As a professional drinker (my mom says the term is “alcoholic”), I felt that it would be in good taste to show some love to my fellow beer aficionados (my friends say the term is “snobs”). Here is brief rundown of the best seasonal releases to keep your palate happy and possibly make your liver sad.
10. Fat Head’s Sunshine Daydream
Style: Session IPA
ABV: 4.9%
BA Score: 90
Though this session beer hit the streets a little before we started getting temps in the 80s, it still had to be included. The beer borrows its name from a Grateful Dead track and there’s plenty to be grateful for. It’s a low alcohol-by-content beer that is enough to slam all day, but hopped enough that your palate will wonder how this big flavor isn’t making you black out.
9. Fat Head’s — Bumbleberry
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9. Fat Head’s — BumbleberryStyle: Fruit Beer
ABV: 5.3%
BA Score: 84
I love this beer merely for the fact that it is an all-time Bud Light killer. This is one of the most accessible beers available across the board, even for pilsner and kolsch styles. Honey-malted with a refreshing blueberry finish makes this beer a natural summer day choice. Ditch the Summer Shandy and rock out with an Ohio-based (yeah, yeah, Pittsburg…whatever) beer!
8. Maumee Bay Glass City Pale Ale
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8. Maumee Bay Glass City Pale AleStyle: Pale Ale
ABV: 5.7%
BA Score: 84
Another rule breaker as this is a year-round release, but all is fair in love and hops. This is one of my personal all-time favorite beers. Grapefruit and citra hops find the perfect balance for a beer that’s just as good in the basement of Mutz or out on the Mighty Maumee dragon boating it up. This season, make sure to show Maumee Bay some love, be it the Broken Bat, Summer Stinger, or the fabulous King Wamba!
7. Jolly Pumpkin Weizen Bam Bièr
7. Jolly Pumpkin Weizen Bam BièrStyle: Saison/sour
ABV: 4.5%
BA Score: 90
Though JP is generally known for its world-class sours, this particular beer is a little light in that department. Lightly carbonated with subtle banana and clove in the mix, it’s a bit off the beaten path from normal summer fare. With its nuanced flavor profile it makes for more sophisticated drinking and summertime cookout pairing.
6. Founders Rübæus
6. Founders RübæusStyle: Fruit Beer
ABV: 5.7%
BA Score: 87 (90 from the bros, YIPPEEEEE!)
What’s the difference between jelly and jam? You can’t jelly a bottle of this in your mouth so you can enjoy the raspberry goodness that lays within. This beer has fresh raspberries added multiple times during the brewing process to get the most raspberry bang for your buck. Though this beer is amazing on its own, I’ve been mixing it up with Hala Kahiiki for a glorious pineberry concoction. I suggest you do the same.
5. B. Nektar Kill all the Golfer’s
5. B. Nektar Kill all the Golfer’sStyle: Mead
ABV: 6%
BA Score: N/A
So it’s not beer, sue me. It’s my list. This Arnold Palmer-style carbonated honey wine makes me wish I played and enjoyed golf for two reasons: 1. I’d have something delicious to drink while I drove a small motor vehicle around legally on the course and 2. So I wasn’t such a disappointment to my father. The lemon juice and black tea mixed with the honey wine is just too good to leave off of this list, format be damned!
4.Great Lakes Lake Erie Monster
4.Great Lakes Lake Erie MonsterStyle: Imperial IPA
ABV: 9.10%
BA Score: 90
With three fruity beers topping the list I had to mix it up so you won’t think I have the palate of a sissified Tweety Bird, or worse yet some Bud Light swillin’ country music fan whose idea of craft beer is chuggin’ a Shock Top while waxing his Camero. So you if want a beer with balls, here it is. Nothing like having an Ohio-crafted IPA that’s not only one of the season’s best, but one of the best IPAs of the year. Simcoe hops and delicious malt profile make this beer a beast worthy of its namesake.
3. Dogfish Head Festina Pêche
3. Dogfish Head Festina PêcheStyle: Berliner Weissbier
ABV: 4.5%
BA Score: 82 (93 from the bros, whatever that means)
This German-style brew is a light but immensely satisfying mix of tangy and tart. Brewed with natural peach sugars all up in it, the flavor shines through and makes me think of the terrible 90s band Presidents of the United States got at least one thing right. Traditionally, I guess you’re supposed to pair this style with a sweet raspberry liqueur, which is fine by me. I like having booze to wash down my booze.
2. Rivertowne Hala Kahiki
Style: Fruit Beer
ABV: 4.8%
BA Score: 80
Holy pineapple is this pineapple! This thin-headed, cloudy yellow brew is so pineapple from nose to palate that SpongeBob himself would live in it. This beer drinks more like some kind of whacked out flavored soda than a beer, but damn if it ain’t refreshing. Throw in some rum and grenadine and you’re set for poolside.
1. Bell’s Oberon
1. Bell’s OberonStyle: American Pale Wheat Ale
Alcohol By Volume: 5.8%
“Beer Advocate” Score: 86
In mythology Oberon is the king of the fairies—in reality it’s king of the summer beers. This wheat ale has the perfect blend of orange and light spices to fit any outdoor occasion. And it’s now available in TALL BOYS, so you can stay quenched if you’re keepin’ it 100 on the front porch, jamming around a firepit, or rocking out at a music fest. Just drop a slice of orange in there and “baby you gotta brew goin’”!
Honorable Mentions:
Southern Tier – Hop Sun
Victory – Summer Love
21st Amendment – Hell or High Watermelon
Not happy with my picks? Well, A. Screw you and 2. I got ahold of some of the most notable alcohol authorities in the city so they can throw in their two cents.
Lukas Kummer from Toledo Spirits Co.
Boulder – Hazed and Infused
Three Floyds – Gumballhead
Dark Horse – Crooked Tree IPA
Founders – All Day IPA
Original Gravity – Vanilla Java Porter with a scoop of Calder’s Vanilla Ice cream.
Avery – IPA
Elevator – Mogabi
Maumee Bay – Summer Stinger
Great Black Swamp – Bay Front Pale Ale
Bobby DeSeyn from Cavalier Distributing
Bobby DeSeyn from Cavalier DistributingDogfish Head – Festina Peche
5 Rabbit – 5 Lizard
The Bruery – Hottenroth
Bayerischer Bahnhof Leipziger Gose
Great Divide Colette
Revolution Rosa Hibiscus
New Holland Full Circle
Two Brothers Sidekick
North Coast Scrimshaw
Sixpoint Sweet Action
Evan Bates for Premium Beverage
Evan Bates for Premium BeverageFounders Rubaeus
Southern Tier Hopsun
Bell’s Oarsman (not really seasonal)
Troeg’s Sunshine Pils
Bell’s Oberon
Six point Apollo
Dark Horse sapient
Founders Double Trouble
Tom Schaeffer from Black Cloister
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Tom Schaeffer from Black CloisterDogfish Head Festina Peche
Left Hand Polestar Pilsner
Bell’s Oberon
Sam Adams Summer Ale
Rockmill Saison
Founder’s All Day IPA
3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze
Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
Harpoon Summer Beer
Rodenbach Flander’s Red
