If you randomly go through tasting notes for IPAs, pilsners, lagers, and other spring and summery beers, one of the main flavors you’ll often see listed is some type of citrus fruit. Specifically orange peel, lemon, grapefruit, or lime. While it’s usually one of many flavors that make up the whole palate, some drinkers prefer their beer to be more citrus-centric — specifically, lime-forward as the sun starts to heat things up.
Lucky for these drinkers, there are tons of lime-based beers to choose from. These beers range from lime-flavored beers on one end of the spectrum to beers that subtly lean into lime notes on the other end of the spectrum. The best part? They come in a variety of styles from lagers to pilsners, IPAs, Goses, wheat beers, and more. That means that there’s a lime beer for every palate. Well, as long as you enjoy the tart yet mildly sweet flavor of lime.
Since spring is a time for thirst-quenching beers and it’s difficult to find more refreshing beers than lime-twinged brews, we decided to find eight of the best available. We’ve ranked them below based on lime flavor and overall easy-drinking nature. Keep scrolling to see how they all stacked up.
8) Night Shift Lime Lite
ABV: 4.3%
Average Price: $9 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
Proving that light beers can still be very flavorful, Night Shift’s Lime Lite is a 120-calorie beer brewed with Two-row barley, corn, hops, and real lime juice. It’s known for its sweet, easy-drinking, lightly tart, citrus flavor profile.
Tasting Notes:
The nose of sweet corn, cereal grains, lemons, and limes isn’t overly exciting. But what do you expect from a light beer? There are more cereal grains, corn, honey, and a healthy kick of lime on the palate. It’s a bit watery and heavy-handed in the lime department, but overall decent.
Bottom Line:
This is an extremely crushable lime-filled lager. If that’s our jam, go for it. If you want more substance, keep scrolling.
7) Stone Buenaveza
ABV: 4.7%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Stone Buenaveza is listed as a “Salt and Lime Lager” and that’s exactly what it is. Inspired by classic Mexican lagers, it’s brewed with Liberty hops, sea salt, and lime juice. The result is sweet corn, tart citrus, and lightly salty refreshing beer.
Tasting Notes:
Freshly baked bread, sweet corn, cereal grains, lime zest, and sea salt make up a surprisingly subdued nose. The palate is a little livelier with more corn sweetness as well as honey, cereal grains, tart lime, and a nice kick of salt at the finish.
Bottom Line:
Sea salt and lime are the dominant flavors of this lager. That’s all well and good, but it’s a little synthetic tasting and lacks any real complexity.
6) Shiner Sea Salt & Lime Lager
ABV: 4%
Average Price: $8 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Another take on the salt and lime lager, Shiner’s version was previously just a summer beer. Now, it’s available all year long. It’s a classic, simple, no-frills lager brewed with real lime peel and sea salt. It’s tart, salty, and refreshing.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is full of yeasty bread, cracker malts, sweet corn, honey, lime, and salt. Drinking it reveals more bready malts, sweet corn, lemon peel, lime juice, and salt throughout. Another beer that’s not overly exciting but still very refreshing on a warm day.
Bottom Line:
This is a simple, easy-drinking sea salt and lime lager. It’s definitely not going to wow you, but it gets the job done.
5) Uinta Lime Pilsner
ABV: 5%
Average Price: $10 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Available year-round, this award-winning pilsner is brewed with Pilsner malts and Hallertau hops. It’s light, crisp, highly refreshing, and gets an added kick from the addition of subtle lime flavor. It tastes like summer is a can any time of year.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is dominated by Pilsner malts and lime with just a hint of floral noble hops at the end. The palate is surprisingly well-balanced for a citrus-based pilsner. There are pilsner malt flavors as well as honey, corn, fresh, tart lime, and floral, earthy hops. The finish is citrus-filled, sweet, and lightly bitter.
Bottom Line:
This is an easy-drinking pilsner well-suited for warm-weather drinking. It’s well-balanced, flavorful, and gets a nice boost from the addition of lime instead of having it be the dominant flavor.
4) Boulevard Southwest BLVD
ABV: 4.5%
Average Price: $9 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Named for Boulevard’s address in Kansas City, this crisp lager is brewed with lime and just a hint of salt. It was crafted to be enjoyed on a hot sunny day and paired with good times and zesty savory tacos. It’s a sessionable and thirst-quenching.
Tasting Notes:
Floral, earthy hops, lime zest, yeasty bread, honey, and just a hint of salt make up a welcoming nose. The palate follows suit with tangerine, grapefruit, and a ton of lime flavor as well as bready malts, floral hops, and a pleasing salinity throughout.
Bottom Line:
This is yet another example of a no-frills salt and lime beer. It’s flavorful and crisp, and is sure to keep you feeling refreshed on a hot day.
3) Karbach Viva Chela
ABV: 5.5%
Average Price: $10 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Named for the classic Mexican “Chelada” where you add lime juice and a salted rim to a refreshing lager, Karbach’s version is a Mexican-style lager with lime and salt added.
Tasting Notes:
Aromas of yeast, bread, grass, lemon, line, and salty greet you before your first sip. On the palate, you’ll find flavors of sweet malts, cereal grains, sweet corn, honey, grass, hay, lime zest, and light salt. It’s a thirst-quenching, salty, citrus-filled gem of a beer.
Bottom Line:
There are a ton of lime and salt-based lagers on the market. This one stands above most of the rest because of its simplicity and balance.
2) Dogfish Head SeaQuench
ABV: 4.9%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
When it comes to lime-centric beers, Dogfish Head SeaQuench is as complicated as it gets. This flavorful beer doesn’t fit into just one category. It’s a mix of a summer kölsch-style ale, a tart Berliner weiss, and a salty gose with coriander, sea salt, and black limes.
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of yeasty bread, wheat, sweet malts, light spices, lime, and salty greet you before your first sip. The complexity continues with the palate of coriander, sweet malts, sea salt, lemon, and lime. It’s tart, salty, and exceptionally thirst-quenching.
Bottom Line:
This beer is a mash-up of a ton of different spring-like beers. That along with the coriander, sea salt, and lime might seem like too much, but it all works together in perfect unison.
1) Two Roads Persian Lime Gose
ABV: 4.5%
Average Price: $14 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
When it comes to salty and tart spring beers, it’s difficult to beat a traditional gose-style beer. Two Roads makes a handful and our favorite is its Persian Lime Gose. This memorable gose is brewed with fresh lime juice with salt and added flavor from the addition of flaked rye.
Tasting Notes:
Yeast, funk, salt, lemon-lime, grass, and hay make up an interesting nose, to say the least. The palate is even more exciting with notes of lime rinds, lemon zest, tart, acidic flavors, light malts, and a ton of salt to hold everything together.
Bottom Line:
This kettle-soured gose is a great example of a beer crafted to complement the flavors of lime, salt, and spices. Tart, crisp, and perfect for a hot day.
