I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy Garden & Gun, a lifestyle magazine devoted to the Southern State of Mind. When it arrives in the post, I slow down for a bit while the pages conjure the best of my Southern memories; it succeeds without fail in making me long for a return below the Mason-Dixon.

Lately, the hot and humid days without respite in Chicago have been all-too reminiscent of the stifling summers of North Carolina and beyond. The best remedy for days-upon-days like these is a fine selection of beers that stand up to summertime. G&G has a great feature on just these kind of micro brews made regionally from Texas to Tennessee.

The list includes:

Bayou Teche LA-31 Bière Pale
Arnaudville, Louisiana

Cigar City Guava Grove
Tampa, Florida

Coast 32/50 Kolsch
North Charleston, South Carolina

Duck-Rabbit Hoppy Bunny
Farmville, North Carolina

Fullsteam Summer Basil
Durham, North Carolina

Jester King Le Petit Prince
Austin, Texas

Lazy Magnolia Southern Gold
Kiln, Mississippi

Rahr Gravel Road
Fort Worth, Texas

Terrapin Easy Rider
Athens, Georgia

Yazoo Dos Perros
Nashville, Tennessee

Read descriptions of each at Garden & Gun.

If you are in the Chicago area (or elsewhere) and find that you don’t have access to all of these (or many of these) beers, a new local summer favorite of mine is Revolution Cross of Gold, a deliciously hoppy refreshment that I just sampled this week at one of my favorite Chicago cocktail bars, Tiny Lounge.

Cheers!