Beer made with citrus can be fantastic and refreshing on a hot summer day, but with so many radlers, shandies, and a hundred sugary "beers" ending in -arita lining store shelves these days, it's tough to know which ones to get. Thankfully there are a handful of locally made options that keep the citrusy sweetness in check while still delivering a little summer fruity goodness.

Here are my picks for the top citrus beers made in Toronto.

Left Field Brewery's Sunlight Park Saison
Named after the first baseball stadium in Toronto, Sunlight Park Saison is a refreshing, 5.3% saison balanced with sweetness and a touch of grassy hops and made with the zest of 100 organic grapefruits in every batch.
Available on tap in Toronto bars and sporadically in bottles at Left Field Brewery's retail shop.

Amsterdam Sweetwater Squeeze Radler
Among the array of beer-juice combos out there this summer, this is one of the few that delivers big flavour without being cloyingly sweet. A unique blend of house-made soda, blood orange juice, and beer, this sweet refresher ideal for hot weather patio sessions.
Available at the LCBO and Amsterdam retail stores for $2.85 a tall boy.

Bellwoods Brewery's OmertÃ
A 5% American Pale Ale made with blood oranges and hibiscus, Omertà is somehow complex while simultaneously exceedingly subtle. It's zesty but delicate, refreshing but hoppy. Uniquely suited to showing someone that refreshing beer can have taste.
Available on tap at Bellwoods and in their bottle shop.

Collective Arts Brewing's Saint of Circumstance
Burlington's Collective Arts refers to this one as an "any time" beer and, with a remarkably subtle malt profile and just a touch of the lemon flavour imparted by incorporating "seasonal citrus," they might just be on to something. It's a 4.7% blonde ale that would be just as at home dockside as it would alongside grilled chicken or fish.
Available in six packs at the LCBO for $13.95

Mill Street Brewery's Lemon Tea Beer
If you're like me, when this beer first came out in 2010, you had a summer love affair with the refreshing, 5% wheat beer infused with fair trade Orange Pekoe and Earl Grey teas and real lemon juice. It may have fallen off your radar as of late but, newsflash, it's still a really good and reliable summer sipper.
Available in tall cans at the LCBO and Mill Street's retail store.

Ben Johnson also writes about beer over on Ben's Beer Blog. Tweet him invites to go patio hopping with you @Ben_T_Johnson.