Reach for a beer that calls itself Summersomethingorother, and you really don’t know what you’re going to come up with.

Victory Summer Love? It’s a blond ale.

Samuel Adams Summer Ale? It’s a spiced wheat beer.

Brooklyn Summer Ale? It’s an English-style pale ale.

Sierra Nevada Summerfest? A Bohemian pilsner.

Harpoon Summer Beer is a German-style kolsch. Breckenridge SummerBright is made with lemon and orange peels. Cricket Hill Jersey Summer is a Belgian-style pale ale.

Basically, a brewer can call anything a “summer” beer, as long as it’s refreshing.

But what makes a beer refreshing? It’s a surprisingly complex and sometimes contradictory array of factors.

For example, color. It’s got to be blond, yellow or nearly clear, right? All of the beers above are a pale-faced as Lady Gaga.

But then, how do you explain the affection that Africa’s equatorial regions hold for Guinness Stout, or the love they show in Jamaica for Dragon Stout, or Brazil’s passion for Xingu Black Beer?

I’ll give you another dark one: Rodenbach. It’s red, almost brown, yet it’s often called “the most refreshing beer in the world.”

Credit its yeast and bacteria culture, along with barrel-aging, which give it a distinctively sour flavor. Yep, sour is refreshing, too. If you don’t think so, howcum you still drink lemonade on your momma’s back porch every summer?

Speaking of which, citrus flavor is refreshing, too, whether in the form of a shandy (lemonade plus beer) or a classic Belgian-style witbier (wheat beer brewed with orange peel). Depending on their variety of hops, some pale ales can seem fruity, too. Cascades hops smell and taste like grapefruit, for example.

These fruity flavors – along with tingling carbonation – produce a tongue-cleansing sensation, as if your beer is washing out all the muck and humidity of an August afternoon. The result is a clean, crisp finish – another way of describing refreshment.

But refreshment isn’t just about flavor. Consider body.

Typically, lighter-body beers – those with a relatively low content of dissolved solids – are easier to gulp, and thus seem more refreshing. Brewers can make a beer lighter by adding water, as in light beer. But that also reduces flavor and character. Substituting a portion of rice for malted barley (a la Budweiser or, more interestingly, Flying Fish Exit 16) will also lighten the body, while producing a crisp finish.

Generally, light body goes hand in hand with low alcohol. Most brewers shoot for something around 5 percent alcohol in their summer beers.

But refreshment can still be found in high alcohol brews. Consider a Belgian-style tripel, like Victory Golden Monkey or La Fin Du Monde. Iced down, they’re light and dangerously easy to suck down and chill out.

Which brings me to the final criteria of refreshment: temperature.

A lot of beer drinkers mocked Coors Light when it declared a few years back that it was “the coldest-tasting beer.” Cold, they jeered, is a sensation, not a taste. I’m a bit more sympathetic because, let’s face it, without the cold, Coors Light has no other flavor.

Also, when it comes to refreshment, there’s something to be said for a c-c-c-cold beer.

Yes, I know, the full flavor of an ale really doesn’t reveal itself until it warms up to a cellar temperature of 50 degrees.

But global warming is upon us, friends, and now’s not the time to get pedantic about proper serving temperatures. In this heat, refreshment begins with dunking your paw into a ice chest and coming out with a near-frozen can that can be applied directly to your sweaty forehead.

That’s what makes beer refreshing.

I’ve collected two dozen different varieties for the summer edition of Joe Sixpack’s Case Club. It’s a simple case share that gives members a chance to try out new flavors without laying out the bucks for an entire case of one brand.

For more info on the club, and a look at this season’s selection, visit my website noted below.

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THERE’S a new style of watering hole in town, and I’m really not sure what to call it.

It’s essentially a sixpack store, with a row of coolers filled to the brim with all types of beer – American craft, imports, locals, you name it, and maybe a shelf or two of BudMillerCoors – which you can take home and suck down in front of your TV while watching the Phillies lose another one.

The twist is that it also sells draft beer. You can either fill up a half-gallon growler to go, or order a glass to enjoy in the shop, maybe standing up at a small, afterthought of a bar.

For lack of a formal name, I’m going to call it a takeout taproom.

The name isn’t as important as the fact that they even exist.

Consider that it wasn’t so long ago that, in these parts, you could count the decent sixpack stores on one hand and still have enough fingers left over to flip the bird at the Parking Authority officer who just ticketed you for throwing on your flashers in a loading zone while running into the store for said sixpack.

The list pretty much began with the Foodery at 10th and Pine and ended with “Let’s drive over to Jersey and see what they have.”

This was mostly due to those infamous Pennsylvania liquor laws that favored the sale of so-called “off-premises” beer at distributors, which are permitted to sell no less than a full case of 24 bottles or cans.

The sale of takeout sixpacks, meanwhile, requires a restaurant license, typically used by establishments that are mainly intended to serve alcohol for consumption on the premises. Take-out beer at these places is mostly a customer convenience – something to bring home to the wifey after you’ve gotten soused all afternoon.

But with the rising price of craft beer and premium imports came a realization that there were bucks to be made by selling beer to go. Not that grossly inflated 12 bucks that the corner bar charges for a sixpack of Yuengling Lager, but the $35 you might shell out for a mixed six of Danish imports and American one-offs.

So, in the last few years, we’ve seen an outcrop of takeout taprooms.

Places like Pinocchio’s Beer Garden To Go (131 E. Baltimore Ave., Media), a sliver of a shop appended to a longtime pizza restaurant.

It’s dominated by a well-lit row of coolers filled with more than 850 brands. At the back end, there’s a small checkout counter that doubles as a stand-up bar. You can drink anything from the fridge or its rotating lineup of 25 draft beers.

That’s right, this modest joint has more taps than Center City’s famous Monk’s Café and is rated at Beer Advocate as one of the top beer destinations . . . in the world.

That high ranking is mostly due to support from devoted fans who treasure a rare high-end suburban oasis in beer-thirsty Delco.

But even if it doesn’t look like a typical bar, Pinocchio’s is a pretty cool place. It’s casual, the service is excellent, you can order slices from the adjoining restaurant, and the talk is delightfully beer-centric. Invariably, the clientele will offer gentle suggestions and pithy critiques while you fill up your sixpack carrier.

You may not find it a terribly comfortable hangout, but it’s still fun to drain a fresh draft while dawdling over your takeout selections.

Maybe the new-style take-out tap will never replace our beloved corner bar, but it’s a fine addition to the local beer world.

Here are a few others:

•Bottle Bar East (1308 Frankford Ave., Fishtown). Though it faces heavy competition from the nabe’s other craft bars, it holds its own with a giant TV and charcuterie. Eight taps, 500 bottles.

•The Beer Store (488 2nd Street Pike, Southampton). Wings and fried food are OK, but you’re here for one of the area’s largest bottle selections. Twenty-four taps and, at last count, 2,254 bottles.

•Bottles, Packs & Growlers (Andorra Shopping Center, 701 E. Cathedral Ave.). You may never remember its unwieldy name, so just call it the place next door to Doc’s World of Beer. Twelve taps, 150 bottles.

•Gat Beer (1900 Grant Ave., Northeast Philly). Strip-mall atmosphere, but some surprises in the coolers. Fifty-percent off growler fills on Wednesdays. Six taps, 350 bottles.

•The Beer Shoppe (44 Greenfield Ave., Ardmore). It’s in the same strip center where Iron Hill Brewery plans to build its next brewpub. Eight taps, many bottles.

•The Craft Beer Outlet (Morrell Plaza, 9910 Frankford Ave.). What is it with these generic beer-store names? Very well maintained inventory with lots of rare specialties. Eight taps, plenty of bottles.

•The Corner Foodery (1710 Sansom St., Rittenhouse Square). An offshoot of the original deluxe beer deli, this convenient location is big on sandwiches. Five taps, 600-plus bottles. (Note: The Foodery location at 6138 Ridge Ave., Roxborough, also pours draft and fills growlers with nifty “counter-pressure” taps to keep the beer fresh.)

•Passion Vines (265 New Road, Somers Point, N.J.). This is Jersey, so not only do you get a tight lineup of taps and bottles to go, but you can grab wine and a bottle of the hard stuff on your last stop before dry Ocean City.

•Rybrew (2816 Girard Ave., Fairmount). Just opened on Monday, the area’s newest bottle shop does not yet sell draft beer. It’s notable that this stretch of Girard was once notorious for its seedy stop-and-gos. One sure sign of neighborhood gentrification: when 750ml corked imports replace 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor.

Finally, don’t forget Whole Foods and Wegmans. Several of their stores include separate pubs with big takeout selections and draft to go.

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WE PAUSE now to raise a beer in commemoration of Belgium’s independence from the Evil Empire of the Netherlands.

‘Twas 182 years ago this Sunday that a ragtag band of Belgies dressed like Indians clambered aboard Dutch ships and dumped barrels of Hollandaise sauce in the Harbor of Brussels.

This heroic act of rebellion ignited the infamous Battle of the Bulge, where corpulent gourmands from Antwerp faced down round upon round of Edam cheese.

The Dutch army, unable to march in wooden shoes, quickly surrendered and returned to Amsterdam to resume smoking pot.

Or something like that.

All I really know is that nearly two centuries later, the Dutch are known for their tulips, and Belgium . . . well, Belgium gave us beer.

And not just any beer. Not just the tradition-laden lagers of Germany or the ales of Britain.

It was Belgium, with its astounding variety of brewing styles and methods, that broke the rules and redefined beer with the likes of Flemish red, abbey dubbel, witbier, lambic, blond, saison, tripel, oud bruin, faro and more.

It was Belgian beer, with its challenging, diverse array of flavors, that inspired America’s own inventive craft brewers to experiment with ingredients and explore uncharted flavors.

Without Belgian beer, Rob Tod wouldn’t be spontaneously fermenting sour ale at Allagash Brewing, in Maine. Ron Jefferies wouldn’t be making saison at Jolly Pumpkin, in Michigan. And Jean Broillet IV wouldn’t have opened Tired Hands brewpub in Ardmore.

Without Belgian beer, there’d be no Blue Moon or Shock Top. There’d be no Ommegang, the New York brewery modeled after the farmhouse breweries of Flanders. There’d be no such thing as “abbey” beer. Or Belgian IPA. Or Framboise.

Without Belgium, there’d be no New Belgium.

Monk’s Café would never have opened in Center City, nor Eulogy in Old City, nor Bridgid’s in Fairmount, nor Abbaye in Northern Liberties. There’d be no Teresa’s Next Door in Wayne or Iron Abbey in Horsham.

Praise to the Smurfs – independent Belgium lives! And Philadelphia, a/k/a Brussels on the Schuylkill, will celebrate appropriately.

Raise a toast with one of these five authentic Belgians (plus one American):

•Mort Subite White Lambic. Light, fruity and refreshing, this is a nice step up if you’re looking for something less sweet than Lindemans Framboise, but not as funky as Gueuze.

•Duvel Tripel Hop. The world’s benchmark saison takes a cue from America’s hop craze and adds a dose of Sorachi Ace hops for a citrus finish.

•La Chouffe. The brewery’s Ardennes’ yeast is a favorite of American brewers in search of that telltale Belgian fruitiness. You’ll get the full measure of its pear-like ester character with this luscious, smooth ale.

•Vicaris Generaal. Despite flavors of dried fruit and molasses, it finishes dry and pairs well with barbecued food. It’s neither flashy nor restrained, just sublime.

•St. Feuillien La Blanche. The brewery describes this unique summertime refresher as a mix of its high-proof Tripel and easy-drinking Grisette Blanche.

•Ommegang Belgian Independence Day Double White. It’s made in the U.S.A., but Ommegang is the real deal (and often a good bit cheaper). This witbier is flavored with bitter orange peel, coriander and chamomile.

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I’ll be pairing Duvel, Maredsous, De Koninck and others with excellent Belgian cheese from Di Bruno Brothers at a free sampling from 4-6 p.m. July 26 at Bell Beverage (South Philly).

Then, on Saturday, I’ll lead tastings of several American versions of Belgian beer at “Brews for Books” at Indian Valley Public Library (Telford, Montgomery County). Tickets for the festival, featuring beer from two dozen breweries, are $35 online.

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Duvel Moortgat is also raising the black, yellow and red banner at these locations:

•Old Eagle Tavern (Manayunk), the Belgian Café (Fairmount) and TJ’s Restaurant & Drinkery (Paoli) tonight.

•Logan Inn and Iron Abbey (Bucks County) tomorrow.

•Wegman’s locations in King of Prussia, Warrington, Malvern, Downingtown and Collegeville, and the Foodery locations in Center City, Rittenhouse Square, Northern Liberties and Roxborough, on Saturday.

•Finally, Devil’s Den (South Philly) hosts an Ommegang Beer Brunch (and the end of the Tour de France) from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday.

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THIS IS a great week to be a beer geek in Philadelphia.

Yeah, I know, we’re still licking our wounds after Philly Beer Week earlier this month. But starting today, the city hosts the geekiest of beer lovers: People who not only know that the IPA you’re sipping was dry-hopped with Simcoe hops, they likely know the farm where those hops were grown, their cohumulone content and whether they were tossed into the conditioning tank by a left- or right-handed brewer.

OK, I’m kidding about that last part. But there are no more knowledgeable beer enthusiasts than the people who make their own beer.

And at least 3,400 of them are in the city for the three-day American Homebrewing Association’s annual conference. They’ll be attending seminars including “Alternatives to Wood Aging Techniques” and “Geeking Out Your Cellar.” Nearly 1,000 of their brews will undergo a final round of judging in the organization’s annual awards competition.

With mad skills that are pushing the boundaries of the beer we drink, these do-it-yourselfers are riding the peak of their hobby. The industry posted an estimated 26 percent growth in the past year, which means that amateur beer is growing at a faster rate than sales of professionally made craft beer.

How hot is homebrewing? This year’s conference nearly doubled the previous attendance record. Tickets sold out in under 20 hours last February.

That’s partly because these annual meet-ups typically have been held in the West. This is the AHA’s first visit to the East since 2005.

But it’s also a sign that, even as the shelves at your local beer store are fully stocked with hundreds of varieties, a growing number of people simply want to try their own hand at the world’s second-oldest profession. There are an estimated 1.5 million homebrewers in America, according to Gary Glass, the organization’s director.

I grabbed Glass on the phone for six quick questions:

1. What’s driving the hobby?

“Mainly it’s the growth in craft brewing,” Glass said. “The first step for anyone getting involved in homebrewing is they have to be a fan of craft beer. Once that happens, they’re introduced to homebrewing somehow – a friend, someone else in the hobby.

“Knowing you can make beer at home is a big step.”

2. Who’s doing all this homebrewing?

“Before, it used to be people in their 30s and 40s. Today, close to half of those buying beginner kits are under the age of 30. The growth coincides with when the first millennials reached legal drinking age. Millennials seem more inclined to drink craft beer, but also homebrewing for them is a means of self-expression, and that’s something that particular generation looks for.

“It’s also a hobby that you can share with your friends. There are now more than 1,400 homebrew clubs in the United States. Being part of a community is a major motivating factor.

“Plus, if it tastes good, your friends think you’re really cool.”

3. How can amateurs manage to make beer as well as the pros?

“A lot of it has to do with the quality of ingredients. It’s much higher than before, and access to ingredients is much higher. Plus they have access to information on the Internet. That allows people getting involved in hobby to succeed right away. Their first batch comes out good and they’re hooked.”

4. Specifically, how have ingredients improved?

“When I got started homebrewing in the early ‘90s, liquid yeast was just starting to come out into the marketplace. We used dried yeast, and there’s nothing wrong with dried yeast. But back then, you ran into contamination issues sometimes. Plus, there was a limited number of yeast strains.

“Now there’s just a huge variety of strains-pure cultures that you can get fresh at your local homebrew shop. One of the largest stores now has 100 different yeast varieties.

“The same goes with hops and malts. You have all these new varieties that have been developed for craft brewers, so they’re available for homebrewers, too.”

5. Mississippi and Alabama just legalized homebrewing, so it’s now legal in all 50 states. What took so long?

“In both those states, there is a strong contingent of people who think consumption of alcohol is morally bad. Any alcohol legislation is difficult to get passed there because the constituents think any liberalization of alcohol laws is immoral.

“Some people also associated homebrewing with moonshining, so we had that to overcome as well.”

6. What’s next for the AHA? A reality-TV show?

“Believe it or not, we were actually contacted by some producers about doing one. That hasn’t moved forward, though.”

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ROB ZARKO’S two-story brick home, on a lazy shaded road in suburban Wallingford, Delaware County, looks much like every other home in the neighborhood.

Well-tended lawn, check.

Couple of bikes in the grass, check.

Portable basketball hoop in the driveway, check.

Thirty-gallon mash tun in the garage.

Uh, check?

Welcome to Ship Bottom Brewing, the area’s newest and tiniest new brewery. If you blink, you’ll miss it.

Fully licensed and operational, Ship Bottom is brewing up minuscule batches of two barrels each, or enough to fill just over 100 sixpacks – if it had a bottling line. Instead, all of its product is draft and is distributed mainly to three or four bars around Media.

If small beer makers like Sly Fox and Yards are known as microbreweries, Ship Bottom is a nanobrewery.

The entire brewery fits inside half of Zarko’s two-car garage. His brewing kettle is so small, he has to cook two full batches to fill up his two-barrel fermentation tanks. Forget those fancy glycol cooling systems you might’ve seen on a brewery tour; at Ship Bottom, proper fermentation temperature is maintained with a simple air conditioner.

Basically, it looks like a glorified home-brewing system – which is appropriate, because that’s where Zarko got his start.

It began with a countertop home-brew kit that his brother purchased in the early ’90s at Montgomeryville’s Keystone Homebrew Supply. The two brewed their first batch at a summer home in Ship Bottom, N.J. (thus the brewery’s name).

“We did everything wrong that we could’ve done wrong,” Zarko said, “and it still turned out pretty good.”

Though his brother didn’t pursue the hobby, Zarko was hooked. Over the years, he added equipment and experimented with various recipes. A couple of years ago – about the time that he built an electronic monitoring panel that could be controlled with his smartphone – Zarko realized that it had become more than a hobby.

“I was investing more and more money into home-brewing,” he said. “I was making 10-gallon batches every weekend, more beer than I could possibly drink. I shared it with friends, and people would tell me it’s pretty good.”

Married to a full-time lawyer, with four kids to raise, Zarko, 44, knew he didn’t have the luxury of quitting his day job as an I.T. consultant. So he started to research his options and discovered the new trend of nanobrewing.

Nanobrewing is so young, it has no legal definition. Generally, it’s a brewing system that makes less than four barrels at a time, and fewer than 500 barrels a year. The beer is served either at the brewery or at local pubs, one keg at a time.

There are about 100 of them in the United States, including about a half-dozen scattered across Pennsylvania.

The lack of a legal definition is a significant challenge, because nanobreweries must follow the same local, state and federal alcohol rules as even the largest breweries.

Surprisingly, Zarko encountered little opposition from his neighbors.

“I went door to door and told my neighbors I’d been home-brewing in my house since 2000, and you didn’t even know it,” he said. “This brewery is not substantially larger than what I had already been doing. . . .

“There was only one person, a lady who spoke against me for 45 minutes at a township meeting. She kept saying she didn’t want my brewery to turn into the next Anheuser-Busch.”

Today, you’d hardly know there was a fully functioning brewery in Zarko’s garage. When I dropped in for a look, it wasn’t till I was halfway up the driveway that I caught the wonderful aroma of boiling malt. As for the operation itself, I’ve seen larger stacks of kegs on the front porches of Drexel University frat houses.

“The neighbors stop in from time to time,” he said. “They think it’s cool.”

But the bigger buzz for Zarko comes when he sees people drink his beer. “That just blows me away,” he said.

At this scale, Ship Bottom Brewery is mostly a weekend pursuit. Zarko said that he considers himself to be in the “branding” stage, when he can perfect recipes and learn what beer drinkers want.

Lately, though, he has found himself hustling to fulfill a commitment to provide beer for a July 6 fundraising festival at the Ship Bottom (N.J.) Firehouse, which was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. If you’re in the vicinity, stop by for a taste of Ship Bottom’s Beach Patrol Hefeweizen.

Otherwise, you’ll have to look hard to find Ship Bottom’s beers. They’re served sporadically at Pinocchio’s Beer Garden to Go and Quotations, in Media, and Pescatore’s Italian Restaurant and Firewaters, in Glen Mills.

Also look for them at Broad Axe Tavern, 20 miles to the north in Ambler, Montgomery County.

Why there? Well, it’s just down the street from Zarko’s day job.

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MY FAVORITE BEER of Philly Beer Week 2013?

I’ll get to that in a few lines, but first, I asked my fellow elbow-benders, and their responses underscore two important features of Beer Week:

1. It’s still all about bold, diverse flavor, with an emphasis on new brands.

2. All the naysayers who believe that no one will drink “big” (high-alcohol) beer in the summer’s heat are just plain wrong.

Just check out some of their faves; there’s not a so-called session beer in the bunch:

•Allagash Coolship, a mouth-puckering, American-made spontaneously fermented ale.

•Yards George Washington Tavern Porter, aged in a bourbon barrel.

•Voodoo Cowbell, a strong, dark, creamy imperial milk stout.

•Founders Devil Dancer, a superstrong (12 percent alcohol) imperial IPA.

•Troegs Scratch #94, an apricot-flavored IPA.

•Ballast Point Sculpin, spiced with a zing of habanero peppers.

•Nodding Head Phunky Tears, a wine-barrel-aged version of the brewpub’s notable Crosby’s Tears.

•Cigar City Right Side Up, a pineapple-flavored lager.

•Funky Buddha, a Florida-made Berliner Weiss flavored with passion fruit.

•21st Amendment Imperial Jack, an imperial extra special bitter.

Early returns from an online survey by Philly Beer Week showed two clear front-runners:

•Mannken-Penn, an abbey dubbel brewed by Weyerbacher’s Chris Wilson and the crew at De La Senne brewery, in Belgium. Smooth, a bit sweet and too easy to drink for a 7.5 percent alcohol bottle, it lived up to the promise of its Phillyesque label depicting Brussels’ Manneken-Pis statue spritzing the City of Brotherly Love.

•Victory Liberty Bell Ringer, brewed especially for Beer Week. This double IPA is dry-hopped with Mosaic hops for a delightful tropical-fruit flavor. The 17-year-old Downingtown brewery can still bring it.

As for me, it’s always hard to nail it down, but here are my top six:

6. Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold, at Frankford Hall. After countless “taster” glasses, a full liter was the ticket at the semifinals of Dunkel Dare.

5. Susquehanna Southern Rye IPA, at Philadelphia Bar & Restaurant. Gave me a chance to finally meet brewer Jaime Jurado.

4. Brotherly Suds 4, at the Philly Beer Week Garden. The English summer ale with a citrus finish might’ve been the best version of Beer Week’s annual local collaboration. It was brewed at Yards with the help of brewmasters (right) from Flying Fish, Victory, Troegs, Iron Hill and Nodding Head.

3. Forest & Main cask IPA, at Kennett Restaurant. Of course it was hoppy, but its smooth, lightly sweet malt gave it superb balance.

2. Fegley’s Brew Works Arctic Alchemy, at Opening Tap. I’d interviewed Chris Bowen, the homebrewer behind this historic re-creation of the 19th-century Allsopp’s Arctic Ale, but I never had a chance to taste it. I imagine the superstrong (12 percent alcohol), malty barleywine will age nicely.

1. Twin Lakes Greenville Pale Ale. Yeah, I know: Nothing exotic here. Just your basic, good-drinking pale ale. But, as always, what made the beer great was the circumstances:

Ninety-two degrees and the sun is blazing outside Independence Visitor Center. Our crew is busy unloading kegs for Opening Tap and I’ve sweated through my third T-shirt of the day.

Rob Pfeiffer, the brewer at Delaware’s Twin Lakes, rolls up to unload his supplies. He takes one look at me and reaches into his cooler.

Pop goes the ice-cold can of ale, and down it goes. The sweat breaks, the smile returns.

It would be my first beer of Philly Beer Week 2013, and it made me thirsty for many, many more.

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EVEN a year later, former game-show host Marc Summers can’t explain the manic excitement that exploded over three wild nights during Philly Beer Week 2012.

It was the return of his 1980s children’s game show, “Double Dare.” Only, in the spirit of the festive week, the live show was called “Dunkel Dare.”

The contestants were brewers, and the trivia questions and physical challenges related to beer. The crowd lined up for hours and rollicked inside as Summers gulped suds and dropped the f-bomb.

The winners, from Great Lakes Brewing, were properly slimed.

“I have zero idea what happened,” Summers told me as he prepared for the return of the show, tonight and tomorrow, at Fishtown’s Frankford Hall.

“First, I had no idea how massive Beer Week was in Philadelphia,” he said. “But then, the reaction to a 25-year-old game show . . . Can I explain it? No, other than it was just a chance to have fun.”

Indeed, there was so much magic that evening, Summers said he was reluctant to bring back the show for an encore: “I didn’t think it could be any better.”

Also, he damn near got killed in a Philadelphia taxicab wreck last August.

He was returning home from the airport. It was raining. His cabbie lost control as the cab hydroplaned across the slick surface of I-95.

Summers was thrown from his seat and his head slammed into the credit-card reader on the cab’s partition.

“I broke every bone in my face,” he said. “The fact that I’m alive is a miracle.”

University of Pennsylvania surgeon Jesse Taylor put his face back together, and Summers is still mending from the surgery. Though friends tell him they don’t notice any scars, he said that he feels swollen, and the vision in his left eye is reduced.

Summers, who has made only a few public appearances since the crash, looks at tonight as “sort of my coming-out party.”

He sounded a little nervous about going back in front of an audience. “When you’re in the public eye, people take shots at you,” he said. “But I’m just doing my thing, and I’m going out to enjoy myself.”

It’ll be a reunion of sorts, as he’ll be joined by two of his popular “Double Dare” sidekicks – Harvey the announcer and Robin Marella, his fun-loving stage assistant.

Meanwhile, the team from Great Lakes will return to defend its title against reps from Victory, Stoudt’s and Yards.

Organizers expect such a huge turnout, they’ve set up overflow space with big screens next door at Fette Sau.

The beer will flow, and the packed crowd will whoop it up over memories of afternoons in front of the TV.

From 1987 to 1993, “Double Dare” was a solid ratings hit, produced out of the studio at WHYY-TV and aired on Nickelodeon. TV Guide ranked it No. 29 in its “50 greatest game shows of all time.” With its goofy physical challenges and obstacle courses, it was a precursor to the likes of “Survivor” and “Amazing Race.”

The kids who tuned in are now in their 30s, and Summers marvels that they remember.

“We had people showing up last year in ‘Double Dare’ T-shirts, carrying photos of me standing next to them when they were 12 years old,” he said. “Maybe it’s just a chance to take a trip back to their childhood and find the things they loved.”

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“Dunkel Dare,” 7-9 tonight and tomorrow at Frankford Hall, 1210 Frankford Ave., Fishtown. Admission is free, but expect a line.

More beer games

There must be something about beer-drinking and game shows.

One of the zaniest events during the first weekend of Philly Beer Week was “Weiss is Right,” at The Blockley, in West Philly. It was a beer-soaked re-creation of “The Price is Right,” with local beer guy Steve Mashington wearing a cheesy three-piece suit and his hair and eyebrows properly dyed white, à la host Bob Barker.

There’s more game-showlike fun coming tonight and Friday evening when the Grey Lodge Pub (6235 Frankford Ave., Mayfair) hosts “Let’s Make a Deal!” Players in costume will compete for prizes without getting “zonked.”

And tomorrow at 8:30 p.m., Philly Beer Geek holds its final round of beer-knowledge competition at the Field House (1150 Filbert St., at Reading Terminal Market).

A full calendar of 500 regional events remaining in Philly Beer Week, which continues through Sunday, can be found at PhillyBeerWeek.org, or on the free app for Android and iPhone.

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OPENING TAP . . . the Philly Beer Week Garden . . . the International Great Beer Expo . . . Craft Beer Day on East Passyunk . . . the Haddon Pub Fest . . . the Varga Pin Up Block Party . . . Throwdown in Franklintown . . . the London Grill Dunk Tank . . . Philly Beer Geek . . . Fishtown FestivALE . . . whatever incredibly exotic beer dinner Monk’s Café cooks up . . .

These are among the can’t-miss events of Philly Beer Week, the traditional, signature fests that draw the most enthusiastic crowds. At last count, though, the weeklong event (for which I am director) offers a record 1,098 separate events over 10 days, beginning tomorrow. You won’t make every one of ’em, but here’s a selection of smaller events to fill out your calendar.

Find details and the full calendar at PhillyBeerWeek.org, or on the free smartphone app. All events are pay-as-you-go unless indicated.

TOMORROW

The Hammer of Glory Relay, throughout the city, all day. If you haven’t caught a leg or two of this Olympic torch-style relay, you aren’t getting the full flavor of Beer Week. Philly Beer Week’s official symbol, a giant keg hammer, is passed from bar to bar on various forms of transportation, with each stop featuring a dozen or more tap handles. Catch a free ride aboard the SugarHouse Casino double-decker. (See route here.)

Perennial Artisan Ales, at Isaac Newton’s (Newtown, Bucks County). Newly imported to Philly, the St. Louis brewery will send in both its mainstays and some newfangled barrel-aged brews. 6:30-8:30 p.m.

SATURDAY

Battle of the Bulge: Belgium vs. Germany, at Eulogy Belgian Tavern (136 Chestnut St.) and Bierstube (206 Market St.). Have a big glass of Kwak and a pound of frites at Eulogy, then sprint a block through Old City to Bierstube for a liter of German beer and a one-pound soft pretzel. BYOT (Bring Your Own Tums). Noon-5 p.m.

Meet brewer Jim Robertson at Strangelove’s (216 S. 11 St., Center City). Robertson, of England’s Wells & Young’s, is known best for his re-creation of the classic Courage Imperial Stout. The bar will serve America’s first-ever cask of the strong stout.

SUNDAY

Southern Tier Dessert & Beer Pairing, at Devil’s Den (1148 S. 11th St., South Philly). Sweet Elizabeth’s Cakes, of Manayunk, will provide the desserts. See how well they pair with the New York brewery’s Mokah, Crème Brulee stout and more. 5-11 p.m.

Sour Power, at Mile Post Pub (Whole Foods, Wayne). Apparently, the beer guys have been stashing highly treasured bottles fermented with Brettanomyces yeast. They’ll break out some of the best. Noon-8 p.m.

MONDAY

Ancient Beers with Dr. Patrick McGovern, at Christ Church Neighborhood House (20 N. American St., Old City). Marvel at tales of exploration from the Indiana Jones of beer and enjoy samples of Dogfish Head’s Ancient Ales collection, including Theobroma and Ta Henket. Presented by Philly Homebrew Outlet. $15, 7-9 p.m.

Cigar City Happy Hour, at Barcade (1114 Frankford Ave., Fishtown). The Tampa Brewery is riding high, with some amazing bottles, including a yougottatryit Cucumber Saison. Ever-popular brewer Joey Redner will be in the house. 4-8 p.m.

TUESDAY

5K Run with Brewer Adam Avery, at Hawthornes (738 S. 11th St., South Philly). A scenic run through South Philly followed by lunch with the brewer of the Reverend, Kaiser, Mephistopheles and more.

Tubing on the Delaware with brewer Tomme Arthur, at Bishop’s Collar (2349 Fairmount Ave., Fairmount). The tubing will precede the drinking. Either way, you’ll get wet with Arthur’s outstanding brews from Port and Lost Abbey breweries.

WEDNESDAY

Cheese & Beer, at Di Bruno Bros. (1730 Chestnut St., Center City). Food writers Janet Fletcher and Tenaya Darlington (a/k/a Madame Fromage) will give you a wedgie – of brie, of brie, naturally! – and pair it with special beers. Tix $20, 5:30-8 p.m.

Alla-Clash, at Pennsylvania 6 (114 S. 12th St., Center City). One of the city’s newest bars cranks up the Clash to host Allagash brewer Rob Tod. Expect him to rock the casbah with some rare wild-yeast bottles. 8 p.m.-midnight.

JUNE 6

Philly’s Backyard Beer Garden, at Four Seasons Hotel (1 Logan Square). Food trucks and the debut of the hotel’s latest collaboration with Dock Street Brewery, Crackle & Squeeze, made with cracked pepper and Meyer lemons. Tix $25, 5-8 p.m.

Yvan De Baets, from Brasserie De La Senne, at Teresa’s Next Door (Wayne). He’s the guy with whom Philly Beer Week brewed its annual Belgian collaboration beer, Manneken-Penn. Expect him to bring some of his own creations, including Taras Boulba, Zinne and Stouterik. 6-9 p.m.

JUNE 7

Handcraft Beer, Handcrafted Mugs, at the Clay Studio (137 N. 2nd St., Old City). The studio’s artisans will offer handcrafted ceramic steins. Fill them with handcrafted ales from Philadelphia Brewing all evening.

Prince Erotic Party, at the Institute (549 N. 12th St., Spring Garden). It’s Prince’s birthday, so expect things to get Lovesexy with a fun evening of music, Quizzo and outstanding specialties from this popular neighborhood joint. 6-10 p.m.

JUNE 8

Philly Beer Week Challenge, at Keg & Kitchen (Haddon Township, N.J.). Two-man teams compete in an unusual blind-tasting and beer-knowledge test. 12:30-4 p.m.

Bacon, Bluegrass BBQ, at Underground Arts (1200 Callowhill St., Spring Garden). The “baconolist” from Bespoke Craft Bacon will pair some crispy fat slabs with brews from Doylestown, Fegley’s, Flying Fish, Sly Fox, Weyerbacher and Yards. 7-9 p.m.

JUNE 9

Local Pour Tour, at McGillin’s Old Ale House (1310 Drury St., Center City). The all-day bus tour begins with kegs and eggs and includes stops at Twin Lakes, Boxcar and Yards. Tix $30, 9-5 p.m.

Oxbow Brunch at Kennett Restaurant (848 S. 2nd St., South Philly). Brewer Mike Fava, formerly of Nodding Head, returns to Philly with some farmhouse ales and oysters. 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

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