Where to Find Your Perfect Craft Brew for Summer? All over Sacramento!

On these newly scorching hot days it's hard to think about anything but being cold again, and how Sacramento was somewhat robbed of Spring, but there is a solace, icy cold beer.

But when your looking for more than just something cold and wet to quench your thirst where do you go? We have a wealth of good drinking to be found here in Sacramento, but where does one find an extraordinarily good beer? More than the average drinking? Here's a couple of choices:

• The Shack
•  Outstanding beer selection (consistently revolving taps, and new bottle selections), great/ knowledgeable people, hearty weekend brunches, rockin' burgers, and a real-locals only vibe that makes the whole experience just slightingly sweeter!

• Pangea
• This is a Belgian friendly house, meaning they carry a lot of names, but they take true pride in their Belgian selection - the price is about $1 or so more than other places, but they always stay true to correct glassware (which is important, to true connoisseurs), and very knowledgeable people.

•  Samuel Horn's Tavern 
• Burgers and Beer. Need I say more? They focus as much on the burgers as they do on the brews (and they have 16 revolving taps, so that should say something) - My favorite is the Johnny Cash burger with a fried egg on top - but that's another story, they also have a 100 mile happy hour - 50% off all draft brews within 100 miles, with the ability to sample all drafts, and choose between their standard/ 22 oz/ draft selections - there's a little something for everyone

• Burger's and Brew
•  This is my go-to downtown place, whenever I'm looking for a solid burger and Chimay this is the place in the grid that I go. With a great beer selection, and great burgers it's hard to find a better place in the vicinity - but be slightly warned they can tend to get busy, and run to more of a universal crowd, not necessarily a beer loving one.

• Bonn Lair
•  When the world cup was happening there was no better place to find a seat (if you can find one), this place has a strong Cheers (Where everybody knows your name...) with a low-key local vibe, great wide, international beer selection, and solid European eats.

• Alley Katz
•  This is a new joint literally a block away from Old Tavern, with a huge selection of options the only drawback is the surprisingly bright lighting for a bar, almost too clean floors, and runs to a younger, just-out-of-college (or in college) crowd that are consistently at the pool tables. It almost feels like a social club with alcohol.

Honorable Mentions - as they showcase great beer, even if their selection is more limited in it's abundance

• OneSpeed / Magpie Cafe
•  Whenever Piny the Elder or other such cult varieties are available it's these places that carry them (while they last), only such quality beers would be matched by their superior quality food.

• Dad's Kitchen
•  I've been able to find great selections of small batch rustic, cider's on tap by Two Rivers; and some more rare brews.

So go out and get your drinking on in this hot weather, if only for keeping-cool purposes! With this summer hotter and longer than ever, I'm always looking for a new spot, are there any I missed?
Let me know!