Some friends were visiting on our back deck during the recent 100+ degree heat wave, having a few socially-distanced drinks. I’m sure your experience was similar. It was hot. Uncomfortably hot. In deciding what to drink, we felt it was too hot for hops; we wanted something maltier, smoother and more drinkable.

Hard seltzer is all the rage right now, and we could have had one of those. They’re certainly refreshing. Many breweries have decided they need to add one to their portfolio to keep up with demand. While I can’t fault that decision, it wasn’t what we wanted in the end. What we wanted was beer-flavored beer: a beer that tastes like beer. And that’s something that can actually be a little harder to find these days.

Don’t get me wrong. I love IPAs in all their manifestations. But I also like variety, and fervently believe in the right beer for the moment. In any given situation, you have to ask yourself a few questions. What’s the weather like? What am I eating, if anything? Where am I, who am I with, and what are my plans for later?

And right now, as temperatures soar, I want a beer that’s refreshing, well-balanced and just hits the spot. In short, I want beer-flavored beer. Again, I love beer with fruit added or aged in a bourbon barrel — or even brewed in a pumpkin. But not right now. Right now, I want a beer that tastes like beer.

Here are a few of my favorite beer-flavored beers to get you through the rest of summer.

1. Death & Taxes, Moonlight Brewing

For many years, Moonlight’s San Francisco-style black lager was only available in a keg. Recently owner Brian Hunt started packaging it in 16-ounce cans. You might not think of a dark beer as a good choice for summer, but Death & Taxes is a sublime beer with rich malt, refreshingly thin body and flavor that won’t quit.

2. Lager, Heretic Brewing

Heretic co-owner and brewer Jamil Zainasheff was an award-winning homebrewer, who wrote several books on brewing before he even opened his own brewery. So it’s interesting that one of his best beers is also one of his least known, an authentic Munich-styles Helles called simply Heretic Lager and brewed with both German malt and hop varieties. Helles is a popular German style of pale lager that originated in southern Germany. Heretic’s is nicely authentic with full, toasty malt and sweet, robust flavors.

3. STS Pils, Russian River Brewing

While there are many great craft pilsners to choose from these days, the fact that Vinnie Cilurzo — the man who essentially invented the Double IPA — could also brew such a dazzling pilsner makes it a doubly impressive feat. It’s the perfect hot weather beer from Russian River, although their Velvet Glow, a Helles, and Apical Dominance, an American lager, are also pretty terrific, too.

4. El Sully, 21st Amendment

El Sully, a nickname of co-founder and brewmaster Shaun O’Sullivan, is his take on a Mexican-style lager, with light flavors. It weighs in a tiny bit below most mainstream lagers at 4.8 percent alcohol by volume and low bitterness, at only 19 IBUs. It’s also very malty and grainy with light corn sweetness and very high drinkability. A real thirst-quencher.

5. 805, Firestone Walker Brewing

Considering that this beer was initially made to keep the trademark on their local telephone area code at a time when a large brewer was trademarking the major ones, the beer’s rapid popularity surprised even the brewers. It’s just an incredibly tasty, easy-drinking blonde ale. To be fair, Pivo Pils, a German-style pilsner and Firestone Lager, another Munich Helles, are good choices, too.

6. White, Allagash Brewing

Witbiers are surprisingly refreshing, unfiltered wheat beers with added coriander and orange peel. They originated in Belgium, but Allagash Brewing — it’s in Maine, not California, but I couldn’t resist — makes one of the finest in the world. It pours with a ginormous pillowy white head, and is a perfect re-creation of a traditional witbier, smooth, tangy and delicious. It’s available now in both bottles and cans.

Contact Jay R. Brooks at BrooksOnBeer@gmail.com.