We beer drinkers have reached Peak Summer, the days when our excessively sweaty bodies can only be satisfied by an icy cold can of whatever. These are the days of Bud Lights on boats, cheap pilsners by the pool, and bottles of High Life clinked around in backyards while weenies sizzle on grills. In this Season of Refreshment, we often pass over more flavorful or aggressive beers (looking at you, IPAs) for lighter brews that feel like a cold shower for our insides.
And listen, frat boys and dude chefs have a point—cheap beer rules. I had some just yesterday! Really hit the spot, cooled me down. But recently, I've found an alternative source of lightly carbonated, lightly alcoholic refreshment that has one up on cheap light beer, in that it legitimately tastes delicious.
Meet the light-and-fruity beer: low-ABV, no crazy hops situation, with enough fruity flavor to make you feel like you're doing something good for yourself, or at least for your tastebuds. The best example of this, I've found, comes from the ultra-cøøl Mikkeller, a brewery you might recognize from its signature label design or its spate of high-profile collabs (including Rick Astley, the metal band Mastodon, and like a hundred fancy restaurants). Their line of fruit-infused Berliner Weisse beers offers upwards of ten flavors—from peach to cherry to gooseberry—all in tallboys, and all clocking in at about 3% ABV, meaning you can throw back a few before 5 P.M. without ruining your night. They have all the variety and kitsch of a Lime-a-Rita, with a bit more sophistication. My favorite is the raspberry, which lands somewhere between a life-saver and a fancy seltzer, while also being beer. There's also the raspberry blush, another Berliner Weisse that's a touch more sour and also infused with coffee, which somehow ends up feeling like you tasted raspberry jam after sipping an espresso. It's sour and wacky and delicious, and perfect for when the sun goes down and our palettes can handle something a little more complex.
For too long, fruity beers have been cloying, or overly fruity, or simply gross—the high-femme counterpoint to a pumpkin stout that no one asked for. But these days, brewers are doing right by fruit, using it in subtle and natural ways that will have you thinking fruit was always meant to go in beer—you just hadn't realized it yet. A can of Mikkeller's raspberry Berliner Weisse is zesty and tart and puckery, able to wake you up from the most serious post-beach exhaustion. And it's the perfect accessory for summer holidays: easy and fun and gluggable, and interesting enough to briefly distract you from whatever you need to be distracted from.