Spring continues to give way to summer and with that comes the beers of the season. And South Sound breweries have a number of interesting summer craft beers you’ll want to chase down. We gave local breweries a jingle for their summer suggestions. Below are 6 South Sound summer craft beers you need to drink.
Engine House No. 9
“Our house Belgian White is probably the most popular summer patio beer,” says Donovan Stewart, brewer at Engine House No. 9, referring to the Tacoma restaurant and brewery’s popular summer patio. “The Belgian White is light and crisp with hints of orange and spice. We have our Deux Cinq Trois on right now too, which is a fantastic Belgian pale ale for warm spring evenings.”
Narrows Brewing Company
“Our Wit Summer Ale will be perfect for our waterfront deck,” says Mary Asami, brewhouse manager at Narrows Brewing Company. “The Belgian Wit style beer will have floral spicy notes with coriander seeds and dried orange peel. The light and easy drinking beer will be released May 19.”
Pacific Brewing & Malting Co.
“Our Montemara Summer Ale is the perfect Pacific Brewing & Malting Co. beer to drink in the summer because it’s light bodied with tons of hop flavor and aroma from Cascade and Amarillo hops,” says Pacific Brewing Head Brewer Bethany Carlsen. “It’s not too light and not too hoppy. It’s a well-balanced summertime ale.”
Tacoma Brewing Company
“My summer sipper would be my Summer Wheat American Ale, which is currently in test phase,” says Morgan Alexander, founder and head brewer at Tacoma Brewing Company. “It’s low in alcohol — 5.3 percent — and refreshing, yet full of flavor with plenty of mouth feel. Of course, my Broken Window IPA is a great summer beer too — for those same reasons.”
Top Rung Brewing Company
“I believe the perfect Top Rung beer for the summer is our Raspberry Wheat,” says Casey Sobol, co-founder of Top Rung Brewing Company in Lacey. “It’s light, crisp, refreshing with a nice raspberry nose and taste that is balanced and not overdone. A great lawnmower, working in the yard beer or for enjoying on the porch. Our purpose with this beer is to provide the subtle smell and taste of summer without the raspberries being in your face.” Top Rung is currently brewing a new Summer IPA with a simple grain bill and Idaho 7 hops.
Wingman Brewers
“We have three summer seasonals and they are all super good,” says Ken Thoburn, head brewer and co-founder of Wingman Brewers. “On May 20th we will be doing a release party for our Raspberry Weisse beer at Northern Pacific Coffee Company in Parkland. One of their employees did the amazing artwork for the beer label. Razma Attack is our Berliner Weiss recipe brewed with a copious amount of raspberries. That finished beer is then blended with our house mixed culture Saison to provide a more complex Brett and Pedio backbone. It’s very delicious and refreshing. That said, our Coconut P-51 Porter and the Lime Gose are also on the verge of being released in early June. The Coconut Porter has become a summertime standard at our brewery. We are also super proud of this Gose that utilizes lime juice and smoked sea salt in its production. The crisp, clean, slightly tart, slightly salty brew is perfect on a hot day and extremely quaffable.”
