Duvel Tripel Hop Cashmere
Weve heard longtime Belgophiles complain that the classic Duvel isnt as hop-forward or bitter as it used to be. Were skeptical we reckon that our taste thresholds shift over time and that the goalposts of bitterness have moved. Meanwhile, a few of those old-timers tell us they now prefer Duvel Tripel Hopbecause it reminds them of how Duvel used to taste. Fair enough. However, nobody needs Kodachrome-hued memories of 1980s Belgium to appreciate what an extra kick of hops can do to the already-dangerous elegance of a glass of Duvel.
These days, the Citra version is ubiquitous in better bottle shops around the worldso, inevitably, its overlooked and underrated. That beer may be just as deserving, but it was a chance encounter with the Cashmere version that took us aback this year. It inspired a flurry of notes, some rumination on all the infinite directions that hops can take us, and some confusion about why so many brewers are intent on dragging us all to the same place, where were forced to sip from fruity tiki drinks and Rupert Holmes is forever on repeat.
Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye: Best Rye And Pumpkin Ale Beer
Bear Republic Brewing Co., Healdsburg, CA
Region: Sonoma | ABV: 8% | Tasting Notes: Hops, Malts
If youve never explored the world of rye beers but love IPAs, then this beer is a great place to get started. The brewers describe it as a high-gravity IPA brewed with 18 percent rye malt. Hop Rod Rye has a floral hop aroma and subtle caramel notes with a slightly earthy, spicy rye character.
Best Wheat Beer: Allagash Brewing Company White
Every expert agreed: The Portland, Maine, brewerys Belgian-style white ale, hazily refreshing and spiced with coriander and Curaçao orange peel, is the ultimate wheat beer. Allagash White is almost a universal crowd-pleaser, says Reynolds, who calls the peppery, citrusy beer summer in a bottle.
But the beer is also great for year-round imbibing. It may be one of the most perfect beers ever created, as its just so intensely satisfying in all seasons, Sauter says. When Im in a bar and I see Allagash White, Ill order it. White is also wonderful at the dinner table, too, perfect for fish, salads, or chicken, Gore says.
Price at time of publish:From $12 for 4 Pack
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Hef’s Smoking Jacket Hefeweizen
5.1% ABV, Loaded Dice Brewery
When it comes to Loaded Dice Brewery in Troy, it’s about taking gambles on classic beer styles. But make no mistake about it: Those gambles are calculated. Somewhat.
Take Hef’s Smoking Jacket, for example. It’s a classic Hefeweizen, but with a balanced smokiness and cherry sweetness, the perfect complements to the style’s soft banana clove notes.
“We added a small percent of cherrywood smoked malt to give it a lingering smokey finish to complement the clove notes from the yeast,” said Jef Smith, owner and head brewer at Loaded Dice. “It’s the perfect beer to have with friends around a campfire.”
Stone And Deschutes Lets Bee Homies
Average Price:$5 for a 16-ounce can
The Beer:
We love a good beer collaboration. When two well-known brands get together, great things can come from it. This is the case with the Stone and Deschutes collab Lets Beer Homies. This hazy IPA was brewed with Chinook, Triumph, Cashmere, Comet, and Mosaic hops as well as both Oregon blackberry honey and California orange blossom honey.
Tasting Notes:
Right up front, this beer has classic IPA aromas of resinous pine, wildflowers, grapefruit, and lime zest. But theres also a slight caramel malt flavor and sweet honey in there as well. Take a sip and youll find flavors like lemon zest, tangerine, ripe grapefruit, pineapple, wet grass, peach, caramel malts, and sweet clover honey.
Bottom Line:
Part of the appeal of this creative beer is the way the honey works in unison with the citrus hop, tropical fruit, and bready malt flavors.
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Best Stout: Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout
Courtesy of Total Wine
Region: England | ABV: 5% | Tasting Notes: Cocoa, Cream, Mocha
I like my stouts rich, slightly sweet and not too roasty-toasty, Everding says. This dark, almost inky bottle of goodness hits all the right notes for me.” Plus, this chocolate stout is certified organic and vegan- and vegetarian-friendly.
Everding also likes that this beer comes in at a decent 5% ABV: “Some stouts really run away with alcohol content, so this more moderate level keeps me reaching for this brew year-round,” she explains.
Looking to lighten up this rich treat? Everding suggests mixing it with a little bit of your favorite lambic or fruited sour. “My favorite combination is with a raspberry lambic for a chocolate-covered raspberry, she says.
Best West Coast Ipa: Green Flash Brewing Co West Coast Ipa
Courtesy of Drizly.com
Clean drinking, generously bittered and as golden as Southern California sunshine, the West Coast IPA helped usher in an aggressively delicious era of modern beer drinking. If youre looking for a throwback that still tastes thrillingly fresh, grab a four-pack of this style-defining IPA from Green Flash.
This beer is a great balance between old-school and new-world IPAs, says Gardenhire, who praises the beers complex hop and malt combo. West Coast IPA deploys a quintet of hops to create a pungent scent of citrus and pine. Theres a reason its famous.
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Hunahpus Imperial Stout Double Barrel Aged
Another high-quality American stout, and at 11% ABV, this one also packs a punch. Like the stout above in #23, this one is also infused with cacao, vanilla, chili and cinnamon.
However, this one is aged in apple brandy and rum barrels, giving it a subtly different flavor that is rich and complex.
A delicious beer that many people rate among the best available and one you need to try if you ever have the chance.
Green Bench Postcard Pils
Well be frank about a semantic issue that has little or nothing to do with how tasty this beer is: As shoppers, we find the phrase American-style pilsner to be uniquely unhelpful. Sometimes it means a sweetish, lightly flavored adjunct lager akin to Budweiser at other times it might mean something more brusque, pumped up with fruity-dank American hops. If everyone were to somehow agree that from now on, this is what it meansyou know, like Postcard Pilswed be cool with that.
Postcard has its own strut. Embracing Noble-esque Mt. Hood and bittering to the tune of 35 IBUs, while employing a decoction mash with corn and German Barke Pilsner maltthese are hints that the brewers want to show us what they can really do and/or, they are hard at work on perfecting their shifty. We reckon this is the beer they want to drink after work. If so, wed like to join them. The yellow-gold color is bright and brilliant, while the aroma has an unassuming confidence: herbal-floral hops that hint at citrus zest melding with light, sweet bread in a familiar gestalt. The flavor is similarly integrated, with even-keeled, spicy-herbal bitterness locked in a balanced embrace with delicate malt to wind up harmoniously bittersweet. We love beers like thisthe kind that hold up beautifully to sensory scrutiny, or else they fade without complaint into the background of great conversation, there to taste great whenever you bother to pay attention.
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Worlds Best Beers 2021
For the World Beer Awards 2021, there was a host of great drops on offer, with 10 category winners claiming top honours in their respective divisions. From dark to lager, non-alcoholic to pale ale, just about every format of the golden elixir was on display, giving beer fanatics a taste of true brewing art. As expected, the old stalwarts of Germany and Belgium dominated the categories, claiming four out of the 10 major accolades, but there were some new players who trumped the traditional kings.
Canadian brewery Indie Alehouses 10-4-20 was named the Worlds Best Sour Beer, while Serbias Salto took out the title for worlds best stout. Sadly, only two Aussie labels picked up an award at this years standings, with OBriens Belgian Ale named Worlds Best Speciality Gluten-free beer and Brick Lane Brewing Cos Revolver Dark Hoppy Ale scoring the title of Worlds Best Porter.
This is an incredible recognition for our brewing team and the dedication they consistently show to our beers, Brick Lane head brewer Jon Seltin said. Revolver is a particular staff favourite and something we really look forward to brewing each winter. To have this recognised at the World Beer Awards is really something special.
All 10 categories were awarded a Best Overall winner, with each listed below. According to the World Beer Awards, here are the best beers in the world for 2021:
Best Overall: Peace Tree Blonde Fatale Belgian
Courtesy of GoPuff
Region: Iowa | ABV: 8.5% | Tasting Notes: Fruit, Hops, Citrus
While it may not be available everywhere, Peace Tree Brewing’s Blonde Fatale is my absolute favorite beer, says Darian Everding, Product and Talent Development Specialist at London Underground in Ames, Iowa.
It’s what I stock at home and reach for when I am out with friends or taking in a concert. It was the first Iowa beer I had, and it blew me away! It enabled me to see the wonderful quality being produced right in my community and made me very proud to be a part of Iowa’s hospitality community. It’s a great, well-balanced Belgian blonde that, at 8.5% ABV, walks the walk.
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Best Pale Ale: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company Pale Ale
Founded in 1980, Sierra Nevada is a founding father of Americas craft beer movement, carving a flavorful path followed by todays inventive breweries. For four decades, the brewerys flagship Pale Ale has been the quintessential American craft beer, Gore says. It set the tone not only for the American pale ale style but for the entire industry. Bright notes of grapefruit and pine lead the way into a lightly toasty body, before finishing crisp and clean. It’s one of the worlds most balanced beers.
Price at time of publish:From $12 for 6 Pack
Best Wheat: Allagash White
For a quarter-century, the Portland, Maine brewerys Belgian-inspired witbier has been Americas standard-bearer for the style. White will forever be the perfect wheat beer, says Mandy Naglich, a food and beverage writer and advanced cicerone.
The seafood-friendly beer is spiced with coriander and orange peel, and the slight heaviness on the palate really allows the complex spiciness of the yeast character to shine, Naglich says, adding that Allagash White is her favorite beer to introduce new craft drinkers to any time of year.
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Worlds Best Flavoured Beer
- BEST OVERALL Brasserie De LAbbaye Du Val-Dieu LExcellence Du Val-Dieu
- Worlds Best Flavoured Chocolate & Coffee Saltaire Brewery Triple Choc
- Worlds Best Flavoured Fruit & Vegetable Microbrasserie Moulin 7 Grisette Framboise
- Worlds Best Flavoured Herb & Spice Bad Tattoo Brewing Co. Moscow Mule
- Worlds Best Flavoured Honey & Maple Bière Du Vexin Véliocasse Ambrée Au Miel
- Worlds Best Flavoured Smoke Unibroue Raftman
- Worlds Best Flavoured Spirit Cap DOna Rousse De Noël
- Worlds Best Flavoured Stout/Porter Taxman Brewing Company Maple Vanilla Deadline 2021
- Worlds Best Flavoured Wild/Sour Rodenbach Caractère Rouge
- Worlds Best Flavoured Wood Aged Brasserie De LAbbaye Du Val-Dieu LExcellence Du Val-Dieu
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What Would Make Your List Of The Best Craft Beer Of 2021?
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Allagash X Sankofa Woven In Time
ABV: 5.7%From: Portland, ME
“This is a collaboration between Allagash and Sankofa Beer Company, the first Black-owned brewery in D.C., for the Barrel & Flow Fest. While I wasnt able to go to the fest, my friend and I were interested in trying the beer so we ordered it for delivery on Tavour. Woven in Time is a brown ale brewed with millet and smoked maple syrup. While millet looks like a seed, it is actually a very nutritious grain that is widely consumed in Africa. It gives off a lot of similar characteristics as sorghum when used in brewing. I’ve always had respect for Allagash but was not familiar with Sankofa before trying this collab, which features notes of chocolate, burnt sugar, and dried fruits. The smoked maple syrup adds a hint of smokiness and also accentuates the sweetness of the malt. It’s too bad this beer isn’t available all the time because I could drink this one year-round.” Mike Gleason, head brewer at Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers
Best Pumpkin: Cigar City Brewing Good Gourd
Courtesy of Drizly.com
Pumpkin beers have hit a rough patch in recent years. The fall ales went from wildly popular to kind of passé, victims of overexposureand way too much allspice. Many pumpkin beers are too, well, pumpkin-forward, says Naglich. She gives two thumbs up to the strong and balanced Good Gourd from Tampa brewery Cigar City. Like a good pumpkin pie, this beer is sensibly seasoned with nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla and more. Good Gourd is not too sweet and tastes like the first cool fall day: a reminder that youre easing into a new season.
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Best Hazy Ipa: Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing Ipa
Courtesy of Drizly.com
One of Americas fastest-growing IPAs is Hazy Little Thing, Sierra Nevada Brewings impeccable take on the hugely popular style. The airtight recipe features oats and wheat, which contribute a smooth body and foggy hue, and a blend of six hops, including tropical citra and el dorado. This beer drinks smooth and fruity, the juiciness balanced by just a bit of bitterness. No matter if you buy it at gas stations, grocery stores or your favorite beer bar, Hazy Little Thing is guaranteed to be a winner.
Vitamin Sea Tropical Envy
Apologies to those who might expect us to turn our noses up at the thought of triple IPA, but while we appreciate plenty of small beers, we have developed quite the crush on these 10-plus percent ABV IPAsor as Joe likes to call them, hopwines. Theres just something about the intensity, alcohol, and sweetness that heightens the experience of todays new hops.
Tropical Envy was top of the triple IPA charts for our blind-review panel this year, and for good reasonthis intricate machine made of many moving hop-parts evokes tropical-fruit juice with orange, pineapple, papaya, and mango, and it does so with light, funky tropical notes in towthose light sulfur and phenol notes that add the beloved spicy foil to the more obvious sweet-fruit elements. A beer so excessively hopped could easily become a train wreck of muddled flavors and hop burn, but Tropical Envy lives up to its billing with cleanly expressed fruit flavors and just a touch of creaminess to highlight them. Its definitely dessert-ish, but hopwines are generally our last beers of the night, and none satisfied us this year quite as much as this one.
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The 50 Best Beers We Tasted In 2021
Early in the pandemic, there were questions about how the beer industry would react to bar and restaurant closings, and whether people would drink the same at home. Throughout 2021, themes and trends emerged that focused on both tradition and experimentation.
With draft beer slowed for the first half of the year, many breweries used their extra capacity to create or expand lager programs, which need extra time to mature. As breweries strived to draw in customers more accustomed to macro-offerings, lagers became a focusa style that has been steadily climbing in the craft space for years. Today, American beers in this style rival some of the best traditional European offerings, and Wine Enthusiast awarded two 100-point scores to lagers, a first.
Tradition is alive in Belgian-style tripel, Kölsch, saison, porter and extra special bitter, all styles that were heavily reviewed this year. Time also plays a big role in barrel and wood-aged beers, where brewers let ales sit for months, absorbing spirit and other flavors to create complex brews.
Although IPA remains the dominant category in craft beer, experimentation is fueling innovative pale ale and India pale ale styles. In addition to playing with malt ratios and hopping techniques, brewers are using experimental hop varieties, adding adjuncts like lactose and yeasts like Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus.
Allagash Coolship Cerise Estate
ABV: 6.7%From: Portland, ME
“One of the joys of spending so much time at home over the last year has been being forced to turn my full attention back to locally produced beer. Thankfully this region offers New Englanders plenty of stellar breweries that kept us all well quenched during quarantine. I picked up Allagashs Coolship Cerise Estate during a recent beer run knowing its Coolship series is consistently reliable while also wholesomely innovative. Brewed with Montmorency and North Star cherries grown at the breweryand thus different from the standard Coolship Cerise, which uses Montmorency and Balaton cherries sourced locallyCerise Estate is cleanly tart, with subdued spice and Allagashs classic microbial expression. It was a nice reminder that Jason Perkins and the Allagash team have been calmly maintaining a high watermark for wild ale quality in America since 2011. As exciting as it is to scour the states, and the globe, for the next great beer experience, its comforting to be reminded that there is no lack of quality waiting at home as well.” Thomas Madden, co-founder and brewer at Lone Pine Brewing Company
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