Best Local Summer Beers

Along these lines Mosaic on draft is exceptional and still pretty outstanding in a can. I've seen it popping up in MA more and more.

 

Fort Hill G Fresh is delicious .

 

Was at Castle Island yesterday and tried Righteous Goals - blonde ale w/ guava @ 5.2%. I believe they will be canning this. Very good summer beer, a little tart and a hint of fruit.

 

There will be a 2nd canning of Edgeworth in about 5 weeks time. More draft in about a week. We've been receiving great feedback on it and have altered our canning schedule to accomodate a 2nd run of cans of it as a result. Adelais will continue to be a once/year thing.

 

Awesome to hear. I've enjoyed it more on each subsequent can I've had.

 

Lord Hobo's Angelica

doesn't call itself a 'summer ale', but it's excellent. my wife & other non-super hopheads keep cleaning me out of it!

reminds me of Trillium's Pier except I can buy it down the street for a little more than half the price. great summer beer.

 

Sierra Nevada BFD is pretty good, I know it comes in singles but you can pick up six for around $12 and since they are 19.2 oz cans it’s not a bad deal

 

From the "Beer Finds" thread as well:

I already picked up BBC's Busker Pils and Springdale's Das Weizen twice in the last week at Ball Square in Somerville (I rarely purchase full six and/or four packs, and even less rare would be a repeat purchase in the same week).

Both are excellent in my opinion, 5% ABV, cheap if I recall correctly, and great summer beers in cans.

 

This one was good after a few sips, then it just tasted too much like grapefruit juice to me. And by "too much", I mean "exactly like".

 

That's kinda what I liked about it. It's like Schofferhofer if Schofferhofer could ever give you a bit of a buzz. Cheap, tasty, great for a cookout imo.

 

Yeah I'm with you on that. I'm not a fan of grapefruit added to beer and really didn't like this.

Side note, while I really like Fort Hill, it'd be grand if they didn't use the word "fresh" in so many of their beers.

 

I don't believe they added grapefruit to this. I can't confirm this though.

For what it's worth, I'm not a fan of their beers...disappointing considering I love the price and 12 oz. format.

 

They did, but as someone else said, their obsession with the word "fresh" can get a bit confusing. Don't forget this is the same brewery that initially (back when they made German Purity Law Lagers...) put all their beers in the same can and changed the color of the tabs! In any case, I THINK the G-Fresh that winterwear mentioned is their session IPA (called Farmer's Fresh) with added grapefruit. Not to be confused with "Fresh Pick" which is their "NEIPA." The link http://www.forthillbrewery.com/#menu-pacific-section has some clarification.

I don't get to have their beers consistently, but speaking of consistency, I do find that it can be hit or miss, especially the Fresh Pick. I've had cans that rivaled Tree House with their viscous hop goodness, but then others that come across as syrupy and a bit hard to drink. I always thought the grapefruit additions in G-Fresh were a bit heavy-handed, but that certainly is a matter of taste. What I've always liked from them though is their pils... I believe it was called Hera or something goddess-ey like that. Fantastic.

 

None of these are strictly summer beers, but all are staples in my fridge this summer:

Smuttynose Vunderbar Pilsner
CBC Remain in Light
Notch Infinite Jest

All tasty, nuanced, refreshing and clocking in at 5% or under.

 

Stoneface Pull Start just dropped today. Hoppy golden ale checking in at 5.4%.

 

Night Shift Fürth
Night Shift Whirlpool
Jack's Abby Post Shift
Jack's Abby Sunny Ridge
Castle Island Mo' Pils

 

This was awesome last year.

Sierra BFD fits this mold and is great.