing Co.
City: Longmont, Colo.
Style: Spice Beer
ABV: 4.5%
The ginger overpowers all other flavors in the Good Juju, making it a divisive entry in our tasting depending on the judge’s love for ginger. Gives a new meaning to words “Root Beer.”
12. Brooklyn Summer Ale
Brewery: Brooklyn Brewery
City: Brooklyn
Style: Blond Ale
ABV: 4.5%
Modeled on the “light dinner beers” of 19th-Century England, this pre-Prohibition-style is light and refreshing if—like England’s cooking at the time—not overpowering with flavor.
11. Anderson Valley Summer Solstice
Brewery: Anderson Valley Brewing Company
City: Boonville, Calif.
Style: Cream Ale
ABV: 5%
This unusual cream ale has giant pumpkin and candy flavors, making it a tasty, but not particularly summer choice. But they do things a little differently in Boonville, as noted by the bear with antlers on the label.