10 Summer Beers for More Fun in the Sun

Magic Hat Elder Betty

ABV: 5.5%

If you're looking for a good trick, there's nothing better than pulling a Magic Hat out of your...cooler. The quality brand that brings a beer-filled smile to your cheeks is about to make you explode with delight with its Elder Berry summer seasonal.

Getting its name from the fresh fruit taste of elderberries, a wild berry popular for making jams and wines, Elder Betty is a copper wheat beer blending the sweetness of honey and groovy freshly-picked berries. The beer starts sweet, moves into a cozy wheat middle ground and pulls out like a '70s NBA superstar with elderberries on the way down. It's perfect, and just enough sweetness and fruit flavor to not be uneasy on the tongue, you'll be happy to reach for another as if summer had just begun and you didn't give a damn about a thing in the world.

Dogfish Head Festina Peche

ABV: 4.5%

One of Dogfish Head's more forgiving beers, Festina Peche is the thing to swig after a sweaty day on the job. Dogfish Head, known for making IPAs that practically reinvent the word "drunk," is surprisingly calm with its summer seasonal this year, introducing its green apple-like tartness to the picture.

Available in four packs, the off-centered wheat beer is an improvement from their previous overly tart beer, making its top-notch appearance this time around with natural peach-flavored sugars and soft hop taste. Don't let the brand fool you; at a mere 4.5% alcohol level, you can have more than four of these without pulling down the shower curtains at your friend's house.

Flying Dog Woody Creek

ABV: 4.8%

You wouldn't know by its name that Flying Dog's Woody Creek is actually a Belgium white, but then again, you probably wouldn't be able to read the label if you had as many of the babies as you'd like to. Brewed up in Maryland with a little coriander and orange peel, Woody Creek is easily the most exotic of the Flying Dog brews.

Although it may have a pale appearance, there's nothing weak about the flavor of this summer spirit, as its spicy finish will test your belief in other summertime beers. Go on and try it, fall in love and refuse to let go like the clingy man you know you are after a couple bottles of beer suds.

Goose Island Summertime

ABV: 4.7%

A little ray of summer light, ironically from the Midwest, comes from Goose Island's very to-the-point summertime beer, Summertime. We promise whoever came up with the name is not the same person to invent the beer.

A fruity, German offering for summer with a good, clean, golden taste, Summertime is exactly where this beer takes you. It's easy to take down and hard to quit, like any good woman from the Midwest, and despite having strong hops like the Germans would want for us hairy geezers, it's rather refreshing on the lips at the same time.

Green Flash Summer Saison

ABV: 4.5%

The golden farmhouse ale is another beer in a list of Green Flash originalities that'll make your taste buds grow taste buds. Soaked in orange peel and Chinese ginger, this spiced Belgian-inspired brew from the great people of Green Flash is a remarkable flash of genius in a brown bottle.

A lively spirit indeed, the Summer Saison is full of genius, as it's more than a simple summer ale, drawing flavor from several sources, including its lightness, spice, funk and manly musk. It might sound like a dirty gym bag, but it's a real treat to a craft beer lover.

Kona Wailua Wheat

ABV: 5.4%

If you like Blue Moon, this Kona beer will put it to shame. Straight from the paradise of Honolulu, Hawaii, Kona has done it again in time for summer. Don't let the can presentation confuse you into thinking it's a cheap, watered-down, bottom-of-the-barrel type substance. No, Kona brews up only the most unique in beer taste, and the Wailua Wheat is like summer on wheels; it'll get you moving and keep you grooving all day under the summer sun. With the refreshing taste of wheat ale, Kona adds a tropical passion fruit taste on top to really get the taste buds going wild.

Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Extra! Ale

ABV: 7.5%

Getting away from all the wheat beers, Lagunitas is the reliable source of a good IPA, especially when it comes to brewing it appropriately for the warmer months. A well-known California classic, the wheat beer drops hints of grapefruit and lime and goes from sweet to hoppy in less than a swallow, perfect for camping or a road trip, so long as it's not while driving.

Lagunitas promises a little sumpin' sumpin' once you've wrapped your lips around this bold beauty. She's big on taste, light after dinner and keeps you rocking all night. And yes, we're still referring to the beer. For now.

Widmer Brothers Citra Blonde Summer Brew

ABV: 4.3%

Here's a blonde you can have fun with sober or not. The pale orange Citra Blonde Summer Beer from Portland's Widmer is the kind of beer to koozie up and take for a nice summer stroll or bike ride, of course someplace on your property and not in public, ya filthy hobo.

Citra hops and soft malts bring a refreshingly consistent citrus aroma and flavor to the back of your mouth from first taste to the moment it's down your throat. Not too weak or watery like every other domestic brick in the wall, the summer sipper is full of flavor but light enough to take it down like Gatorade after a long bike ride. Not that we endorse beer chugging, beer funneling, keg standing or shot gunning, but you can, and you will.