In the dead heat of summer it can sometimes be a challenge to find a good time and place to enjoy the outdoors. Unless you’re willing to wait until three in the morning when the humidity drops below 87% for a change, you may end up spending much of your time indoors, which is understandable were it not for this article. Aside from the obvious water, which clearly you should drink plenty of, especially if you’re hanging out outside, let’s go over some crispy beers you can bring with you to sip on and stay refreshed. You’re welcome!
The first beer I want to cover is a witbier or “white beer” which gets the name from the pale color and light cloudiness of the beer due to it being unfiltered. The Avery White Rascal is an American beer of a Belgian style and like other witbiers has a high amount of wheat and other flavors such as orange, lemon and coriander. In my experience, anyone who drinks Blue Moon will love this beer. There are plenty of comparisons one could make between the two, but White Rascal has more flavor and spice to it, so it’s definitely worth a try if you want something wheaty and refreshing to get you through these summer nights.
Next up is a hefeweissen which is a German style beer similar to a witbier. The “hefe” means “with yeast” and gives the beer a similar cloudy look and wheat-centric base. The difference here is that a hefe usually has a different flavor profile which can include banana, clove and bubble gum. Quick note for those curious, it’s basically pronounced [hef-uh-vise-in]. The Weihenstephaner Hefeweissen is an awesome beer with all of the classic aspects of the style. Weihenstephaner is actually the world’s oldest continuously running brewery in the world which began brewing in the year 1040 and has not stopped since. Their one thousand year anniversary is coming up in a couple of decades in 2040, which cannot be said for very many companies in existence ever, so that’s amazing. Their hefe is a refreshing beer that I try to recommend to anyone looking to try something new on the light end of the beer spectrum. It’s not a fruity beer, but it does have that banana flavor that is one of the top reasons for its ongoing popularity.
Switching gears a bit, there’s a wildly popular, albeit difficult to acquire, American pale ale that you should pick up if you stumble across it this summer. 3 Floyds Zombie Dust is one of the highest rated APAs out there, and it’s actually very reasonably priced, if you can find it. Zombie Dust has a floral aroma with a little citrus, but with a strong hop backbone to remind you this is in fact a pale ale. Easily drinkable and tasty enough to make you wish you had more, this is one of those beers that people talk about long after it’s gone.
Decadent Ales in New York has recently been putting out a lot of weirdly impressive beers such as the Toasted Marshmallow IPA and the S’mores IPA. I was able to get my hands on the Pacific Punch the other day and boy, oh boy, was I glad I did. Orange, pineapple, strawberry, peach, mango and I could go on. The word party doesn’t do it justice, there’s a fruit festival going on in this beer. Even though this is a very fruity beer, it’s still a double IPA so for anyone who doesn’t like hoppiness or bitterness in their beers, I would not push this one too hard in your direction unless you’re willing to venture into the gray area between the two styles of beers.
Having said all that, I do want to reiterate my earlier point that it is hot out and it’s easy to get overheated, especially when drinking alcohol, so let’s be sure to keep that in mind when making plans to drink in the sun. Bring lots of water and actually consume it. Make sure you’re not sitting in the sun drinking on an empty stomach because we all love food, so here’s another legitimate reason to eat. Lastly, be aware of your tolerance to the heat because it’s easy to tell yourself you’re staying hydrated with whatever adult beverage you’ve got, but in reality it’s not actually hydrating anyone, so let’s stay smart out there.
-by Josh Helton
