Six Summer Beers You Should Be Buying In 2026

It’s summer. You know how you can tell? Well, first there’s the temperature. Then there’s the fact that the unhealed inner child in you is somehow annoyed that they’re already showing “Back to School” ads. Another, better, and easily more fun way you can tell it’s really summer―that sudden, dramatic (but manageable) uptick in our collective thirst for a cold, cold brew. Don’t get us wrong. We’re all looking forward to a chilly fall day and a pumpkin beer, give or take a sweater vest. But something about suds and the summer just pair so deliciously well. Just the idea of sweating poolside, drowsily sipping on an ice cold beer, replying to no emails or texts at all―it’s bliss.

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In case you need any inspo to get all that chillaxing started, here are six beers that are perfect for summer 2026.

Sam Adams Blueberry Lager: If you’re interested in the world of fruity summer beer, Sam Adams Blueberry Lager is kind of like a gateway drug. In beer form. Part of their limited release “Star Spangled Variety Pack,” this one’s got subtle, soft blueberry flavors in the cleaner, crisp context of a cold lager.
Dogfish Head Festina Pêche: You might’ve had (and loved, or not loved) Dogfish Head 60 or 90 Minute IPA. But if you haven’t tried their Festina Pêche yet, now’s your time. A session-style beer (meaning it’s low ABV, 4.5%), it’s perfect for lazy summer sipping and because it’s a peachy sour beer, you get a fleshy fruitiness on the tongue followed by tart thirst quenching finish.
Donna’s Pickle Beer: Whether or not you’re on team pickleball (hard pass), we can all get behind pickle beer. (And not just because it saves us a step, combining things that are gonna end up together in our stomach anyway.) Donna’s Pickle Beer is a tasty, kitschy canned exemplar of the concept: tart, dilly briny pickle juice swimming around a crisp, cool low ABV lager.
Daybreak Shandy: Kind of like the Arnold Palmer of brewskies, the shandy is absolutely a summer standard. If you’ve never tried one (and then proceeded to crush, like, two or three more), it’s just a 50-50 mix of beer and a lemon or lemon-lime soda. And while there are plenty of ABV-having shandies out there this time of year, we’re repping for BERO, the non-alc option. And no, not “because Tom Holland.” Most shandies are low ABV anyway. And BERO is very flavor obsessed, so you’ll get tart, juicy lemon-lime notes lingering over some booze-free lager-esque bubbles.
Westbrook Brewing Co. Gose: Kind of shandy-proximate, a “gose” is actually an old German beer style that actually incorporates lactobacillus (the same we find in our yogurt, and yogurt-marinated chicken) and coriander. All you need to know is the resulting beer is a bit dry, sour, and faintly salty tasting. The Westbrook Brewing Co’s gose just might become your summer best beer buddy: a complex, powerful tongue tidal wave of a thirst quencher.
21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon: An American wheat beer brewed with a bunch of watermelon―you can’t get more Summer 2026 than that. Also clocking in at just under 5% ABV, and similar to the blueberry Sammy Adams, you’ll get everyone’s favorite fleshy, refreshing watermelon flavors in a very drinkable classic wheat beer style.