June is the official start of summer. Summer vacations are being planned, backyard barbecues are being plotted, and a lot of great beers are getting released to help make all those lazy summer days better.
Below are some of the best beers coming out this month, or around this time. And there’s a re-release we just found out about near the end. Happy beer hunting!
SEAFAIR SUMMER ALE — THE PIKE BREWING CO.
On May 31st, Pike Brewing announced the release of their signature Seafair Summer Ale on draft and in bottles. This wheat beer is the perfect companion for a summer day. The malty notes interweave with a nice citrus hit on the taste and some strong florals. The lemon really shines thanks to the Lemondrop hops from Yakima Valley which Pike uses to dry hop the beer. If you’re around Seattle, make sure to check this one out.
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HOPTIMUM TRIPLE IPA — SIERRA NEVADA
This year’s release of Hoptimum 2017 Edition is a very, very hoppy beer as usual. The 9.6 percent ABV is hard hitting enough, but the 100 IBUs means this triple IPA’s bitterness is nearly off the charts. That’s thanks to this beer being dry hopped with Citra, Simcoe, and Chinook hops in the fermentation tanks and all those dope hop oils seeping into the brew. There’s a strong citrus undercurrent to the beer, but it’s all about the hops here.
GHOST HAMMER IPA — STONE BREWING
Stone’s Ghost Hammer is a tropical, floral, and citrus delight thanks to the Loral hops. It’s a refreshing IPA that clocks in at a tolerable 6.7 percent ABV and 56 IBU, making this one a crowd-pleaser at every backyard barbecue. Mark your calendars, this one’s released June 5th nationwide.
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LAGUNATOR LAGER — LAGUNITAS BREWING CO.
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This dunkler bock style is a hard-hitting beer that channels malt over hops. Lagunator comes in at a 7.9 percent ABV that leans towards the malty, spicy, floral, piney, and caramel. It’s well-balanced and deeply complex. The beer is being bottled from May to June this year, so grab some now!
EASY STREET WHEAT — ODELL BREWING CO.
Summer is for drinking wheat beers, and Odell’s Easy Street is one of the better wheats brewed in America (well, Colorado at least). The addition of yeast adds a slight funky citrus edge that accents the smoothness of the malt wonderfully. The session level ABV of 4.6 percent means you can drink these all day long.
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HOP SLICE SUMMER ALE — DESCHUTES BREWERY
Deschutes’ Hop Slice Summer Ale is a sunny slice of citrus, hoppy, floral, and crisp sunshine in a bottle. This beer uses five hops (including Lemondrop again) and adds in a smooth caramel maltiness to the mix giving new dimensions to the style. The ABV is easy at five percent, so this summer ale is a great companion on any sunny June day.
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OARSMAN ALE — BELL’S BREWING
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Bell’s Kalamazoo original Oarsman Ale is a well-balanced session wheat. Its four percent ABV makes it very light. While the finesse of the hops, malt, and citrus allow this beer to go down very easily, it’s also tart without being over-bearing. It’s released year-round, but perfect for this time of year.
SCHNEIDER WEISSE TAP 4 MEINE FESTWEISSE — SCHNEIDER WEISSE BRAUHAUS
This stone-cold classic German Hefeweizen is a must try for lovers of German wheat beers. Schneider Weisse Tap 4 is simplicity in a glass. The New Zealand Cascade hops and local Hallertauer hops blend with the organic German wheat and yeasts to make a crisp, malty, and citrus Hefe that’s an extremely drinkable glass of beer. Though be careful, this isn’t a session wheat beer. The ABV is 6.2 percent, so it’ll get you drunk pretty quick.
GUEUZE CUVÉE RENÉ — BROUWERIJ LINDEMANS
This Gueuze is the real champagne of beers (sorry not sorry, Miller). It actually comes in a champagne bottle for starters. It’s a blend of 1/3 at least three-year-old lambic and 2/3 one-year-old lambic that are then fermented in massive ‘foudres’ (oak barrels). Then, a secondary fermentation takes place once the gueuze is bottled which allows all that blonde color, tartness, and funk to build along with crisp and dry carbonation. This beer is produced over years and it can be aged like wine once bottled, so you should be able to find it all year. But the breezy tartness and farmhouse funk screams sitting outside under an old tree in a beer garden on a summer day. So crack one of these open immediately.
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BOURBON COUNTY VANILLA RYE STOUT — GOOSE ISLAND BEER CO.
Word on the beer streets is that AB-InBev has released 25,000 bottles of the 2014 Vanilla Rye onto the US market. So you may well be able to find one or two if you’re fast and very lucky.
This stellar imperial stout was aged in American rye whiskey barrels with Mexican and Madagascar vanilla, giving it a wholly unique flavor profile and a mammoth ABV of 13.8 percent. The pepper spice of the rye barrel compliments the sweetness of the vanilla with plenty of oak and cocoa notes. Expect to pay upwards for $200 a bottle if you come across what may be the last batch of these bottles we’ll see.
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