Celebrate National Beer Day With These Superb Craft Beers For Spring

As if we needed another reason to enjoy a tasty beer or three at the end of a long week, this Friday is National Beer Day. For those unaware, this isn’t just a randomly selected spring date where we can all enjoy a tasty IPA, lager, Kolsch, wheat beer, or pale ale. It’s actually celebrated every year to remember when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Cullen-Harrison Act into law (even though that technically occurred on March 22, 1933).

The Cullen-Harrison Act amended the Volstead Act (also known as The National Prohibition Act). It allowed the sale of alcohol and wine up to 3.2% ABV. While not completely overturning the epic blunder that was Prohibition, it was a start. If you didn’t guess already, this act led to the repealing of the Eighteenth Amendment the following December when the Twenty-First Amendment was ratified.

To celebrate this important American historical date, we’ll gladly throw back a few beers. Since it’s spring, we’re sticking to saisons, wheat beers, pilsners, IPAs, Goses, Berliner Weisses, and Kolsch-style beers. Keep scrolling to see eight beloved beers we’ll be imbibing on Friday.

Saison Dupont

ABV: 6.5%

Average Price: $12 for a 750ml bottle

The Beer:

If you’re going to drink a saison or farmhouse ale, you can do much worse than Saison Dupont. Ask any brewer or bartender to tell you their favorite saison and you’ll hear this beer brought up often. This popular 6.5% ABV farmhouse ale has been brewed the same way since 1844. This Belgian classic is known for its lightly malty, spicy, citrus, and fruity flavor.

Tasting Notes:

This beer has a very earthy, funky, almost barnyard smell in the best possible way. The palate follows suit with yeast, orange zest, lemon, wet grass, caramel malts, fruit esters, banana, and light spices. The finish is dry, lightly funky, and highly memorable.

Bottom Line:

If you’re only going to drink one saison in these early spring days, make it Saison Dupont. You’ll be happy you imbibed this well-balanced, funky, classic beer.

Union Old Pro Gose

ABV: 4.2%

Average Price: $12 for a six-pack

The Beer:

The classic, salty, tart, refreshing flavor profile of a well-made Gose is hard to top on an unseasonably warm spring day. One of the best is Union Old Pro Gose. This complex beer gets its fruity, citrus, lightly flavor from being brewed with wheat, Pilsner, Acidulated malt, and Perle hops. German ale yeast and Lactobacillus add tartness and acidity. Salt and coriander seed add spice and salinity.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is classic Gose aromas of tart citrus, earthy funk, and yeasty bread. Drinking it reveals freshly baked bread, yeast, coriander, lemon, grass, and a nice hit of puckering salt throughout. The finish is dry and refreshing. All in all, it’s a fairly simple, yet well-made Gose.

Bottom Line:

Who wouldn’t want to enjoy a lightly salty, citrus-filled, crisp, refreshing Gose on a warm spring day?

Notch Kölsch

ABV: 4.5%

Average Price: $14 for a four-pack of 16-ounce beers

The Beer:

When it comes to spring beers, it’s difficult to beat the appeal of a crisp, refreshing Kölsch or Kölsch-style beer. Notch’s “Cologne Style Ale” is brewed with Pilsner malts, Spalt hops, and Kölsch yeast. It’s known for its crisp, lightly spicy, floral, Noble hop flavor profile.

Tasting Notes:

Simple, inviting aromas of cereal grains, light spices, and floral hops greet you before your first sip. The palate is dry and crisp with citrus peels, cereal grains, freshly baked bread, and floral, lightly spicy, earthy hops making appearances. It’s a crushable, refreshing beer for the spring days ahead.

Bottom Line:

This “Cologne Style” Kölsch is as authentic as an American version can be. It’s crisp, clean, and sublimely well-balanced.

Creature Comforts Athena

ABV: 4.5%

Average Price: $12 for a six-pack

The Beer:

Spring is a great time for sour beers, specifically Berliner Weisses. One of our favorites is Creature Comforts Athena. This 4.5% sour ale is available year-round but shines in the spring. This wheat beer is refreshing and tart due to Creature Comforts proprietary house blend of lactobacillus.

Tasting Notes:

The nose of yeasty bready, tart citrus, wheat, and herbal, floral hops lets you know what you’re in for. Sipping it brings forth notes of crisp apples, citrus peels, white grapes, and lightly bitter, floral hops at the end. It’s perfectly balanced between spice, yeast, acid, tart flavor, and earthy hops.

Bottom Line:

This isn’t the most exciting Berliner Weisse you’ll ever have (you’d probably want to stick to German beers for the). But it’s refreshing, balanced, and well-suited for a spring evening.

Hopworks Ace of Spades Imperial IPA

ABV: 8.6%

Average Price: $16 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans

The Beer:

Hopworks recently launched brand new label designs for all of its beers. One of those beers is its popular Ace of Spades Imperial IPA. This bold 8.6% ABV imperial IPA gets its flavor from the addition of 2-row malts and Centennial, Simcoe, Mosaic, and Citra hops. It’s a great choice for an unseasonably cool spring night.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is classic IPA with dank pine taking center stage. It’s followed close behind by caramel malts and light fruity aromas. The palate begins with bready malts and caramel flavor that compliments the citrus and dank, resinous pine of the hops. The finish is pleasantly bitter and memorable.

Bottom Line:

This is a bold, higher ABV IPA for the true, dank hops fans. It’s bitter and resinous and perfect for this time of year.

Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier

ABV: 5.4%

Average Price: $13 for a six-pack

The Beer:

While you can’t go wrong with a classic American wheat beer like Allagash White, we suggest going to the origin and grabbing a sixer of Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier. This classic German beer is hazy, and fruity, and has the traditional clove and banana flavor European wheat beer fans crave.

Tasting Notes:

Aromas of bubblegum, bananas, yeasty bread, wheat, and cloves draw you in for your first sip. Drinking it brings a symphony of banana, freshly baked bread, cloves, fruit esters, and lightly floral, noble hops. It’s sweet, dry, and highly refreshing.

Bottom Line:

There’s a reason Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier is one of the most popular wheat beers in the world. It ticks all the wheat beer boxes and then some.

Russian River STS Pilsner

ABV: 5.3%

Average Price: $7 for a 510ml bottle

The Beer:

Russian River is well-known for its “Pliny” beers and other IPAs. But, if you’re sleeping on its STS Pilsner, you’re truly missing out. This Keller pils gets its name because STS is the code for Sonoma, California’s airport. Dry-hopped with European hops, it’s hoppy, and crisp but also has a nice, malty backbone.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is loaded with yeasty bread, citrus peels, and floral, Noble hops. The palate continues this trend. Dry-hopping adds extra aroma and flavor without bitterness. The result is an exceptionally crisp, refreshing, hoppy, yeasty, lightly hazy pilsner you’ll drink all year long.

Bottom Line:

This German-style pilsner gets an American twist with dry-hopping, creating a flavorful mix of old world and new.

Troegs Lollihop IPA

ABV: 8.2%

Average Price: $15 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans

The Beer:

Formerly only available for a limited time during the year, this double IPA is now available all year long. Celebrate National Beer Day by drinking this masterful IPA that’s brewed with Azacca hops in the kettle and dry-hopped with Citra and Mosaic hops.

Tasting Notes:

There are a ton of tangerine, lemon, caramel malt, and dank pine needle aromas on the nose. The palate is more candied orange peels, lemon, wet grass, bready malts, and a whole forest of resinous, bitter pine trees. The finish is dry and refreshing and leaves you craving more.

Bottom Line:

We couldn’t be more excited that this beer is available year-round. It’s a well-made, flavorful DIPA that we never get tired of.