SUMMER BEERS

With the dog days of summer fast approaching, it is important to remember that there is only one sure way to beat the heat: drinking a cold beer.

While regular beer will certainly do the trick, there are certain brews that pair even better with sunny days at the beach, the pool or on the golf course.

The following are some of best summer beers in America, and where best to enjoy them.

Seaquench Ale

This salty stunner from Dogfish Head has owned the summer of 2017, so it’s only fitting we start with it.

Concocted from a combination of Berliner weiss, kolsch and gose beers, Seaquench’s flavor is finished with black limes, sea salt and sour lime juice. This hazy brew will give you a touch of lime on the nose and tickle your tongue with tartness while turning your temperature way down.

Best Place to Sip It: Chesapeake & Maine, Dogfish Head Brewery’s own onsite restaurant.

Come Hell or High Watermelon

A seasonal release from San Francisco’s 21st Amendment Brewery, Come Hell or High Watermelon is an American wheat beer kissed with watermelon on its second fermentation. The fresh watermelon comes through in every sip, but it isn’t overly sweet—just crisp and quenching.

Best Place to Sip it: The 21st Amendment Brewery & Restaurant in San Francisco.

Bubbles

What do you get when you take a craft cider and add touches of peach and cranberry? A cool rose-colored beauty called Bubbles that has become all the rage in Ohio.

Bubbles is the creation of Cincinnati’s Rhinegeist brewery, and while the German settlers of the city may have never have envisioned a beverage quite like this, we’re guessing they would have secretly loved it, especially in the summer.

Best Place to Sip it: On the rooftop of their brewery in Cincinnati.
Mr. Pineapple

With summer temperatures soaring to three digits on the regular, you need to know a thing or two about staying cool if going to brew in Phoenix. Enter Mr. Pineapple from SanTan Brewery.

This wheat beer with a touch of fresh Costa Rican pineapple juice has been collecting awards and quenching thirsts since its introduction and, like the sunshine in Phoenix, is available all year-round.

Best Place to Sip it: The SanTan Brewpub in Chandler, Arizona.

Pooltime Ale

A seasonal selection from Michigan’s Bell’s Brewery, Pooltime Ale is rose-orange colored cloudy Belgian-style wheat ale with a touch of local cherries. Yes, all the cherries in Pooltime Ale come from Traverse City, and their tartness helps round out the beer. (Ed. Note: If you’re there, might as well pick up my all-time favorite brew, Oberon Ale—M.S.)

Best Place to Sip it: Eccentric Cafe, located next to Bell’s original brewery in Kalamazoo.
Razz Wheat

One of the top beers from Athens, Ohio’s Jackie O’s Brewery, Razz Wheat is a wheat ale loaded with all-natural raspberry flavor. Expect a hazy blush appearance and a touch of sourness on the tongue, and for your heat gauge to drop down a degree by the second sip.

Best Place to Sip it: Either Jackie O’s Brewpub or Public House, both located in always-fun Athens, Ohio.

Grapefruit Gose

The summer offering from Grand Teton Brewing Company, Grapefruit Gose is a light-bodied beer with a just a touch of tartness that makes the perfect compliment to a sunny day in the West. While grapefruit can be a divisive flavor, they have put in just the right amount to enhance and not distract.

Best Place to Sip it: The pub located at the brewery in Victor, Idaho.