Favorite Summer Brands

It finally feels like summer. Sunny skies (mostly) and warm nights with gentle breezes.

It’s time to celebrate the brands that make summer...well feel like summer.

Here are a few of my favorites:


1. Beer. I’m not a big beer drinker most of the year. But there is something about hot summer nights and some of my favorite summer foods (e.g. lobster, cheeseburgers, fried Ipswich clams) which down right begs to be accompanied by a cold one.

My favorite is Sam Adam’s Summer Ale. Here’s a list of some other recommended summer beers that I came across.

This list could use a bit of updating...so feel free to recommend.

If you are looking for a non-alcoholic summer beverage- nothing beats an Arnold Palmer (1/2 lemonade, ½ ice tea).

2. Mr. Softee Trucks ice cream. There’s something downright Pavlovian about hearing that distinctive music. It makes all kids ages 2- 82 come running. Since 1956 Mr. Softee has been serving up summer one scoop at a time .

3. Bug Spray. If there are mosquitoes lurking about, they will find me. Often I am that one person in a crowd besieged by bites, while everyone else enjoys their time out doors oblivious to the min-menaces. Growing up I hated bug spray particularly the smell of it. But I find the folks at Off Family Care have made some advances. I particularly like the smell and feel of Tropical Fresh Off and my brother swears by the Off Towelettes.

4. Water Parks. When it’s hot, there’s nothing better than a water park to combine some thrills with cooling spray. Two I really like are Six Flags Great Adventure New England in Agawam Mass (actually pretty clean and manageable for a big park) and Splash Down Beach in Fishkill NY (small and particularly good for young kids). My only warning about Six Flags, you will not be able to get that Venga Boys song out of your mind (“We like to party…).

5. A Great Summer Read. What’s summer without a great book to read on the beach or curl up with at night in the hammock under a summer sky? Here’s a few of my recent faves:

An American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

Mary (Mrs. A Lincoln) by Janis Cooke Newman

Olive Kitteridgeby Elizabeth Strout

One summer experience I miss is the Drive In Movie.

I used to love to pile in the station wagon with my family and go to the movies. The sound was usually horrible, and we almost always fell asleep before the end.

But it felt so exotic to be doing something so familiar as watching a movie somewhere unexpected, like the great outdoors.

I’m lucky in that my town in Westchester shows movies outdoors a few times in the summer. Last week, I got to watch Madagascar 2 with my 8 year old on a beautiful summer night.

A friend of mine in Louisville has created her own neighborhood outdoor movie tradition with a laptop, a projector and lots of happy kids.

Summer is a unique time to slow down and take advantage of these seasonal treats. Don’t let it pass you by. It will be back to school and September before we know it.

That’s my point of view. What’s your twist?
What brands and experiences define summer for you?