14 Best Summer Beers for Summer (or Pretending It’s Summer)

The best summer beer is the coldest one you can find at the bottom of the cooler. But, ideally, the one you crack open also tastes great. The best way to assure that is to stock your cooler with the best summer beer we found after multiple taste tests. Then, no matter what you grab, you’ll know you’re drinking the best beer for summer, in terms of both temperature and taste.

While I would have loved to spend a month tasting any beer that remotely qualified as a summer beer (pretty much anything that isn’t a stout, Oktoberfest, Christmas beer, or pumpkin ale), neither my family nor my employer would have approved that use of my time. Instead, I narrowed down my search to tropical beer, lime beer (or lemon beer), summer fruit beer, and beer that specifically calls out summer on the label. 

I also tried to look for beers that aren’t necessarily available year-round, though some of these summer beers can be found in the fall and beyond. Summer is a state of mind, man. And I also looked for summer beers that are available at grocery stores. Because, while the local brewery near you might make the best mango double hazy IPA, that doesn’t really help out the majority of the people in the country. 

Here is the best summer beer we tasted, recently updated with a new number one, a mango beer, a chamoy-flavored beer, and two new lime beers.

10 Best Summer Beers, Ranked

Best NA Summer IPA

Deschutes Fresh Squeezed India Pale Ale Non-Alcoholic

deschutesbrewery.com

Albertsons

I’ve tasted a lot of non-alcoholic beer (check our best non-alcoholic beer ranking for proof) and this is one of the best  non-alcoholic beers I’ve ever had. It tastes almost exactly like the alcoholic version (which is a very, very good beer). You truly can barely tell the difference. It’s bright and just bitter enough to get your mouth watering. It’s a perfect summer beer if you’re looking for a non-alcoholic IPA to crack open.

Credit: Liv Averett / Deschutes Brewery

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

Best Lemon Beer

Shiner Lemonade Shandy

Target

We tried a few bottled shandies and this came out on top as the best lemon beer to buy. Some of the others tasted like soda. But this one actually tastes like beer—it’s just lemony beer. It tastes like tangy lemon soda mixed with beer. And it’s super-duper refreshing. When you’re hit with 100+ degree weather, reach for this lemon beer.

Credit: Liv Averett / Target

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

Best Light Lime Beer

Garage Beer Lime

Total Wine

Here’s the deal. My colleague Gwynedd Stuart thought this lime-tinged beer from the Kelce Brothers was meh. But she agreed it was quite refreshing. Personally speaking, sometimes the best summer beers aren’t the most flavorful. Sometimes, you’re just looking for something cold and crisp and refreshing. This one goes pretty light on the lime and light on the beer flavor. But that’s okay when it’s triple digits outside. To me, this tastes like the local beer you get when you’re on vacation, with a little bit of lime spritzed into the bottle. And that qualifies it as a good lime beer to have on hand when it gets too hot outside for you to even want to taste anything.

Credit: Merc / Total Wine

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

Best Limey Lime Beer

Limeaveza Lime Lager

Aldi

On the other hand, if you really want to taste a lot of lime in your lime beer, this cheap Aldi beer goes heavy on the lime. It tastes like you muddled a whole lime—peel, pith, and all—into a can of beer. It’s super citrus, pleasantly bitter on the finish, and, since this is Aldi beer we’re talking, it’s cheap as heck. 

Credit: Merc / Aldi

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

Best Chelada

Victoria Vicky Chamoy

Total Wine

This chamoy-flavored beer is better than most of the Cheladas we tried in our canned Michelada taste test. It’s savory and salty and tangy, but not overly so. Plus, It’s low ABV at just 3.5%, so it’s perfect for day drinking. And day drinking, as we know, is an officially sanctioned summertime activity. And how fun is it to have a beer named Vicky?

Credit: Merc / Total Wine

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

Best Fruity

21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon

Instacart

I remember when this summer beer first came out. It was a huge deal when I found it on tap at a dive bar in NYC’s East Village. We were all amazed by the concept of a watermelon beer that wasn’t super sweet. It was incredible on a sweaty, sticky NYC summer day. And it’s still good now. It’s even more subtly watermelon flavored than I remember—it almost has a cucumbery vibe. It’s refreshing and restrained. A lovely summer beer and certainly worth trying.

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

Best Session

Lagunitas Island Beats

Target

This summer beer channels tropical flavors like hibiscus, guava, and passion fruit—all with the power of hops! It’s like a magic trick for your mouth! Lagunitas Island Beats is a little bit lighter on the hops than some of the other tropical beers we tried. But it’s definitely not a fruit beer. And this one comes in at 5%, so you can cart a few to the beach and kick back during the day.

Credit: Liv Averett / Target

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Best Mango Beer

Goose Island Big Mango Beer Hug

Goose Island

Goose Island’s entire Beer Hug line is a triumph of summer beers. It’s hard to go wrong with any of them—the flavors are all great, especially for IPA drinkers, and the bear on the label is wearing a sweet set of shades (that’s how you really know these are summer beers). But three stood out to me as the best summer beers to buy, starting with the Big Mango Beer Hug. The mango flavor is a touch sweet and mellow. It doesn’t try to overpower the flavor of the hops, it just chills in the background. This isn’t the best summer beer for fruit beer drinkers (it’s just not quite fruity enough for you fruit fiends), but it is a great fruit beer for IPA drinkers.

Credit: Merc / Goose Island

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Best Non-Alcoholic

Dos Equis Lime & Salt N/A

Total Wine

I can’t believe one of the best summer beers is a non-alcoholic beer, but here we are. “It’s one of my favorite drinks ever,” said managing editor Gwynedd Stuart. It’s so light and limey with just a touch of salt, which makes the slightly sweet lime flavor absolutely sing. It tastes like if a beer met a grown-up, dry soda. It’s gulpable. It’s so good. I’m so happy teetotalers can enjoy a lime beer this summer.

Credit: Liv Averett / Total Wine

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Best Wheat

Anderson Valley Summer Solstice

Instacart

While most of the other summer beers on this list tap into beach summer, this one is summer in a valley. It’s coming out onto a front porch, watching the sunset over a field of wheat, fireflies just starting to wake up. It’s wheaty with notes of vanilla and coffee. Rather than trying to taste like summer produce, it tastes like summer warmth itself. And it’s not too banana-y like some wheat beers. Looking for a summer beer that takes you to the prairies? This is the best summer beer to buy.

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Best Not Fruity Tropical

Goose Island Tropical Beer Hug

Total Wine

This Beer Hug isn’t the tropical fruit bomb I thought it would be. It’s actually on the dry side—it’s grassy and zesty with some really good hops flavors. If you’re looking for a tropical IPA that goes easy on the fruit but still hits that crisp, I’m-in-a-hammock-on-a-beach vibe, this is the best summer beer for you.

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Best Classic

Sierra Nevada Summerfest

Total Wine

Sierra Nevada rarely disappoints. Their summer beer is a super solid pick and abundantly available. It’s incredibly bright with wonderfully fruity flavors—I get a lot of blueberry—even though, once again, no fruit was harmed in the making of this ale. It’s totally crushable. Do not ignore this beer just because it’s been around since 1991. That year also gave us Nirvana’s “Come as You Are,” Jesus Jones’ “Right Here, Right Now,” and, my personal pick, Toad the Wet Sprocket’s “All I Want.” Make yourself a 1991 mix and crack open a Summerfest. Don’t forget to include “Two Princes” by Spin Doctors.

Credit: Liv Averett / Total Wine

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Runner-Up

Deschutes Tropical Fresh IPA

Total Wine

This was the best of the tropical beer we tried in 2024, and it’s still one of the best summer beers to buy—especially if you don’t want one with a massive ABV like our official number one best summer beer. It smells like guava (let’s hear it for those magic hops!), but the fruit is very subtle, as is the bitterness from the hops. It’s very, very easy to drink as the best summer beers should be. It’s a perfect IPA for a hammock or a ragin’ party. It’ll take you through the summer, right up until you start feeling that pumpkin beer itch.

Credit: Liv Averett / Total Wine

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best of the Best

Goose Island Big Juicy Beer Hug

Goose Island

Even though it’s not the official Tropical Beer Hug, the Juicy Beer Hug is packed full of tropical fruit flavor. This is the best summer beer to grab if you really want the full island experience. You get a bit of pineapple, a hint of mango, and some zippy, bitter hops flavors. This stuff is delicious and, at 9.9% ABV, it’s dangerous. Seriously, try to sip slowly.

Credit: Merc / Goose Island

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Other summer beers we tried:

Stone Buenaveza Salt & Lime Lager, Modelo Chelada Limon y Sal, Modelo Chelada Pina Picante, Modelo Chelada Naranja Picosa, Modelo Chelada Mango, 21st Amendment Watermelon Funk, Sam Adams Summer, Two Roads Non Alcoholic Juicy IPA, Two Roads Non Alcoholic American IPA, Bitburger Radler, Steigl Radler Zitrone, Paulaner Munchen Grapefruit Radler, Cali Squeeze Passion Fruit, Cali Squeeze Tangerine Daze, Cali Squeeze Peach Pomegranate, Cali Squeeze Blood Orange, Brooklyn Brewery Summer Ale Sunny Pale Ale, Josephsbrau Grapefruit Radler,Corona Sunbrew, Wernesgruner Lemon Radler, Locken’s Tropical Pineapple, Mango Ride

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