With apologies to James Seals and Dash Crofts:

Summer beers, make me feel fine,
Blowin' through the jasmine in my mind ...

	Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette The Market Street Ale House, Downtown, serves many wheat beers. Click photo for larger image.

His name is Dash? And he's singing "jasmine"?

Actually, Seattle's Elysian Brewing Co. makes a lovely sounding summer beer -- Avatar Jasmine IPA -- that's subtly flavored with jasmine flowers.

It's not available here (yet, though it's played in Philadelphia). But you still have almost too many choices when it comes to the brews of summer, when we tend to want something light, perhaps with less bite, and more quenching than wrenching.

One style of the season is wheat beer, which is brewed with malted wheat as well as barley -- and sometimes spices and other flavors -- for a light and bright, fizzy and refreshing effect. As A.M. Lutheran Distributing's Eric Heinauer observes, "That category is growing by leaps and bounds."

Two well-named examples Lutheran carries are Anchor Summer Beer and Samuel Adams Summer Ale, which is also brewed with lemon zest and grains of paradise for added zing. Another good name: "Sweaty Betty Blonde" from Boulder's Rockies Brewing Co.

Many craft brewers release the wheats this time of year, and customers love to quaff them, in part because they're often served in tall glasses with a slice of lemon or even orange.

"It's very palatable," says Tim Santoro of the Market Street Ale House, Downtown, which will have as many as four taps devoted to different wheats. "Pittsburgh just likes wheat beers."

Shadyside's Harris Grill can hardly keep up with the demand, on the outdoor tables out front and otherwise, for Oberon Ale, a super smooth, spicy-and-fruity seasonal wheat ale that Kalamazoo, Mich., Bell's Brewery, describes as "the color and scent of a summer afternoon."

Other wheats include the Germanic Penn Weizen, Penn Brewery's award-winning offering, and Victory Brewing's Sunrise Weissen. Both are Bavarian-style hefeweizens -- that is, unfiltered and cloudy with yeast, which is what gives them their fruitiness. In describing its Weizen, Adamstown's Stoudt's Brewing Co. notes that beers of this style traditionally exhibit "a medium body and high level of spritzy carbonation, and are served as a thirst quencher or sometimes a breakfast beer in the summer."

Penn Brewery's Tom Pastorius says that the Germans serve filtered, or kristal weizen, with lemon wedges, but not usually with hefeweizen. "Personally I don't like the lemon in wheat beer if it's a real Bavarian-style with the banana-clove aroma. It makes it a bit too acidic." But he thinks lemon can be OK with some American and Belgian-style wheats, which are made with different yeasts and, often, coriander, citrus peel and other flavorings.

Victory, of Downingtown, Chester County, also makes a Belgian-style "wit" or "witte," Whirlwind Wit, as do many other brewers. A longtime classic, Celis White, now is made by Michigan Brewing Co. and available here.

New York's Southern Tier Brewing Co. makes a simple American wheat called Hop Sun.

Also proliferating with the warmer weather are imported wheats/wits such as Hoegaarden and Franziskaner. One Belgian carried by Savatt Distributing, Wittekerke, has come out a raspberry-flavored "Rose" that's sold in 8.4-ounce cans.

Mad Mex Oakland bar manager Andrew Stangl, who recommends Portland, Maine's Allagash White, points out that many people like fruit-flavored wheats such as Clipper City's (Baltimore) Oxford Raspberry.

Fruit lovers might also enjoy the new pomme, or apple, Belgian lambic from Lindemans.

The beer store 3 Sons Dogs and Suds in Pine plans a special tasting of at least a dozen assorted wheats on June 1 (724-940-7667 or www.3sonsdogsandsuds.com).

Like this writer, Mr. Stangl is a fan of hoppy India pale ales, or IPAs, and stronger imperial IPAs. One of his favorites comes from Michigan: the newly available Arcadia IPA, from Battle Creek's Arcadia Brewing Co., which also makes a big double IPA called HopMouth.

Both wheat beers and IPA's can pair well with grilled meats, salads and other summertime foods. Ask your distributor or server for recommendations. Or better, just experiment. The Saranac line (Utica, N.Y.) offers a "12 Beers of Summer" sampler case that includes its Summer Ale, Hefeweizen and four other brews.

Summer may be the best time to eschew the exotic and just go for a simple "lawnmower beer" -- something to chug after a sweaty session of yard work (Delaware's Dogfish Head Craft Brewery makes a draft-only "Lawnmower Light").

But even those can be of high quality. Several craft brewers release relatively straightforward seasonal pilsners, such as Troeg's Sunshine Pils and Sierra Nevada's Summerfest. Available for the first time here is Dogfish Head's Golden Shower Imperial Pilsner, which aims to show the world how good a pilsner can be. At 9 percent alcohol and in 750-milliliter bottles, avoid this if you're operating a riding mower.

Also brand new to this market: The legendary Texas brew Shiner. In addition to the signature Bock, Frank B. Fuhrer Wholesale Co. has brought in the Blonde, Hefeweizen and Kolsch from the Spoetzl Brewery, which knows something about beer and warm weather.