While it might not be official, we’ve always felt like Memorial Day is the true start of summer. We couldn’t care less that summer doesn’t actually start for another month. The weather has finally turned, the sun is shining, and the days feel endless — life is good. It’s also a great time to stock up on crisp, easy-drinking lagers for the hot days to come.
Pilsners, lagers, and everything in between. As long as it’s refreshing, we want to drink it.
But we’re tired of the same old lagers. That’s why, this year we’re going to start the summer of strong by imbibing some lesser-known pilsners and lagers. Instead of grabbing one of the big names we’ve sipped over and over again ad nauseam, we’re opting for complex, no-frills sippers from craft beer upstarts and underrated outfits. If you’re feeling similarly experimental, check out these offerings from breweries like Austin Beerworks, Wiseacre, and East Brother.
Also… we’re ranking them. Because, it’s fun.
8) Brewyard Kalinga
ABV: 5%
Average Price: $13 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
Glendale, California’s Brewyard Kalinga is a very unique German-style lager. This light, refreshing, unfiltered pilsner has had Calamansi lime added to it during the secondary fermentation process. The result is a light, crisp lager with a bright, tart lime essence.
Tasting Notes:
Cereal grains, honey, lime zest, and lightly floral, herbal hops are prevalent on the nose. The palate continues this trend. It’s light, refreshing, and crisp and has a healthy dose of tart lime. Its only downfall is that some drinkers might not be prepared for the lime flavor.
Bottom Line:
If you enjoy a rice-based, easy-drinking pilsner with a bit of lime flavor, this is the beer for you.
7) Urban South Paradise Park
ABV: 4.5%
Average Price: $10 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Named for the trailer park in the New Orleans-based brewery’s founder’s hometown, it’s brewed with 2-row malts and Huell Melon hops. It’s simple, light, and very refreshing. It might have been crafted for the weather in Louisiana, but it’s a great thirst quencher anywhere you live.
Tasting Notes:
A nose of sweet malts, fresh corn, honeydew melons, honey, and lightly floral hops starts everything off right. There are more cereal grains on the palate along with a hard-to-pinpoint fruity flavor as well as more melon and light, herbal hops. The finish is crisp, dry, and refreshing.
Bottom Line:
This is a pretty good, summery lager. That said, it’s absolutely no frills and leans a little more heavily into cereal grains and corn flavor than some drinkers would prefer.
6) Wiseacre Tiny Bomb
ABV: 4.5%
Average Price: $12 for a six-pack
The Beer:
This award-winning pilsner from the Memphis-based Wiseacre Brewing Co. gets its floral, crisp, classic European-style flavors from the use of German lager yeast and German pilsner malt. It gets its bitter flavor from the use of Bravo hops and its aromatic element from Mt. Hood hops. On top of that, it gets extra sweetness from the addition of locally sourced honey.
Tasting Notes:
Classic aromas of freshly cut grass, pilsner malts, clover honey, and lightly floral hops greet you before your first sip. The taste follows suit. There’s a ton of cereal grains up front and some grassy, floral, earthy hops. There’s some honey sweetness, but that’s about it.
Bottom Line:
This is a decent warm-weather beer. It’s pretty basic and unexciting though except for the addition of honey sweetness.
5) Austin Beerworks Pearl-Snap
ABV: 5.3%
Average Price: $10 for a six-pack
The Beer:
This is as close to a traditional German-style pilsner as an American craft beer can get. It’s brewed with German lager as well as Pilsner and Carapils malts. It gets its floral aroma and flavor from the addition of German Magnum, Tettnanger, Saaz, and Hallertau hops.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find aromas of grassy, floral, noble hops, bready malts, citrus peels, and light honey. Drinking it reveals more honey, freshly baked bread, cereal grains, lime zest, and grassy, floral, lightly bitter hops. It’s crisp, balanced, and easy to drink.
Bottom Line:
This is a great example of a German-style pilsner done right. It’s light and easy-drinking, but surprisingly flavorful and complex.
4) Zero Gravity Green State
ABV: 4.9%
Average Price: $11 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
This year-round 4.9% ABV easy-drinking lager is brewed with German pilsner malts, house lager yeast, and Hallertau Mittelfruh and Saaz hops. It’s known for its clean, crisp, noble hop flavor.
Tasting Notes:
Lemon zest, yeast, bready malts, and lightly spicy hops are big-time on the nose. On the palate, you’ll find notes of yeasty bread, citrus zest, cereal grains, and gently bitter, floral, noble hops. The finish is crisp, refreshing, and lightly spicy.
Bottom Line:
For a no-frills lager, Green State is a real winner. It has everything lager fans enjoy in a summery, easy-drinking lager.
3) Santa Fe Freestyle Pilsner
ABV: 4.5%
Average Price: $10 for a six-pack
The Beer:
This 5.5% ABV pilsner was crafted to taste like a mix of a German-style pilsner, a Czech-style pilsner, and a classic, easy-drinking American lager. Brewed with German malts and Saaz hops, it’s known for its crisp, thirst-quenching flavor and floral, earthy, lightly spicy hops.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find yeasty bread, pilsner malts, lemongrass, and floral hops. There’s more bread on the palate along with citrus peels, cereal grains, and floral, herbal, earthy, gentle spicy hops at the finish. The ending is sweet, crisp, and highly memorable.
Bottom Line:
You’d have a tough time finding a more well-rounded, easy-drinking lager than Santa Fe Freestyle Pilsner. Citrus, floral hops, everything pilsner fans enjoy.
2) East Brother Bo Pils
ABV: 5%
Average Price: $11 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
Richmond, California-based East Brother Beer Co. is a name you should know if you enjoy classic, well-made craft beers. One of its best is its East Brother Bo Pils. This 5% ABV Czech-style pilsner is known for its cereal grain, lemon, and noble hop flavor profile.
Tasting Notes:
Classic aromas of grassy, floral hops, honey, cereal grains, and pilsner malts greet you before your first sip. Drinking it only adds to this with notes of pilsner malts, yeasty bread, lemon peels, floral honey, and lightly bitter, noble hops. The finish is crisp, and sweet, and leaves you craving more.
Bottom Line:
If you enjoy Pilsner Urquell or any other Czech pilsner, you’ll love the crisp, complex, traditional flavor profile of East Brother Bo Pils.
1) Ex Novo Perle Haggard
ABV: 5.1%
Average Price: $11 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
This beer is much more than just a puny name. It’s a 5.1% ABV traditional German-style pilsner brewed with Perle hops, a variety known for its minty, citrus, floral, and herbal aroma and flavor. This pilsner is sweet, crisp, floral, and highly refreshing.
Tasting Notes:
This beer is as traditional as it gets on the nose. There’s a ton of yeasty bread, dried hay, floral honey, and noble hops. The palate follows suit with notes of yeast, freshly baked bread, lemon zest, honey cereal grains, grass, and herbal, earthy, very floral hops. The finish is crisp and effortlessly refreshing.
Bottom Line:
If you only drink one beer on this list, make it Ex Novo Perle Haggard. It’s complex, yet very easy to drink on a hot, hazy day.