Sunny Sips: 6 Beers For Summer in Portland

by Karen Locke in Beer

Summer calls for single-malt, even fruity or sour, lower alcohol brews. The season of sun in Portland is rolling on in, so check out our list of six summer brews we're drinking right now.

Alpenglow Session Ale by Base Camp Brewing Co.

Base Camp’s summer session (4.4% ABV) is made from Fawcett’s Golden Promise barley malt and Willamette Valley-grown Meridian hops. For the non-beer nerds out there this means it’s malty but with a citrusy hoppiness. This brew is super approachable and available all summer.

Pool Party Session by Breakside Brewery

Sessions are ideal for open-ended drinking because they tend to be highly drinkable and won’t blow your taste buds on the first round. Pool Party Session (5.1% ABV) by Breakside Brewery is highly drinkable and made with hints of the floral, key lime, and red fruit aroma.

Swill by 10 Barrel Brewing Co.

Swill (4.5% ABV), a grapefruit-infused Berliner-Weisse will now be more available than ever with a 10 Barrel Brewing brewpub opening a Portland location in the Pearl district. The new taphouse will take the place of Mellow Mushroom at NW 14th Ave. and Flanders St. Portland’s own grapefruit Radler is more beer than soda making it not only a fresh summer beer, but also an ideal base for beer cocktails.

Sang Royal 2012 by Cascade Brewing

Sang Royal (10.1% ABV) has been hanging around the conditioning room at Cascade Brewing since 2012, and should be ready for release around late June. Sang Royal is one wild ale you won’t want to miss. With 16 months of barrel lactic fermentation and oak barrel aging, this brew features dark fruit, sour, oak and funk flavors that are sure to be incomparable to anything we’ll be trying this summer.

C Note Imperial Pale Ale by New Old Lompoc

For all of you hop heads out there, we recommend the hard hitting C Note (6.9% ABV) by Lompoc for barbecue and backyard parties that start at dusk. The name is derived from the seven “C” hops used in this American Pale Ale: Crystal, Cluster, Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, Columbus and Challenger. Make sure C-Note is nice and cold, as hops are the featured flavor and aroma in this ale.

ZigZag River Lager by Portland Brewing

This German-style lager by Portland Brewing is now available year round. Don’t take it’s availability for granted though, in July a portion of proceeds from purchases of ZigZag River Lager (5.1% ABV) will benefit The Sandy River Basin Watershed Council. Portland Brewing was onto something with its reference to The River, because we just so happen to love this beer for trips to the river. Grab your 22 ouncer of ZigZag for under $3 at the Plaid. Don’t blame us for the sun burn after a few too many of these.