The best new craft beers to try August 2016

Making a return to shelves for the first time since 2014, this offering from Tulsa's premier craft brewery has a bit of something for everyone. The base is a thirst-quenching saison brewed with five yeast strains (including a wine yeast!) that is incredibly effervescent (think a smidge less bubbly than champagne). In addition to the saison delight, Prairie adds a bunch of Mosaic hops, a strain known for complementing a wide variety of flavor profiles. In this case, it adds a fruity, tropical touch to the ale. Buying this beer fresh will highlight more of the hops, while over time the yeasts will continue to develop and assert themselves.

It has been a busy couple of months for craft mainstay Dogfish Head (we introduced you to their Flesh and Blood IPA last month) and August proves to be no exception as the brewery releases the punnily named SeaQuench Ale. As is often the case with the Milton-based producers, expect a twist. This brew blends three German styles: a Kolsch, a Gose (with black limes, coriander and sea salt) and a Berlinerweiss (with lime juice and peel). The three beers are threaded together to create a hybrid that “commemorates and disintegrates” the 500-year-old German beer purity law that outlawed brewing beer with anything other than malt, hops and water. This slightly sour thirst quencher is a great fit for the dog days of summer.

There’s no other way to say it: Boulevard's Rye-on-Rye is a behemoth of a beer. Weighing in at 12%, the rye-heavy (surprise!) beer is then aged in Templeton Rye barrels. This variation, inspired by the classic cocktail, is infused with both a combination of herbs to mimic bitters and lemon peel during the brewing process. The resulting product is then aged in freshly emptied Templeton Rye barrels. The outcome is as complex as its namesake: spicy rye and black pepper, warming cinnamon and anise, and a touch of citrus. A sipper, for sure, and one to be relished.

St. Louis' 4 Hands Brewing Company makes a wide variety of beers with interesting twists. Their Contact High is a wheat-heavy beer with copious amounts of hops and blood orange zest. The Key Lime variant subs lime zest for blood orange. Whereas the original is akin to a “beermosa,” consider this summer offering more like a hoppy limeade.