SUMMER has arrived and what better way to enjoy summer than with a few nice, cold beers. Conventional wisdom generally suggests that on these hot summer days, it’s worthwhile to drink easier to drink, lighter flavoured beers, such as lagers, pilsners and wheat beers. However, this craft beer lover feels you shouldn’t discount other styles of beer even though the weather is heating up. And with that, this is my top 5 favourite summer beers for 2014-’15:

• Feral Brewing Hop Hop India Pale Ale – simply still Australia’s best beer, summer or winter, hot, cold, any weather really. Piney and citrus flavours with only a small malt backbone, this nonetheless well balanced beer is both strong yet sessionable and incredibly easy to drink.
• Nomad Long Trip Saison – The saison is a style of brew Australian’s are still adapting too, so it comes as somewhat of a surprise that a small brewery like Nomad (from Sydney’s northern suburbs) only produces three beers, but that one of them is a saison. This 6.6% ABV brew ticks all the major boxes, including hoppy flavours and aromas, hints of cloves, citrus and spices all in a sessionable, delicious, well rounded taste.
• Two Birds Brewing Taco Beer – Just as tacos are great to eat in summer, so is this unique and interesting brew. The two girls at Two Birds are very much creating a reputation as leaders in the Australian craft beer scene. As well as their golden and sunset ales, their Bantam IPA is also a great example of a sessionable style, hoppy beer. As for the taco beer, expect all the great taco flavours, such as lime, citrus and coriander in a smooth, refreshing ale.
• Moondog Love-tap Double Lager – These boys from Abbotsford in Melbourne’s North East never do anything by halves. Beers by Moondog include the outrageously overwhelming Henry Ford’s Girthsome Fjord, the 14% ABV barley wine style Nordic Saddle Buffer and the oak barrel aged Perverse Sexual Amalgam. After all that, it appears the Love-tap is a considerably less extravagant style of beer. But this 5% ABV is anything but. Sitting in the middle of their more common beers, it has all the flavours you’d expect from a pale ale, with citrus and pine flavours, but in the shape of refreshing, smash able and sessionable lager. A great beer for a late Friday afternoon!
• Stone and Wood Pacific Ale – The quintessential Australian pale ale, using the iconic galaxy hops to create a beer full of fruity tastes like passionfruit and melon. The Stone and Wood brewery sits proudly in the heart of Byron Bay, and their beers naturally gravitate towards this taste profile of creating a simple, easy drinking ale with an almost lager-like profile.

Adrian Moran has been pouring beers for over nine years and runs a podcast devoted to craft beer
Twitter: @ausbeerjourney
Website: www.ausbeerjourney.wordpress.com