A shower is among modern life’s many hygienic demands (rub-a-dub-dub drudgery), but shower beers are among life’s greatest simple pleasures. Instead of staring at the soap bar, pondering life’s mysteries, turn your bathroom into a bar by grabbing a can. Shower beers transform private time into a personal party by embracing the contrasts of hot water and cold beer, ideal for turning up before a night out or winding down after a bone-weary work day.
Over the last decade, shower beers have become a watery phenomenon, inspiring completely NSFW Reddit forums and breweries to create beers to complement the cleansing occasion. Might I interest you in a Bathtub Bier lager from Young Blood?
Not every beer is best suited for bath-time imbibing. Skip anything in a glass bottle, lest one slip from your soapy grip and shatter on the shower floor. Look for canned beers, and maybe consider investing in a shower-beer holder as well.
Crisp lagers and punchy pilsners are easy to crush during a quick shower, and IPAs also pair well with a loofah. Additionally, consider a low-alcohol wheat beer—preferably one filled with fruit—to pre-game brunch or clear away the cobwebs from last night.
Wash while you drink with these incredible shower beers.
The Best Damn Shower Beers of All Time
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1. Champion Brewing Company Shower Beer
ABV: 4.8%
If a brewery creates a so-called “shower beer,” it should deliver cold refreshment while warm water rains down. First brewed in 2014, Shower Beer delivers on its promise by packing a Bohemian-style pilsner with plenty of noble Saaz hops for a spicy herbal snap. The label’s rubber duck and bar of soap are right at home in showers everywhere.
Why wait until brunch to crack open a brunch beer? The low-alcohol Schöfferhofer Grapefruit is a great weekend eye-opener. It’s a 50-50 merger of hefeweizen and grapefruit juice that tastes like a citrusy ray of sunshine. Lather up while you drink one down.
The last decade has seen a surplus of Blue Moon spinoffs that failed to stick (e.g. RIP, Chai Spiced Ale). LightSky bucks the trend with a lower-calorie approach (just 95) and a bright pop of tangerine peel. That makes the waist-conscious Belgian-style witbier easy to wash down.
From a safety perspective, it’s long been impossible to include Weihenstephaner Helles among the great shower beers. The world-class lager only came in a glass bottle—a big no-no. But alas, the historic German brewery started packaging its helles in 16-ounce cans, so now you can bring the lager to everything from outdoor showers to indoor clawfoot tubs.
When a long shower’s water turns tepid, you’ll appreciate the blooming warmth of a balanced IPA such as Two Hearted Ale. The Michigan-brewed IPA’s signature Centennial hops impart a grapefruit scent and bitterness that’s as invigorating as Aesop body wash.
Covering yourself in a soapy froth is one of a shower’s greatest pleasures, bubbles from head to toe. Why not sip a beer as silky as that lather? This Dogfish Head IPA is fashioned from four kinds of oats, including oat milk, creating a super-smooth sipper with notes of pineapple and coconut supplied by BRU-1 and Sabro hops.
