25 Refreshing Beers To Drink In Summer 2023
It's obvious that alcohol isn't as thirst-quenching as water, but sometimes it feels like a cold, refreshing beer is the only reprieve for a hot day. Beer is as much of a pastime as it is a beverage. Folks gather at breweries for well-spent sunny Saturdays, or invite their friends over for a backyard barbecue complete with a few brews. Beer is the drink of choice for many people, so it's unsurprising that there are thousands of brews, from domestic drafts to local craft beers.
The massive selection can also make it difficult to narrow down which beers are best for a person's flavor palate. No one likes to spend money on something they end up pouring down the drain. It's why some beers get much-deserved notoriety, whether from professional reviews or word-of-mouth suggestions.
So how about 25 refreshing beers to try in the summer of 2023? The following selection is a wide range of brews picked from various brands, ranging from major to small. Plus, included are plenty of different styles of beer to help drinkers narrow down which cans are worth their cash. The only unifying factor is that every beer is guaranteed to be refreshing on a hot summer day, especially if it's enjoyed ice cold.
Exhibit 'A' Brewing Panda Punch
Sour beers are meant to be enjoyed in warm weather, like the adult version of a sour slushee or a puckering lemonade. Exhibit 'A' Brewing in Framingham, Massachusetts, has its seasonal Panda Punch Kettle Sour that tastes like summer in a can. The brewers infuse this 6.1% ABV expression with the tropical fruit flavors of orange, passion fruit, and pink guava puree to give the drink a juicy feeling.
The recipe for Panda Punch also includes a bit of hibiscus to add a floral quality to the taste and a light-pink hue to the thick body of the beer. While the fruit flavors are dominant, they don't overpower the beer with sugar, so the brew maintains a pleasant dry quality. When you pour a cold can of Panda Punch into a frosty pint glass, there is no better treat to cool you down on even the hottest of summer days.
Samuel Adams Porch Rocker
Samuel Adams is a brewery born in Massachusetts that has catapulted into national circulation. Therefore, regardless of where you are in the U.S., getting your hands on a six-pack of Sam Adams Porch Rocker shouldn't be hard. The 4.5% ABV beer is a lemon radler, which is a Bavarian style of light beer. Samuel Adams combines golden Helles lager with lemon juice and zest to make it taste like a citrus explosion. It's almost a hazy style of beer that isn't at all bitter or hoppy, as one might expect from a cloudier beer.
Also, in contrast to a New England IPA, the body is light and crispy, making it even more refreshing from first to last sip. The brand only sells cans of Porch Rocker in the spring and summer, so it's meant to be enjoyed when the sun is shining and the vibes are even brighter.
Fat Head's Bumble Berry
Another flavor reminiscent of the summer season is blueberry pie. With their Bumble Berry ale, Fat Head's brewery from Pittsburgh found a way to capture the flavors of perfectly ripe and tart blueberries into a beer. The 5.3% ABV light ale features spring honey and fresh blueberries, which are as perfect of a combination as it sounds. The beer is fragrant with fresh fruit, and tastes even better if you add a few blueberries to your pint glass. Fat Head's keeps the hops low in this brew so that it's endlessly crushable.
Bumble Berry is sweet from the spring honey, but not in an overpowering way. The honey adds a botanical element that pairs even better with the blueberry notes. Whether you try it out of a can or on draft, you can't go wrong with ordering a Bumble Berry to celebrate the beautiful warm weather.
Austin Eastciders Imperial Gold
Beer and cider are technically two different categories of booze, but we are bending the rules for the ultimate refreshing brew from Austin Eastciders. The Texas cider makers have English roots, which are reflected in their sessionable (and boozy) Imperial Gold cider. These cans pack a whopping 8.3% ABV in a drink that tastes like pure apples. The brand uses an apple cider base with a mix of apples from Europe and the Pacific Northwest. Then, they ferment that fresh juice with Sauvignon Blanc yeast, giving the cider a wine-like quality.
Imperial Gold cider is as tart as you want it to be, without all of the sugar from some other mainstream ciders. It's the right amount of bubbly to keep it crisp, and you'll be shocked at how easy it is to crush a drink with so much alcohol content, without giving it a second thought.
Dos Equis Lime and Salt Lager
Dos Equis is a classic Mexican lager that's meant to be enjoyed when it's just way too hot outside. The brand took its traditional lager and gave it a twist with the Dos Equis Lager Lime and Salt. The 4.2% ABV beer took the added step of squeezing fresh lime in and adding a pinch of salt to your beer with this brew. It's a slightly fruity version of the original, with a pleasant saltiness that doesn't take away from its thirst-quenching nature.
The brand recommends adding a chamoy, chili, lime, and salt rim to these cans to add even more flavor to this crushable beer. It's one of Dos Equis' more recent additions to its lineup, and the beer is sold in variety packs with other flavored versions of the lager, including cucumber, pineapple, and watermelon. It's the type of beer that was brewed to be refreshing above everything else, and it definitely succeeds.
Westbrook Brewing Beer To Drink When It's Hot Outside
South Carolina's Westbrook Brewing created a beer meant to be enjoyed when it's hot outside. They're serious, too; they named it Beer To Drink When It's Hot Outside, and there's truly no better descriptor. The 4.5% lager is bright and light as the style calls for. Westbrook adds their touch by putting flaked corn and key lime puree into the mix, giving it a citrus punch. The brewery sells this brand as being "ultra-refreshing," so it's only right to include it on the list.
Westbrook Brewery also makes more out-of-the-box beers like an Orange Creamsicle Milkshake IPA or a Lemon Cucumber Gose, if you prefer something with more of a fresh fruit punch, as this expression is more subtle. Most people who've tried the beer praise its drinkability and mark it as the kind of beer you can buy for a crowd, and anticipate that everyone will probably approve of your pick.
21st Amendment Brewing Hell or High Watermelon
21st Amendment Brewery from San Leandro, California, only knows one way to celebrate the end of winter — Hell or High Watermelon beer. The 4.9% ABV fruit beer is watermelon in a can that you can only get from April through September. The wheat beer is infused with real watermelon flavor that tastes nothing like the artificial stuff. The brand also makes mango and pomegranate versions of the beer for other seasons, but the watermelon is something many beer drinkers look forward to once the snow melts.
"If your looking to cool down on a hot day without being slowed down then this is a great choice," one Beer Advocate user wrote in a review of Hell or High Watermelon. Thankfully, 21st Amendment Brewery distributes to more than 35 states and counting, so it shouldn't be too hard to get your hands on a case and see what all the hype is about.
Creature Comforts Tropicalia
Tropicalia from Creature Comforts Brewing Company just looks like a can of beer you're meant to enjoy in the summer. The Athens, Georgia, brewery created this year-round beer that is as juicy as it gets. It's a 6.6% ABV IPA that's infused with flavors of citrus and passion fruit. The brewery also adds a decent amount of hops so that the sweet fruit is balanced out with a bit of bitterness, but it's nothing too much to take away from its refreshing quality.
Tropicalia is the perfect beer that's the middle ground between a hoppy West Coast IPA and a hazy New England IPA. It's a rarity in the genre of IPAs that might convince even the biggest IPA hater to reconsider the expression as a whole. Creature Comforts is also a brewery you can feel good about supporting as the brand prioritizes several sustainability and social impact efforts and charities in its work.
Toppling Goliath Radiant Haze
Speaking of hazy IPAs, they are an excellent expression for summer as they tend to have a juicy quality, usually accompanied by fruity notes. It's a stark contrast to the bitter and hoppy IPA many people know (and some dislike) today. Toppling Goliath Brewing from Iowa has a great version of a hazy IPA with their flagship Radiant Haze beer, made in collaboration with Radiant Beer Co. The 7% brew has a great base of hops that are paired with mango and orange notes to add a tropical vibe.
When you pour this beer into a pint, this brew resembles orange juice — or the sunshine of a summer day. It's a fruity hazy that isn't overly sweet thanks to the grassy hops. Many people who have tried Radiant Haze praise it as a hazy IPA that stands above the rest in the category, making it worth a purchase to enjoy on a warm summer day.
Elysian Brewing Space Dust IPA
Elysian Brewing has been a Seattle staple since the 1990s, and their crushable Space Dust IPA has been a staple in the brand — and the brewery's best-selling beer — since 2012. The boozy 8.2% ABV beer gets its name from a happy accident: The brewer added leftover Galaxy hops into the mix, and it resulted in the famous hoppy IPA. The grassy hops are complimented with bright notes of orange, grapefruit, and mango, which really help make this drink so refreshing.
Elysian Space Dust IPA even is special for its label artwork. The label is inspired by Pop Rocks candy packaging from the 1970s– The brewery even got permission from General Mills to do the hoppy riff. Aside from the curb appeal, Space Dust IPA is almost too easy of a sipper, especially for such a high-alcohol beer. It's an ideal option for IPA drinkers who are looking for something lighter but don't want a beer that completely forgoes the depth from a little bitter flavor.
Sierra Nevada Juicy Little Thing
Sierra Nevada Brewing's lineup of "little thing" beers is a popular way for people to easily explore different styles of beer. One of the newest options, also available for a limited time only, is the Juicy Little Thing IPA. It's Sierra Nevada's take on a super fruit juice-infused hazy IPA.
The guava, mango, and grapefruit notes are prominent with the Juicy Little Thing, but it tastes more complex thanks to those earthy hops that are thrown into the batch. The 6.5% ABV beer has just the right balance of juicy and hoppy flavors to make it a crowd-pleasing option. Many people who have tried the expression also tout it as a great value beer, which is even more of a reason to try it out before it's gone for good.
Tröegs Sunshine Pilsner
Tröegs is an independent brewing company, launched in Pennsylvania in the late 1990s, that happens to sell a beer meant to be drunk in the sunshine. It's why they named it the Sunshine Pilsner, an American-style beer with notes of citrus and fresh-baked bread. The 4.5% brew resembles the color of deep golden sunshine and the flavor is reminiscent of that too. It's less hoppy than some other pilsner expressions thanks to a pleasant honey-like sweetness to the brew.
Every flavor in the classic pilsner is perfectly balanced to create a delicious drink that tastes like plain ol' beer, but with a superior completion. Tröegs Sunshine Pilsner also has a great light body to make it much more refreshing, and plenty of carbonation to make the beer dance on your tongue with every sip. It's a no-brainer beer to throw in the cooler for a camping trip or a pool day because it will always hit the spot.
Wicked Weed Dr. Dank Pineapple Dream
Wicked Weed Brewing from Asheville, North Carolina, knows a thing or two about making a beer that honors the "dank" quality of hops. A key example is the brand's Dr. Dank series, which includes a Pineapple Dream flavor perfect for summertime drinking. The 6.7% ABV beer is dripping with bitter hops and fresh, tart pineapple. It is a super earthy beer with a lot of botanical qualities, making it less light than some of the other options on the list.
The addition of pineapple adds a refreshing quality to the beer, while also brightening up the overall flavor. Wicked Weed has other flavors of its Dr. Dank, like a Double IPA and a passion fruit version, but the pineapple variety is a tropical lovers' dream. "Smoooooth. Taste like dank very delicious," one Untappd user wrote in a review of the Wicked Weed brew.
Shiner Strawberry Blonde
Another fruit beer loaded with fresh berry flavors that is worth purchasing at least once is Shiner Strawberry Blonde Ale. The beer epitomizes Texas, and not just because the brewery is named after its hometown. Poteet, Texas, is very well known for their beloved strawberries, with a massive annual festival dedicated to them. Shiner takes those in-season berries and mixes them into their 4.3% wheat beer base. It's another option that's available nationwide, and shouldn't be too hard to get your hands on when it makes its warm-weather debut.
Shiner Strawberry Blonde pleasantly tastes like the fruit it is flavored by. It's not overly artificial or sweet, and the strawberry flavor doesn't overpower that biscuit-driven wheat beer taste. Some fans of Shiner's strawberry expression even suggest mixing the beer with lemonade, for a DIY shandy that's somehow even more refreshing than the regular ice-cold beer by itself.
Against The Grain Sol Mate
A more citrus-driven wheat ale that is still just as a refreshing libation for summer comes from Against The Grain Brewery in Louisville, Kentucky. Every summer season, the brewery unveils its Sol Mate wheat ale that's bursting with orange flavors. Sol Mate is a 5.7% brew that packs an orange punch. While it's undoubtedly light and remains crisp from the first to last sip, Sol Mate does have a creamy mouthfeel and a full body to it.
Many people look forward to their first can of Against The Grain Sol Mate to kick off their summer, as others might do with the first ice cream cone or pool day of the season. It's a right of passage for warm-weather drinking, especially for those who always tend to order fruity beers. Against The Grain has other summer-ready expressions, like the brand's Pool Boi Light brewed with blackberries, or the Loo-A-Vuhl Pale hazy IPA.
Kona Brewing Hanalei Island IPA
Kona Brewing Company is loud and proud about the brand's Hawaiian roots, which often makes their beers prime for beach drinking. One refreshing option to try this summer is the brand's Hanalei Island IPA, which is available year-round. It's a hoppy IPA with a depth of flavor, while remaining light and warm-weather ready.
Hanalei Island IPA is a 4.5% ABV beer that's brewed with passion fruit, orange, and guava for added tropical notes. It's a great expression that demonstrates how even subtle fruit flavors can elevate a beer, even a well-rounded IPA with plenty of bitterness. Kona Brewing's Hanalei Island is one of those beers you don't have to put thought into — you just crack a bottle open and let the refreshing beverage take over your entire mood. Regardless of where you're drinking this beer, you can mentally escape to the beaches of Hanalei Bay for a little while in its taste.
Four Peaks The Joy Bus Wow Wheat
Four Peaks Brewing from Arizona has created a go-to summer beer that you can feel extra good about supporting. The brand teamed up with Phoenix-based nonprofit The Joy Bus to create its Wow Wheat expression. It's a 5% ABV American wheat ale brewed with sweet orange peels, giving it notes of vanilla, citrus, and apricot. The real heart-warming aspect is that a portion of sales from Wow Wheat ale goes to benefit the Joy Bus, a non-profit that visits and comforts cancer patients in their own homes with home-cooked meals.
The charity aspect is enough of a reason to try Wow Wheat and support the brewery, but the flavor holds up on its own as well. Four Peaks doesn't hold back with the amount of orange flavor they manage to squeeze into one can. It's truly a light and delicious fruity beer that anyone who enjoys wheat beer can get behind, especially with such a good cause behind the release.
Monday Night Brewing Dr. Robot
A great option for sour beer lovers comes from Atlanta's Monday Night Brewing. The brand offers a year-round sour called Dr. Robot, fueled by lemon and berry flavors. The pink 5% beer is brewed with blackberry juice and lemon zest so it tastes like a freshly baked summer dessert. It's a good combination of sweet and sour, but definitely not the beer for the person who prefers the bitterness of an IPA.
Dr. Robot is similar to a liquid and boozy version of sour candy — in a good way — but isn't too overpowering to make it hard to drink. Truthfully, the drinking experience of this brew is similar to enjoying a fair lemonade on a summer day, and there are few more refreshing beverages than that. Monday Night Brewing ups the selling point of this draft by making it an eye-catching bright pink that everyone will want to try at least a sip of.
Dewey Beer Company Thrills
If the idea of drinking a pink beer is something that really speaks to you, it's worth getting your hands on Dewey Beer Company's latest Thrills release — if you can track it down. Thrills is a line of fruity beer that's prime for experimentation from the Delaware-based brewery, and the brewers spare no creativity. Previous releases include combinations like blackberry-pomegranate-raspberry pie and suntan lotion, but the latest is a strawberries, pineapple, and vanilla version that is made for warm-weather drinking.
The 5.25% ABV Thrills was designed and made primarily by women, and tastes like a fruit smoothie in a glass. Strawberry and pineapple are two flavors reminiscent of icy sorbet, fresh fruit salads, and other summer treats. Thrills, regardless of the flavor combination, is always a favorite among Dewey Beer Company customers, so it's worth seeking out any of their refreshing releases as the summer months roll in.
Cisco Brewers Grey Lady
Cisco Brewers Grey Lady might be named after the foggy days on the island of Nantucket, but the flavor of the beer is refreshing enough for the sunniest of days. The light 4% ABV hazy wheat ale is a great balance of citrus, spice, and hops. Many beers we drink in the summer season forgo the use of aromatics and spices, as they're popular ingredients for winter beers. Cisco Brewers found a way to achieve the best of both worlds by brewing Grey Lady with lemon peel, chamomile, and coriander to balance with those hazy hops.
Grey Lady is a one-of-a-kind beer that you have to taste to appreciate, but you can guarantee it's going to be crisp and thirst-quenching. Many customers also appreciate the value Cisco Brewers offers for this quality craft beer, which is perfect for drinking when you just can't beat the summer heat.
Golden Road Brewing Guava Cart
Golden Road Brewing is a female-founded craft beer company from Los Angeles, and prides itself on making beers that match the breezy vibe of Southern California. The brand has a few beer expressions perfect for summer, but one underrated option is Guava Cart, a 5% ABV wheat ale brewed with guava and passion fruit. The folks at Golden Road throw in enough hops to keep it interesting and balance out the zesty tropical fruit, but it's just the perfect balance.
Guava Cart is just one of the many "cart" beers offered by the LA brewery. If guava isn't your flavor of choice, the lineup includes options like mango, lime and salt, spicy mango, melon, and more. It is important to note that when compared to other brews on the list, it doesn't taste like a traditional beer. However, the authentic guava flavor and bubbly body are refreshing enough to make you not care that it doesn't taste like those basic domestic drafts.
10 Barrel Brewing Camp Vibes
10 Barrel Brewing Company decided to create a beer that honors the camping culture of the Pacific Northwest with its appropriately named Camp Vibes Golden Ale. The 5% beer is a collaboration between the Bend, Oregon, brewery and Poler outdoor gear. It's a golden ale with a hint of lemon for brightness, which adds to its overall refreshing factor. Poler also debuted a line of camping gear to accompany the beer launch, so you can show up to your summer camping trip in style with the entire Camp Vibes collection.
10 Barrel Brewing's golden ale has a hint of sweetness that's reminiscent of honey, which is a perfect partner to that fresh lemon flavor. It's a crowd-pleasing beer that's easy to throw into a shared cooler without giving it a second thought, and it's not likely that you'll return home from a camping weekend with any cans of Camp Vibes leftover.
Rogue Brewing Honey Kolsch
Honey infused in beer is a perpetual favorite, and Rogue Brewing has the ultimate summer beer for people who love the floral taste of fresh honey in everything. The brand's Honey Kolsch is a 5% ABV beer that's bursting with the flavor of natural wildflower honey. It's a Kolsch-style of beer, meaning that there are a decent amount of hops in the batch, but nothing overwhelmingly bitter. The sweetness from the honey takes center stage in a way that truly honors the botanical flavors of the ingredient.
Honey Kolsch tastes like honey and looks like it when poured into a pint. It might sound like a honey beer would be thick or syrupy, but it couldn't be more refreshing. "Overall a supremely drinkable beer and one I could see buzzing about for some time," one Beer Advocate user wrote in a review of the Rogue Brewing release.
Devil's Purse Brewing Company Shisho Berry Ale
If you find yourself spending a leisurely summer in New England, you have to make it a mission to seek out Devil's Purse Brewing Company's Shisho Berry Ale. Devil's Purse is a small brewery tucked away in Cape Cod that produces some stellar craft beer. The 4.5% ale is brewed with Shisho leaf, blackberry, and raspberry puree, which results in a sweet and tart flavor. It's another draft that pours a bright pink color due to all of that added fruit flavor that, thankfully, tastes just as good as it looks.
Devil's Purse customers who have tried the Shisho Berry Ale comment that it's similar to the milkshake styles of IPA in flavor, but without the added lactose or thick body. The ale style makes it more crisp and refreshing, as well as easier to drink more than one while enjoying a warm-weather day.
Guinness Open Gate Baltimore Blonde
Guinness is a beer many of us associate with cold weather: It's a dark and thick brew we like to drink to warm us up on St. Patrick's Day, but not necessarily when the temperature rises above 50 degrees. But Guinness' line contains a lot more than just their iconic stout, such as the Guinness Open Gate Baltimore Blonde ale that's a refreshing counterpart to the more famous original.
Based in Baltimore, Open Gate Brewery has put Baltimore Blonde front and center since its 2013 inception. It's a 5% beer that still has a strong base of hops and malt, but is complemented by the bright flavors of grapefruit and citrus. It's much lighter and bubbly than the classic Guinness stout, but it is still made with traditional Guinness yeast and European brewing techniques. The Baltimore Blonde, in taste, resembles an American beer that is ready to be the star of your summer barbecue, yet still pays homage to its Irish heritage.