Best Beers You Should Be Drinking Now

Each week, Men's Journal runs down the best beers to crack open. Find your new favorite.

A tart ale, a light stout, and a briny gose are among the brews we’re spotlighting this week. There’s also one mind-bending IPA, an homage to Seattle’s Kingdome, and an ale that’s helping to support cancer patients. As the weather warms up, the beer choices are only getting hotter.

If you love beer, you're in the right place—at the right time. With more than 9,000 breweries in the United States alone, there are more craft beer varieties, styles, and flavors than ever. And, every day, experimentation and innovation are taking beer in new directions. To keep track of what's brewing, we're taste-testing and calling out some of the best beers you can find. If you want to pick up something special to drink, check out our favorite beers available now.

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Blue Point Brewing Company Hoptical Illusion

Style: IPA

Located in Patchogue, Long Island, Blue Point has been brewing since 1998. The brewery’s Hoptical Illusion is described as “Piney. Dank. Mind-bending.” Pouring it into a glass, this IPA is a light amber color with a really interesting hop aroma—yes, maybe even mind-bending—where citrus, floral, and pine seem to evenly match. Drinking it, there’s some pine before the dankness rolls in and some bitterness finishes.

ABV: 7.0%

Availability: Year round

Four Peaks Brewing Co. The Joy Bus Wow Wheat

Style: Ale

Four Peaks got its start in 1996 and credits it all to “Blind Ambition, Dumb Luck and Undying Thirst.” The Tempe brewery’s Wow Wheat benefits The Joy Bus, a Phoenix-based nonprofit that brings meals and comfort to homebound cancer patients. The beer is a pale straw color with big orange candy aromas and some light grain in there, too. It’s a bright, sunny beer with tastes of wheat and candied oranges and just a hint of bitterness at the end. As Four Peaks says, “A beer that not only tastes great, but also supports a great cause? Wow.”

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Year round

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Allagash Brewing Company North Sky

Style: Stout

North Sky from Allagash is “brewed to merge lightness and darkness into a super-sippable stout.” This dark brown stout has aromas of roasted malts and yeast. Take a drink and those dark malts are there along with some notes of red fruit and tobacco. North Sky isn’t a heavy stout by any means and is perfect for some early spring stargazing.

ABV: 7.5%

Availability: Year round

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Karbach Brewing Cerveza Especial

Style: Lager

According to the can, Cerveza Especial is “Brewed in Texas…Inspired by Mexico.” This lager from Karbach is a bright gold with abundant carbonation. Grain and corn are aromas that hit biggest with some lingering sweetness. Clean and crisp, Cerveza Especial is an easy-drinking lager with lightly balanced flavors of corn and light grains. And just like the lagers that you get from Mexico, you’re going to want to drink more than one.

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Year round

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Two Roads Brewing Company Lushee Passion Fruit

Style: Ale

A recent addition to the portfolio of Two Roads beers, Lushee evokes passion fruit. It's a hazy yellow ale with a big head of foam. Aromas of tropical fruit dominate and when you drink it, you’re reminded clearly that this is a tart ale, not a sour. Passion fruit leads to a tartness that’ll make you sit up straight before a whisper of minerality comes at the finish.

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Limited

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Anderson Valley Briney Melon Gose

Style: Gose

Anderson Valley says Briney Melon Gose is a “refreshing balance of juicy & tart.” And we certainly think they’ve hit on a potent combination with salt and watermelon. It's a pale, straw-colored beer with the slightest amount of pink. It has tart aromas of sour watermelon rind with dough on the back side. Take a sip of this gose and you get a hit of watermelon candy along with slightly salty tartness and some breadiness at the end.

ABV: 4.2%

Availability: Year round

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Great Divide Brewing Company Yeti

Style: Stout

We’ve tried Pumpkin Spice and Chocolate Strawberry variants of Yeti, so it’s time to try the original. A dark stout with dark brown foam, Yeti hits you with roasted malts, coffee, and unsweetened chocolate. Take a sip of this imperial stout and you’re getting those roasted malts again. Even as an imperial stout, the maltiness hides any big booze flavors. A three-time medal winner at the Great American Beer Festival, this is the stout that launched 1,000—or so it seems—Great Divide variants.

ABV: 9.5%

Availability: Year round

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pFriem Family Brewers Czech Lager

Style: Lager

The inspiration for this came from the beers of Plzen, Czech Republic. And much like the pilsners that inspired it, pFriem’s Czech Lager is bright gold with a big fluffy head. Along with a bunch of carbonation, there are aromas of bread and grass. It’s a robust lager with malty bread dough flavors followed by a slightly salty bitterness.

ABV: 5.1%

Availability: Seasonal

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Revision Brewing Emerald Bay IPA

Style: IPA

Part of Revision’s cast of rotating West Coast-style clear IPAs, Emerald Bay is straw gold and slightly opaque. The flavor profile brims with pineapple, passion fruit, and green apple, along with tropical and citrus hops. Resinous pine brings up the end.

ABV: 6.4%

Availability: Seasonal

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Saddle Mountain Brewing Company Hop Snob

Style: IPA

Hop Snob is a beautiful amber IPA with grapefruit, banana, tropical, and citrus hop aromas. Those hops are up front and center on the palate, bringing in flavors of citrus and tropical fruit along with pine and floral hops before a clean finish.

ABV: 6.9%

Availability: Year round

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Lucky Envelope Brewing Raspberry Sour Ale

Style: Sour

One of Lucky Envelope’s core beers, Raspberry Sour Ale looks different from other berry-based sours we’ve tried. Instead of a bright red, this sour is the lightest of pink hues, but it does have a huge raspberry smell. Take a sip of this and malted grains surround a center of raspberries. It’s more tart than sweet, but that makes it also incredibly refreshing.

ABV: 5.7%

Availability: Year round

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Future Primitive Brewing Company Kingdome Kölsch

Style: Ale

From 1976 until it was imploded in 2000, the Kingdome was home to the Seattle Seahawks and Mariners. The concrete multi-purpose stadium was not the grandest of arenas, but it was beloved by Seattleites, more so after its destruction. That love can be found in Future Primitive’s Kingdome Kölsch, a light straw colored ale with grain and aromas like you walked into a bakery before the baking starts. Drinking it, there’s malted grains and then a mild honey sweetness, before a clean finish.

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Year round

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The Bruery Petit Mardi

Style: Stout

Petit Mardi is French for “Small Tuesday,” but this imperial stout from The Bruery is anything but small. Made with Petite Sirah and Syrah grapes from Napa Valley, the beer was aged in oak barrels for 18 months before being hand bottled. Petit Mardi pours like a dark red wine with aromas of oak, grapes, and port, with some warm booze in there, too. Simply put, this doesn’t really smell like beer—and you'll first taste those grapes in this thick, glass-coating stout before the deep flavor of port rolls over your tongue and stays there. Petit Mardi is the kind of beer that you set your schedule around, because you won’t want to waste a drop.

ABV: 15.9%

Availability: Limited

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Protagonist Beer Queen Charlotte

Style: Lager

Named after Protagonist’s home city in North Carolina, Queen Charlotte is “inspired by the famed pale lagers of the Czech Republic.” This pilsner is a bright gold color with aromas of grains and floral hops. There are flavors of malted grains and toast with a slight bitter bite at the end. This is a highly drinkable beer that fits perfectly with the start of spring.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Year round

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Boulevard Brewing Co. Southwest Blvd

Style: Lager

A nod to Boulevard’s address and namesake—2501 Southwest Boulevard in Kansas City, MO—this lager features “a squeeze of lime with a pinch of salt,” note the brewers. Poured into a glass, that salty citrus is denoted by a bright yellow gold with lime and grain aromas. The grains emerge first when you take a sip before a burst of lime and a little salt at the end. If want to to get a start on warm weather beers, you found the right address.

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Year round

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Westfax Brewing Co. Urban Lumberjack

Style: IPA

Lakewood, CO’s Westfax has been making beer since 2016 and, judging by the names of the brewery’s fermentation tanks, it’s been fun. Going with a “yeast” theme, Westfax’s biggest fermenters are named “Clint Yeastwood” and “Yeast Likely to Succeed.” Urban Lumberjack is the brewery’s flagship beer. It’s a deeply hazy gold with aromas of pine and citrus hops. Take a drink of this almost creamy IPA and you’ll pick up tropical and citrus flavors with some mild bitterness to finish.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Year round

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Ecliptic Brewing Parsec

Style: IPA

Ecliptic’s latest edition to its Seasonal Series is Parsec, a Hazy IPA brewed with grapefruit. Tropical, citrus, and pine hops all play their part in this mildly hazy beer. Drinking Parsec, those pronounced grapefruit notes are followed by smooth stone fruit flavors before some pithy bitterness circles back. 

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Seasonal

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Hobbs Brewing Co. Hold My Juice Box

Style: IPA

Hold My Juice Box is Hobbs' response to, “You can’t put that many hops in one beer!” This double IPA is a dense hazy gold with a large head of foam and big aromas of citrus and tropical hops. Drink it and you get the tropical juice up front, which lingers long enough for the booze to sneak in—along with some refreshing grapefruit bitterness at the end.

ABV: 8.5%

Availability: Year round

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Cigar City Brewing Jai Low

Style: IPA

Weighing in at a lean-ish 120 calories with a lower ABV, Jai Low is a more moderate version of Cigar City’s flagship Jai Alai. This IPA is a yellow amber color with a big head of fluffy foam. Take a sniff and what hits are mango and tangerine, as well as tropical and citrus hop aromas. Taste-wise, those tropical juice flavors and sturdy hops grab you, along with a snap of grapefruit pith bitterness.

ABV: 4.0%

Availability: Year round

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Georgetown Brewing Company Johnny Utah

Style: Ale

The second of Georgetown’s beers named after characters from Point Break, Johnny Utah is a hazy golden color with citrus tropical hop aromas. Each sip offers an extremely balanced ale with notes of orange peel, grapefruit, and some measured pine bitterness. In the words of Johnny Utah, “Feels good, doesn’t it?”

ABV: 5.6%

Availability: Year round

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Dock Street Brewery Barracuda

Style: Ale

From Philadelphia’s Dock Street comes a Berliner Weisse-style ale brewed with hibiscus and raspberry. Barracuda is a rosy-pink color with aromas of raspberries and light wheat. A sip starts with notes of fresh berry, right from the bush, followed by some floral hibiscus and a bite of tingling tartness. Much like its namesake, this kettle-soured ale definitely has some snap to it.

ABV: 4.0%

Availability: Year round

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Grain Belt Nordeast American Amber Lager

Style: Lager

Grain Belt “the Friendly Beer” has been around since 1893—and has been brewed by Schell’s in New Ulm, MN, to wide acclaiim for the last 20-odd years. Nordeast is a clear amber with mild aromas of malted grains and brown sugar. Take a sip of this “extra crushable” lager and flavors of sweet corn and caramel malts greet your palate with a tad of tartness at the end.

ABV: 4.7%

Availability: Year round

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Forgotten Boardwalk Brewing Co. Strong Woman

Style: Ale

The can art for Strong Woman features “Dottie” wrecking various men and grabbing the world by the cojones. Brewed with sweet cherries, oranges, and vanilla, the beer that asks, “Can you handle her?” is a slightly cloudy orange amber with fluffy foam, malted grain, and dark fruit on the nose. Drinking this strong ale from Forgotten Boardwalk packs flavors of almost boozy cherries, yeast, and orange with a brawling bitter finish.

ABV: 9.0%

Availability: Seasonal

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SweetWater Brewing Company Lager

Style: Lager

SweetWater’s Lager is a simple beer—and that's no dig. The brewery itself claims that this beer “isn’t meant to be complicated.” A light straw color, the beer has aromas of grain and honey. Take a drink and the grains are a little more assertive with some floral hop flavors and a cracker dough finish. It fits the profile of what SweetWater wanted to make—an “easy-drinkin’ beer you don’t have to think about.​”

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Year round

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Cisco Brewers Grey Lady

Style: Ale

Located on the island of Nantucket, Cisco has been brewing since 1995. In addition to being the name of this wheat ale, Grey Lady is the nickname given to the fog-bound island by sailors. The beer is a mildly hazy gold in color with an aroma of light grains. Take a sip of Grey Lady and you'll discover a light wheat beer with flavors of grain, citrus, spice, and mild dough.

ABV: 4.0%

Availability: Year round

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Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company Date Jeans

Style: IPA

Neshaminy says this beer is like one of those outfits you only pull out of the closet for a special occasion—hence the name. This double IPA looks like apricot juice with tropical, citrus, and pine hops all crowding your nose. Drinking Date Jeans, you’re getting pine, strawberry, banana, and grapefruit along with a kick of booze. You don't need to put on your good clothes to try this one, but the brewery says Date Jeans is "dressed to impress."

ABV: 8.5%

Availability: Limited

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Bent Paddle Brewing Co. Cosmic Lounge

Style: IPA

Cosmic Lounge from Bent Paddle reputedly “pulls inspiration from the heavens and connects the astral dots,” according to its brewers. A hazy IPA as advertised, the beer has aromas of passion fruit, citrus, and a whiff of pine. That pine plays a bigger part in the taste, arriving after some orange and tropical flavors to lay down a nice, dank bitterness. Here's you perfect companion to some early spring stargazing.

ABV: 6.3%

Availability: Year round

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Anderson Valley Brewing Company Coastal Ale

Style: Ale

The world’s first solar powered brewery, Anderson Valley has made a firm commitment to protecting the environment. With Coastal Ale, the brewery is donating five percent of its gross profits to the Surfrider Foundation, an organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the world’s oceans, waves, and beaches. According to Anderson Valley, “Water is the most important ingredient in beer, ours is among the purest on the planet, and we’re dedicated to keeping it that way.” Coastal Ale is a light clear straw color with aromas of mild tropical hops and grains. Take a sip and you’re getting mild pine and tropical hops—plus helping out an important cause.

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Year round

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Exhibit ‘A’ Brewing Company Panda Punch

Style: Sour

Exhibit ‘A’ opened its doors in 2016. The Framingham, MA brewery’s Panda Punch is a fruited kettle sour brewed with orange, passionfruit, and pink guava purees, as well as hibiscus flowers. It’s no surprise that the beer is a light coral pink hue with tropical fruit and hibiscus aromas. Take a sip and a tropical combination of guava and passion fruit hits biggest with the hibiscus following you to the end. Panda Punch brings to mind tropical vacations and umbrella drinks—which totally works for a brewery from Massachusetts.

ABV: 6.1%

Availability: Seasonal

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Chuckanut Brewery Kölsch German Ale

Style: Ale

Did you ever taste a beer and think “This is really, really good,” only to find out that the rest of the world already knew that? That’s the case with this Kölsch from Bellingham, WA’s Chuckanut. A brilliant gold beer is filled with malt and wheat dough aromas, and it's bright and refreshing with flavors of grass and bread. How good is this Kölsch? It's garnered three gold medals at the Great American Beer Festival, two golds at the North American Beer Awards, and a gold at the World Beer Cup.

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Year round

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Two Roads Brewing Company Road 2 Ruin

Style: IPA

Brewed with seven varieties of hops from the Pacific Northwest, this double IPA from Two Roads is “not for the timid,” warn its makers. Out of the can, it’s a light amber with aromas of grapefruit, pine, and malt. Drink Road 2 Ruin and the first thing you taste is the tropical fruit, followed quickly by a strong resinous pine kick and some lingering bitterness. Two Roads wasn’t kidding when they said this one has “plenty of bite.”

ABV: 8.0%

Availability: Year round

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Brewery Ommegang Triple Fruited Tripel

Style: Ale

From Ommegang comes this standout American/Belgian triple/trippel. Out of the bottle, the beer is a hazy copper with aromas of mango, peach, and Belgian yeast. Take a sip and you’ve got complex flavors of a traditional Belgian trippel along with a merry-go-round of orange, mango, and peach. Ommegang aptly calls this one a “fruited feast for the senses.”

ABV: 9.0%

Availability: Limited

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Allagash Brewing Company Hop Reach

Style: IPA

A relatively new addition to the Allagash core lineup, Hop Reach is a slightly hazy gold with columns of lively bubbles. This beer has big hoppy aromas of citrus and tropical fruit. Taste-wise, it’s a balanced hop forward beer with flavors of orange and grapefruit and a little bitterness at the end.

ABV: 6.8%

Availability: Year round

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Alaskan Brewing Jalapeño IPA

Style: IPA

Yes, we checked: jalapeños can grow in Alaska—and they're readily found in this heat-packing IPA from Alaskan. Part of the brewery’s Pilot Series, the beer is a slightly hazy amber with pepper and pine hops aromas. Take a drink and you'll taste the fresh jalapeños with a little heat before the pine and citrus hops take over. Alaska might not be the first state you think of when it comes to jalapeños, but try this beer and it definitely won’t be your last.

ABV: 8.5%

Availability: Limited

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Lucky Envelope Brewing x Triceratops Brewing Co. Yinz Jawn Pennsylvania Lager

Style: Lager

Lucky Envelope and Triceratops might be located in Seattle and Tumwater, WA, but both breweries have Keystone State ties. They came together to make a lager celebrating Western (Yinz) and Eastern (Jawn) Pennsylvania. The beer is a clear amber with aromas of mild malt and lightly toasted grains. Flavors of sourdough pretzel dough resonate with a refreshingly malty finish. As a tribute to PA favorite Yuengling, this one hits all the right notes.

ABV: 4.6%

Availability: Limited

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Firestone Walker Brewing Company Psychedelic Arcade

Style: IPA

Psychedelic Arcade is a Golden Rye IPA available exclusively in Firestone Walker Mixed IPA packs. It’s a bright, clear gold with restrained tropical hop aromas. Drink it and you’re tasting grapefruit juice and then some sweeter fruit—including blueberry, notes the brewery. A pleasant pine flavor ushers you to the end.

ABV: 6.3%

Availability: Limited

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Breckenridge Brewery Nitro Irish Stout

Style: Stout

From Breckenridge comes a tribute to one of Ireland’s greatest exports. The brewery’s Irish Stout pours brownish-black with cascading waves of nitrogen bubbles building to a creamy head. Brewed with Irish barley, the stout has aroma of dark roasted malts and grains. It’s a pretty smooth nitro ride through a forest of dark malts with a little minerality in there, too.

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Seasonal

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Ecliptic Brewing Oort

Style: Stout

FYI, NASA isn’t exactly certain about the Oort Cloud, but the agency predicts it's a collection of (more than a trillion) icy objects farther away than everything else in the solar system. Happily, cans of Oort from Ecliptic are much closer than that. The 2023 version of this stout is as “black as the vacuum of space” with a smell of roasted grains, brown sugar, and some attendant hoppiness. Drinking this imperial stout, there are flavors of dark roasted grains, sweet caramel malts, and just a bite of coffee-like bitterness at the end.

ABV: 9.0%

Availability: Limited

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Torch & Crown Brewing Company Almost Famous

Style: IPA

Almost Famous is the first beer that Torch & Crown—Manhattan’s only production brewery—ever brewed. A hazy gold beer with a big head of foam, this beer has a malty aroma with some mild citrus hops peeking through. The tropical hops drop when you take a drink with flavors of melon, pineapple, peach, and pine.

ABV: 6.6%

Availability: Year round

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Indeed Brewing Company Loretta’s Dark Lager

Style: Lager

Indeed suggests Loretta’s is its “love letter to supper clubs and taverns.” The beer pours a shiny dark amber with big malty and pretzel dough aromas. Those roasted malts are the first thing to hit your tongue along with some bread dough that lingers. You can easily imagine sitting in the back booth of a bar drinking one of these. As it says on the can, “Toasty. Malty. Good.”

ABV: 5.6%

Availability: Year round

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Anderson Valley Brewing Company Blood Orange Gose

Style: Gose

Another member of Anderson Valley’s Gose family, Blood Orange is a clear orange color thanks to “liberal additions of blood oranges” with champagne vinegar, orange, and yeast on the nose. Take a sip and you’ll discover blood orange fruit at the beginning that moves to a kick of tartness before a bready finish.

ABV: 4.2%

Availability: Year round

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Cigar City Brewing Jai Alai

Style: IPA

Jai alai is a sport that involves bouncing a ball at high speeds—the record is 188 mph—in a walled-in space using a wicker scoop. Jai Alai is Cigar City’s flagship beer. It pays homage to the sport that, for a time, was incredibly popular in Florida. The color of hazy apple cider, the beer has sweet aromas of tropical and citrus hops. Drinking it, there’s a burst of sweet tropical juice that moves to grapefruit peel before a mildly bitter finish.

ABV: 7.5%

Availability: Year round

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Breakside Brewery Rainbows & Unicorns

Style: IPA

This session IPA from Breakside was originally made for the Oregon Brewers Fest. Brewed with flaked rice, Rainbows & Unicorns is a clear golden color with mellow aromas of tropical hops. Take a sip and you’re getting pineapple and peach with some lemony bitterness to finish. As the brewery says, “You are all in for a magical ride!”

ABV: 5.1%

Availability: Seasonal

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Boulevard Brewing Company Churro Grande

Style: Ale

Boulevard set themselves up for a challenge with Churro Grande. How do you capture the culinary delight of fried dough sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, a treat the brewery calls “one of life’s greatest indulgences," in a beer? When you take a sniff of this hazy brown beer, you’ll get aromas of grains, sweet dough, cinnamon, and sugar. On the palate, this whiskey barrel-aged beer has vanilla and bourbon sweetness up front that’s followed by cinnamon and bread dough before a little bit of bitterness at the end.

ABV: 13.5%

Availability: Limited

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Deadwords Brewing Sangriale

Style: Sour

According to the can, Sangriale is inspired by sangria, a traditional red wine and fruit punch from Spain and Portugal. Out of the can, this sour from Deadwords is a plummy color with pinkish foam. Sangriale is made with tropical citrus, dark berries, and passion fruit—and they all come through when you take a sniff. Drinking it, you taste cherries, passion fruit, and peaches, with a slightly sour kick at the end.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Year round

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Georgetown Brewing Company Lucille

Style: IPA

From Seattle’s Georgetown comes an IPA that’s slightly hazy and golden with clean aromas of tropical and citrus hops along with peaches and sweet bread dough. Drinking it, there’s juicy citrus, then a dry grapefruit pith bitterness that leads to a bread dough finish. As for the name? According to Georgetown’s website, “Anything so innocent and built like that just gotta be named Lucille.”

ABV: 7.0%

Availability: Year round

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Snake River Brewing Earned It

Style: IPA

Whether you just finished a hard day of work or stumbled out of a hammock, this beer from Snake River assures you you’ve earned it—and that’s a nice feeling. The IPA is a hazy deep gold in color with voluminous foam and aromas of citrus hops and peach. On the palate, there are flavors of tangerine, grapefruit, and stone fruit with a smooth finish.

ABV: 6.0%

Availability: Year round

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Eurisko Beer Co. Norma’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Style: Stout

This imperial stout is a one-off brew from Asheville’s Eurisko. An inky black, Norma’s has aromas of dark chocolate, booze, coffee, and peanuts. The beer has a thick, almost syrupy texture, with big flavors of chocolate and peanut butter with a wave of minerality and a boozy kick in the background.

ABV: 13.1%

Availability: Limited

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Brewery Ommegang Dream Patch

Style: Sour

Part of Ommegang’s OMG series, Dream Patch is a fruited sour made with cherries, blueberries, and raspberries. The beer has a ruby red hue with pink foam, and aromas of sour red fruits and Belgian yeast. That fruity sweetness hits your palate first before tart cherries make themselves known.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Year round

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pFriem Family Brewers Maple Barrel Aged Smoked Porter

Style: Porter

From pFriem comes a Maple Barrel Aged Smoked Porter that’s a dark leathery brown in color with aromas of booze, wood smoke, chocolate, vanilla, brown sugar, and maple. It drinks just as your eyes and nose expect, but with less smoke, stronger maple flavor, and a tad of cocoa sweetness at the end. Maple and smoke might sound like a lot in a beer, but this one is restrained, not too sweet, and an absolute winner.

ABV: 9.1%

Availability: Limited

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Highland Park Brewery Hello LA

Style: IPA

This West Coast IPA from Highland Park took home gold at the 2022 World Beer Cup in the International Pale Ale category. A bright gold with just a touch of haze, Hello LA has aromas of pineapple, tropical, and pine hops. Take a sip and you’re tasting citrus and melon that transitions to tropical flavors before some dank bitterness at the end.

ABV: 6.8%

Availability: Limited

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Protagonist Beer Gwen

Style: Ale

The story of Protagonist starts in Cincinnati, where Ryan McKillen, Mike Salzarulo, and Ryan Owens were childhood friends. Life led them in different directions before they reunited in Charlotte, NC, where they opened a small brewhouse in 2019. About a year later, having outgrown that small brewhouse, they opened a larger space. Gwen is a Honey Hazy Pale Ale and that name pretty well describes how it looks, alongside hoppy citrus aromas. Take a sip and you're getting citrus and lime flavors with some nice honey notes.

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Year round

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Bent Paddle Brewing Co. 14° Degree Amber Ale

Style: Ale

“Brewed for balance,” 14° Degree from Bent Paddle has taken home bronze, silver, and gold at the Great American Beer Festival in the Extra Special Bitter category. Pour it out of the can and it’s a dark amber with ample carbonation. Malty aromas dominate, but there are some pine hops in the mix, too. Flavors of malt and caramel are complemented with just the right amount of bitterness. If it’s balance you’re seeking, you can't go wrong with 14° Degree.

ABV: 5.6%

Availability: Year round

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Revision Brewing Company Coconut Pie Face

Style: Stout

Coconut Pie Face was the gold medal winner in the Field Beer category at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival. A black stout, it has splendid aromas of cocoa and vanilla. Take a drink of this imperial stout and flavors of vanilla, dark chocolate, and toasted coconut wash over you with a hint of booze at the end to remind you that this is an imperial stout. Revision calls this one a “confectionary treat” and we completely agree with that assessment.

ABV: 11.7%

Availability: Limited

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Huss Brewing Co. Double Nix Strong IPA

Style: IPA

Curious about the name? According to Huss, "It’s short for Phoenix, the Greatest City in the Southwest!” Pour Double Nix into a glass and it’s the color of hazy wheat with a big head of fluffy white foam. There are big aromas of pineapple and mango, as well as tropical and citrus hop smells. Take a sip and you get flavors of juicy tropical fruit—think mango, tangerine, and a pinch of peach. One thing you’re not tasting is the ABV, so you might want to take this one slow.

ABV: 8.2%

Availability: Year round

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Forgotten Boardwalk Brewing Co. Funnel Cake

Style: Ale

If you’ve never had a funnel cake, you’re missing out. Of course, you may also live a few more years than people who've enjoyed eating deep-fried batter topped with powdered sugar. Forgotten Boardwalk’s ode to funnel cake is a light straw gold beer with aromas of sweet dough, grass, and vanilla. Tasting it, there are biscuit flavors accompanied by some spice and caramel with a hint of vanilla creaminess to finish. It might just make you yearn for a trip to the county fair.

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Limited

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Great Divide Brewing Co. Hazy Hercules

Style: IPA

First Great Divide released Hercules, an Imperial IPA, back in 2003. Now, two decades later, here's the second strongman in the series. Hazy Hercules is a light, rich gold, adorned with plenty of bubbles and (like its mythological namesake) a big head. Bright tropical fruit is what hits your nose with a little citrus in there, too. Drinking it, you'll taste flavors of pineapple and tropical fruits with the slightest bitterness at the end.

ABV: 9.5%

Availability: Year round

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Ex Novo Brewing Company Equinox Flux

Style: Ale

A winter warmer ale from Ex Novo, Equinox Flux is a darker amber with lines of carbonation streaming up. The beer has aromas of roasted malts, honey, spice, and bread dough. Drinking Equinox Flux, there’s a lot of winter warming going on, with flavors of toast, malt, and some mild dark fruits. Crack open one of these and you'll soon feel the snow melting.

ABV: 7.0%

Availability: Limited

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Hobbs Brewing Co. Model T

Style: Stout

The description of Model T from Hobbs makes it very clear what this stout is not. “No pastries. No breakfast cereal.” It’s a dark brown stout—it almost looks like coffee—with brown foam and lacing. Roasted malts are the first aromas that hit you along with some chocolate bitterness and light caramel aromas. Drinking it, the roasted malts hits first along with hints of tobacco, baking chocolate, and a little salt.

ABV: 6.3%

Availability: Year round

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Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company Shape of Haze to Come Pineapple

Style: IPA

From Neshaminy Creek comes another Shape of Haze to Come variant and this time the focus is on pineapple. The beer is the color of mango juice with mild aromas of mango and tropical hops. Drinking this “double dry-hopped behemoth,” there are juicy flavors of tropical hops before the pineapple pushes through at the end.

ABV: 8.8%

Availability: Limited

Fremont Brewing Sky Kraken

Style: Ale

Sky Kraken took home gold at this year’s 2023 World Beer Championships in the American-Style Pale Ale category. As for naming it after an airborne cephalopod-like creature, Fremont says, it’s just a “really cool name for this really cool beer.” Out of the can, it's tinged yellow and hazy—kinda like grapefruit juice—with heady aromas of pineapple, grapefruit, and citrus. The taste offers big blasts of citrus and tropical juice with a little bitterness at the end. Sky Kraken is so dialed-in and refined, it’s easy to see why it’s winning medals.

ABV: 5.5

Availability: Year round

Georgetown Brewing Co. Bodhizafa

Style: IPA

A gold medal winner at the 2016 Great American Beer Festival in the American-Style IPA category, Bodhizafa is named after Patrick Swayze’s character from the 1991 movie Point Break. If there’s any question that Georgetown loves that particular movie, the brewery also has a Johnny Utah Pale Ale. Bodhizafa is a hazy bronze color with hoppy notes of pineapple, mango, citrus, and tropical fruit. On the palate, expect juicy fruit flavors with some pine hop bitterness at the end.

ABV: 6.9%

Availability: Year round

Lucky Envelope Brewing Company Metal Ox

Seattle’s Lucky Envelope got its name from the Chinese tradition of giving out “lucky” red envelopes typically filled with paper money. Together, the color red and the money symbolize good fortune and prosperity. Brewed to celebrate the Chinese New Year, Metal Ox is a collaboration with Asheville’s Highland Brewing. Made with MarketSpice Lychee Rose Black Tea, the beer is a hazy butterscotch color with aromas of citrus and floral hops. That first sip hits you with flavors of black tea and tropical fruit, followed by a hint of creamy sweetness and some earthiness to finish.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Limited

Lowercase Brewing Polotmavy Pivo

Style: Lager

Recently, Lowercase announced the upcoming closure of its taproom in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood. Fortunately, the brewery plans to continue making beer in the city’s South Park area. Known for its lagers, Lowercase notes that “what started with a personal preference has grown into a calling.” Polotmavy Pivo translates as “semi-dark beer” from Czech, and this beer's deep mahogany hue is topped with a big head of fluffy foam. Polotmavy Pivo has aromas of dark roasted malts and spice. Drinking it, those dark, almost charred, malts play on your tongue for awhile, mingling with flavors of black tea. Never mind the low ABV, this Czech-Style Dark Lager is no lightweight.

ABV: 4.6%

Availability: Limited

Ravenna Brewing Company x Seattle Beer School If I Could Cher-ne Back Time

Style: Lager

A collaboration between Ravenna and an organization that teaches beer education classes, If I Could Cher-ne Back Time is a classic Czech dark lager. (Cerne means black in Czech—the brewery and school just added an "h".) According to the Seattle Beer School’s Instagram, “All that’s missing is a bunch of very happy sailors, a black mesh catsuit with matching motorcycle jacket, and cannons.” If you’ve never seen Cher’s 1989 video shot on the USS Missouri, you'll have no idea what they’re talking about—but use your imagination. The beer pours a black mahogany color with aromas of dark malt that conceals a bit of sweetness. Take a taste and those dark roasted grains and malts rise above and make you sit up a little taller. Cher would be proud.

ABV: 6.2%

Availability: Limited

Métier Pale Ale

Style: Ale

Located in Seattle’s Central District, Métier is one of a small—but growing—group of Black-owned breweries in the country. A hazy golden straw color, Métier Pale Ale has light aromas of grass and grains. Earthy hops and grains intermingle on the palate with a hint of bitterness at the end. A portion of proceeds from the brewery’s pale ale go to the Major Taylor Project, an organization that empowers local youth through after-school programs. Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor, who's featured on the can, was one of the most dominant sprint cyclists at the start of the 20^th century—and arguably the first Black superstar athlete.

ABV: 6.2%

Availability: Year round

Future Primitive Brewing Company Green River IPA

Style: IPA

Named after one of the main tributaries of Seattle’s Duwamish River, this beer from Future Primitive is also a nod to the band Green River, whose members went on to form bands such as Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, and Pearl Jam. The beer is slightly hazy, pale straw in color, and gives off sweet aromas of tropical fruit, berries, and citrus. Drinking Green River, a bit of tropical juiciness gives way to a nice dankness that rolls in like morning fog over the Duwamish.

ABV: 6.0%

Availability: Year round

Holy Mountain Pentecost

Style: Ale

For a growing portion of Seattleites, Holy Mountain is its own sort of shrine down by the train tracks. A new taproom in the works in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood, however, means fans of the brewery won't have to drink beer to a train soundtrack. But if that's your thing, the original location will still be open. Pentecost, a saison ale, is a spicy, bright beer that makes you yearn for spring. It's straw in color with aromas of honey, white grape, and spice.

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Limited

Cloudburst Brewing Porter

Style: Porter

Seattle’s Cloudburst has beers with names such as Old Man Yelling, Happy Little Clouds, and Sorry for Partying, then there’s this one. The brewery says it never named a beer by its style...until they got to its porter. Pour this one into a glass and you’re getting a jet black beer with a head of brown foam. Roasted grains dominate the aroma profile with mild chocolate and coffee in the background. The tasting notes don't throw any curveballs: Anticipate toasty flavors of grain with some unsweetened chocolate at the end. As Cloudburst simply states, “You either want it, or you don’t.”

ABV: 5.8%

Availability: Limited

Here Today Brewery Endless Jump

Style: IPA

Located close to the Seattle waterfront, Here Today is just a short walk from the Olympic Sculpture Park. Open since October of last year, the brewery is cranking out beers like Endless Jump—a dry-hopped double IPA. Out of the can, the beer is light tan in color with big hoppy aromas of tropical and citrus fruits. Drinking Endless Jump, juicy flavors of tropical fruits and grapefruit hit your palate along with some piney bitterness at the finale.

ABV: 8.0%

Availability: Limited

Bizarre Brewing Television People

Style: Kölsch

One of Seattle’s newest breweries, Bizarre is located in the city’s Magnolia neighborhood. The brewery focuses on lower-alcohol beers, and Television People is no different. A kölsch-weisse brewed with lemon and coriander, the beer is a slightly hazy gold color with lines of bubbles streaming upward. There are light, clean aromas of wheat and some of that coriander lurking quietly in the background. Take a taste and you'll be rewarded with smooth flavors of light grains and mild lemon peel, plus a gentle touch of spice.

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Limited

Urban Family Brewing Co. Sacred Arrow

Style: Sour

Ballard Brewery District is the epicenter of Seattle breweries—and if you spend any time there, you'll eventually meet Urban Family, a temple to fruited sours and IPAs. Name a fruit and you’ll find it somewhere on the brewery’s expansive menu. Urban Family recently lowered the ABV for Sacred Arrow—which was formerly an imperial sour, but who needs that? Out of the can, the beer is a hazy dark magenta with subtle aromas of fresh raspberries. Take a sip and you get a waterfall of raspberries before an inviting lime sourness.

ABV: 6.2%

Availability: Limited

pFriem Family Brewers Czech Dark Lager

Style: Lager

Because this beer is made with Prague’s 500-year-old lager tradition in mind, pFriem suggests you can “party like it’s 1499.” This beer is very dark mahogany in color with voluminous foam. Smelling Czech Dark Lager, you pick up malted grains and herbaceous hops. When you finally get around to drinking it, it has flavors of cocoa and malted grains with a mild sour fruit finish. It’s dark yet light. Best of all, you don’t have to go all the way to the Czech Republic to enjoy it.

ABV: 5.3%

Availability: Limited

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Hobbs Brewing Co. Wizard of Hobbs

Style: Stout

Hobbs ages this “big, burly and wicked brew” in a bourbon barrel for six months. As a result, it pours almost oily black with dark brown foam featuring big bourbon and dark fruit aromas. Take a drink and there are flavors of bourbon, unsweetened chocolate, char, and dark fruit like cherries and raisins. We can understand why the brewery says, “There’s no place likes Hobbs.”

ABV: 11.0%

Availability: Limited

Breakside Low Places Dark Lager

Style: Lager

Breakside describes Low Places as its homage to Spoetzl’s Shiner Bock. One in a series of rotating lagers, Low Places is deep copper in color with aromas of sour wheat bread dough and mild sweetness. Drinking it, there are well-rounded flavors of dark malt and caramel, then it brightens up with some minerality. Don’t think too hard about this one. As Breakside says, “It’s meant to lubricate the conversation, not be the focus of it.”

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Limited

Ecliptic Brewing x Crooked Stave Passionfruit Guava Hazy IPA

Style: IPA

Here’s another collaboration from Ecliptic, this time with Denver’s Crooked Stave.  “We were both excited to work together on a beer with fruit,” says John Harris, Ecliptic’s brewmaster and owner. The beer has aromas of tropical hops with some passion fruit mixed in. When you take a sip of this IPA, there’s a taste of bubbly fruit along with passionfruit and guava, and a little piney bitterness at the end. 

ABV: 7.5%

Availability: Limited

Revision Brewing Company Vegas as Fuck

Style: IPA

Revision’s tribute to its home state’s most entertaining city, Vegas as Fuck is a hazy lemon yellow-tan color with aromas of pineapple, pine, grass, and some dank hops. Drinking it, there’s a citrus burst that quickly moves to pine resin with creaminess and mild grapefruit bitterness to finish. According to Revision, this beer is “bridging our love for Nevada from one end of the state to the other.”

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Year round

Great Divide Brewing Company Chocolate Strawberry Yeti

Style: Stout

Released just in time for Valentine’s Day, this imperial stout from Great Divide is “worthy of Cupid’s arrow.” A dark-dark beer with a big head, this Yeti variant has aromas of cocoa and malted grain with some strawberry mixed in. Take a drink of this love potion and you’re tasting milk chocolate, roasted grains, and some strawberry puree before darker grains roll in. Sure, you express love with flowers, but why not a four-pack?

ABV: 9.5%

Availability: Seasonal

Indeed Brewing Company Paloma

Style: Sour

Inspired by the paloma (tequila, lime juice, and grapefruit-flavored soda), this kettle sour is the color of lemons, offering an appeasing whiff of bright but light grapefruit. Drinking it, you get flavor of sweet grapefruit soda, then tartness and, finally, a little breadiness at the end. Indeed’s head brewer Patrick Nickelson suggests a squeeze of lime—and we think that sounds just about perfect.

ABV: 5.1%

Availability: Limited

Highland Park Brewery Past/Future

Style: IPA

Highland Park got its start 10 years ago in the eponymous LA neighborhood before opening a taproom and brewery in the city’s Chinatown. The brewery’s self-described simple goal is “making excellent beer in Los Angeles.” Past/Future is a New England-style IPA that pours hazy. It's lemon-yellow in color with aromas of tangerine and tropical hops. A tinge of sweet grapefruit hits your palate before orange juice and a touch of bitterness finishes things off.

ABV: 7.0%

Availability: Limited

Highland Brewing Co. AVL IPA

Style: IPA

Just so there’s no confusion with the above brewery, this Highland opened in North Carolina by Oscar Wong back in 1994. The brewery’s AVL, named after the airport code for Asheville Regional Airport, is a West Coast-style IPA. Out of the can, it’s slightly hazy with aromas of tropical and herbaceous hops. There's a wonderful balance of flavors: juicy tropical hops with a little grassiness and a mild bitter finish.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Year round

Dogfish Head Citrus Squall

Style: IPA

Dogfish Head calls Citrus Squall a “perfect storm of a double golden ale and a paloma cocktail.” Out of the can, it’s slightly hazy with big, freshly squeezed grapefruit juice aroma. On the palate, there’s a hit of juicy tartness that moves toward slightly more subdued grapefruit before a bigger kick of bitterness.

ABV: 8.0%

Availability: Year round

Roadhouse Brewing Co. x Dogfish Head Not Your Ex-Step-Brother-In-Law’s Beer

Style: Ale

Brewery collaborations are already interesting, but when you bring ex-family into it, that’s something special. Colby Cox, co-founder of Jackson Hole, WY’s Roadhouse, is the former step-brother-in-law of Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head. Inspired by the old fashioned cocktail, this ale was aged in Dogfish Head whiskey barrels with cherries and oranges. It's orangey-pink-amber in color with aromas of whiskey, oranges, and cherries. Basically, it smells like an old fashioned. Take a drink and you get a hint of whiskey followed by orange peel and cherry before the beer's intrinsic booziness moves in. 

ABV: 12.1%

Availability: Limited

Sunriver Brewing Revival Vienna Lager

Style: Lager

A limited release from the brewery, Sunriver calls Revival a “nod to the classic lagers of Austria.” Slightly hazy with a tinge of amber color, the beer smells like pretzel dough and roasted malts. When you drink it, that maltiness rolls over your tongue with a flavor of freshly baked sweet bread. As Sunriver writes, this one is “easy drinking and totally approachable.”

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Limited

Two Roads Brewing Company Two Juicy

Style: IPA

There's nothing lacking in the juicy department. Two Roads' Two Juicy hazy double IPA has some nice carbonation when poured in a glass. It's a straw gold in color with aromas of tangerines and sweet fruit, as well as tropical and citrus hops. The beer is brimming with flavors of pineapple and sweet oranges, followed by mild pine resin and a citrus zest finish.

ABV: 8.2%

Availability: Year round

Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company J.A.W.N. American Pale Ale

Style: Ale

In Philadelphia, the word “jawn” is much like a noun. It can be a person, place, or thing. However, in the case of this Neshaminy Creek beer, J.A.W.N. stands for Juicy Ale With Nugget. The beer is slightly hazy and light amber in color with aromas of beer bread, floral hops, and malt. Drinking it, there are malty flavors of honey and caramel with a mild bit of hoppy bitterness at the end. If you like malty beers with a bit of hoppy flavor, this one might just be your jawn. 

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Year round

Deadwords Brewing Golden Stag

Style: Lager

More and more, breweries are making the best use of local ingredients and, in some cases, the local environment. In the case of Orlando’s Deadwords, that means giving Golden Stag lager a long rest on cypress wood. Topped by a big head of bright white foam, this golden beer smells of bright grains and a touch of wood. Tip Golden Stag back and you’re tasting vanilla sheet cake, honey, and some warm earthiness.

ABV: 6.4%

Availability: Limited

Anderson Valley Brewing Company The Kimmie, The Yink and the Holy Gose

Style: Gose

First brewed in 2014, “the Gose that started it all” is now part of a series of five from Anderson Valley. Holy Gose pours a clear gold with some nice effervescence and aromas of slightly sour bread dough and bright grains. When you take a drink, there are tart grains and a hint of pear with a rising saltiness at the end. If you’ve never tried a gose or haven’t found the right one, this “gateway gose” is a great first step.

ABV: 4.2%

Availability: Year round

Forgotten Boardwalk Brewing Tightrope Walker

Style: Porter

There’s a good reason the art on this Forgotten Boardwalk can is rather distinctive. Steve Moore, who drew Pierre the Tightrope Walker, is a storyboard artist and animator who's worked on Despicable Me, Minions, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Once you open this colorful can, this dark Baltic porter smells of coffee, dark roasted malts, and dried fruit. Tasting it, there’s a mouthwatering black coffee flavor with notes of unsweetened chocolate and dark cherries.  

ABV: 8.0%

Availability: Seasonal

Ex Novo Brewing Company Kill the Sun 2022

Style: Stout

Part of an Ex Novo box set featuring horchata, dirty chai, and chocolate-coconut-almond offerings, this 2022 Grand Cru Classic Kill the Sun is an inky black imperial stout with shiny brown foam. Aromas of bourbon come quick as your nose gets close to the glass, but if you linger, you’ll pick up molasses and dark chocolate, too. On the palate, bourbon strikes again. A warming sensation will snake up from your core along with flavors of bitter chocolate, dark molasses, and just a smidge of vanilla at the end.

ABV: 12.0%

Availability: Limited

Hobbs Brewing Company Hi, Jack!

Style: IPA 

Hi, Jack! from Hobbs is a hazy butterscotch color with pillowy foam and hoppy aromas of citrus and satsumas with some pine resin. Rather than being overly bright and acidic, the grapefruit and orange flavors in this New England-style IPA are mellow, almost creamy. Sales of the beer benefit the Warriors at 45 North, a New Hampshire organization that provides no-cost outdoor activities for active duty and retired military members.

ABV: 6.2%

Availability: Year round

Widmer Brothers White Gold

Style: Lager

The latest seasonal offering from Widmer, White Gold is a spin on the German Kellerbier style. It's slightly hazy and bright gold in color with toasted grain aromas and a bit of bread dough. A sip of this hazy lager washes your palate with wheat flavor that evolves to a crisp finish.

ABV: 4.7%

Availability: Limited

Beale’s Beer Peach Tea Blonde Ale

Style: Ale

Beale’s describes this beer as “Real peaches. Real tea. Real refreshing.” Peach Tea is a hazy light brown with aromas of brewed tea, peach, and floral grains. Drinking it, there’s some peach juice flavor up front, then black tea before a nice malty finish. It’s the kind of beer that makes us start to yearn for shady porches in summertime.

ABV: 4.6%

Availability: Year round

Shades Brewing Magna-tude

Style: Sour

Part of the Kveik Earthquake Series from Shades, this sour from “Salt Quake City” is brewed with orange, ginger, and honey. Magna-tude pours hazy and has aromas of ginger and citrus fruit with some hints of sweetness. The scent intensifies and you get big flavors of sour orange, ginger, and honey on the palate.

ABV: 5.7%

Availability: Limited

Snake River Brewing Pako’s IPA

Style: IPA

Pako the dog was an unofficial mascot for Snake River and he must have been good luck, because the beer named after him—originally, Pako’s Eye PA—took home Great American Beer Festival gold in 2011. Pako has hoppy smells of pine with some grain maltiness. Take a sip and there’s vibrant pine hops flavor with some grapefruit pith bitterness at the end. 

ABV: 6.8%

Availability: Year round

Saddle Mountain Brewing 5G

Style: Wheat

According to Saddle Mountain, the name 5G comes from flying terminology, not the cellular network. This wheat beer is a dark clear gold with a big head of white foam. It has aromas of wheat, malted grains, and a whiff of coriander in the background. Drinking 5G, you taste caramel, wheat, light coriander, and some orangey brightness at the end. 

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Year round

Allagash Brewing Company x Crowns & Hops Brewing Co. Cur-8

Style: Pilsner

Allagash and Crown & Hops aren’t close. The first is based in Maine, while the other is getting ready to open its flagship location in Inglewood, CA. However. the two breweries have found a way to bridge a different kind of gap with a new collaboration. Cur-8 is a mix of Crown & Hops’ 8 Trill Pils and Allagash’s Curieux, a barrel-aged tripel. 8 Trill Pils gets its name from a statistic in a W.K. Kellogg Foundation report that suggests the U.S. could realize an $8 trillion gain in national GDP by closing the equality gap by 2050. It’s an issue that’s vitally important to Crowns & Hops, one of about 70 Black-owned breweries in the U.S.—out of more than 9,000 total breweries. As for Cur-8 the beer? It’s a really interesting collaboration. It’s slightly hazy and straw-like in color with notes of vanilla, bourbon, and light grains. Drinking it, the beer has the crispness of a pilsner and a maltiness that works well with flavors of vanilla, caramel, and oak.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Limited

Bent Paddle Brewing Co. Bent Hop

Style: IPA

Want a beer made from the Great Lakes? Located in Duluth, MN, 100 percent of the water used in Bent Paddle beers comes from Lake Superior. One of those beers is the brewery’s flagship IPA, Bent Hop, a bronze medal winner at the 2022 World Beer Cup in the International India Pale Ale category. Out of the can, it’s a hazy amber color with plenty of rising bubbles. Bright mango and orange hops get your attention first with a little pine hiding in the tall grass. Take a sip and you'll get a rush of tropical and citrus hoppiness, then a rounded malt flavor, and finally a bitter pine resin finish. 

ABV: 6.2%

Availability: Year round

Revision Brewing Company Kitty Has Claws

Style: IPA

Revision opened up in Sparks, NV, back in late 2016. It wasn't long before the brewery took home a gold and silver at the 2018 World Beer Cup. This New England-style hazy IPA is a solid cream color with strawberry, citrus, and mellow pine aromas. When you drink Kitty Has Claws, there’s a bubbly, fruity sponge cake flavor, then mellow pine hoppiness. Once this beer gets its claws in you, there's no letting go.

ABV: 7.0%

Availability: Limited

Breakside Brewery Portland IPA

Style: IPA

This Breakside brew is the result of a community vote to create the most “Portland” beer possible. Voters were first asked to pick a style, name, and can design. The result is Portland IPA, done in collaboration with Portland Gear. It seems what sums up Portland the best is a clear gold beer with aromas of grapefruit, citrus, and pine hops. Drinking this West Coast IPA, you get juicy citrus and tropical flavors before a little grapefruit pith bitterness at the end. Sure, the name is a little on the nose, but you won't get any complaints from us on the drinking experience.

ABV: 7.2%

Availability: Limited

Torch & Crown Brewing Company Après Winter Ale

Style: Ale

The story of Torch & Crown started when co-founders Joe Correia and John Dantzler—then both 16 years old—had their fake IDs confiscated at an East Village bar in NYC. That led the two to homebrewing and eventually to making beers like Après, an ode to winter warmers. A hazy amber with a big head of foam, this beer has malty, spicy, and hoppy aromas. Tasting it, there’s a hoppy bitterness that rises up quick, then settles down into a sweet, almost honeyed maltiness to finish. Fun fact: This is Manhattan’s only production brewery.

ABV: 6.8%

Availability: Seasonal

pFriem Family Brewers Mosaic Pale

Style: Pale Ale

This has the honor of being the first beer in pFriem’s single hop pale series. Mosaic, the hop in question, was first commercially harvested in 2012. The beer is a bright gold in color with aromas of mango, passion fruit and, thanks to Mosaic hops, blueberries. Take a sip of this pale ale and you’ll taste tangerines, lemon pith, and some bitter resinous pine.

ABV: 5.9%

Availability: Seasonal

Breckenridge Brewery Avalanche Amber Ale

Style: Ale

Ever since Breckenridge Brewery got its start more than 30 years ago, Avalanche Amber Ale has been its flagship beer. The top-selling amber ale in Colorado, Avalanche is a clear amber color. It exudes aromas of malted grains and honey, as well as herbal notes. Drinking it, those malted grains hit you along with some minerality and more herbaceous honey at the end. It’s not surprising Breckenridge says it won’t be changing Avalanche anytime soon.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Year round

Spoetzl Brewery Shiner Trail Ale

Style: Ale

Trail mix dates back to 1910 when Horace Kephart recommended a mix of shelled nuts, raisins, and sweet chocolate in his book The Book of Camping and Woodcraft. Over a century later, Spoetzl introduced its trail mix-inspired ale. Shiner Trail Ale is dark mahogany in color with aromas of cocoa, malted grains, and peanut butter. Its flavor profile starts off with malted grains, then evolves into a tasty combo of chocolate and fruit. Then, all of a sudden, there's the familiar taste of trail mix. It's a wild experience—one that Horace Kephart would've enjoyed, no doubt.

ABV: 6.0%

Availability: Limited

New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Fruit Force

Style: IPA

The ranks of New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger line continue to grow with the recently launched Fruit Force, a fruit punch IPA. The beer is the color of hazy yellow grapefruit juice with big pineapple, cherry, and fruit punch aromas. Take a drink and you get that explosive fruit punch and a pineapple-pine aftertaste. 

ABV: 9.5%

Availability: Year round

Fair Isle Brewing Eugene

Style: IPA

Termed a farmhouse IPA by Fair Isle, Eugene’s existence is tied to a different beer. After the brewery makes Bobbi, a saison, it uses the leftover hop slurry the next day to brew Eugene. The resulting beer is clear and muted yellow in color with pear, grass, and yeast aromas. Drinking Eugene, there’s some tart funkiness followed by flavors of juicy citrus hops and white grapes that lead to a dry finish. 

ABV: 7.1%

Availability: Year round

Left Hand Brewing Co. Peanut Butter Milk Stout Nitro

Style: Stout

Left Hand calls this beer the “butter half” of their milk stouts. Dark as a moonless night with a head of nitro foam, this beer smells like peanuts and cocoa. But it’s not just peanuts. It’s peanut butter, peanut butter fudge, and peanut butter powder—all coming at you from different angles. You'll get a moment of stout maltiness at first sip, then peanuts make their presence known, along with some milky cocoa.

ABV: 6.2%

Availability: Year round

Wild Barrel Brewing Vice Blackberry Peach

Style: Sour

One of the highlights of Wild Barrel sour beers is you pick out the individual fruit in the taste. A good example is this Berliner weisse-style ale with blackberry and peach. Pouring the beer, you get a hazy pink grapefruit with fresh peaches on the nose along with raspberries and white grapes. Tasting it, you get those peaches again, then a little bread dough before some tart blackberry hits at the end.

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Limited

Brewery X Battlesnakes Pilsner

Style: Pilsner

In addition to having a kick-ass can and a name worthy of a Saturday morning cartoon, Battlesnakes took home a bronze medal at the latest Great American Beer Festival in the Bohemian-Style Pilsener category. It pours a lemony straw color with a nice head of foam. Take a sniff of this Brewery X pilsner and you're going to get light grains, apple, and some citrus fruitiness. On the palate, bright fruit moves quickly on to flavors of grain with a slight snakebite of hops at the end.

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Year round

Deadwords Brewing Bridge

Style: Lager 

You know when someone opens a treasure chest in a movie and there’s an unearthly glow and angelic singing? That’s what it's like to pour Bridge into a glass. The reigning gold medal winner at the Great American Beer Festival in the American-style Lager category is so clear and golden, it nearly glows. There are aromas of clean grain with a slight waft of apple. Drinking it, you taste those grains and some apple-esque fruitiness along with a sweetness that settles on the back of your tongue. 

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Year round

Hobbs Brewing Co. Black Sheep

Style: Pilsner

Hobbs gets its name from New Hampshire’s Nathaniel Hobbs, a captain who fought alongside George Washington in the Revolutionary War. After the war, a letter from General John Stark to Hobbs ended with the phrase “Live free or die. Death is not the worst of evils.” You can find the first part of that on New Hampshire license plates; the second part is a good name for a barleywine. Since 2014, Hobbs Tavern, built by the captain’s great-grandson in 1885, has been home to beers such as Black Sheep. The pilsner is a bright straw gold with just a touch of haze. There are herbal and floral aromas with slight bitterness. Take a taste and you'll find it's brimming with floral and herbaceous flavors that evolve to whole-grain crackers followed by a dry finish.

ABV: 5.4%

Availability: Year round

Two Roads Brewing Company Rocket 2 Ruin

Style: IPA

Since it opened in 2012, Two Roads’ philosophy has been a “road less traveled.” One of those roads led to this Imperial Cold IPA, a higher ABV cousin to the Stratford, CT, brewery’s Road 2 Ruin. Out of the can, Rocket 2 Ruin is a light amber gold in color with aromas of grapefruit and orange. Drinking it, you’ll get those smooth citrus hop flavors in a way that makes you forget the alcohol content—momentarily. Sure, it’s a different road, but this beer certainly makes it a worthwhile journey.

ABV: 9.5%

Availability: Seasonal

Forgotten Boardwalk Brewing Co. Shore Shiver

Style: IPA

If you visit Forgotten Boardwalk in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, you’ll find a taproom that’s an homage to the Jersey Shore complete with skeeball and a personality tester machine. But this particular IPA from the brewery recognizes a darker time in 1916 when a man-eating shark terrorized the New Jersey coast and “made the shore shiver.”  The color of apple cider—the kind you can’t see through—Shore Shiver has light aromas of sweet citrus hops. Take a sip and you get those smooth citrus flavors with a kick of pine hops at the end. 

ABV: 6.9%

Availability: Limited

Alaskan Chillin’ Cold IPA

Style: IPA

According to Alaskan, its Cold IPA is fermented at temperatures lower than typical ale-style beers. As it happens, the process of brewing this beer works “perfectly” with Alaskan’s in-house yeast strain that ferments naturally at a colder temperature. Cold Chillin’ is a clear light gold color with a passing haze. The beer has aromas of grapefruit, pineapple upside-down cake, citrus, and pine resin. Drinking it, there’s a brief moment of strawberries that gives way to grapefruit and pine dankness with a bit of bitterness. It's the perfect style for a brewery that makes its home in Juneau.

ABV: 6.0%

Availability: Limited

Wye Hill Brewing Rome Plows

Style: Pilsner

Rome plows were 24-ton armored bulldozers used by the U.S. military, it’s also the name of an Italian pilsner from Wye Hill. It’s a light, clear gold with grain aromas and some mild sweetness. Drinking Rome Plows, you get flavors of herby, floral hops with some pilsner bitterness at the end.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Limited

Melvin Brewing Melvin IPA

Style: IPA

The GABF gold medal winner in the Fresh or Wet Hop Ale category (2016) and the American-Style Strong Pale Ale (2012), Melvin the beer, brewed by Melvin brewery, is still going strong. The beer has a hazy peach nectar appearance with orange and mango aromas. Have a sip and you taste grapefruit pith with a dank piney edge. On the can, the Wyoming brewery writes, “You can't always get what you want...but sometimes you get lucky.”

ABV: 7.5%

Availability: Year round

Ex Novo Brewing Company Perle Haggard

Style: Pilsner

While a nod to country musician Merle Haggard, Ex Novo’s German-style pilsner got half its name from Perle hops. This light gold beer has a rising wealth of tiny, tiny bubbles, plus aromas of sweet bread dough and a twang of honey. It’s a refreshing pilsner tasting of bread dough and grains that are completely in tune with its crisp finish.

ABV: 5.1%

Availability: Year round

Huss Brewing Co. Arizona Light Lager

Style: Lager

If you’re looking for a beer that’s eminently crushable, Huss has this one tightly dialed-in (4.02% ABV, to be exact). Arizona Light Lager is clear straw in color with lines of rising bubbles and aromas of grain corn. As promised, this is light and super drinkable; there’s a grassy lightness with a floral sweetness at the end.

ABV: 4.02%

Availability: Year round

Left Hand Brewing Co. French Toast Milk Stout

Style: Stout

We’ve tried coffee stouts and pastry stouts, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Left Hand took the next step. This “brunch-inspired” dark stout is filled with aromas of sweet maple syrup, bourbon, coffee, vanilla, and malted grains. Drinking French Toast Milk Stout, you get maple syrup on the tongue followed by coffee, vanilla, and malted grains. It’s easy to understand why Left Hand calls this one “Saturday morning in a glass.”

ABV: 6.0%

Availability: Limited

Alpine Beer Company Infinite Haze

Style: IPA

While we might stop short of infinite, this beer from Alpine definitely packs in a lot of haze. The beer is a butterscotch candy color with aromas of orange juice, melon, pineapple, and citrus hops. Your palate will get all those citrus and tropical flavors with a bit of pine bitterness. 

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Year round

New Belgium Brewing Company Fat Tire Ale

Style: Ale

If you have even a little familiarity with craft beer, you’ve heard of New Belgium’s Fat Tire, which has been around since 1991. And during those 32 years, the brewery has made some changes. In 2020, Fat Tire became America’s first certified carbon-neutral beer. And now, the beer has a new look and recipe. The new Fat Tire is a bright orangey gold with plenty of carbonation. Take a sniff of this “crisper, brighter version” and you get lightly malted grains with some floral background. Drinking it, there's a flavor of bread dough with some caramel at the end. If you’ve been a fan of Fat Tire at any point in the last 32 years, you’ll want to give the latest version a try.

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Year round

Haymarket Brewing Chicago Tavern Beer

Style: Lager

Haymarket Brewing, located on Chicago’s Haymarket Square, is a “bar for working people—all kinds of working people.” Open since 2010, the brewery added another taproom and production brewery in Bridgman, MI, in 2015. The brewery’s Chicago Tavern Beer is a bright clear gold out of the can with plenty of carbonation. Take a whiff and you pick up malted grains, grass, and biscuit. Drinking this Dortmunder-style lager, it's smooth and malty with a taste of honey and some mild black pepper spiciness to balance it out.

ABV: 5.3%

Availability: Year round

Brewery Ommegang Gnommegang

Style: Ale

Cooperstown, New York’s Brewery Ommegang was opened in 1997 as a collaboration between Don Feinberg, Wendy Littlefield, and three Belgian breweries: Duvel Moortgat, Affligem, and Scaldis. Twenty-six years later, Ommegang is still making Belgian-style farmstead beers to make its founders proud. But the brewery also has an OMG series that expands its range. Take, for example, Gnommegang, a Belgian-style blonde ale. The beer is a mildly hazy golden color with aromas of banana, coriander, and clove with a bit of yeast. On the palate, there's a boozy smack before the pepper, banana, and clove kick in. As for the gnomes? They’re the mascots of Brasserie D’Achouffe, the Belgian brewery that provided the spicy, fruity yeast.

ABV: 9.5%

Availability: Year round

10 Barrel Brewing Co. Cloud Mentality

Style: IPA

On the side of 10 Barrel's beer can it reads: “Drink Beer Outside.” And that makes sense given the brewery calls Bend, OR, home. Surrounded by mountains, Bend is perfect for hiking, skiing, rafting, and a host of other outdoor activities. Cloud Mentality is a cloudy lemon color with a clean smell of grapefruit, tropical hop flavors, along with some citrus juice and pine resin. Sip this hazy IPA and you’re in for mango with enough tropical hop bitterness to make that next outdoor adventure even more memorable.

ABV: 7.0%

Availability: Year round

Ecliptic Brewing Orange Giant

Style: Barleywine

You know a barleywine is going to be a big beer, but this one from Ecliptic is a giant. A mostly clear orange-caramel color, this beer hits you with a veritable wall of hop aromas including resin and orange peel, along with caramel malts. Drinking it, there are colossal flavors of grapefruit pith, orange peel, pine, and booze with a reverberating bitterness. Ecliptic adds the 2022 edition of Orange Giant is perfect for cellar aging.

ABV: 12.5%

Availability: Limited

Beale’s Brewery Gold

Style: Lager

The story goes that Thomas J. Beale found a fabulous treasure in Mexico and brought it all the way back to Virginia’s Bedford County, where he hid it. Then, he set off on another adventure and left a box containing three encrypted messages revealing the location of the treasure with an innkeeper (as one does). After Beale didn’t return, the innkeeper opened the box, found the ciphers, and passed them on to a friend. That friend was able to solve the cryptogram—using the Declaration of Independence as a key—which revealed the contents of the treasure. You can still find gold in Bedford at Beale’s Brewery. True to its name, Gold is a clear gold color with aromas of grain and a little yeast. Drinking the beer, you get grassy malt flavors and a hit of hops toward the finish. Sure, the treasure might just be a story, but Beale’s still found a way to brew Gold.

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Year round

Ex Novo Brewing Co. Darkness Ensues

Style: Lager

If you’re looking for a lighter beer that still has some depth this winter, check out Darkness Ensues from Ex Novo. A dark brown beer, it has aromas of roasted grain, molasses, chocolate cake, and maple syrup. Drinking it, there’s an expanding smokiness with flavors of toasted bread and chocolate.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Limited

Zipline Brewing Co. German-Style Kölsch

Style: Ale

Zipline calls this one, an “ale that drinks like a lager.” It pours clear and is straw in color with aromas of floral hops and grassy grains. There’s a sweet, floral, hoppy taste that has a clean finish.

ABV: 5.4%

Availability: Year round

Sunriver Brewing Co. Turtle in the Clouds

Style: IPA

Sunriver loves Hazy IPAs so much it has a monthly rotation of them that the brewery calls the Haze Factory. One such brew is Turtle in the Clouds, a collaboration with Eugene, Oregon’s Oakshire Brewing. This hazy IPA is the color of lemon curd with aromas of sweet citrus and pineapple. We taste a wave of juicy, sweet fruit flavors of citrus and melon with a hint of bitterness at the backside.

ABV: 6.8%

Availability: Limited

Snake River Brewing Jenny Lake Lager

Style: Lager

A three-time gold medal (plus one silver) at the Great American Beer Festival, this Vienna-style lager from Snake River helps support its namesake, Grand Teton National Park’s Jenny Lake. Money from sales goes toward restoring trails and viewing areas around the lake. Jenny Lake the beer is a clear bright copper color with aromas of blooming malted grain and honey. Take a sip and you get a mouthwatering taste of crisp malts, pretzel dough, and caramel.

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Year round

Saddle Mountain Brewing Black Maple

Style: Stout

Saddle Mountain recommends cellaring this maple stout for a special occasion “as any further aging will only enhance the nuances.” Aged for a year in bourbon barrels, this is a black maple stout with strong aromas of bourbon, toasted malts, and sweet maple. Tasting notes follow suit with mouthwatering notes of syrupy bourbon, dark fruitiness, and mellow bitterness with plenty more maple coming through at the end. If you have more patience than us, let us know how it tastes a few years from now.

ABV: 9.9%

Availability: Limited

Evil Twin Brewing Blue Raspberry

Style: Sour

Every week, we find breweries that push the envelope of what craft beer can be. And, occasionally, we sample beers—like this one—that rip up the envelope and let it rain down like confetti. A nanobrewery located in Queens since 2016, Evil Twin has a knack for making beers you won’t find anywhere else. Blue Raspberry is a sea foam green out of the can and smells like childhood. If you've ever had a blue popsicle, it smells just like that. Take a drink and there’s a rush of vanilla and blue raspberry flavor, then sourness pricks your tastebuds.  

ABV: 6.0%

Availability: Limited

Rogue Dead Guy IPA

Style: IPA

When a beer sample arrives in a mini-coffin covered in dirt (well, potting soil), it’s going to get your attention. To top it off, the accompanying marketing materials testify, “IPAs are officially Dead.” Rogue is not, however, announcing the demise of IPAs, but its introduction of Dead Guy IPA to the Dead Guy Ale family. A slightly hazy dark gold, Dead Guy IPA has aromas of tropical and citrus hops as well as a little pine thrown in for good measure. Drinking it, you get mouthwateringly hoppy flavors of grapefruit pith, citrus, and pine. The taste alone will grab your attention—but a miniature coffin always helps.

ABV: 7.0%

Availability: Year round

Brewery X Slap & Tickle

Style: IPA

Brewery X has been in business since 2017, and Slap & Tickle has been the brewery’s flagship since day one. As Trevor Walls, chief brewing officer at the Anaheim, CA brewery, told us, this West Coast IPA “slaps you in the nose with a tickle on the palate.” A clear light gold with a big head of foam, Slap & Tickle has strong aromas of pine and citrus, long green grass, and lemon. Take a sip and you get fresh pine, herbs, and citrus and then a lingering bitter hoppiness. Walls calls Slap & Tickle a “gateway IPA.” It’s also a great intro to Brewery X. 

ABV: 6.7%

Availability: Year round

Anderson Valley Brewing Company West Coast IPA

Style: IPA

This beer is a nod to the classic West Coast IPAs that Anderson Valley helped popularize in the 1990s. West Coast IPA is a slightly hazy golden orange color with pine and citrus aromas. Sip it and you’ll get a smooth hoppiness with citrus, tropical, and pine flavors, along with a bit of grapefruit pith bitterness. As Anderson Valley says, “We know West Coast because we ARE West Coast.”

ABV: 7.6%

Availability: Limited

Snake River Brewing Snake River Pale Ale

Style: Ale

Wyoming’s oldest brewery, Snake River is also a two-time winner of the Small Brewery of the Year at the Great American Beer Festival. Snake River Pale Ale, a three-time GABF medal winner itself, is a clear, slightly dark gold color. It has hoppy aromas of orange and citrus. Drinking it, there’s a strong juicy orange and grapefruit taste with some mild bitterness on the back end. A portion of proceeds from the beer will be donated to the Snake River Gateways project that supports sustainability. That alone is a reason to "put our river through your liver," says the brewery. 

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Year round

Sudwerk Funhouse Apricot Peach Sour

Style: Sour

Sudwerk continues its Funhouse sour series with apricot and peach taking the lead roles. The beer is a slightly hazy orange marmalade color with burly aromas of apricot and peach. It tastes like the beer version of peach pie and apricots with some lingering creamy pastry. 

ABV: 8.0%

Availability: Limited

Saddle Mountain Brewing Clan-Destine

Style: Ale

If you’re looking to drink a winner, your search is over. Clan-Destine from Saddle Mountain is a five-time medal winner at the Great American Beer Festival, including three golds. This Scottish ale is a reddish caramel color with malted grains, honey, and floral aromas. Flavors of roasted grains and sweetened brown bread mix with some hoppiness on the palate. Matthew Larson, general manager at Saddle Mountain, suggests drinking Saddle Mountain beers at a leisurely pace to let them warm, which “opens up some different flavors at the end of the beer.”

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Year round

Aslan Brewing Company Satan’s Airport

Style: Stout

You can’t always judge a book by its cover, but sometimes you buy a book because of its cover—and the same goes for beer. Take Satan’s Airport. This beer from Bellingham, WA-based brewery Aslan is more than just a pretty macabre face. A very black stout with a big foamy head, it smells like coffee and malted grains. Drinking this beer hits you with big flavors of sweet coffee and chocolate with a bit of booziness. 

ABV: 9.5%

Availability: Limited

The Bruery Goses are Red

Style: Gose

Goses Are Red is, according to The Bruery, both a rosé and a gose. Out of the can, the beer is the color of guava juice with aromas of sour candy, tart fruit, and slight funkiness. Made with syrah grapes and aged in oak foeders, Goses Are Red has some spine-tingling tartness on the first taste that moves on to sweet raspberries and funky grapes with some saltiness.

ABV: 5.6%

Availability: Year round

Abita Brewing Company Turbodog

Style: Ale

Every beer Abita brews is connected to its home because all the water used by the brewery comes from the artesian wells of Abita Springs. You can find it in Turbodog, a brown ale that’s a dark nearly black-brown color with aromas of roasted malts, toffee, and molasses. Take a sip of this Louisiana local and you get big flavors of toasted cereal, pretzels, and malts with a slight hop finish.

ABV: 5.6%

Availability: Year round

Lucky Envelope Brewing Hawaiian Breeze

Style: Sour

Hawaiian Breeze is the name of this beer, but it’s also a tea. Made by Seattle’s MarketSpice, the tea mixes green Rooibos tea with dried pieces of strawberry and pineapple. In turn, Lucky Envelope blended that with its golden sour beer. The result is a hazy amber with some nice bubbles and a head of tight foam. You'll notice aromas of pineapple and strawberry preserves with a touch of sourness. Drinking it, Hawaiian Breeze opens with notes of vanilla, followed by pineapple juice and raspberry with some creaminess at the end.

ABV: 5.7%

Availability: Limited

Crucible Brewing Co. Arc Furnace Pilsner

Style: Pilsner

Started by two childhood friends with a passion for craft beer, Crucible has been brewing since 2015. Arc Furnace from the Everett, WA brewery is a slightly hazy straw color with aromas of malted grains and bread dough. Drinking this beer, you get a crisp taste of grassy grains with a pilsner bitterness bite.

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Year round

Dock Street Brewery Golden IPA

Style: IPA

One of the first post-Prohibition craft breweries in the country, Philadelphia's Dock Street is still going strong. The brewery’s Golden IPA is a slightly hazy bright gold color with hoppy aromas of pineapple and orange. Take a drink and you get a mouthwatering taste of those tropical hops as well as a bit of bitterness with a pine bite. 

ABV: 6.0%

Availability: Year round

Firestone Walker Brewing Company Wookey Jack

Style: IPA

For the first time in six years, Firestone Walker is rereleasing Wookey Jack. This three-time gold medal winner at the Great American Beer Festival (for American-Style Black Ale) is, in the words of brewmaster Matt Brynildson, “gnarly on the outside, yet refined on the inside.” This Black Rye IPA has aromas of dark malts and coffee. Take a taste and you’ll get malted grains and dank hops with some bitterness. And if you miss it this time, don’t worry, it'll be back. As Brynildson says, “The Wookey never dies—it just hibernates.”

ABV: 8.3%

Availability: Limited

Lucky Envelope Brewing Peanut Butter Cream Stout

Style: Stout

The name Lucky Envelope comes from the Chinese tradition of giving away red envelopes filled with paper money. Opened in 2015 by Barry Chan and Ray Kwan, the Seattle brewery’s mission is to make “culturally inspired beer.” Peanut Butter Cream Stout is a dark black beer with aromas of toasted malt, creamed coffee, milk, and peanut butter. Drinking it, you taste coffee, peanut butter, and cream with a lingering peanut flavor and stout toastiness.

ABV: 6.0%

Availability: Year round

Neshaminy Creek Brewery Bone Roaster

Style: Porter

Bone Roaster is a collaboration between two Philadelphia-area Great American Beer Festival medal winners, Neshaminy Creek and Dock Street. This Smoked Porter lives up to its name with a dark brown color along with aromas of barbecue smoke and roasted grains. Take a sip and you’re transported to a cookout, downwind from the grill, drinking a deeply roasted porter and enjoying the moment. As for the collaboration, Neshaminy writes, “It just made sense that we brewed something we both love.”

ABV: 5.7%

Availability: Limited

Ecliptic Brewing Cryo Frozen Fresh Hop Double IPA

Style: IPA

Throughout 2022, Ecliptic did a series of Cosmic Collaborations with other breweries. The final beer of the year is one made with Portland’s Baerlic Brewing Co. Cryo Frozen uses fresh hops that were flash-frozen and made into pellets for, in Ecliptic’s words, “an epic thrash of fresh flavor in galactic proportions.” The result is a slight hazy orange gold color with tight white foam and big aromas of tropical and citrus hops. Drinking Cryo Frozen, you get those mouthwatering citrus and tropical fruit flavors along with a big hit of dank hops. 

ABV: 8.0%

Availability: Limited

Counter Weight Brewing Workhorse

Style: Pilsner

Workhorse from Cheshire, Connecticut’s Counter Weight is “Brewed to be seriously drinkable.” Pouring it into a glass, the beer is a clear, light gold with aromas of grass, floral hops, and some lemon. Drink it and you get mouthwatering flavors of grains and bread dough with some pilsner bitterness that’s got some kick. When Counter Weight went for “seriously drinkable”, they weren’t kidding.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Year round

Atwood Farm Brewery Dark Harbor

Style: Stout

Everything in Atwood Farm’s beer is a local product. The malt comes from less than 50 miles away and the hops from even closer—if not the farm’s own fields. Even the oysters are harvested locally. Oysters? Yep, the brewery’s “black ale with bivalves” uses whole oysters in the brew—which lend, according to Atwood Farms, “a slight brininess all the way to the roasty shores of barley town.” Out of the can, this very dark black beer with thick tan foam has aromas of roasted malt and, unsurprisingly, sea air. Drinking Dark Harbor, you get flavors of dark roast malt and grains with a bit of refreshing saltiness. Want a beer that tastes like Washington's Pacific Coast? Dark Harbor is the beer that will take you there.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Limited

Old Schoolhouse Brewery Daydrinker

Style: Pilsner

As far as day drinking goes, Old Schoolhouse’s headquarters—an old schoolhouse on the banks of the Chewuck River—would be a pretty good place to do it. Located in the town of Winthrop in Washington’s Methow Valley, the brewery has been in business since 2008. Out of the can, this beer is a very light, pale gold filled with lively bubbles. It has aromas of grasses, grains, and a bit of corn. Take a sip of Daydrinker and you'll taste light and crisp flavors of grains with a little honeyed sweetness and some mild pilsner bitterness. 

ABV: 5.1%

Availability: Limited

Fair Isle Brewing Lottie

Style: Saison

Since Fair Isle is known for its farmhouse ales, it’s interesting that what inspired Lottie was the brewer’s love for Italian pilsners. A saison that’s meant to be “ultra lean” and “crisp", the beer has herbal, floral, and noble hop aromas. Drinking it, there’s still that grassy farmhouse kick and sharpness, but it’s still refreshing and floral. “Sometimes,” as Fair Isle says about Lottie, “simplicity is king.”

ABV: 5.3%

Availability: Year round

Japas Cervejaria Neko IPA

Style: IPA

Maneki-neko—or "beckoning cat"—is a figurine popularized in Japan that’s meant to bring good luck and fortune. You’ll find two of them on a can of Neko from Japas. Brewing since 2014, Japas is owned by three Japanese-Brazilian women, though this particular American IPA is brewed in Chicago. Neko is a mildly hazy lemon yellow with bright aromas of grapefruit and pine. If you’re looking for flavors of grapefruit pith and tangerine along with a piney bitterness that lingers for a bit, you’re in luck.

ABV: 5.7%

Availability: Limited

Living Häus Beer Co. Pearl Coffee Stout

Style: Stout

Portland’s Living Häus was opened in summer 2022 by former brewers from Modern Times and pFriem. Pearl Coffee Stout, a collaboration with Sweden’s Stigbergets brewery, is a dark black stout made with Sumatran Puju beans from Puff Coffee. This dark beer with light tan foam has aromas of darkly roasted grains. A sip of Pearl offers a nice coffee flavor that mixes with the roasted malts alongside an almost marshmellowy sweetness.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Limited

Stargazer Brewing Company Watercolors Margarita

Style: Sour

There’s nothing like a “cold, crisp, German pilsner,” writes Stargazer. But the Connecticut brewery that opened in 2019 also notes that there's also nothing like a “heavily fruited sour with cheesecake.” Watercolors Margarita leans toward the latter, with a look that resembles freshly-made mango juice accompanied by a nice head of orangey foam. Take a sniff and you’re hit with the tropical aromas of passion fruit, lime, mango, with a bit of milkiness. Drinking Watercolors Margarita offers flavors of juicy orange followed by a punch of fresh fruit sours, a hint of lime, and a bit of creaminess at the end.

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Limited

Highland Brewing Hazy Heights IPA

Style: IPA

Hazy Heights gets its name from the haze that hangs over the Blue Ridge Mountains surrounding Highland’s Asheville, NC, location. This “vibrant and topical IPA” is the color of hazy peach nectar with aromas of tangerine, peach, and pineapple—plus a touch of pine peeking in there, too. Take a sip of Hazy Heights and you'll be treated to a mouthwatering juicy hops blast of mango and peach with some bitterness at the end.  

ABV: 7.5%

Availability: Year round

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Powder Day IPA

Style: IPA

This double dry-hopped beer from Sierra Nevada is meant to remind you of good days in the mountains. The "powder" in this case is a “blizzard” of lupulin powder derived from the lupulin glands of hops cones that contain oils and resins. The IPA is a clear orange gold color with aromas of orange and pine hops. As promised, Powder Day is packed with citrus hop flavors with some malty sweetness.

ABV: 7.7%

Availability: Seasonal

Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock

Style: Bock

This “rich & decadent” beer was first brewed at Samuel Adams in 2003. Aged on a bed of cacao nibs from Ghana and Ecuador, this Chocolate Bock is, unsurprisingly, chocolate brown in color with aromas of malted grains and chocolate. You taste those toasted grains up front, but also get a nicely balanced dose of sweet chocolate. As Sam Adams says, “It’s like drinking a melted chocolate bar.”

Style: 5.8%

Availability: Seasonal

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA

Style: IPA

Back in the 1990s, Dogfish Head was looking for a way to make super hoppy beers without them being crushingly bitter. Instead of just adding the hops at the beginning for bitterness and at the end for aroma, owner Sam Calagione came up with a way to continually add hops during the boil process. His method? An old vibrating electric football game (see for yourself). The resulting liquid is hazy gold with clean, hoppy aromas of citrus fruit and pine. Expect hoppy flavors of citrus with a bit of bitterness and a nice crisp finish.

ABV: 6.0%

Availability: Year round

Sudwerk Brewing Co. Gunrock

Style: IPA

If you’re a fan of University of California, Davis athletic teams, you can support them by showing up at games and cheering. Or, thanks to Sudwerk, you can support the Aggies by picking up some Gunrock Hazy IPA as a percentage of proceeds supports the UC Davis Athletic Department. The only officially collegiate licensed beer in California, Gunrock is named after the UC Davis mustang mascot. Out of the can, the beer is a hazy gold color with juicy aromas of orange and mango. Drinking Gunrock, you taste citrus and resinous hops with a little bitterness at the back end.

ABV: 6.3%

Availability: Year round

Zipline Brewing Co. Green Label IPA

Style: IPA

Lincoln, Nebraska’s Zipline sums this IPA up in three words, “Hoppy. Bright. Tropical.” Pouring Green Label, you get a mildly hazy dark hay color with a big head of bright foam. Smelling the beer, you can tell Zipline was right on with its description. There are pronounced hoppy aromas of citrus and mango. A sip will confirm that you’re getting smooth flavors of orange and grapefruit pith with some more tropical notes showing up in the background.

Style: 6.5%

Availability: Year round

Huss Brewing Co. Papago Orange Blossom

Style: Wheat Ale

Since not all parts of the U.S. are covered in ice and snow, drink sunshine in a can with Papago Orange Blossom. The beer is a light orange-yellow color with bright foam. The beer has aromas of orange gelatin, malted grains, and grasses. Drinking it, there are flavors of sweet tangerine and vanilla that bring up memories of eating Creamsicle bars in the summer.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Year round

Burial The Innate Pattern of What Was and What Will Be

Style: IPA

Featuring can art with a whale in various levels of decomposition, The Innate Pattern of What Was and What Will Be is a reminder of mortality. In the beer description, Burial writes “Made of the earth, we will return to dust one day too.“ On that happy note, the beer is a hazy mellow yellow with aromas of citrus and tropical hops. Drinking it, there are tropical flavors of pineapple and light mango with some hoppy bitterness and a shot of orange juice at the end. We'll all be dust one day, so let's get those good beers in while we can.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Limited

Hellbent Brewing Company Red Patina

Style: Ale

Based in the Lake City neighborhood of Seattle, Hellbent’s goal with Red Patina is “balance over bitterness.” The brewery sparingly adds hops to this beer, “…more to provide harmony, not lead vocals.” The result is a dark orangey amber beer with aromas of dark roasted grains and pine hops. Take a taste and you'll get the flavor of malted grains with a bite of bitter hops. If it’s balance you’re seeking, try this silver medal winner from the 2022 World Beer Cup.

ABV: 6.0%

Availability: Year round

Hopworks Urban Brewery Bog Monster

Style: Gose

Portland, Oregon-based Hopworks got its start in 2007. Focusing on sustainability, in 2015, the brewery became the first Salmon-Safe Certified Brewery in the U.S. Bog Monster is a lightly hazy yellow color with aromas of citrus and cranberry. Have a sip and you get that gose sourness along with orange, tart cranberry, and a touch of salt.

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Limited

Great Lakes Brewing Co. Nosferatu

Style: IPA

Nosferatu from Great Lakes is part of the brewery’s Imperial IPA series. This Imperial Red IPA is a bright reddish amber color with aromas of toasted bread, malted grains, and pine hops. Take a drink and that aroma translates into round flavors of roasted malts and a bit of pine hop bitterness. Just like Nosferatu, this beer packs a bite.

ABV: 8.0%

Availability: Seasonal

Chainline Brewing Co. Polaris

Style: Pilsner

Kirkland, Washington’s Chainline was founded in 2014 with the motto “Power your Passion.” That passion is on display in Polaris, which took home silver at the Great American Beer Festival in the Bohemian-Style Pilsener category in 2016 and 2021. Out of the can, the beer is a slightly hazy golden hay color with a big head of foam. It has aromas of grasses, malted grain, and floral hops. Drinking Polaris, you get a smooth replay of those grains and grasses with some floral flavors in the background.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Year round

Wild Barrel Brewing Company Hipsters Demise

Style: Stout

All good things must come to an end and, according to Wild Barrel, this also holds true for hipsters. This Imperial Pastry Stout is made with cold brew coffee, maple syrup, and bourbon Madagascar vanilla beans. Coffee and maple are the first things to jump out at you. Drinking this beer, the darkness of the stout soon gives way to the sweetness of the maple syrup and vanilla, followed by a little coffee bitterness.

ABV: 11.5%

Availability: Limited

New Belgium Brewing Accumulation IPA

Style: IPA

This “Ski-sonal Release” Hazy IPA from New Belgium honors the brewery’s favorite time of year. Out of the can, it’s hazy and golden with a big head of white foam. Accumulation has aromas of citrus and tropical hops, which show up on the palate too with orange, pineapple, and grapefruit pith. After a day on the slopes, this tasty brew will give you something to celebrate.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Seasonal

Figueroa Mountain Brew Co. Zero to Sexy

Style: Ale

When you have a beer named "Zero to Sexy" with a mountain lion on the label, it's definitely going to get some attention. This Golden Mocha Ale from Figueroa Mountain is brewed with select Santa Barbara Roasting Co. coffee beans and cacao nibs from Twenty-Four Blackbirds Chocolates. The result is a beer that’s a deep gold in color with aromas of light coffee, corn, and toasted tobacco. The taste follows the smell with flavors of malty caramel and chocolate, smoky grains, and a slightly bitter coffee finish.

ABV: 6.8%

Availability: Limited

Weldwerks Brewing Co. Little Man Salted Oreo Stout

Style: Stout

A collaboration with Denver’s Little Man Ice Cream, this ice cream stout from Weldwerks is nearly black in color with aromas of vanilla, Oreos, and chocolate. Drinking it, you get that promised mix of ice cream and beer with flavors of lactose, vanilla sugar, chocolate cookies, and cream. There’s nothing wrong with a little dessert, especially when it comes in a can.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Limited

Ecliptic Brewing Schwarzbier Lager

Style: Lager

From Ecliptic’s Moon Room Series comes a schwarzbier lager. It pours a deep amber color with a tight head of foam and aromas of darkly malted grains. John Harris, Ecliptic’s owner and brewmaster, says: “Sometimes these beers are known as ‘black pilsners.’ They have a crisp finish like other lager styles, but they also have that dark beer flavor.” We second that. Malted grains dominate the taste, but it still manages to be light-bodied and crisp.

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Limited

Neshaminy Creek Brewing Co. Rippin’ Pints

Style: Ale

This Coffee Brown Ale from Neshaminy Creek is a collaboration with Philadelphia’s Ellis Coffee. Out of the can, it's dark brown with bright tan foam. The collaboration is apparent at first sniff: Rippin’ Pints smells like you’re walking into a coffee shop. More importantly, a good coffee shop. Drinking it, you get a round flavor of coffee, as well as a taste of chocolate malt.

ABV: 5.4%

Availability: Limited

Russian River Brewing Company Blind Pig

Style: IPA

Before Vinnie Cilurzo opened Russian River, he was part owner of the Blind Pig Brewing Company. That brewery isn’t around anymore, but Russian River’s Blind Pig IPA is a nod to its owner’s history. Out of the bottle, the IPA is a slightly hazy gold color with hoppy aromas of orange, tangerine, and pine. Take a sip, and you get a taste of malted grains that moves on to juicy orange and, finally, a pleasant bitter pine finish.

ABV: 6.25%

Availability: Year round

10 Barrel Brewing Co. Profuse Juice

Style: IPA

A beer is always good, but not all beers do good. One percent of all Profuse Juice profits goes to the Surfrider Foundation, an organization whose mission is to protect the world’s oceans, waves, and beaches. This beer is a hazy, light butterscotch color with aromas of pineapple, orange, mango, and tropical hops. Take a sip and you get flavors of orange and sweet tangerine with a very mild bitterness to finish. As 10 Barrel says, it’s the “perfect post-sesh” beer.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Year round

Shades Brewing Raspberry Pistachio Pie

Style: Sour Ale

Shades delves into another interesting flavor profile with this sour brewed with raspberries, pistachios, graham cracker, cinnamon, vanilla, and lactose. Raspberry Pistachio Pie is the color of ruby red grapefruit juice with light pink foam. You’re off on a wild ride, as this beer is packed with aromas of graham cracker, cinnamon, vanilla frosting, and raspberries. We get flavors of tart raspberries, then some nutty creaminess before the raspberries boomerang back again.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Limited

Clown Shoes Reindeer Games

Style: IPA

Reindeer Games is part of Clown Shoes's variety pack, The 12 Beers of Christmas. It's a dark amber in color with profuse foam. Take a sniff and you get pronounced aromas of pine and citrus hops. Drinking it, there are flavors of toasted bread and citrus hops with some mild bitterness at the finish.

ABV: 7.0%

Availability: Seasonal

SweetWater Brewing Company Festive Ale

Style: Ale

Brewed to keep you “warm and toasted” during the holidays, this ale from SweetWater pours a dark brown-black out of the bottle with aromas of darkly malted grains and molasses. Tasting notes include lots of roasted grains and coffee with a kick of cinnamon that lingers. We’re not sure about warm, but drink enough of this beer and you’ll definitely be toasted.

ABV: 8.1%

Availability: Seasonal

Iron Hill Brewery Candy Cane Porter

Style: Porter

This American Robust Porter with peppermint is a holiday treat for subscribers to the Iron Hill Brewer’s Box. In a glass, this is a glossy black beer with tan foam. The first smell that hits you is the peppermint, then you get some roasted grain on the backend. The flavor experience is slightly reversed, with flavors of dark grains hitting first followed by a sharp peppermint finish.

ABV: 5.4%

Availability: Limited

Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company Apple Pie Vienna Lager

Style: Lager

Part of the holiday variety pack from Devil’s Backbone, this Apple Pie Vienna Lager is a bright amber with aromas of fresh apple juice and malted grains. Take a drink of this beer and you get flavors of apple, cinnamon, and pie dough, with some bitterness at the end.

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Limited

Rogue Ales Mogul Madness

Style: Ale

The color of burnished mahogany, Mogul Madness from Rogue is “dedicated to strong knees.” While it's a winter ale, you'll get plenty of tropical and mild pine hop aromas. The palate follows suit with flavors of citrus rind and malted grain with enough bitterness to get you back out to the moguls.

ABV: 6.7%

Availability: Limited

Neshaminy Creek Brewery Shape of Haze to Come

Style: IPA

Located northeast of Philadelphia in Croydon, PA, Neshaminy Creek has been making “craft beer for defiant misfits” since 2010. Part of the brewery’s Shape of Haze series, this take on Key lime pie pours the color of peach puree with a foamy white head. When you smell this unfiltered double IPA, lime dominates, followed by aromas of biscuits and lemons. Your tongue will get an explosion of confectionary delight—namely key lime pie and cinnamon with some mouth-puckering lime at the end.

ABV: 8.8%

Availability: Limited

Stone Brewing Imperial Stout

Style: Stout

A recipe from 2000 brought back by popular demand, Imperial Stout from Stone smells of roasted grains and coffee beans with a brown sugar sweetness. The palate, though is anything but saccharine, with unsweetened chocolate and molasses taking center stage. Some booziness and dark roasted coffee round out the finish. 

ABV: 10.5%

Availability: Limited

Sudwerk Brewing Co. Good as Newt Hazy DIPA

Style: IPA

Sudwerk has been brewing lagers since 1989, but the brewery also makes a damn good hazy double IPA (see: Good as Newt). It's a little hazy out of the can with nice carbonation, and bright aromas of citrus hops alongside fresh grain. The taste of sweet peach floods your tastebuds, followed by a slightly bitter dry hop finish.

ABV: 8.0%

Availability: Limited

Anderson Valley Brewing Company Huge Arker

Style: Stout

Available from November until it’s sold out, Huge Arker is a bourbon barrel imperial stout that Anderson Valley ages for 12 months. This malt beverage is a beautiful dark burgundy with aromas of bourbon, oak, and roasted malt. Take a sip of High Arker and you get flavors of bourbon, molasses, dark chocolate, with some warming booziness at the end that resounds.

ABV: 15.5%

Availability: Limited

Wye Hill Brewing Co. A Red Million Miles

Style: Gose

Sometimes a brewery comes up with a flavor combination that you have trouble envisioning. That’s exactly what happened with Wye Hill’s A Red Million Miles, a raspberry and pomegranate red miso gose. The beer is a slightly hazy sienna color with fruity aromas of cranberry and raspberry. Drinking it, this beer takes you for a fun ride. A juicy red fruit start gives way to salty miso and just a tiny bit of umami at the end. We had no idea how this flavor combination would hit, but Wye Hill definitely has it dialed in with A Red Million Miles.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Limited

Wicked Weed Brewing Guilty Pleasures S’Mores

Style: Stout

S’Mores is part of Wicked Weed’s Guilty Pleasure variety pack of dessert stouts, along with alcohol-filled beer tributes to Milk & Cookies, German Chocolate Cake, and Espresso Cheesecake. Out of the can, S’Mores pours a dark crimson, almost black, with aromas of bourbon, oak, and rich chocolate. It has a similar taste profile with some boozy sweetness at the finish. 

ABV: 12.2%

Availability: Limited

Weldwerks Brewing Co. Robo-Boogie

Style: IPA

There’s hazy and there’s the kind of hazy you get get in Robo-Boogie from Weldwerks. This New Zealand-style double IPA almost looks like a fruit puree, butterscotch, or lemon curd. The creamy-looking beer has aromas of pineapple, orange, and some resinous hops. Drinking it, there are mouthwatering fruit flavors, a touch of anise, and a boozy fruit kick at the end.

ABV: 8.0%

Availability: Limited

Left Hand Brewing Wake Up Dead

Style: Stout

Left Hand calls this stout “a beast of a beer you’ll crave from beyond the grave.” Wake Up Dead is black in color with aromas of roasted malts with subtle chocolate and coffee. Take a drink of this stout and you’ll get smooth flavors of coffee, red fruit, and chocolate. 

ABV: 10.2%

Availability: Limited

Rooftop Brewing Co. Scotch Scotch Scotchity Scotch Ale

Style: Ale

Rooftop did not start with a view overlooking Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood. In fact, the brewery started in a very different location that was accurately portrayed on its “I drink beer in the alley behind the 7-11” T-shirts. Now featuring a rooftop tasting room, the brewery makes beer such as Scotch Scotch Scotchity Scotch Ale (to paraphrase Ron Burgundy). Made with peat-smoked Scottish malt, the beer is a clear amber with rising sheets of carbonation and, as promised, aromas of peat, smoke, and malted grains. Drinking this beer, you taste the grains before the smoked peat rises to meet you. 

ABV: 7.9%

Availability: Limited

Shades Brewing German Chocolate Cake Pastry Stout

Style: Stout

Shades has made a habit of being able to create complex flavors and still have them taste like beer. Take, for example, the brewery’s German Chocolate Cake. It’s a black pastry stout with aromas of coconut, pecans, vanilla, and chocolate. Take a sip and you're hit by flavors of coconut, lactose, chocolate, brown sugar, and almost cherry tartness at the end. You can have your cake and drink it, too.

ABV: 8.0%

Availability: Limited

Ninkasi Brewing Company Beer Northwest Lager

Style: Lager

Sure, this is a Northwest Lager, but the label lets your know in bold type that this is Ninkasi Beer. On its 16th anniversary, the brewery set out to make an “unbeatable value craft beer” and it hit the mark with this highly crushable lager. Out of the can, it’s a pale clear straw color with an aroma of slightly honeyed malted grains. Drinking it, you taste grass, grains, and some slightly sweet biscuit. It might just be beer, but Ninkasi has repeatedly proven over 16 years that it knows how to make it exceptional.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Year round

Karbach Brewing Co. Yule Shoot Your Eye Out

Style: Ale

If you can’t tell from the leg lamp on the can, the name of this holiday beer from Karbach clues you in to this homage to A Christmas Story. Drinking Yule Shoot Your Eye Out will bring back memories of Red Ryder BB guns, pink bunny pajamas, and tongues stuck to flagpoles. Brewed with orange peel, this red ale is a bright copper color with plenty of carbonation and aromas of sweet malted grains. Drinking it, you taste caramel, grain, and a touch of citrus. If you’re not sure about trying Yule Shoot Your Eye Out, we “triple-dog-dare ya!”

ABV: 5.6%

Availability: Seasonal

New Belgium Brewing Holiday Ale

Style: Ale

According to New Belgium, its Holiday Ale offers “Flavors of Cranberry & Spice and Everything Nice.” Out of the can, the beer is an intense amber color with aromas of gingerbread and hard cider. Take a sip and you’ll get flavors of cranberry, gingerbread, and cinnamon. Need a cozy beer to enjoy in front of the fireplace? This is the one to crack open.

ABV: 7.5%

Availability: Seasonal

BrewDog It’s a Beaut

Style: Stout

Looking for a “fun, old-fashioned family Christmas”? Then, BrewDog has you covered with this brewed tribute to National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. This pecan and toffee stout is a dark brown-black with aromas of candied nuts, toffee, and rum. Drinking it, you get flavors of coffee and rum with the toffee and pecans showing up at the end. Grab a can and you can toast to your own family’s Cousin Eddie.

ABV:
 7.5%

Availability: Seasonal

Samuel Adams Cold IPA

Style: IPA

Available in the Beers for Cheers variety pack, Samuel Adams says that its Cold IPA is “Inspired by Boston winters.” A clear straw gold out of the bottle, the beer has crisp, hoppy aromas. Whether or not you’ve survived a Boston winter, you can taste that crispness along with flavors of pine and citrus hops with some nice bitterness along for the ride. 

ABV: 6.0&

Availability: Seasonal

Firestone Walker Brewing Company Mocha Dolce

Style: Stout

Brewmaster Matt Brynildson at Firestone Walker says this nitro stout “tastes like your favorite latte.” Made with coffee, cocoa nibs, and vanilla beans, this beer is a nice black color with a tight nitrogen head. Chocolate and vanilla are what you smell first along with some coffee. Drinking it, this smooth stout gives you smooth vanilla and chocolate with some slightly bitter coffee at the end. 

ABV: 6.0%


Availability: Seasonal

Ecliptic Brewing Ice Giant Cold IPA

Style: IPA

Ecliptic is shaking up their seasonal beer series with the release of a new winter beer this year. Ice Giant from the Portland, OR, brewer is a hazy gold in color with light aromas of citrus and pine. Take a sip of this Cold IPA and you get grapefruit peel and flavors of resinous hops to go with a crisp finish. 

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Seasonal

Clown Shoes Baked Goods Pale Ale

Style: Ale

Clown Shoes has been brewing “beer without pretension” since 2009. Baked Goods is one of the beers you’ll find in the brewery’s 12 Beers of Christmas pack. Featuring a dozen unique beers, the pack gives you the chance to sample something different in the days leading up to the holiday. Or, for that matter, any 12-day period. Baked Goods is a hoppy pale ale with tropical and citrus hop aromas. Take a sip and you get pineapple, mango, and grapefruit with some mild bitterness. 

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Seasonal

Redhook Brewing Co. Winterhook

Style: Ale

Redhook has been brewing this winter ale since 1984. Pouring it into a class, Winterhook is a slightly hazy amber with piney hop aromas. Drinking it, there are flavors of malt along with some hoppy bitterness. If you’re looking for a holiday legend, check this one out.

ABV: 8.2%

Availability: Seasonal

Devil’s Backbone Naughty or Nice Cold IPA

Style: IPA

It doesn’t matter what list you’re on, you can pick up this Cold IPA from Devil’s Backbone. Made with seven different hops, Naughty or Nice is a clear mustard gold with aromas of citrus hops. Drinking it, there’s some flavors of malt and pine hops with some bitterness to finish off. 

ABV: 7.1%

Availability: Seasonal

Widmer Brothers Brewery Brrr

Style: Ale

This Northwest-style hoppy red ale from Widmer is “a perfect complement to cozy nights with big sweaters and warm fires.” The beer is a warm brown color with aromas of malted grains and light hops. Take a drink of Brrr and you get toasty grains, hops, and some easy bitterness.

ABV: 7.2%

Availability: Seasonal

Weldwerks Brewing Co. Train Heist

Style: IPA

Weldwerks has been brewing “Dialed-In Beer” since 2015. Train Heist is a hazy mellow yellow color with malted grain and tropical hop aromas. Take a sip and you’ll get flavors of piney hops and light grapefruit. This isn’t necessarily a holiday beer, but you’ll definitely get a bit of a Christmas tree vibe from this one. 

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Limited

Green Flash Brewing Co. West Coast IPA

Style: IPA

Green Flash got its start in San Diego and its name from the optical phenomena that can occur at sunset or sunrise. The brewery’s West Coast IPA is a slightly hazy amber color with aromas of floral and piney hops. Drink it and you get orange and tangerine that moves on to pine hops with some bitterness at the finish. 

ABV: 7.0%

Availability: Year round

Sierra Nevada Celebration Fresh Hop IPA

Style: IPA

Each year, Sierra Nevada travels to the Pacific Northwest to hand-select some of the finest hops and then races home “to capture citrus, pine, and floral notes at their absolute peak.” Celebration, which the brewery is not alone in calling “the perfect winter beer,” is a clear bright amber with aromas of green hops. Drinking it, there’s a clean, crisp flavor of floral and pine hops with a bit of bitterness. Sierra Nevada's been brewing this beer annually for 40 years, so they’ve definitely got it dialed in for the holiday season.

ABV: 6.8%

Availability: Seasonal

Figueroa Mountain Brewing 12th Anniversary Smoked Eisbock

Style: Eisbock

To mark their 12th year of brewing, Figueroa Mountain wanted to do something celebratory. The result is a Bamberg-style Smoked Eisbock brewed with smoked malts imported from Germany. Aged in Wild Turkey and Old Forester bourbon barrels, the beer is a slightly hazy chestnut in color. Take a sniff and you'll be transported to a happy fireside of your childhood. Drinking this beer, you get a flavor mixture of bourbon, smoke, and malted grains. This beer and Figueroa Mountain are definitely worth celebrating. 

ABV: 13.5%

Availability: Limited

Alaskan Brewing Co. Smoked Porter

Style: Porter

Alaskan first developed their Smoked Porter in 1988, inspired by German rauchbiers brewed with smoked malt. Using local alder wood, Alaskan smokes its malts in small batches before brewing. The result is a dark coffee-colored Porter with aromas of an outdoor campfire in the winter. Take a drink and you definitely get that smoke along with chocolate, coffee, and some mild saltiness. The winner of numerous awards, Smoked Porter can also be aged in the bottle like wine.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Limited

Kulshan Kitten Mittens

Style: Ale

Kulshan calls this winter ale “the perfect beer for those cold months.” In addition to having a terrific name that makes you want to tell everyone what you’re drinking, Kitten Mittens is a dark ruby mahogany color with aromas of coffee, raisins, and figs. Drinking it, you get a chocolate and coffee start before some mild winter spices show up, followed by a slightly boozy finish. 

ABV: 8.0%

Availability: Seasonal

Dogfish Head Fermentation Engastration

Style: Ale

If you’re not familiar with turducken, it’s a dish consisting of a chicken stuffed inside a duck which is then stuffed inside a turkey (all deboned). It’s also a good way to explain the concept of Fermentation Engastration, a collaboration between Dogfish Head and Gastro Obscura. In increasingly larger amounts, the brewery blended rose-scented sake, honey and date mead, hard cider, Muscat wine, and rustic farmhouse ale all into one beer. It truly is the “turducken” of beers. When you open the bottle, you get a luminous hazy light amber with columns of bubbles rising up. It has aromas of strawberries, flowers, peaches, and white grapes. Take a sip of this complex beer and you’re tasting grapes, currants, stone fruit, and wheat along with some fruity booziness at the end. 

ABV: 10.0%

Availability: Limited

Spoetzl Brewery Shiner Holiday Cheer

Style: Ale

Proving that not every holiday beer needs to have the same flavor profile is Shiner Holiday Cheer from Spoetzl. Brewed with Texas pecans and peaches, the beer is a dark amber color with aromas of sweet stone fruit. Drinking it, you get the flavors of pecans, fresh peaches, and some malted grain. This is your go-to if you're looking for some Texas-style holiday cheer.

ABV: 5.4%

Availability: Seasonal

Schell’s Brewery No Frills Pils

Style: Pilsner

Schell’s just puts it out there with this name. The brewery’s No Frills is a German-style Pilsner that’s not purporting to be more than it is. Out of the can, it’s a clear light gold color with honey and malted grain aromas. No Frills is a highly drinkable beer, more malty than hoppy, with just a bit of bitterness at the end to keep you honest. 

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Year round

Port City Brewing Company Tidings Ale

Style: Ale

The story of Tidings Ale from Port City goes back a decade, when it was the first beer the brewery made using local wildflower honey and locally-grown wheat. This Belgian-style ale is a light, hazy pale gold in color with aromas of holiday spices and honey. Drinking it, there are tastes of wheat, honey, coriander, cardamom, and ginger. 

ABV: 8.5%

Availability: Seasonal

Widmer Brothers Brewing Hopcadia

Style: IPA

The latest release from Widmer is a Northwest-style IPA. Hopcadia gets its name from a mythical PNW location where “giant hops grow taller than your house.” The beer is a bright orangey-gold color with a strong scent of pine hops. Drinking it, you get flavors of lemon pith, citrus, and pine hops with some bitterness to finish. 

ABV: 7.3%

Availability: Year round

Brooklyn Brewery Black Ops Barrel Aged Stout

Style: Stout

Out now is the fourth annual release of this collaboration between Kentucky’s Four Roses Distillery and Brooklyn Brewery. Aged in Four Roses small batch bourbon barrels, Black Ops is a Russian Imperial Stout. A brown-black color with aromas of bourbon and bread dough, the beer offers flavors of chocolate, coffee, and vanilla with a warming bourbon flavor at the end. If you want to try Black Ops, you’ll want to hurry as it’s a limited edition and as Brooklyn Brewery states, “We can neither confirm nor deny its existence.”

ABV: 11.5%

Availability: Limited

Devil’s Backbone Vanilla Latte Vienna Lager

Style: Lager

Vanilla Latte Vienna Lager is part of an all-new variety pack from Devil’s Backbone. Along with Vienna Lager from the brewery’s core lineup, the pack also includes Oatmeal Cookie and Apple Pies variants. Vanilla Latte Vienna Lager is a clear orange amber in color, with aromas of baked goods, milky coffee, and malted grains. Drink it and you get flavors of milky coffee, grains, and a sweet vanilla finish. If you want to get into the holiday spirit when you’re trimming the tree, this might be the beer you’re looking for.

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Seasonal

Alpine Beer Company Duet

Style: IPA

Alpine got its start in 1999. Known as the “Home of Pure Hoppiness,” the brewery originally made its home in Alpine, California. Duet is the color of hazy orange marmalade with citrus and pine hop aromas. Take a sip and you get intense hoppy tastes of orange, pine, and grapefruit. 

ABV: 7.0%

Availability: Year round

Topa Topa Brewing Co. Level Line Pale Ale

Style: Ale

Level Line from Topa Topa took home gold GABF honors for English Ale this year. With aromas of pine and tangerine, Level Line is a bright, hazy apple juice color with tight carbonation. Take a sip and you’ll get smooth, hoppy, citrus flavors. Topa Topa likens it to "a creek running through the forest” and we tend to agree.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Year round

Kulshan Brewing Company Transporter

Style: Porter

Kulshan refers to its Transporter as a gateway beer. According to the brewery, it’s “light, smooth and endlessly drinkable.” The GABF gold medal winner in the Brown Porter category, Transporter is a dark, ebony cola color with aromas of dark malts and coffee. Drinking it, this amazingly drinkable porter has tastes of bread, cocoa, and coffee. 

ABV: 5.1%

Availability: Year round

10 Barrel Brewing Co. Gindulgence

Style: Sour

The GABF gold medal winner for Specialty Berliner-Style Weisse is Gindulgence. This is the seventh release from tinyHAUS, 10 Barrel’s brewery within a brewery. Brewed with Oregon peaches and German chamomile, Gindulgence is a slightly hazy sour with aromas of gin botanicals, juniper, peach, and light chamomile. This fascinating beer starts off with fruit and floral tastes, then kicks in with the botanicals. 

ABV: 3.9%

Availability: Limited

Sunriver Brewing Co. Rippin NW Pale Ale

Style: Pale Ale

Rippin is the GABF gold medal winner in the American-Style Pale Ale category. Described by Sunriver as a “NW Pale Ale,” the beer pours a light, bright gold color with hoppy aromas of pine and conifers. Its flavor profile is likened to a walk through a pine forest on a summer day.  

ABV: 6.0%

Availability: Year round

Wye Hill Brewing Luminous Beings

Style: Ale

“An ultramodern meditation on the relationship between hops & yeast,” Luminous Beings from Wye Hill took home the GABF Gold in the Juicy/Hazy Pale Ale category. This is a hazy lemon color with nice effervescence. The beer has aromas of orange, pineapple, and citrus hops. Drinking it, there's a refreshing, mouthwatering start of white grape flavors and a bit of a grapefruit peel finish.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Limited

Our Mutual Friend Brewing Co. Saison Trystero

Style: Ale

Saison Trystero from Our Mutual Friend won GABF gold in the Brett Beer category. Brett AKA Brettanomyces is a form of wild yeast that can add a distinctive funkiness, spice, and tartness to a beer. Out of its bottle, Saison Trystero is a hazy, light-straw color with funky aromas of white grapes and strawberries. Drinking it, you get some bright fruit before moving on to some bitterness and a healthy dose of farm funk from the Brettanomyces.

ABV: 6.86%

Availability: Limited

Roadmap Brewing Co. Alright, Alright, Alright

Style: Lager

Roadmap describes Alright, Alright, Alright as a “crisp, clean, and approachable lager.” The GABF gold medal winner in the International-Style Pilsener category was inspired by the movie Dazed and Confused. The beer is a dazzling, clear gold in color with aromas of corn and fresh grain. Take a taste and you get crisp, clean flavors of corn and freshly picked grain. It’s a beer that, in the words of McConaughey’s David Wooderson, is "Alright, Alright, Alright."

ABV: 4.5% 

Availability: Year Round

pFriem Family Brewers Mexican Lager

Style: Lager

pFriem won GABF gold in the Australasian, Latin American, or Tropical Light Lager category for its Mexican Lager. Brewed with malted barley and flaked maize, the beer is a luminous straw color with steady carbonation and frothy white foam. It has aromas of bread dough and lemon. When you take a drink, there are floral flavors, as well as tastes of green apple and corn before a mild hop finish.

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Seasonal

Creature Comforts Brewery Classic City Lager

Style: Lager

“Our goal with Classic City Lager,” writes Creature Comforts, “has always been to provide the kind of straightforward beer you would be proud to call your local lager.” Gold winner in the American Pilsener category, Classic City is a clear gold color with lots of champagne-like bubbles. Take a sniff, and you get malted grains and grass with some mild honey sweetness. The beer tastes of grass and grains with some skunkiness. 

ABV: 4.2%

Availability: Year round

Kulshan Brewing Company Gose

Style: Sour

Taking home the GABF gold for German Sour Ale was Kulshan Gose. The brewery calls this German-style sour “ridiculously drinkable.” Out of the bottle, the beer is clear and light gold with thin lines of bubbles rising up the glass. Gose has aromas of grains, lemon, and spice. On the palate, you'll pick up tartness and some salt along with mild fruit flavors of pear and lemon. 

ABV: 3.9%

Availability: Year round

Sudwerk Brewing Co. The People’s Pilsner

Style: Lager

You know a beer is great when it wins gold at the Great American Beer Festival. But when it wins gold two years in a row? Then you know it’s special. Just like in 2021, The People’s Pilsner from Sudwerk brought home GABF gold winner in the Bohemian-Style Pilsener category. The beer pours a stunning gold color with aromas of malt and sweet summer grass. Tasting it, you get flavors of light bread dough and malt followed by some sweetness.

ABV: 5.3% 

Availability: Year Round

Comrade Brewing More Dodge Less RAM

Style: IPA

Winner of GABF gold in the American-Style India Pale Ale category in 2022 and 2019, this beer gets its name from the first celebratory beer after a Dodge Ram truck slammed into the Comrade brewery in October 2016. We need to note that the American-Style India Pale Ale category had 423 entrants, making it the most-entered style in GABF competition. Out of the bottle, the beer is a bright, clear gold in color with mild aromas of pine hops and some mild funkiness. Drinking More Dodge Less RAM, you get splendidly bitter flavors with tastes of pine and mild grapefruit peel.

ABV: 8.1%

Availability: Limited

Highland Brewing Cold Mountain

Style: Ale

Founded by Oscar Wong in 1994, Highland is the first craft brewery to come to Asheville. In its 26th year, the brewery’s Cold Mountain marks the beginning of the holiday season for many beer lovers. The beer is red chestnut in color with aromas of malt and winter spices. It's like Christmas in a bottle with warming flavors of herbal cola and spiced holiday cake and a candied pecan finish.

ABV: 5.9%

Availability: Limited

DSSOLVR Your Dog Here

Style: Pilsner

Brewed as a fundraiser for the Asheville Humane Society, Your Dog Here features pictures of local pooches. Since more than 200 dogs showed up to get their photo taken, the fine folks at DSSOLVR needed to design two cans. The pilsner has aromas of light malt and slightly fruity hoppiness with a bright, classic tasting notes capped off by a mellow, hoppy, dry finish. 

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Limited

Catawba Brewing Co. White Zombie

Style: Ale

Named after North Carolina’s Catawba River, Catawba got its start in 1999. It shouldn’t be a surprise the brewery’s White Zombie was meant as a seasonal Halloween beer. The issue was that it was too good to be confined to October alone. Now a year round part of Catawba’s core lineup, White Zombie pours a clear, light gold with aromas of light grain. Take a sip, and flavors of bright grains and fresh strawberry flood your mouth. 

ABV: 5.1%

Availability: Year round

Burial Beer Co. Dark Bohemian Lager

Style: Lager

The owners of Burial lived in New Orleans and Seattle before setting up stakes in Asheville. Dark Bohemian Lager is mahogany in color with toasty, malty aromas along with notes of light chocolate and dark caramel. There are balanced flavors of roasted malt and toasted bread with some dairy sweetness before a clean finish. 

ABV: 4.2%

Availability: Limited

Wicked Weed Brewing Milk and Cookies

Style: Stout

Opened by two families, Wicked Weed got its start in 2012. Currently, the brewery has three taprooms in Asheville along with Cultura, a fine-dining restaurant focused on fermentation. The brewery’s seasonal Milk and Cookies is a dark brown beer with a frothy tan head. There are aromas of bitter cocoa and cinnamon. Tasting it, there are flavors of dark chocolate, cinnamon, dark fruit, and boozy Irish coffee.

ABV: 8.7%

Availability: Limited

Hi-Wire Brewing Lager

Style: Lager

Hi-Wire got its start in 2013 in what is now the South Slope Brewery District of Asheville. This American lager is one of the brewery’s flagship beers. Light aromas of bright, fresh grain dancein your nose before a sip yields a slightly bitter but pleasant grain profile before a smooth finish. 

ABV: 4.6%

Availability: Year round

White Labs Brewing Company 10th Anniversary Ale

Style: Ale

White Labs got its start selling yeast and fermentation products, but found that one of the best ways to highlight the uniqueness of yeast strains was by brewing its own beer. 10th Anniversary Ale celebrates a decade of White Labs’ brewing operation by offering two variants using two different yeast strains. One has flavors of passionfruit, grapefruit, and vanilla. The other, made with San Diego Super Ale yeast, has hoppy flavors of peach and pine with some resinous undertones.

ABV: 7.5%

Availability: Limited

French Broad River Brewery Gateway Kolsch

Style: Kolsch

Taking its name from the river that runs through Asheville, French Broad has been brewing since 2001. The brewery’s Gateway Kolsch has aromas of toasted grains. Take a sip and you get a more intense toasted bread crust taste with some associated bitterness.

ABV: 5.3%

Availability: Year round

Fonta Flora Brewery Nebo Pilsner

Style: Pilsner

Fonta Flora got its start in Morganton, NC, in 2013. A year later, the brewery won its first gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival. This pilsner gets its name from the town of Nebo, where the brewery’s Whippoorwill Farm taproom and brewhouse are located. Nebo pours clear gold with a big head of frothy white foam. Take a sniff and you’ll get bright fresh grains and grass notes. A pilsner bite comes when you take a sip, followed by a toasted grain flavor and a smooth finish. 

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Seasonal

Wedge Brewing Co. Julian Price Pilsner

Style: Pilsner

Wedge got going in 2008 and the brewery’s Julian Price gets its name from a philanthropist who helped revitalize Asheville in the 1990s. The beer is a clear gold in color with aromas of bright golden grains and malt. Drinking it, there’s a mouth-filling start accompanied by a snappy, refreshing pilsner taste, ending with a mellow, dry finish. 

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Year round

Eurisko Beer Company Italian Pilsner

Style: Pilsner

Eurisko is a small walk-up brewery that opened in 2018 near Asheville’s South Slope Brewing District. The brewery’s Italian pilsner is a light straw color with aromas of bright grains and grasses. Drinking it, there are flavors of malted grains along with some bitterness toward the end.

ABV: 4.2%

Availability: Limited

Asheville Brewing Company Ninja Porter

Style: Porter

One of the earliest breweries in town, Asheville Brewing has been “Keeping Asheville Hoppy since 1998!” The brewery’s Ninja Porter took home a gold medal at the World Beer Cup in 2014. The beer is a dark walnut brown with strong aromas of roasted malts and coffee. Ninja creeps up on you with flavors of mild chocolate, rum raisin, dark fruit, and dark malt.

ABV: 5.6%

Availability: Year round

New Holland Brewing Co. Lightpoint Peak Functional White Ale

Style: Ale

Lightpoint Peak is the fall/winter variant of New Holland’s low-calorie, low alcohol Lightpoint. Brewed with coconut water, raw honey, and orange peel, Lightpoint Peak is a pale gold color with aromas of nutmeg, clove, and orange peel. Drinking it, there’s a bunch of winter spice that gives you the feeling of a bigger beer. At 86 calories, this is a light beer that’s punching above its weight class in terms of flavor.

ABV: 3.7%

Availability: Seasonal

Perrin Brewing Co. 59-10

Style: IPA

The name 59-10 comes from Perrin’s street address in Comstock Park, MI. Made with “old-school and new-age hops” the brewery calls this beer “a traditional IPA with a modern twist.” Out of the can, it’s a warm yellow color with a hefty whiff of pine and grapefruit hops. Take a sip and you get those hops and grapefruit peel with a bitter finish. 

ABV: 7.0%

Availability: Year round

Topa Topa Brewing Company Dos Topas Lager

Style: Lager

Started in Ventura, CA, Topa Topa gets its name from the Topatopa Mountains to the east. The brewery’s Dos Topas has aromas of malted grain and corn and is a clear, light straw color. The tasting notes on the can read “cracker, maize, crisp” and that’s what you get. Biscuit and corn flavors make this easy drinking beer go down smooth. 

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Year round

Pike Brewing Company 5X Stout

Style: Stout

5X Stout is one of the classic recipes that Pike has recently updated. Now hitting at a slightly higher ABV, this dark brown stout has a boozy aroma along with cacao beans and light creamed coffee. Drinking 5X, you get a milky, creamy start that turns toward roasted coffee beans and finishes dry and bitter. This robust and toasty beer will keep you warm in the colder months to come.

ABV: 8.2%

Availability: Year round

Weldwerks Brewing Peach Pie

Style: Sour

This Berlin-style sour from Weldwerks looks like peach purée when you pour it out of the can. It smells like a peach pie with cinnamon. Take a sniff and you get peach, apple, fresh coconut, and baked crust. Drinking it, there’s a tart peachy flavor then peach and cinnamon with coconut running through it. Somehow, despite hitting all the right notes for peach pie, this isn’t an overly sweet beer, making it super drinkable.

ABV: 5.1%

Availability: Limited

Offshoot Brewing Co. Beer Relax (It’s Just a Hazy IPA)

Style: IPA

Patrick Rue, the founder of The Bruery, once made a promise to never brew an IPA. And it’s true, The Bruery hasn’t. But that’s where Offshoot comes in. It's a subsidiary of The Bruery that's focused on hop-forward beers. Relax is the color of hazy mango juice with a clean citrus hoppy aroma, almost restrained. Take a sip and you get a reserved, yet full-bodied IPA that’s highly drinkable. It’s a little bit yeasty and bready with mild pine resin flavor. 

ABV: 6.8%

Availability: Year round

Enegren Brewing Co. The Lightest One

Style: Lager

Enegren is simply being honest with the name of this beer. Of the brewery’s German-centric lineup of beers, this Munich-style Helles lager is The Lightest One. The beer is a clear gold color with Champagne-like carbonation and topped with a head of frothy foam. Clean malted grains dominate the aroma. Drinking it you get grains and biscuit with some bitterness at the end. Grilling outside before it gets too cold? This is a great companion. 

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Year round

Wallenpaupack Brewing Co. Hawley Hefeweizen

Style: Wheat beer

This hefeweizen took home gold this year at the World Beer Awards in the Wheat Beer category. Named after Wallenpaupack’s hometown of Hawley, PA, the beer has plenty of Champagne carbonation in a mildly hazy, almost clear golden wheat color. The beer smells of bubble gum and banana. It has a sweet bubble gum flavor that gives way to mild banana and finally a dry finish with a bit of clove. 

ABV: 5.1%

Availability: Year round

Wild Barrel Brewing Company Hipster Marshmallow Stout

Style: Stout

This imperial pastry stout from Wild Barrel is made with marshmallow fluff, real marshmallows, Madagascar bourbon vanilla beans, and Belgian chocolate. As a result, this dark stout smells like vanilla, dark chocolate and, yes, marshmallow. Drinking it, you taste the chocolate and vanilla with a warming boozy taste at the end, plus a litte more nice chocolate. If you’re looking for a high-octane dessert beer, check this one out.

ABV: 13.0%

Availability: Limited

Wye Hill Sun For Miles Hefeweizen

Style: Wheat beer

Wye Hill gets its name from a triangular railroad junction known as a wye. The brewery sits above a wye in Raleigh, NC, with a view of the city’s downtown area. Sun For Miles is a slightly hazy wheat color with aromas of banana, clove, and wheat. According to Wye Hill, these are “traditional notes” that “transcend both time and space.” You taste the banana and wheat when you take a sip with a heady hit of cloves that stays with you.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Limited

Sunriver Brewing Company Lager Land Revival Vienna Lager

Style: Lager

Sunriver got its start on July 4, 2012 as a family-owned brewpub. The Sunriver, OR, brewery says its location near Mt. Bachelor offers some of the purest water in the nation. The brewery’s Revival pours a light red amber color with toasty malted grains. The flavor is crisp and malty with a slight bitterness at the end. Drinking it, it feels like that first breeze that lets you know it’s autumn. 

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Limited

Iron Hill Brewery Snow Globe Pils

Style: Pilsner

If you want to try this beer, you’re going to need a subscription. Snow Globe is the first exclusive beer announced as part of Iron Hill’s IHBeer Club, a craft beer box subscription that will be going out four times a year. The beer is a light straw gold in color with floral, honeysuckle, and melon aromas with some grain mixed in. Take a taste and you'll find it fits the bill of a crisp Italian pilsner with some bitterness at the end. 

ABV: 4.9%

Availability: Limited

Breckenridge Brewery Funslinger Lager

Style: Lager

A collaboration between Breckenridge and Never Summer Industries, this lager is named after the latter company’s Funslinger snowboard. The beer pours clear and golden in color with light carbonation. It has aromas of sweet bread dough and tasting notes of malted grain to start with a backbone of cereal grains.

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Year round

New Belgium Brewing Oakspire Bourbon Barrel Ale

Style: Ale

New Belgium calls Oakspire “the bourbon for beer drinkers.” The brewery has been brewing this holiday special release since 2018 and partnered with Four Roses Distillery this year. Oakspire pours a beautiful, slightly hazy amber with a thick head of foam. It has aromas of vanilla, brown sugar, and caramel with a mild maltiness in the background. Take a sip and you get flavors of vanilla, toffee, and coconut with a hefty bourbon finish. 

ABV: 9.0%

Availability: Limited

Kulshan Brewing Heliotrope

Style: IPA

A heliotrope is a purple flower, but it’s also the name of a popular ridge trail that leads to the base of Washington’s Mount Baker, close to Kulshan’s Bellingham home, as well as this IPA. It has aromas of peach, red berries, and tropical fruit. Drinking it, you get tart grapefruit and grapefruit peel flavors with a pine finish.

ABV: 7.3%

Availability: Year round

Sierra Nevada Cryo Fresh Torpedo

Style: IPA

Sierra Nevada is offering the first nationally available IPA made with Cryo Fresh hops, which are freshly picked hops that are cryogenically frozen and stored at subzero temperatures. According to the brewery, this makes wet hop IPAs possible anytime, not just at harvest. The beer is a straw gold in color with a mellow citrus and berry hoppy aroma. Drinking it, you get a hit of citrus and grapefruit hops with some mild bitterness to finish.

ABV: 7.0%

Availability: Limited

Spoetzl Brewery Shiner Sea Salt & Lime

Style: Lager

When Shiner Sea Salt & Lime was first brewed in 2020, it was a summer seasonal lager. But if you want to drink a little summer sunshine, Spoetzl is now making the beer throughout the year. It's a slightly hazy straw color with the perfect amount of carbonation. There are aromas of freshly squeezed lime and toasted bread. The flavor experience starts off with malted grains and grass before mouth-watering salt and lime peel bring up the rear. 

ABV: 4.0%

Availability: Year round

Ecliptic Brewing Ninth Orbit

Style: Pilsner

Ecliptic brewed this New Zealand-style pilsner to celebrate its ninth anniversary. Ninth Orbit has a hazy apple juice color with continual carbonation. Aromas of pineapple and passion fruit fill your nose as you come in for a sip. The beer has hoppy flavors of pine and tropical fruit with a citrus rind bitterness.

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Limited

Huss Brewing Co. Koffee Kölsch

Style: Kölsch

When you hear coffee beer, you tend to think of porters and stouts. Huss turns that expectation on its ear with a light-bodied kölsch steeped with caramel and hazelnut coffee beans. The beer pours a clear golden straw color with aromas of sweet milky coffee and mild malted grains. On the palate, it has a wheat start that moves to coffee with some lingering hazelnut and caramel at the end. 

ABV: 4.75%

Availability: Year round

10 Barrel Brewing Co. Nature Calls Mountain IPA

Style: IPA

10 Barrel donates a portion of the proceeds from Nature Calls to The Conservation Alliance, an organization that funds and advocates for wild places in North America. This beer is a slightly hazy straw color with aromas of pine and citrus. Drinking it, there are flavors of lemon and tangerine with mild bitterness to balance things out.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Year round

BrewDog Hazy Jane Mango

Style: IPA

BrewDog makes a few fruit varieties of its Hazy Jane, including passionfruit, peach, and mango. The beer is the color of hazy apple juice with strong aromas of mango, apple, and tropical hops. We get mango at the start, which evolves into juicy citrus with some hoppy bitterness at the end.

ABV: 6.2%

Availability: Limited

Roadmap Brewing Co. Peyton Manning’s Forehead

Style: IPA

While it may seem that Peyton Manning’s Forehead is a slight against the NFL Hall of Famer, Roadmap swears it pays tribute to owner/brewer’s childhood hero. “Hell, his daughter’s name is even Peyton,” says a brewery Facebook post. The beer pours a slightly hazy gold color with mild aromas of malted grain. Drinking it, you get flavors of tropical fruit with a nice bitter kick at the end. It is, as it says on the can, “A big beer for a big head.”

ABV: 9.0%

Availability: Limited

Zipline Brewing Co. Key Lime Pie

Style: IPA

Zipline calls this beer a “milkshake IPA,” as it's brewed with vanilla, lime, and milk sugar. Key Lime Pie is the color of hazy yellow grapefruit juice with aromas of lime zest and bread dough. It's true to its advertising: Tasting notes include vanilla, lime, and sugar with a little bitterness to remind you you’re drinking a beer.  

ABV: 8.0%

Availability: Limited

Yards Brewing Co. Doctor Nocturnal Midnight IPA

Style: IPA

We don’t pay too much attention to numbers, but when Doctor Nocturnal from Yards has the ABV of the Beast, you have to take notice. It’s an opaque brown-black color with hoppy aromas of piney hops and resin. Drinking the beer, you get flavors of roasted malts and cola with some mild bitterness at the end.

ABV: 6.66%

Availability: Limited

Port City Brewing Co. Optimal Wit

Style: Witbier

Founded in 2011, Port City was named Small Brewery of the Year at the Great American Beer Festival in 2015. The Alexandria, VA, brewery’s Optimal Wit has twice won gold for Belgian-Style Witbier at GABF, the last time in 2021. The beer pours pale and cloudy yellow, like grapefruit juice, with aromas of yeasty dough along with orange peel and coriander. We pick up flavors of banana, bread dough, and bubble gum with spicy notes of clove and coriander.

ABV: 4.9%

Availability: Year round

Bale Breaker Brewing Company Pilsner

Style: Pilsner

Family-owned Bale Breaker has quite a long history with hops—dating back to 1932. While the family started as Yakima hop farmers, they become brewers. Founded in Yakima, WA, Bale Breaker is the only brewery located on a commercial hops farm. The brewery’s Pilsner is a bright clear yellow-gold with pillowy foam and aromas of grass and grains. Anticipate traditional pilsner bitterness with flavors of grains and toasted bread. 

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Year round

Kulshan Brewing Company Red Cap

Style: Ale

Kulshan won a gold medal at the Washington Beer Awards in 2018 for this Irish-style red ale. The beer from the Bellingham, WA, brewery is a dark amber color with aromas of malted grains and faint honey. There are flavors of cacao bean, coffee, and biscuit with some finishing bitterness. 

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Year round

WeldWerks Brewing Company Juicy Bits

Style: IPA

Greeley, CO-based Weldwerks can trace its roots back to a garage. That’s where, every month, nearly two dozen amateur brewers would come together to try out new recipes. Leading up to the 2014 Big Beers, Belgians, and Barleywines festival, the group agreed that if they could win a medal, they would consider opening a brewery. Eleven months after winning two medals at the festival, Weldwerks was in business. Juicy Bits is the brewery’s flagship IPA. It pours cloudy and grapefruit in color with nice foam and strong aromas of citrus hops, banana, and pineapple. There are appropriately juicy flavors of orange and tangerine, along with a bit of pine and some bread dough at the end. 

ABV: 6.7%

Availability: Year round

10 Barrel Brewing Co. Apocalypse IPA

Style: IPA

10 Barrel was started in Bend, OR, back in 2006 by three owners with one mindset. According to the brewery, this attitude was “Make Beer. Drink Beer. Have Fun Doing It.” This West Coast IPA is a rich clear gold in color with aroma of citrus and pineapple hops. The flavor profile starts with a pineapple blast before a hoppy hit, then a finish of grapefruit rind and rosemary.

ABV: 6.8%

Availability: Year round

Roadmap Brewing Freudian Slip ‘N Slide

Style: Lager

Roadmap got its name from the fact there wasn’t a road map when the brewery got started. In fact, the San Antonio, TX, brewery says the seed that started it all was a home brewing kit the owners received as a wedding present. Roadmap’s Freudian Slip ‘N Slide is a light amber in color with aromas of toasted bread, malted grains, and apples. Drinking this Vienna lager, you get strong roasted grains that lead to apple cider and a cereal finish. 

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Year round

Anderson Valley Brewing Company The Pilsner

Style: Pilsner

Anderson Valley calls The Pilsner “The mother of all beer-flavored-beers.” It pours clear and bright yellow in color with lively carbonation. The Pilsner has bright floral aromas of grains and fresh lemon. That's mirrored on the palate with crisp flavors of malted grains and lingering grapefruit peel bitterness.

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Year round 

Great Lakes Brewing Co. TropiCoastal

Style: IPA

Cleveland might not be the first place you associate with tropical or coastal, but that might change with the latest addition to the Great Lakes' line of IPAs, TropiCoastal. This “hoppy hideaway” pours a clear lemon color with aromas of tropical fruit and citrus hops. Drinking it, you get a strong wave of tropical flavors at the start before heading toward some pine and grapefruit bitterness at the end.

ABV: 6.0%

Availability: Year round

Fremont Brewing Company Golden Pilsner

Style: Pilsner

Fremont’s taproom and beer garden are located in the Seattle neighborhood of the same name. Founded in 2009, the family-owned brewery has grown to become the third largest craft brewer in Washington state. Out of the can, Golden is a light pale straw color with exuberant effervescence. It has an aroma of mild malted grain with some notes of sweetness. We enjoy its flavors of malted grain and bread that ends with slight bitterness.

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Year round

Dogfish Head Wake Up World Wide Stout

Style: Stout

Dogfish Head has made several variants of its World Wide Stout, but the latest one is a real wake-up call. Made with Honduran coffee, plant-based milk, and Grade B maple syrup, Wake Up World Wide Stout is like boozy Sunday morning coffee. It’s a dark, dark beer with aromas of freshly brewed coffee with mild maple sweetness. There are mouthwatering flavors of roasted grains with some smokiness before a boozy coffee finish.

ABV: 17%

Availability: Limited

Dock Street Fifty Thousand Dollar IPA

Style: IPA

If you’ve ever had the winning lottery numbers, but forgot to play them because you stopped at your favorite brewery, this is an excellent consolation prize. Fifty Thousand Dollar was made in honor of a regular who missed out on winning $50,000 because he was hoisting a few at Dock Street. “We felt kinda guilty, so we brewed him a beer,” writes Dock Street. The beer comes out of the can a slight cloudy yellow grapefruit color with a thick head of foam. Take a sniff and you get aromas of citrus hoppiness and lemon. Your palate will be awash in hoppy flavors of lemon and orange peel with some bitterness at the end.

ABV: 6.6%

Availability: Limited

Shades Brewing Carrot Cake Cream Ale

Style: Ale

Sometimes you look at an ingredients list on a beer can and you have no idea how it’s going to work out. Take, for example, this beer brewed with carrots, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, brown sugar, pecans, lactose, and cream cheese powder. Out of the can, it's slightly hazy and the color of apple-mango juice with aromas of nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger. Drinking the beer, it starts off almost like an apple cider, then accurately hits all the notes of a carrot cake, all the way to the icing. It's carrot cake in a can. 

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Limited

Sierra Nevada x Colonel E.H. Taylor Bourbon Barrel-Aged Bigfoot

Style: Ale

It’s going to be tricky getting your hands on this collab between two heavyweights of the beer and spirits industries. It sold out online quickly, so if you want to find Bigfoot, you’re going to have to do some searching. This Barleywine-Style Ale from Sierra Nevada has been aged for seven years with the last year spent in Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. Small Batch Bourbon barrels. It’s Sierra Nevada’s strongest ABV beer ever and the first national beer collaboration for Buffalo Trace (the distillers of Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. Small Batch). Out of the bottle, it's a deep reddish amber with champagne-like bubbles. It has complex aromas of bourbon, maple syrup, and leather. Take a sip—and you’ll want to sip this one—and you'll taste rich flavors of bourbon, bitter cherry, light chocolate, and brown sugar with a satisfying warmth at the end.

ABV: 15.0%

Availability: Limited

Spoetzl Brewery Shiner Tex Hex Twin Dream Double IPA

Style: IPA

When you hear Shiner, you might think of the legendary bock. But Spoetzl—the company that's been making Shiner Bock since 1973—is expanding its lineup. Made with cactus water, Shiner Tex Hex Twin Dream Double IPA is the third of a series of IPAs released in 2022. The beer pours a hazy butterscotch color with a nice thick foam. Twin Dream has aromas of piney hops, citrus, brown sugar, and booziness. The beer starts off with strong resinous flavors on the palate with a hoppy, boozy finish.

ABV: 9.5%

Availability: Limited

Stone Brewing Enjoy By 10.31.22

Style: IPA

There are beers you want to age and others you want to drink fresh. Stone Brewing’s 10.31.22 is rather specific in that the brewery wants you to drink it by Halloween. As the back of the can advises, it’s “frighteningly fresh.” The latest in a series of “Enjoy By” beers, this hazy IPA pours a slightly cloudy orange-copper with a fine head of foam. It has aromas of tropical hops and pine. Enjoy By 10.31.22 has mouthwatering flavors of tropical fruit with a mildly bitter ending.  

ABV: 9.4%

Availability: Limited

New Holland Brewing Company Cabin Fever Brown Ale

Style: Ale

New Holland has released a new seasonal beer to help you get through the upcoming winter months. Cabin Fever pours a vibrant chestnut brown with nice foam. It has mellow aromas of sweet brown bread, molasses, and toasted grains. You'll taste flavors of toffee and dark malted grains with a mild whiskey-like finish.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Seasonal

Figueroa Mountain Agua Santa

Style: Lager 

For Figueroa Mountain, the inspiration behind this “Mexican-inspired lager” was the company’s brewers who gravitated toward crisp lagers at the end of the day. Out of the can, the beer is a light straw color with lots of effervescence and white foam. There are aromas of sweet grains, grass, and green apple. Drinking it, you get a tart start with some lightly toasted grains along with mild lime and sweet corn flavors. 

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Year round

Sudwerk Brewing Suds Buds Pineapple IPA

Style: IPA

Bentley, the mesmerizing dog who graces the can of Sudwerk’s Pineapple IPA, is a Boston terrier/pug mix—aka a “bug.” The brewery suggests you live like Bentley (“stay cool, fill your belly, and most of all, relax”). The first step is cracking open Suds Buds. The fruity, hazy IPA pours like unfiltered grapefruit juice and has big aromas of tropical hops. Drinking it, you get summery flavors of pineapple and tropical hops with some bitterness to finish.

ABV: 7.0%

Availability: Limited

The Bruery Ruekeller Helles

Style: Lager

The Bruery says the production of its Ruekeller Helles-Style lager is “challenging in process, traditional in method.” The proof is in the juice. It pours a clear pale straw in color with champagne-like bubbles. Ruekeller has aromas of yeasty sweetness, honey, and slight hoppiness. It’s full-bodied with herbal flavors and a light citrus lemon bitterness along with a clean finish. 

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Year round

Perrin Brewing Company Pineapple Upside Down IPA

Style: IPA

Perrin’s Pineapple Upside Down is reminiscent of the beloved cake with pineapple rings and maraschino cherries, but how does a brewery get bakery flavors in a beer? For this IPA, the brewery uses wheat and lactose for a “cake-like” body. It looks like unfiltered apple juice with aromas of tropical hops and pineapple. The tasting notes begin with tropical hops, then move on to flavors of creamy pineapple and pineapple candy.

ABV: 8.5%

Availability: Year round

Anderson Valley Brewing Company Black Rice Ale

Style: Ale

Anderson Valley calls its Black Rice Ale “the session beer reimagined.” The beer is brewed with black rice, which is known for high antioxidant levels and a nutty flavor. The beer pours a dark cola-like color with a fluffy head of foam. It has aromas of roast malt and chocolate with a nutty edge. There are flavors of rice cereal, mild cocoa, and light coffee.

ABV: 3.8%

Availability: Year round

Huss Brewing Company Oktoberfest

Style: Märzen

Winner of a silver medal at the 2019 Great American Beer Festival, Oktoberfest from Huss is a traditional Bavarian Märzen. The beer is bright, clear and amber in color with aromas of malted grains and toasted bread. The flavor mimics its smell: toasted grains with some rising malt sweetness at the end. 

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Seasonal

Enegren Brewing Co. Nighthawk Black Lager

Style: Lager

Nighthawk is a German-inspired black beer or schwarzbier from Enegren. It pours a dark cherry black with aromas of dark roasted cacao nibs, toffee, and brown bread dough. We get mellow tastes of darkly malted grains, dark chocolate, coffee, raspberry, and some light chocolate bitterness and minerality. 

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Year round

Wild Barrel Brewing Company Vice Black Currant

Style: Sour

Wild Barrel has been making Vice Black Currant since 2017. The brewery says this Berliner Weisse-Style Ale made with black currants is “reminiscent of a Cabernet/Merlot blend.” Pouring it into a glass, the beer is a hazy grape juice color with some purplish foam. Take a sniff and you get a wave of fruit that includes plums, grapes, and currants. There are refined flavors of purple fruit including currants with a little bit of sourness at the end. 

ABV: 5.6%

Availability: Limited

Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. Davy Brown Ale

Style: Ale

Figueroa Mountain got its start in Buellton, CA, back in 2010. The inspiration for Davy Brown Ale was a recluse pioneer/famed bear hunter of the same name, who lived near Figueroa mountain in the mid-19th century. The gold medal winner for American-style Brown Ale category at last year’s Great American Beer Festival, the beer is like brown cola in color with aromas of darkly roasted malt, toffee, and raisins. We get smooth, dark flavors of malted grains and coffee with some caramel to finish.

ABV: 6.7%

Availability: Year round

Zipline Brewing Co. Dear Old Nebraska Brew

Style: Lager

As Zipline states, this beer is “designed by and for University of Nebraska alumni.” Canned in distinctive Cornhusker red, the beer comes out of the can a clear straw gold with a healthy head of foam. It has aromas of malted grains and grasses. Dear Old Nebraska is perfect for tailgating with easy drinking flavors of malted grains and lightly toasted bread with a bit of mild bitterness at the end.

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Year round

Huss Brewing Co. Juicy Juicy IPA

Style: IPA

When Jeff and Leah Huss opened Huss in 2013, Jeff was brewing the beer, filtering it, and delivering it in their old pickup truck. These days, the brewery is the third largest in Arizona. Juicy Juicy pours a very hazy grapefruit juice color. True to form, it smells of grapefruit peel, tropical hops, and orange. One sip delivers a rush of citrus and apple fruit juice with some bitterness to finish. 

ABV: 6.3%

Availability: Year round

Pike Brewing Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale

Style: Ale

Kilt Lifter has been one of Pike’s best-selling beers since it was first made in 1998. Along with Pike’s recent brand refresh, some of the brewery's long-time favorite recipes were also updated. Kilt Lifter has returned with a slightly boosted ABV and comes out of the can a brownish amber color. It has aromas of lightly malted grains and muted honey. Toasted bread with some sweet molasses and toffee round out the finish on our palate.

ABV: 7.6%

Availability: Year round

Great Divide Brewing Co. Wild Raspberry Ale

Style: Ale

There are times it’s smart to revisit the classics. Wild Raspberry Ale was part of Great Divide’s core lineup until 2012, when the brewery retired the recipe. In 2021, the brewery decided to bring back an updated version. The result was a smash hit. Last year, Wild Raspberry Ale won silver in the American Fruited Ale category at the Great American Beer Festival. The beer comes out of the can a hazy, pink-red color with light-pink foam. There are light aromas of raspberries and bread dough. Take a drink and you get a floral start that moves on to raspberries before a slightly bitter kick at the end.

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Year round

BrewDog Mallow Laser Quest

Style: IPA

According to BrewDog, its Mallow Laser Quest is “an arcade of fruited flavor.” Out of the can, the beer is a light hazy apple juice color with aromas of piney and floral hops. The tasting notes begin with marshmallow, move on to tangy tropical fruit flavors, and come back to marshmallow at the end. 

ABV: 6.2% 

Availability: Limited

Indeed Brewing Company Mexican Honey

Style: Lager

A “floral fiesta for the senses” according to Indeed, Mexican Honey is an imperial lager made with Mexican orange blossom honey. As you'd expect, the beer pours honey in color with bright white foam. It has aromas of orange blossom and biscuit with a teasing thread of honey. Your palate is rewarded with smooth flavors of malted grains and floral honey.

ABV: 8.0%

Availability: Limited

Enegren Brewing Company Valkyrie

Style: German-style Amber

Founded in 2010, Enegren focuses on German-inspired beers. The Moorpark, CA, brewery’s Valkyrie is based on the German altbier (“old beer”) style. The beer is a deep copper-amber in color with a nice foamy head. When you take a sniff, you get roasted grains and mild spice. A clean-tasting malt gives way to toasted bread and some light bitterness.

ABV: 6.2%

Availability: Year round

Our Mutual Friend Brewing Inner Light

Style: Ale

In 2021, Inner Light took home the gold medal in the Australian Pale Ale category at the Great American Beer Festival (and a bronze the year before). The beer from Denver’s Our Mutual Friend is a slightly cloudy gold in color and has aromas of piney, tropical, and fruity hops. Inner Light has mouthwatering flavors of lemon, guava, pine, and grapefruit peel, along with a bitter finish. 

ABV: 6.1% 

Availability: Year round

Wild Barrel Brewing Company Vice Apricot Peach

Style: Sour

It didn't take long for San Diego's Wild Barrel to get acclaim. Just six months after opening, Beer Advocate named it one of the best new breweries of 2018. You know exactly what you're in for with Vice Apricot Peach. It pours the color of hazy peach juice with aromas of ripe peaches and mild wheat. On the palate, we get a mild sour kick of apricots and peaches that tastes like summer in a can. 

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Limited

Dos Luces Brewery Chicha Inti

Style: Corn beer

Dos Luces opened in Denver in 2018. Unlike most barley-based breweries, Dos Luces uses corn as its core grain. Chicha Inti is made with malted Colorado blue corn with cloves. The gluten-free beer is a light pink color, like pink lemonade. It has the aroma  of yellow cake, vanilla, and corn. Drinking it, there’s a sugar sweetness along with flavors of malted corn and sweet dough.

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Year round

Backwoods Brewing Company Copperline Amber Ale

Style: Ale

Located in Carson, WA, along the Columbia River, Backwoods started brewing on a one-barrel system in 2012. Having grown to a 20-barrel system, the brewery’s beer can be found across the Northwest. Copperline is a rich amber in color with aromas of darkly toasted malts. Drinking it, you get flavors of toasted bread, caramel, and honey.

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Year round

Firestone Walker Brewing Company Parabolita

Style: Stout

This salted caramel stout is the first canned vintage beer from Firestone Walker as well as the first release in the Parabolita series. The beer was created by combining a Parabola imperial stout (aged in bourbon barrels for a year) with Velvet Merkin, a barrel-aged milk stout. Then for good measure, Firestone added vanilla beans, cocoa nibs, and sea salt. The beer pours as black as a moonless night with a big head of tan foam. It has aromas of salted caramel and chocolate cookies. Tasting notes include dark chocolate, sweet salted caramel, vanilla, and some mild bitterness.

ABV: 9.2%

Availability: Limited

Cigar City Brewing Florida Man

Style: IPA

According to Cigar City, this beer pays tribute to “the world’s worst superhero” aka Florida Man. It pours like hazy apple cider with a big head of fluffy foam. It has clean aromas of tropical fruit peel with some floral notes. Flavors of orange and sweet grapefruit juice as well as moderate bitterness make this an easy sipper.

ABV: 8.5%

Availability: Year round

Crux Fermentation Project Bubble Wrap Hazy IPA

Style: IPA

Crux says that when you’re searching for the next great hazy IPA “safety is not guaranteed.” This may explain why the Bend, OR, brewery calls Bubble Wrap “dangerously delicious.” The beer is the color of hazy lemon juice with a lively white head of foam. Smelling it, you get hoppy citrus and tropical fruits. We taste bread dough, tropical flavors of pineapple and mango, as well as some orange peel. 

ABV: 6.2%

Availability: Year round

Russian River Brewing Supplication Sour Brown Ale

Style: Ale

For Supplication, Russian River ages brown ale in used pinot noir barrels from Sonoma County wineries. After adding sour cherries, brettanomyces, lactobacillus, and pediococcus, the beer ages for about a year. The result is a hazy amber color with aromas of cherries, caramel, and mild funkiness. Supplication has complex flavors of tart cherries and red wine with a funkiness that lingers briefly.

ABV: 7.0%

Availability: Year round

Farmstrong Brewing Co. Skagit Pilsner

Style: Pilsner

Mt. Vernon, WA, is surrounded by fertile farmland, so the local Farmstrong brewery is making use of that bounty. All of the brewery’s beers, including Skagit Pilsner, are made with local grain. The beer pours a clear light straw color with bread dough aromas along with some mild honey. Taste it, and you get light biscuity flavors and a mild bitter finish.

ABV: 3.7%

Availability: Year round

Great Lakes Brewing Co. Blackout Stout

Style: Stout

This imperial stout from Great Lakes commemorates the Northeast blackout of 2003, when 55 million people in the United States and Canada lost power. Out of the bottle, the color is as advertised with some mild redness at the edge of the glass. Blackout has aromas of dark malted grains and chocolate-covered cherries. Dark chocolate and some stone fruit sweetness give way to a warming boozy finish.

ABV: 9.9%

Availability: Limited

Creature Comforts Brewing Co. Tropicália

Style: IPA

Creature Comforts says its flagship IPA Tropicália is “balanced, soft, and juicy.” Out of the can, it’s a slightly hazy peach-gold color with a big head of white foam. It has aromas of mango, tropical fruit, and citrus. Taste the beer and you get a wave of mango and pineapple with some mild bitterness to finish.

ABV: 6.6%

Availability: Year round

New Holland Brewing Co. Dragon’s Milk

Style: Stout

New Holland says that “dragon’s milk” has been a term used to describe potent ales and they're continuing that tradition with this bourbon barrel-aged stout. A deep black-brown in color, the beer has aromas of chocolate, caramel, and bourbon. Take a taste and you get flavors of darkly roasted chocolate and caramel with a warming bourbon-like finish.

ABV: 11.0%

Availability: Year round

Shades Brewing Berliner Weisse Ale with Plum

Style: Ale

Berliner Weisse is a sour wheat beer style that goes all the way back to the 16th century. Today, it’s often served with flavored syrups to help balance out the sourness of the beer. Shades skips the syrup and heads in a different direction by using a “considerable amount” of plums. Out of the can, the beer is the color of pink lemonade with white foam. It smells of plum, bright red wine, and red licorice. Drinking the beer, you get a smooth creamy plum tartness with a pastry finish.  

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Year round

Kona Brewing Co. Big Wave Golden Ale

Style: Ale

Since 2011, Big Wave Golden Ale from Kona has taken home 10 awards from events such as the Best of Craft Beer Awards and the US Open Beer Championship. Out of the bottle, the beer pours a light gold with lines of continuing carbonation. Take a sniff and you get aromas of grapefruit peel, grass, and bread dough. On the palate, malted grains flavor with some hoppy bitterness at the end. 

ABV: 4.4%

Availability: Year round

Karbach Brewing Co. Love Street Blonde

Style: Ale

During the late 1960s, Houston’s Love Street Light Circus Feel Good Machine was the psychedelic place to be. Karbach is celebrating that state of mind with Love Street, a Kölsch-style Blonde. The beer is a clear yellow-gold with some nice carbonation. It has aromas of bread dough and floral hops. It has a sweet yeast flavor with floral notes at the tail end.

ABV: 4.9%

Availability: Year round

Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company München on Pumpkin

Style: Lager

Devil’s Backbone says you won’t have to choose between Oktoberfest and pumpkin spice with München on Pumpkin. According to the brewery, it’s “the best of both worlds.” In the glass, it's a bright orange-amber color with aromas of nutmeg, allspice, and cinnamon. It has flavors of pumpkin and biscuit along with nutmeg, cinnamon, and mild clove.

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Limited

Matchless Brewing Easy Being Green

Style: IPA

Matchless is located in the town of Tumwater, former home to Olympia Brewery. It’s also close enough to the hop fields of Eastern Washington that the brewery can get the freshest hops available, especially at harvest time. Easy Being Green is a fresh hop hazy IPA. The beer is a hazy apple juice color with big aromas of fresh, floral hops and bubble gum. The taste follows with the green freshness of the hops weaving around fruit flavors.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Limited

Anderson Valley Brewing Company Juicy Session IPA

Style: IPA

Juicy Session is part the Anderson Valley’s rotational IPA series (along with Crisp, Double, and West Coast IPAs). The beer is a slightly hazy lemon color with some foam lacing. Take a sniff and you get piney hops and pineapple aromas. Juicy Session has flavors of grapefruit and orange zest with some mild bitterness rounding it out at the end.

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Seasonal

Wallenpaupack Brewing Co. For the Love of Lager German-Style Dark Lager

Style: Lager

Founded in 2017 by Rebecca Ryman, Wallenpaupack is located adjacent to Lake Wallenpaupack in Hawley, PA. This beer is part of a series that also includes a Japanese rice lager and a zwickelbier (unfiltered German lager). It pours a very dark mahogany with voluminous tan foam. There are aromas of toasted pecans, caramel, roasted malts, and cacao. Drinking it, there’s a dry dark chocolate bitterness and malted grains. 

ABV: 4.6%

Availability: Limited

Seismic Brewing Company Alluvium California Pilsner

Style: Lager

Alluvium from Seismic is made with California-grown malted barley. The beer is a bright gold color with a white foam and a rising curtain of bubbles. Alluvium has aromas of floral hops, grains, and bread dough. Drinking it, there's a pilsner funkiness at the start before a lingering hops finish.

ABV: 5.0% 

Availability: Year round

Ecliptic Altair Fresh Hop IPA

Style: IPA

To celebrate the recent hop harvest, Ecliptic is using ADHA 218. The Association for the Development of Hop Agronomy (hence the ADHA) says this particular variety of hops has notes of sweet fruit, lime, banana, and strawberry along with floral and bubble gum hints. The beer is a clear amber gold color with aromas of strawberry, melon, and floral hops. Drinking it, the flavor starts with pine hops before moving into more subtle red berry flavors.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Limited

Zipline Daaang! IPA

Style: IPA

Zipline says this IPA was “so dank and tangy” that the name was obvious. Daaang! comes out of the can a hazy lemon juice color with bright white foam. There are aromas of resinous pine hops, mandarin orange, and banana. Take a drink and you get a citrus blast followed by a hoppy, piney, mouthwatering dankness and a bitter finish. 

ABV: 8.0%

Availability: Year round

Alaskan Brewing Co. Winter Ale

Style: Ale

Alaskan has been brewing Winter Ale since 2000. Spruce tips, picked near the town of Gustavus, give off a light citrus flavor when boiled. Winter Ale is a pure amber color with aromas of piney hops and some background citrus. Take a taste and you get flavors of piney hops and sweet malted grains.

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Seasonal

Our Mutual Friend Brewing Company Lava Loop

Style: Stout

Made with cocoa nibs, vanilla, cinnamon, and dried chilis, Lava Loop is a Mexican-style imperial stout from Our Mutual Friend in Denver. The beer is thoroughly black in color with dark brown foam. There are aromas of peppers, cinnamon, and dark spicy chocolate. Tasting notes begin with dark chocolate and roasted malts before moving on to cinnamon spice and a nice lingering chili burn.

ABV: 10%

Availability: Limited

Perrin Brewing Co. Blackberry IPA

Style: IPA

Coming in right at the cusp of summer and fall is a seasonal IPA from Perrin. Brewed with fresh hops and ripened blackberries, this beer is the color of cranberry juice with a healthy head of pink foam. Smelling the beer, you get mostly blackberry with some lurking herbal hops. Blackberries dominate the taste to start, followed by floral hops and a citrus zest bitterness to finish.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Seasonal

Cloudburst Brewing Beautiful Distraction

Style: IPA

The can for Cloudburst's Beautiful Distraction was designed by Joey Veltkamp, an artist whose medium is typically quilts. Profits from the beer are going to the Seattle-based Lavender Rights Project. The beer is the color of lemon curd and settles with a nice foam head. It has bright aromas of pineapple and other tropical fruit. Drinking it, there are mouthwatering tastes of citrus rind and pine resin with a mellow hop finish.

ABV: 6.6%

Availability: Limited            

Harpoon Brewery Dunkin’ Pumpkin

Style: Ale

What could be more New England than Dunkin’ Donuts and beer? Harpoon made this collaborative “spice latte ale” with pumpkin puree, cinnamon, Dunkin’ cold brew, and oat milk. The result is a beer with the color of unfiltered apple cider and the smell of cinnamon, allspice, and pumpkin. Drink Dunkin’ Punkin and you get a spicy start with some pumpkin before a milky coffee finish.

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Limited

Call to Arms Operation Stein Grabber

Style: Lager

Formerly known as Shirtless Putin Catchin’ Rays, this dark Czech lager from Call to Arms was renamed Operation Stein Grabber after the invasion of Ukraine. It's clear chestnut in color with aromas of vanilla, hops, spice, and an ethereal maltiness. Drinking it, there’s a malted grain start with toasted cocoa and light bitterness.

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Limited

Shades Brewing Kveik 1

Style: Sour

Kveik 1 from Shades was the gold medal winner at the 2018 Great American Beer Festival for American-style sour ale (it also picked up a bronze in 2021). Dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin hops, Kveik 1 pours like a hazy lemon drop with some foam lacing. The American-style golden sour ale smells of citrus pulp, fermented grains, and stone fruit. The taste starts with tangy, sour white grape and finishes with a bread dough flavor that lingers.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Year round

Howdy Beer Western Pilsner

Style: Lager

The winner of a bronze and a silver for pilsners at the Great American Beer Festival, Howdy mixes is a low-ABV brew that's highly drinkable. It pours very light, almost the color of chardonnay, and has mild aromas of grains and grass. It has a light pilsner body with mild bitterness that doesn’t linger for too long.

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Year round

Pike Brewing Waterfront

Style: IPA

Pike has been brewing in Seattle’s Pike Place Market since 1989. The brewery just got a new logo and a new group of beers to go with it, including Waterfront. This IPA has a cloudy apple juice appearance with a hoppy citrus aroma and some pine in the background. You get a smooth hoppy flavor with some dry bitterness at the end. 

ABV: 6.3%

Availability: Year round

New Holland Brewing Co. Ichabod Pumpkin Ale

Style: Pumpkin Ale

Want to relive the legend of Sleepy Hollow? Give New Holland's Ichabod a try. The beer is made with malted barley and real pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Ichabod pours a beautiful orange-amber color that's slightly hazy. Take a sniff and you’re hit with nutmeg first, then cinnamon, pumpkin, and orange. Drink it and you’re right in the middle of a squash fest with cinnamon and ginger riding up behind.

ABV: 4.6% 

Availability: Seasonal

Zipline Brewing Co. Copper Alt.

Style: German Altbier

Founded in Lincoln, NE, by two attorneys and an orthopedic surgeon, Zipline has been brewing since 2012. The brewery’s Copper Alt. has won gold medals for altbier at the Great American Beer Festival and the U.S. Open Beer Championship. Out of the can, Copper Alt. is a dark copper with a head that dissipates slowly. It has aromas of brown bread and toasted malt with some fruit notes. Tasting it, there's dark toasted malt with a hazelnut and cacao nib finish.

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Year round

Parish Brewing Co. Ghost in the Machine

Style: IPA

Located in Broussard, LA, Parish has been brewing since 2003. According to the brewery, the Ghost in the Machine or collective human consciousness has gained a tolerance for hops like never before. Out of the bottle, this double IPA is a cloudy custard color, almost milky. Smelling it, you get plenty of citrus and tropical hops. Take a sip and you’re in for a ride, moving through grapefruit, pineapple, and tangerine zest flavors on the way to a mildly piney finish.

ABV: 8.5%

Availability: Year round

Ecliptic Brewing Extra Juicy Pale Ale

Style: Pale Ale

Extra Juicy Pale Ale is actually a collaboration between Portland, Oregon’s Ecliptic and Seattle’s Holy Mountain. Ecliptic promises “surreal amounts of juiciness.” Out of the can, the beer is a bright gold with healthy amounts of carbonation and foam. It has tropical hops aromas, as well as stone fruit and mango. A mouthwatering medley of tropical flavors including pineapple, mango, and melon wash over your taste buds.

ABV: 6%

Availability: Limited

Call to Arms Brewing Peach Aggro Crag

Style: IPA

Started by three veterans of the brewing world (specifically Avery Brewing), Call to Arms got its start in 2015. The Denver brewery’s Peach Aggro Crag is a Double IPA made with peach puree. It pours a hazy light gold with peach residue and has aromas of stone fruit and floral hops. Peach Aggro Crag starts with some hoppiness and ends with a peach pop.

ABV: 8.2%

Availability: Limited

Samuel Adams Jack-O Pumpkin Ale

Style: Pumpkin Ale

Samuel Adams pulls out the pumpkin for this seasonal ale brewed with lemon peel. Jack-O pours hazy with a mild amber hue and voluminous foam. Take a sniff and you’ll get plenty of spices—cinnamon, nutmeg, clove—with some sweet pumpkin, too. Expect tasting notes of spice, brown sugar, and pumpkin with some biscuit undertones.

ABV: 4.4%

Availability: Seasonal

Kona Brewing Co. Longboard Island Lager

Style: Lager

Kona was founded in 1994 by father and son team, Cameron Healy and Spoon Khalsa. The Kailua-Kona, HI, brewery considers its beer to be a “Liquid Aloha.” Longboard has taken home four silvers and a bronze at the Great American Beer Festival, with other honors too numerous to list. Out of the bottle, the beer is a dazzling bright gold with plenty of carbonation. It has aromas of fresh grass and grains. Tasting Longboard, there are flavors of mild sweet lemon, honey, and lightly toasted grains.

ABV: 4.6%

Availability: Year round

Our Mutual Friend Brewing Company Small Hold Table Saison with Raspberries

Style: Sour

When Our Mutual Friend opened in 2012, its owners put a focus on community. The people behind the Denver brewery wanted to make beers with “a sense of place” including making as many 100% Colorado-grown beers as possible. Small Hold comes out of the can the color of guava juice with some light pink foam. It has a little funkiness and aromas of raspberries and biscuits. It has a strong funky kick on the front side, which ebbs into flavors of fresh raspberries.

ABV: 3.3%

Availability: Limited

Redhook Brewery Lagersquatch Lager

Style: Lager

With Lagersquatch, Redhook is combining lager malts with hops that are typically used in West Coast IPAs. The result pours a clear gold with an aroma of mildly sweet grain. Drinking it, you find a traditional crisp lager with a touch of hops running through it.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Year round

Stone Brewing 26th Anniversary Imperial IPA

Style: IPA

Stone is celebrating its 26th anniversary with a complex IPA that packs a celebratory punch at 9.7% ABV. It pours a tangerine-gold in color. You also get a perfume of boozy hops. There’s a lot going on flavor-wise—bright, piney hops; grapefruit, melon, and stone fruit; floral notes, and plenty of fizz. It’s quite the party in a can.

ABV: 9.7%

Availability: Limited

Russian River Brewing Company STS Pils

Style: Lager

This German-style pilsner from Russian River gets its name from the three-letter code for the Sonoma County airport. It comes out of the bottle a light gold color with nice bubbly effervescence. STS has aromas of yeasty dough, malt, and mild honey. Drinking it, you get clean flavors of floral hops and biscuit dough.

ABV: 5.35%

Availability: Year round

Great Divide Pumpkin Spice Yeti

Style: Stout

Love or hate it, pumpkin spice season cannot be ignored. The days grow colder, leaves start to turn, and cinnamon and nutmeg are suddenly in every beverage. Great Divide’s contribution is Pumpkin Spice Yeti Imperial Stout. Brewed with coffee and the aforementioned spices, the beer is black with a large head of light brown foam. It has aromas of clove, cinnamon, and java. Take a sip and you'll get tastes of coffee beans, cinnamon, and nutmeg with a boozy finish. 

ABV: 9.5%

Availability: Seasonal

Left Hand Brewing Co. Pumpkin Spice Latte Nitro

Style: Pumpkin Ale

Left Hand asserts, “When the Mainstream goes right, we go left.” Accordingly, the Longmont, CO-brewery puts its own spin on pumpkin spice by adding coffee and spices to a nitro pumpkin ale. The beer pours a hazy orange color with a nice nitro head. PSL Nitro has strong aromas of pumpkin puree, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves—kind of like a pie that’s just about to go into the oven. Drinking it, you get squash and cinnamon with a little ginger burn and a mild coffee finish.

ABV: 7.0%

Availability: Limited

New Holland Brewing Co. Golden Sails

Style: Lager

According to New Holland, Golden Sails was inspired by area sailboats as well as Holland, Michigan’s working windmill. The beer has a classic lager appearance; it pours a clear gold with plenty of foam and lasting effervescence. Take a sniff and you’ll get aromas of grain and sweet bread dough. It's a full-bodied lager with a clean taste of sweet grains.

ABV: 5.3%

Availability: Year round

Seismic Brewing Co. Megathrust

Style: IPA

Founded in 2017, Seismic is dedicated to sustainability. Powered completely by renewable energy, the Santa Rosa, CA, brewery has also set a goal to lower its water-used-to-produce-beer ratio to 2:1. Megathrust is bright gold with a bit of haze and sustaining foam. There are intense hoppy aromas of pineapple, sweet tropical fruit, and pine. It has mouthwatering flavors of citrus, tropical fruit, and pine hops with an underlying dankness.

ABV: 7.5%

Availability: Year round

Fat Orange Cat All the Kool Kats on the Back of the Bus

Style: IPA

Fat Orange Cat’s original location was the barn in its owner’s backyard. That barn brewery is closed to the public now, but you can still find Fat Orange Cat beers throughout Connecticut. All the Kool Kats on the Back of the Bus is the color of hazy peach juice with aromas of citrusy hops and pine. The tasting notes follow suit.

ABV: 8.4%

Availability: Limited

Schell’s Brewery Firebrick

Style: Lager

This Vienna-style lager from Schell’s is named after the bricks that line the old boilers at the brewery. And, with a history that dates back to 1860, those are some old bricks. The flagship beer at the New Ulm, MN, brewery, Firebrick took home silver at the Great American Beer Festival in 2002 and won gold for Vienna-style Lager at the World Beer Cup in 2014. Firebrick pours a light copper red with nice foam and effervescence. It has a malty aroma with some background sweetness. Drinking it, you get tastes of toasted grains with a hint of hops and some minerality.

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Year round

Perrin Brewing Co. Black Ale

Style: Ale

Perrin got its start in Comstock Park, MI, in 2012. The brewery says its Black Ale is counter-intuitive in the sense that it's a dark beer that tastes light. Black Ale pours a mahogany black with some respectable foam. It has aromas of toasted grains, dark chocolate, and coconut. The taste follows the aroma but with some light coffee flavors and a bright finish.

ABV: 5.8%

Availability: Year round 

Karbach Brewing Hopadillo

Style: IPA

According to Karbach’s legend, the Hopadillo feasts on those with fresh hops in their veins. This IPA from Texas is a light amber in color with a hefty head of foam. True to its name, Hopadillo has aromas of piney, citrus hops. Tasting it, you get a malty start, then hops take over with a mild bitterness. 

ABV: 6.6%

Availability: Year round

pFriem Family Brewer Japanese Lager

Style: Lager

pFriem’s ode to Japanese brewing traditions uses rice to lighten the color and dry out the beer. Japanese Lager is a clear, light gold in color with a nice head. It has light aromas of yeast and sweet bread grains. Drink it and you’ll get mild, fruity pilsner flavor with a light underlying skunkiness and a slight bready finish. 

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Limited

Counter Weight Brewing Co. Headway

Style: IPA

Before Counter Weight opened in 2017, founder Matt Westfall was the head brewer at New England Brewing Co. for nine years. When he opened his own brewery in Hamden, CT, Headway was the first beer he canned. The beer is a hazy lemon juice color with nice foam lacing. Smelling it, you get aromas of juicy tropical and citrus hops with a bit of malt. Flavors of grapefruit peel and orange along with pine hops excite but don't overwhelm the palate.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Year round

Single Hill Brewing Co. Outcross Experimental IPA

Style: IPA

Single Hill’s Outcross series usually features three similar beers brewed in a three-vessel parallel fermenter; each has its own mishmash of hop varieties, which imparts nuance in flavor. However, for the latest version of Outcross, brewers fermented the beers using three different strains of yeast. The beers look similar coming out of the can—the color of cloudy grapefruit juice, but they head off in different directions from there. Cosmic Punch has a hoppy, citrus aroma and tastes creamy and mildly lemony, but not as hoppy as its aroma. Star Party has milder aromas of hops and grapefruit. Tasting it, you get a bit of funkiness and skunkiness with a slightly bitter finish. Sundew Ale smells of pineapple and citrus with some background hoppiness. The most complex of the tree, it tastes of creamy fruit and spice with a bread dough finish.

ABV: 6.1%

Availability: Limited

Brewdog Jet Black Heart

Style: Stout

Brewdog got its start in Scotland back in 2006. Eleven years later, it opened its first U.S.-based brewery in Columbus, OH. Since then, the multinational brewery has opened outposts in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and—soon—Las Vegas. Jet Black Heart is a nitro stout that pours a dark brown-black with a nice head. It has the aroma of a classic oatmeal stout of mild coffee and toasted grains with a little bit of vanilla sweetness. Smooth and creamy, it's mildly bitter and boozy, with notes of burnt toffee and vanilla.

ABV: 7.0%

Availability: Year round

Dock Street Brewery Bohemian Pilsner

Style: Pilsner

Bohemian Pilsner has been Dock Street’s flagship beer since 1985. And since we're throwing dates around, it’s based on pilsner styles from Bohemia that go all the way back to 1842. Out of the can, it’s clear, effervescent, and light straw in color with aroma of sweet malts and honey. It starts with a bite of Pilsner malts and has a nice lingering bitter finish. 

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Year round

Harpoon Flannel Friday

Style: Amber Ale

As the seasons change, so do the beers. Flannel Friday “teetering somewhere between a brown ale and a red IPA” is Harpoon’s tribute to autumn in New England. The beer pours a dark reddish amber with a nice head of foam and aromas of piney hops and brown sugar. Drinking it, you taste balanced hoppiness and caramely malts.

ABV: 5.7%

Availability: Seasonal

Berlinetta Brewing Co. Westphal Kölsch

Style: Kölsch-style ale

Berlinetta was founded by two brothers in Bridgeport, CT, who wanted to focus on classic European beer styles. (That and vinyl records to be purchased alongside beer in the taproom.) The brewery says Westphal is a “nutty, malty cousin” of its pilsner. Westphal comes out of the can a pale, pure gold with aromas of malt and wheat. Take a sip, and you’ll find a refreshing start and slightly bitter malt finish. 

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Limited

Sixpoint Brewery The Crisp Pilz

Style: Pilsner

Sixpoint says its philosophy of “Mad Science” combines scientific knowledge with unbridled creativity. For The Crisp, the Brooklyn brewer sources 100 percent of its hops from Germany. The result is a copper-gold pilsner with nice foam. It has strong aroma of malt and pilsner hops. The beer lives up to its name with a crisp, malty flavor.

ABV: 5.4%


Availability: Year round

Dogfish Head Perfect Pairing Pale Ale

Style: Ale

Delaware and Vermont come together for a beer that's crafted to be great with cheese—sharp cheddar, specifically. Dogfish Head used cultures and upcycled whey from Cabot Creamery that helped add a cleaner hop bitterness to Perfect Pairing. The beer pours a clear yellow-gold with hoppy aromas of pineapple and lemon peel. Drinking it, you get hoppy tropical and citrus flavors. However, when you add some cheese to the mix, such as Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar, the experience becomes much more nuanced. Forget the wine, because the citrusy hoppiness of this beer mixes perfectly with sharp cheese.

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Limited

New England Brewing Company Sea Hag

Style: IPA

In 2006, New England Brewing came out with the original Sea Hag. Filling two cans at a time in its manual canning machine, the brewery could fill 80 cases on a good day. Now, the brewery sells the same amount of Sea Hag in two weeks as it used to in a year. The beer pours a slightly hazy gold with aromas of baked bread and hops. Take a drink and you’ll get a hoppy start, tastes of grapefruit and fruit peel, and a mildly bitter finish. 

ABV: 6.2%

Availability: Year round

Southern Grist Brewing Co. Strawberry Biscuit Ale

Style: Ale

Nashville’s Southern Grist is known for its experimental beers that include a fruit cobbler series and milk stouts that are made with candy bars. Recently, the brewery collaborated with the Hardee’s fast-food chain on a beer inspired by a breakfast item. Strawberry Biscuit Ale pours the color of mango juice with voluminous white foam. It smells strongly of strawberry jam and biscuit dough. Made with biscuits, buttermilk powder, strawberry purée, and salt, this beer starts with that biscuit-y goodness and quickly follows with strawberry.

ABV: 5.25%

Availability: Limited

Thimble Island Brewing Company American Amber Ale

Style: Ale

Located in Brantford, CT, Thimble Island is named for a nearby group of more than 100 small islands. The brewery’s flagship American Ale is a hazy copper color with aromas of apple, honey, and malt. As such, it has flavors of malt, caramel, with a mild bitterness at the finish.

ABV: 5.0%


Availability: Year round

Marlowe Artisanal Ales Eager to Share

Style: Ale

Zac Ross named Marlowe after his grandfather. In fact, the logo on his beers is copied from the original Marlowe’s signature. Eager to Share is an ale that pours a cloudy butterscotch with aromas of citrus hops. Tasting it, you get floral hops flavors with a grapefruit peel finish. 

ABV: 5.4%

Availability: Year round

Transcend Beer Crafters Cranberry Canyon

Style: Sour

Transcend is a small-batch family brewery that specializes in smoothie-style sours such as Cranberry Canyon. The beer pours a hazy sangria with pink foam. Take a sniff and you get lots of raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. Tasting it, you get a tart taste of raspberries and blackberries with a fading cranberry finish. 

ABV: 6.0%

Availability: Limited

Kent Falls Brewing Co. Foeder Hollow

Style: Pilsner

Kent Falls is part of the Camps Road Farm in Kent, CT. Along with pasture-raised poultry and park, the farm grows one acre of hops for beer. Released for the brewery’s seventh anniversary, Foeder Hollow pilsner is conditioned in an oak foeder, or a large oak barrel. The beer pours a clear pale straw with aromas of grassy malt. Tasting it, you get balanced flavors of malt and hops and biscuit throughout.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Limited

Alvarium Beer Co. Sucker Punch

Style: Sour

Everything in Alvarium’s New Britain, CT, taproom was hand built by the crew at Alvarium. That includes its “10-Ton Bar” that was built with steel I-beams and reclaimed red oak. Alvarium’s Sucker Punch is a fruited sour ale brewed with strawberry and lemon. It pours hazy, like grapefruit juice, with short foam. It has aromas of ripe summer strawberries, which is predominant in the flavor profile, too. Of course, it ends with a tart, mouth-puckering lemon finish. 

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Limited

Berkshire Brewing Company Field Day Summer Ale

Style: Ale

Established in South Deerfield, MA, back in 1994, Berkshire keeps all of its beers unfiltered and unpasteurized. Field Day comes out of the can pink and hazy with voluminous white foam. It has aromas of wheats, grains, and dry grasses. You’ll get wheat flavors along with hoppy bitterness on the palate.  

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Seasonal

Stony Creek Brewery Dock Time

Style: Lager

Stony Creek started in 2010, but it wasn’t until 2015 that it made a permanent home in Branford, CT, right on the Branford River. The brewery’s Dock Time pours a light amber clear brown color with aromas of sweet malt and molasses. Drinking it, there are flavors of toasted malts and a mild sweet finish. 

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Limited

Tree House Brewing Company Peach Season

Style: Double IPA

If you want to try a beer from Tree House, you have to go to Massachusetts. Specifically, one of its taprooms in the state. Tree House is a non-distributing brewery, meaning if you want it, you have to go get it. But it hasn’t hurt sales as the brewery is the largest in the state outside of Boston. Made with peach puree, Peach Season pours the color of peach juice. Take a sniff and you get fruity aromas with notes of orange and peach. You'll taste grapefruity hops with a lingering peach nectar finish.

ABV: 8.1%

Availability: Limited

Tox Brewing Company Lily of the Valley Raspricot

Style: Sour

Tox got its name from one of its owners, who has a degree in clinical toxicology. If you visit the brewery in New London, CT, the sample flight comes in small beakers you get to keep. The Lily of the Valley Raspricot is a raspberry-apricot sour that’s the color of orange curd. It has aromas of plums and apricots. Take a drink and you’ll get a rush of fruit with a lingering taste of raspberries. 

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Limited

East Rock Brewing Company Pilsner

Style: Pilsner

The East Rock neighborhood of New Haven, CT, comes from the name of the rocky ridge above it and the same goes for East Rock Brewing Company. This pilsner comes out of the can a hazy straw color with aromas of honey, yeast, malt, herbs, and grass. On the palate, it begins with sweet malt, moves on to dough, and ends with a mild bitter finish.

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Year round

Brooklyn Brewing Summer Ale

Style: Pale ale

Led by brewmaster Garrett Oliver, the first brewer to win a James Beard Award, Brooklyn Brewing opened their first taproom in 1996. The brewery’s Summer Ale pours clear gold with fading foam. It has aromas of malt, grass, and hops. Like any good summer ale, it has easy-sipping flavors of grass and bread balanced out by citrus.

ABV: 5.0%


Availability: Seasonal

Nod Hill Brewery Magic Mailbox Hibiscus Witbier

Style: Witbier

Located in Ridgefield, CT, Nod Hill was founded in 2017. All of the brewery’s beers are made in a 10-barrel electric brewhouse that’s completely solar powered. Magic Mailbox pours a cloudy cranberry with pink foam. Aromas of fruit and yeast yield to tasting notes of bread dough, herbs, and orange peel for a tart kick at the end.

ABV: 4.0%


Availability: Limited

Back East Brewing Company Blackberry Berliner Weisse

Style: Sour

Started by two cousins, Back East has been brewing in Bloomfield, CT, since 2012. Its limited-run Blackberry Berliner Weisse comes out of the can a hazy rhubarb color with strong, juicy aromas of blackberry. Take a sip and you’ll find a flavor of wheat dough, as well as tart tastes of blackberry and raspberry. 

ABV: 3.5%


Availability: Limited

UFO Beer Company Maine Blueberry

Style: Ale

Brewed in Massachusetts and Vermont, UFO Beer Company got its name from the first beer they made back in 1998, a cloudy hefeweizen named UFO for UnFiltered Offering. The brewery’s Maine Blueberry pours a golden color with a white foam head. Made with real Maine blueberries, the beer has the aroma of blueberry candy. Its mild flavor of blueberry moves toward tastes of wheat and bread with some lingering fruit.

ABV: 4.8%


Availability: Year round

Abomination Brewing Company Drippy Popsicle Bomb Pop

Style: Sour

The brewery’s motto is “crafting liquid chaos.” Some craft brewers follow the Reinheistgebot or, German beer purity act, that says beer has to be made with barley, hops, water, and yeast—nothing else. When it comes to adhering to those laws, Abomination says, “fuck that.” Drippy Popsicle Bomb Pop pours a hazy grape juice color with purple foam. Take a whiff and you’ll smell blueberries and a basket of fruit. It's got mixed fruit flavors that combine blueberry, cherry, raspberry, and lime. 

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Limited

Stone Brewing Delicious IPA

Style: IPA

You'd think Stone Brewing put a target on its back by naming one of its IPAs "Delicious" back in 2015—and it did, but that was the point, says CEO Greg Koch. Good thing it lived up to the claim. Now, Stone Brewing offers a gluten-reduced version of the IPA. Delicious is the color of apple juice and has lots of tongue-tingling carbonation and foam. It has aromas of tangerine and banana, as well as mild hoppiness. As far as tasting notes go, you'll start off with a mouthwatering fruit blast that becomes floral and resinous, then finishes with a slightly bitter hit.

ABV: 7.7%

Availability: Year round

Kulshan Brewing Company Raspberry Gose

Style: Gose

Kulshan founder David Vitt says the day he opened in 2012, the brewery was filled with friends and family. The second day, word got out about the Washington brewery, and everybody else showed up. “It was chaos,” he says. One of Kulhsan’s standout brews is its Raspberry Gose. It pours like pomegranate juice and has aromas of sourdough and raspberries. It's satisfyingly fizzy with tart raspberry, raspberry scones, and pilsner malts on the palate.

ABV: 4.0%

Availability: Seasonal

Harpoon IPA

Style: IPA

According to Harpoon, its IPA is as “perfect on a Cape Cod beach as it is in a VT ski lodge or Boston dive bar.” Dubbed “New England’s Original IPA,” the beer dates all the way back to 1993. Pour out the clear amber lager and let its aromas of sweet grain, corn, and a bit of citrus fill your nose. It's a mellow IPA with some light hoppiness and a bit of maltiness and hops at the end.

ABV: 6.0%

Availability: Year round

Cigar City Brewing Cosmic Crown Belgian-Style Strong Golden Ale

Style: Ale

Released earlier this year, Cosmic Crown is Cigar City’s first venture into the strong golden ale category. The beer pours a bright amber color with moderate foam. Take a sniff and you’ll get banana, bubblegum, and caramel. Drinking it, you’ll find flavors of banana, herby bitterness, and Belgian yeast.

ABV: 9.0%

Availability: Seasonal

Hanging Hills Brewing Company Water Tower Pineapple + Mango Kettle Sour

Style: Sour

Hanging Hills opened in Hartford back in 2016 and due to financial reasons closed in 2020. But owner Joe Ploof decided he couldn’t walk away from the only job he ever loved. A year later, he was back in the brewing business. Water Tower pours a clear gold with light bubbles and smells like mango candy and pineapple. That first sip will deliver a tart start that bursts into sweet pineapple juice.

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Year round

Creature Comforts Tropicália

Style: IPA

When Creature Comforts' Tropicália first came out, it was so popular that beer shop owners were said to hide extras in their back room. Tropicália is clear and gold in color with decent foaminess. There are aromas of tropical fruit with a hint of lemon zest. It has balanced flavors of fruit zest, pilsner skunkiness, and clean hops.

ABV: 6.6%

Availability: Year round

Two Roads Brewing Company Twoconn Easy Ale

Style: Ale

Two Connecticut icons, Stratford’s Two Roads Brewing and UConn, intersect to make Twoconn. Like University of Connecticut's 11-time NCAA champion women’s basketball team, Twoconn is intended to be a crowd pleaser. Out of the can, it pours clear and gold with nice carbonation. It has aromas of sweet grass and crisp flavors of malt. It’s the perfect beer for watching Huskies games.

ABV: 4.3%

Availability: Year round 

Sudwerk Regrowth

Style: IPA

Part of Sudwerk’s core lineup, Regrowth is, according to the brewery, a “modern take on a West Coast IPA.” Out of the can, it has a crystal clear lager-like look with a decent amount of foam. There are aromas of orange marmalade and pine. Take a drink and you'll get a bitter hop beginning with mellow malt and a caramel finish.

ABV: 6.3%

Availability: Year round

Shades Brewing Hogshead Reserve Limited Edition Barrel-Aged Sweet Dreams

Style: Imperial Porter

From Salt Lake City’s Shades Brewing comes Hogshead Reserve, a limited-edition, barrel-aged beer that tastes like something sprung from the mind of Willy Wonka. Sweet Dreams is a deep reddish mahogany with a porter's classic tan foam. It has aromas of chocolate, rum, coconut, and vanilla. Drinking it, you get cherry tartness, bourbon, and a lingering chocolate cake finish.

ABV: 6.2%

Availability: Limited

Industrial Arts Brewing Company Metric

Style: Lager

Industrial Arts started off brewing in a pre-Civil War textile factory in the Hudson Valley. It focuses on producing “fresh, expressive American beers.” The brewery’s Metric is clear pale straw in color with aromas of fresh grains, grass, and honey. The initial bitterness moves on to a biscuity finish.

ABV: 4.7%

Availability: Year round

pFriem Family Brewers Cold IPA

Style: IPA

Every brewer who makes cold IPAs (brews fermented at lower temperatures) seems to have a different way of making it, but basically it’s a style that blurs the line between a traditional IPA and a lighter lager. In pFriem’s version of the Cold IPA, the color is a clear, golden yellow with a foamy head. It has aromas of sweet citrus hops and guava with some funkiness. It starts like a lager with a melon taste that moves onto pilsner skunkiness and mellow IPA hoppiness.

ABV: 6.2%

Availability: Limited

Brewery Legitimus Doctor Strangehaze

Style: IPA

In 2016, Brewery Legitimus opened in New Hartford, CT, next to the Farmington River. Since then, they've been putting out bangers. Doctor Strangehaze pours a cloudy butterscotch with plentiful white foam. It has hoppy aromas of sweet citrus and floral honey. Take a drink and you get smooth, juicy flavors of pineapple followed by some hoppy bitterness.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Year round

Harpoon Brewery Rec. League

Style: Ale

Harpoon has been brewing beer in New England since 1986. So long ago, in fact, they got Brewing Permit #001 in Massachusetts. Employee-owned since 2014, everyone who works full-time at the brewery has a really good reason to make great beer. Harpoon’s Rec. League is a hazy pale ale made with some interesting ingredients: buckwheat kasha, sea salt, and chia seeds. It pours a hazy butterscotch color with aromas of citrus and tropical hops, and delivers bright flavors of melon, grapefruit, and tangerine before a slightly bitter finish.

ABV: 4.0%

Availability: Year Round

Dock Street Brewing Company Man Full of Trouble

Style: Porter

Woman-owned Dock Street was founded in Philadelphia in 1985. One of the first post-Prohibition craft breweries in the U.S., it rose “amidst a proverbial sea of watered down and adjunct lagers.” The brewery’s award-winning Man Full of Trouble is a tribute to a pre-Revolutionary tavern of the same name that still stands in the city. The London-style porter is a dark walnut brown with an impressive head. It has aromas of dark malts, chocolate, molasses, and espresso. Take a drink and you’ll get mouth-filling flavors of coffee and dark malt with chocolate and vanilla at the end. 

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Year round

Russian River Brewing Company Pliny the Elder

Style: Imperial IPA

Russian River’s Pliny the Elder is a beer you might have heard a lot about, especially in expressions of awe. We've called it "one of our favorite double IPAS of all time." However, the California brewery makes it clear this isn’t a beer you save for later. “Do not save for a rainy day,” reads the label. This double IPA pours a clear yellow gold in color with white foam. Take a sniff and the aromas of bright pine hops and citrus peel pop. It has clean, mouthwatering notes of lemon, mint, and pine with a slightly bitter finish.

ABV: 8%

Availability: Year round

New Holland Brewing Dragon’s Milk White

Style: Stout

Want to drink a familiar style of beer with a very different appearance? New Holland’s bourbon barrel-aged white stout is one of those. Rather than a nearly-black stout, Dragon’s Milk White is amber-caramel in color with light carbonation. Aromas of coffee and sweet vanilla caramel hit your nose before your palate gets a smooth taste of Irish coffee with cream and sugar.

ABV: 6.0%

Availability: Year round

Sudwerk Brewing Co. Backyard Hero

Style: Lager

Sudwerk has another winner with this super-crushable lager that’s brewed with rice and malted barley grown close to the Davis, CA, brewery. And we do mean winner. Backyard Hero is the reigning gold medal winner at the Great American Beer Festival in the Contemporary American-Style Lager category. It's like pure spun gold in a glass with a nice curtain of carbonation. Malty aromas give way to classic lager flavors and a lingering buttered toast finish. 

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Year round

Creature Comforts Brewing Co. Bibo Pilsner

Style: Pilsner

If you’re lucky enough to visit the Athens, GA, taproom and order this pilsner, it’s pronounced “bee-bo.” The third year-round offering from Creature Comforts, Bibo pours a clear golden straw color with a nice crown of foam with decent bubbles. There are clean aromas of hops, grains, and grass. Tasting it, a bright citrusy start moves on to mellow hops and grain with a slight pilsner bitterness.

ABV: 4.9%

Availability: Year round

Anderson Valley Brewing Company Summer Solstice Ale

Style: Ale

Founded in Boonville, CA, back in 1987, Anderson Valley was one of the first craft breweries in the country. Its 26-acre property is home to a 100-barrel brewhouse, a beer garden, and an 18-hole disc golf course. Anderson Valley’s “summer in a can” is available April through August. Out of the can, it’s orange-amber in color with some light foam lacing. It has bready aromas of sweet malts and caramel and tasting notes of molasses, honey, and vanilla with a biscuit finish.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Seasonal

Rogue Batsquatch

Style: Hazy IPA

According to Rogue, the Batsquatch is a legendary creature that lives in the woods on Mount St. Helens. Since the Oregon brewery is “hazy on the details” of this “juicy mystery,” it’s only fitting that the beer they dedicated to the Batsquatch legend is a juicy, hazy IPA. As such, it's hazy orange in color with aromas of citrus and piney bitterness. This IPA has a resinous pine and hop flavor ending with tropical fruit.

ABV: 6.7%

Availability: Year round

Karbach Brewing Crawford Bock

Style: Bock

Beer, baseball, and the local team all come together in Karbach’s Crawford Bock. With a can design that harkens back to the “tequila sunrise” uniforms the Houston Astros wore from 1975 to 1986, you immediately think of the days of Nolan Ryan and J.R. Richard. A portion of proceeds from every beer go to the Astros Foundation. Pouring Crawford Bock, it’s a clear, light copper color with a sweet bread and toasty malt scent. Anticipate flavors of dark caramel and toasted grains.

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Year round

Dogfish Head SeaQuench Ale

Style: Sour

Dogfish Head’s SeaQuench Ale is three beers in one. The brewing process starts with a traditional kölsch; a gose that's made with black limes and sea salts from Maine and the Chesapeake Bay region; as well as a Berliner weisse brewed with lime juice and peel. SeaQuench pours an effervescent pale straw color with aromas of lime zest and lemon. Tasting it, you’ll get that saltiness (like sea spray) up front, which gives way to tart lime.

ABV: 4.9%

Availability: Year round

Great Divide Brewing Co. Strawberry Rhubarb Sour Ale

Style: Sour

When Brian Dunn started Great Divide in 1994, he was the only full-time employee. Since then, the Denver brewery has grown in size and notoriety. It’s now one of the top-ranked breweries in beer-mad Colorado. Great Divide’s Strawberry Rhubarb Sour Ale is the color of cloudy, ruby-red grapefruit juice. It has aromas of strawberry, papaya, rhubarb, and bread dough. Take a sip and you’ll get light tastes of tangy fruit with a sourdough bread finish.

ABV: 6.2%

Availability: Year round

Firestone Walker Brewing Company Mind Haze Tiki Smash IPA

Style: IPA

If you’ve tried Firestone Walker's Mind Haze, you know it’s packed with tropical hop flavors. For its Tiki Smash variant of Mind Haze, the brewery took it in an even more tropical direction by adding toasted coconut. This “tiki-inspired” IPA pours hazy and is light golden in color. Hoppy aromas of pineapple and passion fruit greet you on the nose, while flavors of mango, tangerine, and toasted coconut bring it on home.

ABV: 6.2%

Availability: Year round

Silver City Brewery Ziggy Zoggy Party Beer

Style: Lager

Silver City in Bremerton, Washington makes it clear that Ziggy Zoggy is a party beer, but you have to drink it to find out it’s a German party. The name is derived from the German Zicke acke, zicke zacke, hoi hoi hoi chant you might hear at well-lubricated beer gardens. Ziggy Zoggy is a golden with champagne-like bubbles. It has a biscuit aroma and the flavor of fresh grains with a mild honey finish.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Seasonal

Revolution Brewing Coconut Deth

Style: Stout

A part of Revolution’s Deep Wood Series, Coconut Deth is a find-a-comfortable-chair type of beer. You’re not going to knock these back, but rather appreciate the time you spend with it. Coconut Deth is black in color with some tan foam. It has boozy scents of dark chocolate cake and toasted coconut frosting. Take a sip and you’ll get irresistible flavors of dark chocolate, coconut, vanilla, and bourbon.

ABV: 15%

Availability: Limited

New Holland Brewing Co. Hazy River

Style: IPA

Started in the town of Holland, close to the shores of Lake Michigan, New Holland is currently celebrating its 25th year. The New England-style IPA is hazy yellow in color with tiny bubbles. It has aromas of mellow citrus and hops, and tasting notes of slightly sweet, slighty sour citrus and grain.

ABV: 5.9%

Availability: Year round

Karbach Brewing Co. Rodeo Clown Double IPA

Style: IPA

Named after the street it was started on in Houston, Karbach has been brewing since 2011. And while everything is bigger in Texas, they’re not exaggerating when they call the Rodeo Clown Double IPA a “badass bullfighting sumbuck.” It pours a clear copper in color with a light tan foam head. There are aromas of caramel, nectarine, and booze. It has strong flavors of malt and sweet toffee with a pervading bitterness. 

ABV: 9.5%

Availability: Year round

Cloudburst Brewing Froth Goblin Helles

Style: Lager

According to Seattle’s Cloudburst, its Froth Goblin Helles has been “adhered to the highest of German standards, designed for the lowest of introspection.” This lager comes out of the can golden in color with a light aroma of slightly sweet grain. This highly crushable lager gives you a bright, fast start before a tangy finish.

ABV: 5.0% 

Availability: Limited

Shades Brewing Watermelon Sour Patch

Style: Sour

Salt Lake City’s Shades Brewing has a special ability to take unexpected flavors and make them outstandingly drinkable. Take, for example, the brewers' use of watermelon and Sour Patch candies in beer. Its color is a cloudy, almost luminous lemon yellow and it smells of watermelon and mandarins. Take a drink and you’ll find puckering sour flavors of watermelon candy and a little breadiness.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Limited

Great Lakes Brewing Co. Ruby’s Revenge

Style: IPA

In 1986, when Great Lakes Brewing Co. got its start in Cleveland, the brewery got both its master brewer and engineer from Schmidt’s. A year later, Schmidt’s closed for good, while 36 years later, Great Lakes Brewing is going strong. Ruby’s Revenge pours a light, clear citrus-tinged amber with guava, caramel, and grapefruit aromas. It has flavors of grapefruit pulp and malt with a boozy kick and some lingering bitterness.

ABV: 8.0%

Availability: Limited

E9 Brewing Co. Inner Worlds

Style: Lager

Tacoma, WA's first craft brewery, E9 was founded next to the city’s last horse-drawn firehouse. They went on to be one of the first to open a taproom and production brewery in the city’s Brewery District in 2019. Inner Worlds is a clear, gold lager with little carbonation. You get aromas of hops, citrus, and pine. Tasting it, there are flavors of resinous pine and tongue-coating hoppiness with a fruit peel finish.

ABV: 5.9%

Availability: Limited

Indeed Brewing Company Pistachio Cream Ale

Style: Ale

If you’ve ever walked into a bar strewn with peanut shells, you understand that beer and nuts work together. Indeed's Pistachio Cream Ale pours a mostly clear, light caramel color with some tight foam. Take a sniff and you’ll get candied almonds and pistachio ice cream. Drinking it, you’ll taste pistachios, ice cream sandwiches, and cream soda.

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Year round

pFriem Family Brewers Jammy Pale

Style: Ale

This seasonal brew from Oregon’s pFriem captures the smells and flavors of summer. Jammy Pale is the color of a hazy lemon curd with some light carbonation. You’ll smell aromas of preserved tropical fruit like mango, papaya, pineapple, as well as marionberries, strawberry preserves, and apricot. Drinking it, you’ll get layers of flavor that include an initial fruit blast, then hoppiness, and a grapefruit ending.

ABV: 5.4% 

Availability: Seasonal

Golden Road Brewing Ride On 10 Hop Hazy IPA

Style: IPA

Golden Road got its start in 2011 with a mission to bring fresh beer to Los Angeles. For its 10th anniversary, the brewery packed 10 hops from around the world into one IPA. 10 Hop Hazy is cloudy and golden in color with a nice head and some fizzy carbonation. There are tropical aromas of passionfruit and mango with a tasty melon flavor and a touch of bitterness followed by a mellow citrus finish.

ABV: 7.5% 

Availability: Year Round

Cigar City Brewing Fancy Papers

Style: India Pale Ale

Named after the intricate designs printed on cigar boxes to further entice cigar lovers, Fancy Papers was Cigar City’s first wide-release hazy IPA. It comes out of the can pale straw in color with aromas of mango and pineapple. Fancy Papers has flavors of pine hops and tropical citrus with some breadiness at the end.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Year round

Wicked Weed Brewing Pernicious IPA

Style: IPA

Wicked Weed opened its first brewpub in 2012 and now has four locations in Asheville, NC. Pernicious means having a subtly harmful effect, but for this beer it means something slightly different. According to Wicked Weed, it’s not bad for you, it’s bad for other IPAs when you compare them to Pernicious. The beer pours a brilliant golden with a beautiful foamy head. It has aromas of fresh hops and light citrus fruit. Take a taste and you’ll find balanced flavors of hops, malt, and pine with a consistent bitterness running throughout.

ABV: 7.3%

Availability: Year Round

Indeed Brewing Company Flavorwave IPA

Style: IPA

Indeed Brewing is proving that they can change a lot more than taps. Every Wednesday, through the Indeed We Can Program, net proceeds from the brewery’s Minneapolis and Milwaukee taprooms go to local nonprofit organizations picked by Indeed employees. In 2021 alone, the program raised more than $150,000 for community organizations. The brewery’s Flavorwave pours a light golden haze with aromas of tropical fruit such as pineapple and peach. Take a drink and you’ll find juicy, tropical flavors of grapefruit and pineapple with some mild bitterness.

ABV: 6.2%

Availability: Year Round

Rogue Pineapple Party Punch

Style: IPA

Rogue is all about diversifying, they make everything from CBD cocktails to spirits all the way to their own barrels. But they started off as a brewery and beer is still a strength. Brewed with pineapple and toasted coconut, Party Punch pours a cloudy mango in color. And it smells as advertised, like a tropical punch with coconut. Drinking it, you’ll get flavors of ripe pineapple, caramel, and toasted coconut. If you want to try Pineapple Party Punch, get on your horse as it’s only available until the end of August.

ABV: 8.4%

Availability: Limited

Revolution Brewing Deth’s Tar

Style: Stout

Part of the Revolution Brewing’s Deep Wood series (you’ll be seeing two more in the coming weeks), Deth’s Tar spends a “prolonged repose” in old oak bourbon barrels. And while the ABV is high, the Deth referenced is the Chicago brewery's owner, Josh Deth. Deth’s Tar is abyss of color, you won’t see a bike light on the other side of the glass with a nice tan foam. You’ll get aromas of dark chocolate, cherries, bourbon, and charred wood. Taking a drink, you find flavors of dark cacao, dark cherries, coconut, and bourbon with an extremely warming finish. 

ABV: 14.8%

Availability: Limited

Sierra Nevada Liquid Hoppiness Juicy IPA

Style: IPA

Sierra Nevada's Ken Grossman has always been ahead of the game. In November 1980, he made his first attempt at making a pale ale. Ten batches later he dialed in the recipe for Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, a classic that’s still going strong 42 years later. Liquid Hoppiness pours a light golden haze with aromas of raspberries and hops. Have a sip and you’ll get juicy flavors of tangerine and apple with pineapple and grapefruit right there at the end. If this sounds like an IPA you'd like, go find it now because it’s available through September.

ABV: 7.0%

Availability: Seasonal

Shades Brewing Thai Tom Kha American-Style Sour Ale

Style: Sour

Shades Brewing’s Kveik Thai Tom Kha took home a gold at the 2019 Great American Beer Festival in the Herb and Spice Beer category. If you’re looking for something far from the ordinary, yet very drinkable, check this one out. Thai Tom Kha  is a cloudy pale straw in color with some nice foam. You’ll get aromas of kaffir lime, lemongrass, and star anise. Flavors include a bright lime and lemongrass before a coconut and lactose finish.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Year Round

Cigar City Brewing Maduro Brown Ale

Style: Brown Ale

In 2009, Maduro Brown Ale was the first commercial batch brewed by Tampa Bay’s Cigar City. Since then, it’s gone on to win two golds at the Great American Beer Festival in the Brown Porter category. The beer’s name comes from a dark and complex cigar that’s made in historic Ybor City neighborhood. Maduro pours a stunning mahogany brown color with aromas of brown bread and roasted grains. There are smooth flavors of slightly sweet chocolate, roasted malt, and faint coffee with mild bitterness. 

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Year Round

Creature Comforts Brewing Co. Athena Berliner Weisse

Style: German-style Wheat Ale

If you haven’t been to Georgia in the last eight years, you may have missed out on Creature Comforts beers. But they’re expanding their geographical reach with a new taproom and brewery in Los Angeles where you might be able to get beers like Athena Berliner Weisse. This wheat ale pours an effervescent cloudy lemon with some nice foam. There are aromas of wheat and bread dough with some natural funkiness. Take a sip and you’ll get a nice tart start with some lime flavor and bit of starchy finish.

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Year Round

New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Juice Force Hazy Imperial IPA

Style: IPA

According to New Belgium, the latest member of the Voodoo Ranger line is where “high drinkability meets high ABV.” Helping it earn its name, Juice Force is brewed with Mexican orange, mango, and passionfruit. The result is a hazy grapefruit juice color with some nicely setting white foam and strong aromas of mango, pineapple, and grapefruit juice. Blast of citrus juice segues to a mildly bready middle with a tart grapefruit finish.

ABV: 9.5%

Availability: Year Round

Sudwerk Funhouse Blackberry Sour

Style: Sour

Sudwerk is taking another trip back to the funhouse. The Davis, California-brewer has been doing small batch releases of freshly fruited kettle sour brews. Previous editions of Funhouse include Raspberry Lemonade, Blueberry Pancake, and Tiger’s Blood, a combination of watermelon, strawberry, and coconut. Their latest is Blackberry. This sour ale is the color of a watermelon-based fruit punch. It has massive fruit aromas, almost like a blackberry scone. You get a tart fruit to start, then a punch of effervescence, followed by a blackberry pie finish.

ABV: 8.0%

Availability: Limited

Allagash Brewing Company Floating Holiday

Style: Blonde Ale

When you hear Allagash Brewing, there’s a tendency to first think of Allagash White, the award-winning Belgian-style wheat beer that’s been brewed since 1995. But the Portland, Maine brewery is not a one-trick pony and they show this with beers like Floating Holiday. This limited seasonal pours a cloudy pale straw color with some nice effervescence. It smells of sweet dinner rolls, yeast, citrus, banana, and pineapple. Flavors match the aromas with a touch of bitterness at the end.

ABV: 5.2% 

Availability: Limited

Yards Brewing Co. Level Up Tropical IPA

Style: IPA

Part of Yards Brewing’s “8-bit” series, Level Up is a tropical IPA. The Philadelphia brewery calls it the “perfect ‘pick-up-and-play’ IPA.” It pours a hazy lemon candy color with champagne-like bubbles. Take a smell and you’ll get scents of lemon, citrus, pineapple, and mango. It has flavors of mellow tropical fruit with a slightly bitter finish.

ABV: 6.5%

Availability: Year Round

Creature Comforts Automatic Pale Ale

Style: American Pale Ale

Creature Comforts got its start in Athens, GA. Since opening in 2014, the brewery has attracted a lot of beer-drinking fans with its accessible beer. Automatic pours a cloudy lemon candy in color. Very fragrant the second you open the can, you get citrus forward hops and a peach aroma. Savor the flavors of fruit hops, cantaloupe, and lingering grapefruit.

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Year round

Sudwerk Brewing Co. People’s Pilsner

Style: Pilsner

Sudwerk has been crafting California lagers since 1989. “We are not afraid of the time consuming and difficult nature of lagers but instead find it to be an exhilarating challenge,” their website says. The reigning gold medal winner for Bohemian-Style Pilsner at the Great American Beer Festival, People’s Pilsner is a particularly good example of the challenges they've overcome. The beer pours clear gold with a nice amount of carbonation. It has aromas of malt and summer grass. Tasting it, you get a light breadiness and malt followed by mild sweetness.

ABV: 5.3% 

Availability: Year Round

Cascade Brewing A Thousand Beers Between

Style: Sour

When Cascade Brewing was founded in 1998, owner Art Larrance and brewmaster Ron Gansberg were looking for a way to avoid the “hops arm race.” Instead, they looked in a different direction and found two things that Oregon has in abundance: old wine barrels and fruit. For example, A Thousand Beers Between is aged in oak wine barrels for two years with fresh tangerine zest and locally grown raspberries. It pours a cloudy orangey caramel in color, with an aroma of raspberries and oranges. Tasting it, there’s some sourness and you get the fruit in stages—tangerines first followed by raspberries to finish.

ABV: 5.5% 

Availability: Limited

Black Raven Brewing Pilsner

Style: Pilsner

Opened in 2009, Black Raven says the bird on their logo is a reflection of how they see themselves as a brewery: “creative, wise, playful, and a bit bird-brained.” In 2021, their Pilsner took home gold at the North American Brewers Association awards in the American Style Standard or Premium Lager category. The beer pours a light straw in color with a faint sweet dough smell. The taste gives a big flavor of sweet corn with a mild malt finish.

ABV: 5.2%

Availability: Year round

Métier Black Stripe Coconut Porter

Style: Porter

Opened in 2022, Métier is the first black-owned brewery in Washington State. For Black Stripe, the brewery collaborated with Caribbean restaurant Jerk Shack (that’s their rooster on the label). When you pour a Black Stripe, you get a steady foam and a deep copper mahogany color. There are aromas of roasted Spanish coffee and dark fruit rum with hints of chocolate and cherry. It has flavors of dark chocolate cordial and cherry juice, before a bitter chocolate finish.

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Year round

Yards Brewing Co. Star Jockey Galaxy Hop Hazy IPA

Style: IPA

When Philadelphia’s Yards Brewing was looking for a way to differentiate their new beers, they decided to go retro. For the brewery’s “8-bit” IPA series, they incorporated video game branding from the 80s. Then, along the way, they decided to make a video game to go with the beer. Just scan a QR code on the can and you can play Star Jockey on your phone at the same time you’re drinking Star Jockey the IPA. You’re not going to turn any kids’ heads with these games, but that’s fine because they’re for 21+ and you can earn a free beer at the Yards taproom. Pouring a Star Jockey, you’ll see it’s a translucent straw color with some light foam. There are aromas of ripe tropical fruit and flowers. We were big fans of the sweet pine and pineapple candy tasting notes with some fading bitterness at the end.

ABV: 7.2% 

Availability: Year Round

Dogfish Head Slightly Mighty Lo-Cal IPA

Style: IPA

If you're looking for a lighter beer that still has some substance, Slightly Mighty could be what you're looking for. At 95 calories and 3.6 carbs, it still punches above its weight as an IPA. Dogfish Head uses monk fruit, which are about 100 times sweeter than sugar, to help balance the beer. It pours a hazy lemon color with a nice head and has aromas of light hops and tropical fruit. Flavors start with orange peel and grapefruit and tapers to a nice hoppiness at the end.

ABV: 4%

Availability: Year Round

Wayfinder Beer Shamanic Whip 5: The Shaman's Revenge

Style: Pale Ale

There's something about seeing a pale ale labeled "mildly sinister" and “mysteriously delicious” that makes you bypass the other four- and six-packs in the distributor. Shamanic Whip 5: The Shaman’s Revenge pours a light golden haze with satisfying carbonation. There are aromas of pine and fruit hops. Take a sip and you’ll find a pine forward taste accompanied by a classic pale ale finish.

ABV: 4.7% 

Availability: Limited

Red Hook Hazy Big Ballard Imperial IPA

Style: IPA

Despite its first location being a transmission shop in 1981, Red Hook did eventually establish itself as a Seattle institution. The brewery’s Hazy Big Ballard is named after the city’s historic Scandinavian neighborhood, hence the “YA SURE, YA BETHCA” on the label. Pouring this IPA, you’ll find mild haziness and lemon color along with a pronounced aroma of preserved fruit compote and caramel. On the palate, you’ll discover juicy flavors of tropical fruit, taffy, and some lingering hops. 

ABV: 8.7%

Availability: Year round

Oakshire Brewing Overcast Oatmeal Espresso Stout

Style: Stout

According to Oakshire Brewing, it was dark skies that inspired their Overcast stout. And with their home of Eugene, Oregon averaging 150 days of precipitation, that’s a lot of inspiration. It’s little wonder they blend Overcast’s oatmeal stout with cold brew coffee. Overcast pours a dark, reddish mahogany with a tan head. Take a whiff: You'll get just-pulled espresso and dark chocolate. The flavor follows suit, beginning with chocolate and mellowing into deeply roasted coffee and malts.

ABV: 5.8% 

Availability: Year Round

Firestone Walker Hopnosis IPA

Style: IPA

Firestone Walker's brewer Matt Brynildson says the Cryo Hops used in Hopnosis are designed to provide more intense hop flavor and aroma. This West Coast-style IPA pours a clear golden with some nice bubbles. Take a smell and you’ll find orange and pineapple. There are flavors of white grape, lemon zest, and crackers with some hoppy bitterness toward the end. 

ABV: 6.7% 

Availability: Year Round

Wander Brewing Correspondent Foreign Export Stout

Style: Stout

Sometimes you need a brew with a little more substance. Wander Brewing's Correspondent Foreign Export Stout won gold at the Great American Beer Festival in 2017 and 2019, as well as the 2022 World Beer Cup. The stout pours just as you'd expect: dark with mild carbonation and a coffee-colored head. It smells of bitter chocolate, coconut, and malt. At first sip, you get flavors of roasted coffee and cherries with a gentle bitter finish.

ABV: 6.4%

Availability: Year Round

Stillwater Insetto

Style: Sour

Stillwater is a nomadic beer project founded in 2010. According to Beer and Brewing, brewer/DJ Brian Strumke has crafted beers in countries around the world including Belgium, Holland, and Italy. Insetto (Italian for insect) is a sour ale brewed with Italian plum that's made in Stratford, CT. When you pour it, you know you're in for something different. The color is a cloudy pink-brown with foam lacing. There's an aroma of dark fruitiness with some fermented sour, too. As for the flavor, this beer takes you on an effervescent, tart ride with a fruit chaser thanks to those plums.

ABV: 5%

Availability: Year round

Widmer Hefeweizen

Style: American-style hefeweizen 

When the Widmer brothers opened their Portland, OR, brewery in 1984, a hefeweizen was their second beer. Back then, the brothers say many people saw a hazy beer and thought something must be wrong with it. But Widmer Hefeweizen changed a lot of minds and helped revolutionize craft beer. When you pour a Widmer, the color can be described as cloudy butterscotch. It gives off light aromas of wheat and bread dough, while the flavor offers mild wheat with slight bitterness.

ABV: 4.9% 

Availability: Year Round

Breakside Brewery Unbearable Lightness

Style: Pilsner

Sometimes you want a beer that feels like the season. Unbearable Lightness from Oregon's Breakside Brewery was first brewed as a collaboration with Resident Culture Brewing in Charlotte, NC. Breakside calls the result "impossibly light and bright" and they're not wrong. The summer pilsner is hazy and gold in color with nice carbonation. It has an aroma of lemon and wheat bread. Expect floral and herbal notes at first sip with a mild, hoppy finish.

ABV: 4.4%

Availability: Seasonal

Golden Road Brewery Mango Cart

Style: Wheat Ale

The fruit cart vendors of Los Angeles are the inspiration for Mango Cart, the first in a series by Golden Road Brewery (Melon Cart is the second). You can taste the fruit and the California sun in this wheat ale from the acclaimed L.A. brewery. Mango Cart is a light golden straw in color, with some tight foam. True to its name, this brew grabs you with an unmistakeable mango aroma and flavor before moving to the wheater side of things.  

ABV: 4.0% 

Availability: Year Round

ForeLand Beer Sunstone Lager

Style: Lager

ForeLand's ascension to a brewery of note in Oregon has been a swift one. Last year, it snagged Best New Brewery at the Oregon Beer Awards. This year, they were named Oregon Brewer of the Year. If you can't get out to wine country, you can always visit their taproom in Portland. The brewery's Sunstone Lager is a light straw hue with a pale haze. Take a sniff and you'll get an aroma of salt water and floral hops. It's a complex lager with notes of guava and herbs.

ABV: 4.4% 

Availability: Seasonal

Dogfish Head Blue Hen

Style: Pilsner

The first state to ratify the Constitution is close to the heart of Dogfish Head. The famed Delaware brewery's approachable lager uses locally grown and malted barley for an easy favorite named after the state bird. Blue Hen pours a golden straw color with a nose of malt and tropical fruit. Take a sip and those malty notes are nicely accented with some mild bitterness. 

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Year round

Goose Island Beer Company Grapefruit Lemonade Shandy

Style: Shandy

When you could really use a cold beer—say, a real refresher that's a tinge different than the usual—that's where the shandy (beer 'n lemonade) comes into play. Goose Island offers three scrumptious versions, including Grapefruit Lemonade, Strawberry Lemonade, and for shandy purists, Lemonade. The shandy has a hazy, almost apple juice-y appearance with strong aromas of grapefruit and lemon. Taste-wise, you'll get a big burst of lemon and grapefruit peel with a lingering wheat flavor. 

ABV: 4.2%

Availability: Year round

Little Beast Brewing German-Style Pilsner

Style: Lager

When Little Beast is done with spent grains (barley, wheat, and oats), they're carted away to an Oregon farm where they feed chickens and cows. For this pilsner, that trip to farm feed is even longer because it starts in Europe. All the malt and hops used in this pilsner come from Germany. The results offer a beer with a light, gold appearance and a slightly grassy aroma that's full of hops with a touch of sourness. Smooth malt flavors evolve into baked bread with a mineral finish.

ABV: 5.2% 

Availability: Seasonal

pFriem Family Brewers Bright Pale

Style: Pale Ale

Located on the banks of the Columbia River in Hood River, OR, pFriem (that's a silent "p") brews more than 100 different beers each year. True to its name, this ale pours a bright gold color with light carbonation. Tropical aromas of mango, guava, apricot, and passion fruit lead to well-balanced flavors of apricot and pineapple with some piney bitterness, closing with a sweeter fruit finish.

ABV: 5.0%

Availibility: Limited

Ex Novo Brewing Company V for Vienna

Style: Lager

Ex Novo Brewing Company has three locations in Oregon, but their Corrales, NM outpost is where they brewed V for Vienna. Why Corrales? It's the hometown of Ex Novo founder, Joel Gregory, and where he returned to open a new location in 2019. V for Vienna is reddish copper in color and highly carbonated. It has a caramely malt aroma, while the flavors offer caramel, malt, and brown sugar with a lingering finish.

ABV: 5%

Availability: Limited

Stone Brewing Buenaveza

Style: Lager

Sometimes you just want a beer that's refreshing and simple. Stone Brewing says the name for this Baja, Mexico-inspired beer was simple. "Buena" for good and "-veza" from cerveza. The lager pours a pale, fizzy gold with aromas of grain, lime, and sea air. Taking a sip, you start off with a flavor of salt-licked lime zest followed by a lingering tart finish. 

ABV: 4.7%

Availability: Year round

Buoy Beer Company Dunkel Lager

Style: Dunkel Lager

Buoy Beer Company is located on the Columbia River in Astoria, Oregon, not far from the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, their 90-year-old cannery building was damaged when their roof collapsed in mid-June this year. Luckily, no one was injured and the brewery has recently started canning their beer again. The brewery's dunkel lager pours a clear amber with a nice lace foam. It has aromas of malt, brown bread, and caramel. There's plenty of malt and roasted grain flavors, with a clean and dry finish.

ABV: 5.5%

Availability: Year Round

Dogfish Head Hazy-O!

Style: Hazy IPA

Dogfish Head started in 2005 with a mission to create "off-centered ales for off-centered people." Oats is the name of the Delaware brewery's game, showing up in four different ways for Hazy-O! Malted, rolled, and naked oats are part of the brew, along with oat milk. The IPA has a bright haze with a nice foamy head along with aromas of mango, orange, and grapefruit. Tastes creamy and juicy, almost milky, with flavors of orange and mango. 

ABV: 7.1%

Availability: Year Round

Stone Brewing Hazy IPA

Style: Hazy IPA

According to Stone Brewing, their Hazy IPA is a "groovy, juicy citrus bomb." Launched in 2021, this hazy IPA pours a cloudy butterscotch color and has fruity aromas of apple and pineapple. It tastes of malt, light hops, melon, and pineapple. 

ABV: 6.7%

Availability: Year Round

Samuel Adams Summer Ale

Style: Wheat Ale

In a case of get it while you can, Samuel Adams Summer Ale is only available April through August. The beer is made using orange, lime, and lemon peels, along with grains of paradise for spice. It pours a hazy yellow color and has strong aroma of lemon and citrus. Drinking the ale, you get flavors of grapefruit, lemon, and wheat with a dry finish.

ABV: 5.3%

Availability: Seasonal

Firestone Walker Brewing Company 805 Cerveza

Style: Lager

Firestone Walker's 805 Cerveza is a nod to Mexican lagers: "Easy drinking—lime included." It pours like liquid gold, exuding an aroma of freshly squeezed lime and light malt. The flavor has a light bitterness and a touch of lime zest. 

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Year Round

Fair Isle Harlen

Style: Saison

Located in Seattle's brewery neighborhood of Ballard, Fair Isle is dedicated to creating farmhouse beers using Pacific Northwest ingredients. According to their website, they believe in "embracing variation rather than avoiding it." Harlen has a cloudy tan color with a foamy white head. The beer has a slightly sour aroma accompanied by a light funk. Flavor has a clean start with a palate-cleansing sourness and a mildly bitter finish.

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Year Round

Block 15 Farmhand Select

Style: Farmhouse ale

Located in Corvallis, Oregon, Block 15 opened in 2008. On their website, they say they're best known for "hop-forward ales, crisp lagers, barrel-aged rarities," as well as wild and sour programs. Farmhand Select has a slighty sunny hay color with light foam. It has aromas of caramel, clove spice, and light yeast. Upon tasting, there's a flavor of slight yeastiness with bitterness than runs through.

ABV: 5.7%

Availability: Year Round

Wayfinder Beer Belmont 97

Style: British-style ale

An award-winning Portland, Oregon brewpub, Wayfinder opened in 2016. The brewers say they're "lager-centric" and "pushing the envelope of what lager can be." Belmont 97 is light caramel in color with thin foam lacing. Smelling the beer, you get whiffs of light toffee and biscuit. On the palate, it's smooth and bitter in flavor with some sourness and sweetness at the end.

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Seasonal

Grains of Wrath Built for Speed

Style: West Coast IPA

If you're looking for a beer that "flies true and unrelenting in the face of boring," you might want to find something from Grains of Wrath. Built for Speed won a gold medal in American-Style Strong Pale Ale at the 2020 Great American Beer Festival. It's lemony gold in color with some thin foam and subtle carbonation. This IPA has a strong aroma of citrus hops. Tasting it, you start with an aggressive flavor of pine and floral hops and finish with grapefruit peel.

ABV: 6.7%

Availability: Year Round

Kulshan Brewing Co. Helles

Style: German-style lager

Founded in 2012, Kulshan (the native name for Mt. Baker) Brewing Co. is located in Bellingham, Washington. Their Helles won bronze at the Great American Beer Festival in both 2020 and 2021. The color is a clear pale yellow with an aroma of flowery grains. Tasting gives a crisp start with flavors of bread and light malt.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Year Round

Cloudburst Brewing Happy Little Clouds

Style: Bastardized German-style pilsner

Steve Luke, the owner of Cloudburst, says the brewery's tasting room by Seattle's Pike Place Market is not what people expect when they walk in. "It's a lot shittier," Luke said in an interview. "But the beer makes up for it." Cloudburst was named Brewer of the Year at the 2021 Great American Beer Festival. Happy Little Clouds won silver at the 2021 GABF and bronze at the World Beer Cup in 2022. Happy Little Clouds pours a honey yellow with a nice white foam head, and aromas of guava and grassy hops. The pilsner has flavors of delicate hops, pepper, and pine with a surprising tropical fruit finish.

ABV: 5.3%

Availability: Year Round

Firestone Walker Brewing Company Mind Haze

Style: IPA

In a Firestone Walker video, brewmaster Matt Brynildson says he had a hard time wrapping his mind around the hazy IPA style at first. It took a trip to Germany for him to find "his groove," when he looked at Bavarian hefeweizens. The result was Mind Haze, a beer that's "super sessionable" and "amazingly smooth." Pouring Mind Haze, it appears blonde and hazy like grapefruit juice. It has an aroma of Texas grapefruit and hops. It tastes creamy with a highly accessible pineapple flavor.

ABV: 6.2%

Availability: Year Round

Silver City Brewery Kwik Stout

Style: Mocha milk stout

Located in the port of Bremerton, Washington, Silver City Brewery sits on the convergence between Puget Sound and the Olympic Peninsula. The brewery says there's "an all-inclusive NW craft beer adventure in every pint we brew." In 2019, it took home the Mid-Size Brewing Company of the Year award at the Great American Beer Festival. It pours with an unrelenting dark color with laces of light brown foam. Kwik Stout has a strong aroma of chocolate and cake. It's loaded with lactose and flavors of chocolate milkshake and raspberries. 

ABV: 8.0%

Availability: Seasonal

Von Ebert Brewing Bohemian Pils

Style: Czech-style lager

In 2021, Von Ebert was named Medium Size Brewery of the Year at the Oregon Beer Awards. Released in 2020, Von Ebert's Bohemian Pils is an homage to bread and floral Czech-style pilsners and their "layers of flavor." Bohemian Pils pours a light clear gold and has an aroma of floral hops.  

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Year Round

Single Hill Brewing Company Lowell's Premium Lager

Style: Lager

Located in the middle of Washington hop country, Single Hill opened its doors in 2018. According to the can, Lowell's is an American lager "for those who measure twice and cut once." It won a Judge's Pick honor at the 2021 Sip Magazine Best of the Northwest Awards. Lowell's pours highly carbonated and pale straw color. It has a mild, mellow grass-like aroma. The lager tastes of stone fruit and hops with a quick finish.

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Year Round

Little Beast Brewing Folkvangr

Style: Dark Norwegian-style ale

Back in 2017, Little Beast Brewing was started up in Beaverton, Oregon, by Brenda Crow and Charles Porter. According to the brewery, the "little beasts" in their name are the ones that transform water, barley, and hops into beer. Little Beast specializes in mixed culture fermentation (fruited, wild, and wood-aged beers) with Folkvangr being a dark farmhouse ale. It has a mahogany cola appearance. The roasty aroma includes toasted cacao. It tastes like a light porter with a malty finish.

ABV: 6.7%

Availability: Year Round

Grand Teton Brewing Bluebird Pilsner

Style: Pilsner

Before it was Grand Teton Brewing, it was Otto Brothers' Brewing Company. Owned by two German brothers, it was the first microbrewery in the state of Wyoming, but more importantly, it was where the first glass jug growlers were developed. The water used for Bluebird Pilsner is glacial run-off that's filtered by the granite and limestone of the nearby mountains before surfacing at a spring half a mile from the brewery. Bluebird looks like lemon juice and has a light, lemony aroma. Tasting the pilsner, you get a lingering grassy aftertaste that levels up as you drink it.

ABV: 4.7%

Availability: Year Round

Stone Brewing Stone IPA

Style: IPA

Now, its beer is available in 50 states and more than 40 countries, but when Stone Brewing first opened in 1996, it had a 30-barrel brewing system. Released on August 16, 1997 to mark the brewery's first anniversary, Stone IPA is still the brewery's best-selling beer. Stone IPA pours hazy; it's autumn straw in color with a strong head. The IPA has an aroma of hops, grass, and grapefruit rind. It has an earthy taste on the front with citrus and lingering pine at the finish.

ABV: 6.9%

Availability: Year Round

Georgetown Brewing Company Roger's Pilsner

Style: Pilsner

The history page of Georgetown Brewing makes it clear they're not fans of beer bios. "It’s always the same kind of thing about how the founders loved beer so much, they decided to quit their boring insurance jobs where they couldn’t drink beer for a living, and dedicate their lives to brewing well crafted beers." Now, founders Manny Chao and Roger Bialous may not have sold insurance, but they definitely got the well-crafted beer part down. Roger's is light blond in color with a quick-diminishing head. It has a light aroma of grass and a nice biscuit taste with an easy finish.

ABV: 4.9%

Availability: Year Round

No-Li Brewhouse Corner Coast

Style: Golden ale

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Spokane, Washington's No-Li gave back to the community by feeding 1,000 school kids. The brewery has won numerous awards at international beer competitions, including Double Gold for Corner Coast at the New York International Beer Competition this year. Corner Coast pours a yellow amber with plenty of foam. It has an aroma of fresh grain and hops, and tastes of pine, lemons, and light hops with a finish that fades quickly.

ABV: 4.8%

Availability: Year Round

Full Sail Brewing Company Sesión Cerveza

Style: Mexican-style lager

Full Sail first started producing Session in 2005—and it was a big hit due to its drinkability. That line now includes Session Premium Lager, Session IPA, and Session Hazy Pale Ale. Sesión Cerveza is the brewery’s take on a Mexican lager—perfect for the dog days of summer. In 2017, the beer took home a silver for international-style pilsner category at the Great American Beer Festival and, in the same category, a gold at the U.S. Open Beer Championship. Sesión Cerveza boasts a pale straw yellow color with a quickly dissipating head. Its aroma has a combination of bread, yeast, and malt—though not overwhelming. It's light and hoppy, with a slight bitterness to finish.

ABV: 4.5%

Availability: Year Round

Epic Brewing Company Munich Mayhem

Style: Märzen-style lager

In 2019, a long era of “weak beer” ended in Utah when the state raised the alcohol cap on retail beer from 4% to 5% ABV. Salt Lake City’s Epic Brewing was the first to take advantage of the change in the law. According to the brewery, it was the first since Prohibition to brew exclusively high-alcohol-content beer. Epic takes full advantage of the higher ABV in Munich Mayhem that’s a nod to both German Octoberfest beers and punk rock. It pours a beautiful copper brown with a compact head. You'll get yeast and bread on the nose, and tasting notes of smooth malt and spice finishing with a mild bitterness.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Limited

Ninkasi Brewing Company Prismatic

Style: Juicy IPA

Named after the Sumerian goddess of beer and brewing, Ninkasi started brewing in 2006 from a leased space in Springfield, Oregon. Fifteen years later, the Eugene-based brewer is #40 on the Brewer Association’s Top 50 Producing Craft Brewing Companies for 2021. The brewery's standout, in or opinion, is Prismatic, a golden IPA with light foam. Prismatic contains aromas of grass and pineapple with juicy tropical fruit notes throughout.

ABV: 5.9%

Availability: Year Round

O’Fallon Brewery Dad’s Original Oatmeal Stout

Style: Oatmeal stout

Dad’s Original Scotch Oatmeal Cookies have been a St. Louis tradition since 1927. The crispy oatmeal cookies share many of the ingredients with a stout made in their honor by O’Fallon Brewery. Continuing the baking theme, the Missouri brewery also produces a vanilla wafer cream ale and a chocolate cream cookie stout. The color is an enduring chestnut brown with a short-lived head. It smells of cinnamon and, no surprise here, oatmeal cookies. The flavor begins very sweet, heads toward malty, and ends in a smooth cinnamon burn.

ABV: 5.9%

Availability: Seasonal

Abita Brewing Barney

Style: Lager

Founded in 1986, Abita Brewing Company is located 30 miles north of New Orleans. That first year, it made 1,500 barrels of beer. Now that number has grown to more than 125,000 barrels. Barney is a lager that’s a mix of two other Abita beers: Purple Haze and Andygator. The result is a fusion of raspberry lager and Helles Dobbelbock. It's wheat in color with some foam lacing, and has aromas of bread with fruit in the distance. Taste is a mine cart ride starting with wheat, switching strongly to raspberry, and finishing with a fizz of bitterness.

ABV: 6.1%

Availability: Seasonal

The Bruery Mischief

Style: Hoppy Belgian-style ale

The Bruery says that every time you taste one of their beers, they want to see the “wow in your face.” The company was started by Patrick Rue in 2008 (the “rue” in the Bruery comes from him). Mischief took home the Gold Medal at the 2016 Great American Beer Festival for American-Belgo-Style Ales. The ale is straw-gold in color, with aromas of citrus, spice, and resin. You'll pick up hints of melon and lemon with a lingering finish of pepper.

ABV: 8.5%

Breakside What Rough Beast

Style: Hazy India pale ale

Breakside Brewery first opened in 2010. One year later, they won their first medal at the Great American Beer Festival. The brewery’s What Rough Beast has continued that winning tradition having gotten a gold medal for Hazy or Juicy Strong Pale Ale at the Best of Craft Beer Awards in 2020. Breakside also won gold in the same category at the Great American Beer Festival in 2019. It's got a hazy almond color with foam lacing, and a hop-forward aroma with a light fruit scent. Taste begins with tropical fruits and moves on to being herbal and piney.

ABV: 6.8%

Availability: Seasonal

Melvin Brewing Scenario

Style: Porter

Jeremy Tofte started Melvin Brewing in the back of a Jackson, Wyoming, Thai restaurant in 2009. After winning Small Brewpub of the Year at the 2015 Great American Beer Festival, the brewery opened a production facility in Alpine. Then, it took home Brewing Group of the Year at GABF 2017. The brewery partners with outdoor apparel brand Kühl and, for every 10 cases of Scenario sold, Melvin donates one jacket to charity. Pour one out in a frosty-cold glass: The color is a rich mahogany brown with a firm head to start. On the nose, barley and baking chocolate; and on the tongue, lots of brown sugar, roasted coffee, dark chocolate, and malt.

ABV: 5.0%

Availability: Seasonal

Goose Island Tropical Beer Hug

Style: Imperial IPA

Founded in 1988 as a brewpub, Goose Island Beer Co. is more recently known for its lineup of Bourbon County Stouts. Going in a different direction, the brewery’s super juicy Tropical Beer Hug is a “beach vacation for your tastebuds.” The imperial IPA is light yellow in color with a quickly dissipating head. Aromas include tropical fruit and bread. It's got plenty of grain and bread, plus peach and other fruit flavor—along with a strong alcohol kick.

ABV: 9.9%

Availability: Year Round

AleSmith Nut Brown Ale

Style: English-style brown ale

Ratebeer.com listed AleSmith as the ninth best brewery in the world in its 2020 rankings. Since its founding in 1995, the San Diego brewery has taken home 18 medals from the Great American Beer Festival. In 2008, AleSmith won both Small Brewing Company and Brewer of the Year. The brewery’s Nut Brown Ale took home a silver medal at the 2013 San Diego International Beer Competition. It's chestnut brown in color with light carbonation. Expect aromas of grain and chocolate on the nose with extremely smooth notes of cocoa, baked goods, caramel, and malt on the palate. 

ABV: 5%

Availability: Year Round

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