The 14 Best Summer Beers to Drink (2024)

Region: Maine | ABV: 5.2% | Tasting Notes: Wheat, Spice, Orange

The summer beer game changed for the better in 2019, when Maine’s Allagash Brewing Company put its legendary Belgian-style wheat beer in tallboy cans. Now these yellow cans are a staple of summer. The liquid inside is worthy of its reputation, with a sweet and spicy flavor loaded with orange peel and coriander.

Region: Massachusetts | ABV: 4.3% | Tasting Notes: Bread, Citrus, Corn

Many craft brewers have entered the light lager game, but few have done it as well as Massachusetts’ Night Shift. Nite Lite might be crisp and highly crushable, but that doesn’t mean it’s not also bursting with subdued malt, hops, and fruit flavor. “It's a crisp, refreshing lager that's low-ABV but still has clear malt character and citrusy notes,” Hankinson says.

Region: Wisconsin | ABV: 4.7% | Tasting Notes: Corn, Light malt, Grass

American Adjunct Lager is a category you may never have heard of, but you know exactly what it is—the term refers to the macro-brewed, inexpensive lagers that you can reliably find in every gas station and convenience store in the US. While the category as a whole doesn't get much respect among beer snobs, there tends to be a consensus that some mass-produced adjunct lagers are a cut above the rest...and Hamm's is frequently at the top of many a beer connoisseur's list. Tracing its origins to a German immigrant setting up shop in the midwest during the 19th century (not exactly an uncommon origin story within this category), Hamm's was originally brewed in Minnesota, leading to its tagline "born in the land of sky blue waters." Today it's produced in Wisconsin and owned by a multinational beverage conglomerate (what macrobrew isn't?), but it still scores high marks for its light maltiness, its refreshing grassiness, and its clean finish.

Region: Michigan | ABV: 3.7% | Tasting Notes: Caramel malt; Citrus; Pine

Bell's is a beloved player in the craft beer world—their Two-Hearted Ale is a venerable pale known for its consistently rich and sturdy palate. A few years ago, they introduced a younger sibling, aptly titled the "Light-Hearted," which is a perfect option for summer consumption. With its high-toned notes of malt and citrus, and just enough bitter pine to make it exceptionally refreshing, this is a low-ABV crusher that delivers serious flavor in a light-on-its-feet package.

Region: Ohio | ABV: 4.7% | Tasting Notes: Apple, Sugar, Peach

Sometimes you want wine, sometimes you want beer. And then there are those special times, maybe when you are sitting by a pool in the sweltering sun when you want a little bit of both. Enter Rhinegeist’s Little Bubs, a lower ABV cousin of Bubbles Rosé Ale. Brewed with apple, peach, and cranberry for tartness and color, this blushing beer hits you with a little bit of sweetness, a little bit of sour, and lots of fruity flavors.

Region: South Carolina | ABV: 4% | Tasting Notes: Lime, Malt, Salt

What screams summer more than a pie? A pie-flavored beer, perhaps. “Westbrook is the standard for goses and this beer has all of the tart and salty elements of a great gose, while also having additional acidity and flavor—it's the perfect summer dessert!” Hankinson says. Just like taking a bit of key lime pie, this beer will make you pucker. It’s got plenty of tart lime flavors balanced with a strong malt backbone and a bit of salt on the finish.

Related: The Best Sour Beers

Region: Ohio | ABV: 5.3% | Tasting Notes: Blueberry, Malt, Honey

“Blueberry is a difficult flavor to pull off in a beer,” Norrington says about Fat Head’s Bumble Berry. “Matt Cole has done this exceptionally well.” The gold standard for blueberry beer is brewed with pounds of fresh blueberries as spring honey. In addition to its well defined blueberry flavor, this beer has a slight creaminess and subtly malty sweetness.

Region: Austria | ABV: 2% | Tasting Notes: Grapefruit, Bread, Sugar

Make your way to any patio or greenspace in a major city and chances are good you’ll stumble across someone sipping a can of Stiegl Radler. In the last decade, the easy-drinking combo of grapefruit soda and beer, served in a 16.9-oz can, has become the beverage of choice for anyone who wants a lot of sweetness and a little booziness.

“The benchmark for the style—not too sweet and not too tart,” Norrington says. “At 2% ABV, my friends and I have been known to deplete an entire restaurant or two of their inventory when we’ve seen it on the menu.”

Region: Utah | ABV: 4% | Tasting Notes: Espresso, Chocolate, Malt

Summer beers usually fall in the golden-amber color spectrum and have a refreshing flavor to match. But refreshing isn’t limited to light beers. Come to the dark side with a black lager, or schwarzbier, such as Uinta’s Baba Black Lager. This deep brown beer has notes of espresso and cocoa, but still manages to maintain a thinner body, making it the ideal dark horse of your summer drinking arsenal.

Region: Mexico | ABV: 4.4% | Tasting Notes: Malt, Caramel, Hops

“[Victoria is an] underappreciated Mexican Vienna-style lager,” Norrington says. “Pairs well with Mexican food, BBQ, hotdogs, and hamburgers on the grill.” This medium-bodied brew is known for its rich amber color. Each sip is guaranteed to deliver toasted malt and a whisper of hops that fades into a smooth, crisp finish.

Related: The Best Lager Beers

Region: California | ABV: 5.6% | Tasting Notes: Citrus, Pine, Bitter hops

In 1980, the brewers at Sierra Nevada decided to take a pale ale and load it up with the new, fancy Cascade hops. At the time, it was a stroke of genius. Today that beer is synonymous with intense pine and citrus flavor as well as consistency. “Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is my go-to when I'm eating BBQ and other rich summer foods,” Hankinson says.

Region: Ohio | ABV: 5.4% | Tasting Notes: Orange, Spice, Floral

For Ohio’s Great Lakes Brewing Company, its white ale holds a special place in its year-round lineup. Named after Cleveland’s founder Moses Cleaveland, this beer is all about refreshing flavors, from bright orange peel to creamy chamomile. Norrington calls it “a very approachable wit.”

Region: Maine | ABV: 7% | Tasting Notes: Citrus, Pine, Malt

“Maine Beer Co. Lunch is a well-balanced IPA that pleases beer geeks as well as your average beer lover,” Hankinson says. This show-stopper of an IPA is named after a whale with a bite taken out of its fin, which has been spotted off the coast of Maine since 1982. The IPA brings its own bite with three different types of hops for a flavor that’s equal parts juicy and herbal.

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Region: Germany | ABV: Less than 0.5% | Tasting Notes: Wheat, Yeast, Citrus

Until very recently, the nonalcoholic beer landscape in the US was grim and barren—there were just a few insipid options, none of them tasting much like beer. These days, however, N/A beers are made with care and craftsmanship in numerous familiar categories, so the beer fan who doesn't wish to imbibe is faced with an embarrassment of options. For the warm summer months, it's hard to beat a refreshing hefeweizen—and nobody knows hefeweizen quite like Weihenstephaner, who make a plausible claim of being the world's oldest brewery. This approachable N/A hef brings plenty of yeasty citrus character, and the overall effect is thoroughly more "beer-like" than the alcohol-free beers of decades past.

Related: The Best Nonalcoholic Beers