The 50 Best Beers in the World
The best beers in the world are easier to get than ever before. Forty years ago, customers strolling through grocery stores would only find endless variations on the easy-drinking domestic lager. Care for a Busch? Miller High Life? Bud Light? If you were lucky, you might find an imported Irish beer like Guinness, a beach-y Mexican beer such as Corona, or perhaps even Foster’s, that Australian beer sold in the oversized can.
Today’s hopheads can pick from tens of thousands of the best beers that deliver every conceivable flavor and alcohol level. Hazy double IPAs are now sold alongside zippy pickle beers, prickly pilsners, fruity sour ales, and smooth-drinking hefeweizens. Beers like Allagash's White, Russian River’s Pliny the Elder, and Bell’s Brewery’s Two Hearted have become beloved classics occupying permanent perches in fridges far and wide.
Craft beer is now so mainstream that excellent IPAs are sold most everywhere, from 7-Eleven to Applebee’s and even college football stadiums. Despite the ubiquity, the beer industry has had a rough couple years, facing fierce competition from hard teas and seltzers, canned cocktails, and newly legal cannabis beverages and edibles. In 2023, store sales of craft beer slid nearly one percent while volumes declined 4.4 percent according to data from Circana, a Chicago-based market research firm.
While some breweries have shuttered, many breweries are thriving and continuing to produce beers that, to rise above the competition, are better than ever. New trends include craft breweries embracing pilsners and easy-drinking lagers, revamping the cleanly bitter west coast IPA, and creating compelling nonalcoholic beers and sparkling hop waters.
But after plenty of research—and, uh, drinking—we’ve settled on a ranked list of the top 50 best beers that are readily available. We created this ranked list by blending expert input with brand longevity, awards, online ratings, and accessibility. In other words, we tried not to select one-off west coast IPAs that are only sold at taprooms for two hours on a Tuesday. What’s the fun in touting beers that most drinkers will never try? Instead, most of these beers are available across the U.S., meaning you won’t have to book a plane ticket to tick these bevs off your bucket list.
In the list of great beers, we’ve of course included IPAs, but also stouts, sour ales, amber ales, lagers, pilsners, barrel-aged beers, and more of the most common brews you’ll spot at your favorite beer bar or store. This will also serve as a primer to help answer some of the most popular questions, like what is craft beer that pairs best with specific seasons, meals, and occasions? So, without further ado, let's get cracking.
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Our number one pick, Guinness, might come as a surprise—but it shouldn't. There aren't many beers out there that are consistently delicious no matter where you drink them, whether from can, bottle, or tap.
Editor's Note: All affiliate links are for six packs, unless otherwise noted.
Related: How to Open a Beer Bottle Without a Bottle Opener
50. Smuttynose Old Brown Dog
Style: Brown ale
Brewery: Smuttynose Brewing Company, Hampton, New Hampshire
ABV: 6.5 percent
Sail southeast of Portsmouth, NH, and you’ll find the Isles of Shoals, an archipelago that includes the uninhabited Smuttynose—the namesake for this craft brewery that was founded in 1994. Old Brown Dog remains a trusty companion, a robust brown ale with a solid bitterness supplied by Cascade, Galena, and Willamette hops.
49. Wolf's Ridge Daybreak Coffee Cream Ale
Style: Cream Ale
Brewery: Wolf’s Ridge Brewing, Columbus, OH
ABV: 6.9 percent
“Ohio loves its pale coffee beers, and the dozens of examples around the state all owe their existence to the popularity of this Wolf’s Ridge flagship first brewed in 2015,” says advanced cicerone David Nilsen, writer and publisher of several beer zines, including Final Gravity and Bean to Barstool. “Daybreak is brewed with vanilla and locally roasted coffee, and the fresh coffee notes really pop without any competing roasted malt.”
48. Tröegs Mad Elf Ale
Style: Holiday beer
Brewery: Tröegs Independent Brewing, Hershey, PA
ABV: 11 percent
Originally brewed in 2002, Mad Elf has become a staple of holiday celebrations due to its deft mixture of wildflower honey, Belgian yeast, and plenty of sweet and tart cherries. The ruby-hued ale is as warming and welcoming as a roaring fire.
47. Best Pumpkin Beer: Southern Tier Pumking
Style: Pumpkin ale
Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Co., Lakewood, NY
ABV: 8.6 percent
In the best way possible, Pumking tastes like boozy pumpkin pie. The copper-orange fall seasonal has a terrific nose of rum and vanilla; and the ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg spices never go overboard. Dropping it into an adult’s trick-or-treat bag would be a nice move.
46. Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro
Style: Milk stout
Brewery: Left Hand Brewing Co., Longmont, CO
ABV: 6 percent
Colorado brewers Left Hand spent two-plus years cracking the code for bottling their milk stout with nitrogen, creating a creamy sipper reminiscent of liquefied chocolate cake. Pro tip: For a plump head, pour Milk Stout Nitro like you’re shaking ketchup from a bottle.
45. Crooked Stave Sour Rosé
Style: Fruited sour ale
Brewery: Crooked Stave, Denver, CO
ABV: 4 percent
Crooked Stave has built a most agreeable middle ground between beer and wine with Sour Rosé. The wood-aged hybrid is fermented with the brewery’s wild yeast and brewed with a blend of raspberries and blueberries. It’s what you’ll want to serve your wine-loving friends who swear they hate beer.
44. Best Cream Ale: Genesee Cream Ale
Style: Cream ale
Brewery: Genesee Brewery, Rochester, NY
ABV: 5.6%
The cream ale is another indigenous American style of beer that's created by fermenting ale yeast at colder, lager-like temperatures—the inverse of the California common. Genesee first released Cream Ale in 1960, striking a winning balance with lager crispness, fruity ale character, and smooth sweetness courtesy of corn. It’s what you should fill your cooler with come summer.
43. Best Holiday Beer: Great Lakes Christmas Ale
Style: Holiday beer
Brewery: Great Lakes Brewing, Cleveland, OH
ABV: 7.5 percent
For Midwest beer fans in northeast Ohio, few days are more anticipated than when Cleveland’s Great Lakes releases its Christmas Ale, a heap of seasonal cheer spiced with honey, cinnamon, and fresh ginger. Drink it with Christmas duck or fistfuls of holiday cookies.
42. Best Sour Ale: Urban Artifact Brewing The Gadget
Style: Fruited sour ale
Brewery: Urban Artifact Brewing, Cincinnati, OH
ABV: 7.9 percent
This Cincinnati brewery specializes in massively fruited sour ales it calls Midwest fruit tarts. They deliver balance, zippy acidity, and plenty of real fruit character without the cloying sweetness. Our favorite example is The Gadget. It's crammed with raspberries and blackberries, while vanilla beans add a bit of perceived sweetness.
41. Thornbridge Jaipur
Style: IPA
Brewery: Thornbridge Brewery, Derbyshire, England
ABV: 5.9 percent
Among the U.K.'s most influential modern IPAs is Jaipur, a merger of piney, citrusy hops from America’s Pacific Northwest and rich Maris Otter malt—an heirloom British variety. Since Thornbridge first brewed Jaipur in 2005, the IPA has become a benchmark in British beer.
40. Ayinger Celebrator
Style: Doppelbock
Brewery: Brauerei Aying, Aying, Germany
ABV: 6.7 percent
The finest beer from family-run Brauerei Aying is the dark and robust Celebrator, a testament to time and patience. The Germany brewery cold conditions Celebrator for at least 10 weeks to create a silky profile with flavors of coffee, chocolate, and dark fruit. Try it as an after-dinner drink.
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39. Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
Style: Double IPA
Brewery: Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Lewes, DE
ABV: 9 percent
While watching a cooking show, Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione learned that adding pepper throughout the cooking process could create more intense flavors. He hypothesized that the same technique could be applied to brewing IPAs. During a brew day, Calagione taped a vibrating tabletop football game to a ladder and steadily added hop pellets over 90 minutes. That was the genesis of the piney, citrusy, and caramel-rich 90 Minute IPA.
38. Birrificio Italiano Tipopils
Style: Pilsner
Brewery: Birrificio Italiano, Lurago Marinone, Italy
ABV: 5.2 percent
The invention of the hop-forward Italian-style pilsner can be traced to northern Italy’s Birrificio Italiano. Around 1996, founder Agostino Arioli created this elegant unfiltered pilsner that was dry hopped for a floral boost. Fun fact: Tipopils inspired Firestone Walker to produce Pivo Pils.
37. Best Nonalcoholic Beer: Athletic Brewing Run Wild IPA
Style: Nonalcoholic IPA
Brewery: Athletic Brewing Company, Milford, CT, and San Diego, CA
ABV: Less than 0.5 percent
No brewery has done more to popularize modern nonalcoholic beer than Athletic Brewing, which creates nonalcoholic beers that deliver big flavor and fragrance but minus the buzz. Made with a proprietary brewing process, Run Wild IPA matches a malt-focused body to five American-grown hops, the profile of pine needles and grapefruit zest backed up by a sensible amount of bitterness.
36. Best Brown Ale: Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale
Style: Brown ale
Brewery: Samuel Smith, Tadcaster, England
ABV: 5 percent
Classic British brown ales have become a bit of a rare breed in America these days. Luckily, though, Samuel Smith still produces its style-defining Brown Ale that’s brewed with hard well water and fermented in its stone Yorkshire squares. The mahogany-hued ale tastes of toffee and nuts, and the low ABV will keep you coming back for a second bottle.
35. pFriem Family Brewers Pilsner
Style: Pilsner
Brewery: pFriem Family Brewers, Hood River, OR
ABV: 4.9 percent
Founded in 2012, pFriem has become one of the Pacific Northwest’s best breweries, from IPAs to barrel-aged sour ales and lagers. In particular, its clean and complex Pilsner is a perfect any-occasion beer. It’s made with German and Pacific Northwest malt and lots of German hops that lend a floral, grassy character.
34. Revolution Brewing Double Barrel V.S.O.J.
Style: English barley wine
Brewery: Revolution Brewing, Chicago, IL
ABV: 16.8 percent
“No other brewery in the U.S.A. has done more for the resurgence of domestically produced English barley wines than Revolution,” says Shane Monteiro, the chief operations officer of Brooklyn’s Queue Beer. Double Barrel V.S.O.J., a special version of the brewery’s English-style barleywine called Straight Jacket, is a "... demonstration of authority from a brewery that knows how to escalate the potency of its beers without undermining the reasons the base was so popular," Monteiro says. "Expect juicy red raisins, a bevy of barrel heat, and all the lightness and complexity of the base beer we all know and love.”
33. Half Acre Daisy Cutter
Style: Pale ale
Brewery: Half Acre Beer Company, Chicago, IL
ABV: 5.2 percent
Since 2009, Daisy Cutter has been one of Chicago’s go-to craft beers, a calibrated aromatic package of biscuits and pungent cannabis. It drinks far bigger than its 5.2 percent, and it still tastes fresh and essential even 15 years after its release.
32. Boulevard Brewing Company Tank 7
Style: Saison
Brewery: Boulevard Brewing Company, Kansas City, MO
ABV: 8.5 percent
Named after a malfunctioning fermentation tank, the long-running Kansas City brewery’s American-style saison has an assertive hop character that will appeal to fans of IPAs. The dry, peppery, grapefruit-fragranced Tank 7 is a fine friend to chicken wings and other fried fare.
31. Best Kölsch: Gaffel Kölsch
Style: Kölsch
Brewery: Privatbrauerei Gaffel Becker & Co., Cologne, Germany
ABV: 4.5 percent
Gaffel sells most of its Kölsch—a crisp, lightly fruity ale that’s fermented at cooler temperatures—within a 100-kilometer radius of Cologne, where the beer style originated. The family-owned brewery’s briskly carbonated Kölsch tastes of freshly baked bread with a bit of lemon zest. It excels with fish and salads.
30. New Belgium La Folie
Style: Flanders oud bruin
Brewery: New Belgium Brewing Company, Fort Collins, CO
ABV: 6.5%
Prior to working at New Belgium, former brewmaster Peter Bouckaert toiled in Belgium at Rodenbach. He brought his microbial know-how to Colorado and created one of the country’s first large-scale souring programs, including La Folie. Each year’s release, now shepherded by Lauren Woods Limbach, ages in French oak for up to three years, resulting in a brightly acidic indulgence with echoes of sour apples. “La Folie is the greatest beer for sipping slowly and thinking about flavor, complexity, and time,” says Eric Steen, founder and director of Forest Green PR and creator of the Earth to Beer project.
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29. Westmalle Trappist Tripel
Style: Tripel
Brewery: Brouwerij Westmalle, Westmalle, Belgium
ABV: 9.5 percent
The brothers at Westmalle brewed the first iteration of their Trappist Tripel, a strong golden ale, in 1934. They tinkered with ingredients and technique for two decades until settling on a finished recipe in 1956. The monastic ale has a fruity, herbal aroma and well-cloaked alcohol.
28. Plank Hefeweizen
Style: Hefeweizen
Brewery: Braueri Michael Plank, Laaber, Germany
ABV: 5.2 percent
Four centuries ago, Braueri Michael Plank began producing this unfiltered Bavarian hefeweizen. Pour a can into a glass, and you’ll be rewarded with a fluffy head that smells of honeydew melons and ripe bananas. Note the sticky lacing that lingers behind after each sip of Plank Hefeweizen.
27. Maine Beer Company Lunch
Style: IPA
Brewery: Maine Beer Company, Freeport, ME
ABV: 7 percent
Maine Beer began in 2009 with a single pale ale called Peeper. Since then, founding brothers Daniel and David Kleban have expanded to include a range of fragrant, not-too-bitter IPAs. Its most famous is Lunch. Named after a whale whose fin looks like it was snacked on, the IPA employs a trio of citrusy, pungent hops (Amarillo, Simcoe, Centennial) that help the balanced IPA swim circles around the competition.
26. Best Porter: Deschutes Black Butte Porter
Style: Porter
Brewery: Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR
ABV: 5.5 percent
Few breweries make the same beer as they did on day one. When Deschutes opened in 1988, founder Gary Fish launched with the smooth, chocolatey, and complex Black Butte Porter. (It’s named after a local extinct volcano.) The porter remains an American standard-bearer for the style, and Deschutes now makes a nonalcoholic version, too.
25. Schneider Weisse Aventinus
Style: Weizenbock
Brewery: Private Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn GmbH, Kelheim, Germany
ABV: 8.2 percent
German wheat beer specialists produce Aventinus strong ale via a process called open fermentation, which produces a potent aroma of cloves. The smooth, malt-forward beer tastes somewhat like chocolate-covered bananas, and its elevated alcohol content makes it terrific for fall or winter.
24. AleSmith Speedway Stout
Style: Imperial stout
Brewery: AleSmith Brewing Company, San Diego, CA
ABV: 12 percent
Some imperial stouts hit hard with booze and heat. This coffee-infused imperial stout “drinks under its boxing class,” owner and CEO Peter Zien says. “People would drink it and go, ‘There's no way this is 12 percent.’” Speedway Stout is darker than used motor oil and tastes of dark chocolate, caramel, and super-strong coffee. It’s great as dessert or served with your favorite chocolate cake.
23. Best Tripel: Bosteels Tripel Karmeliet
Style: Tripel
Brewery: Bosteels Brewery, Buggenhout, Belgium
ABV: 8.4 percent
“Belgian tripels are up there with my favorite beer styles, and Tripel Karmeliet is an exquisite representation of the style,” says Allo Gilinsky, owner of the Craft Beer Concierge consultancy and event-production company. “While not as dry as the Trappist versions of the style, this fuller-bodied, slightly sweeter tripel is a great food-pairing beer or on its own on a cool spring evening. Its frothy head lends perfect peppery aromas along with sweet honey that make you want to dive into this beer from the get-go.”
24. Best Quadrupel: Trappistes Rochefort 10
Style: Quadrupel
Brewery: Brasserie de Rochefort, Rochefort, Belgium
ABV: 11.3 percent
In recent years, monk-made Trappist beers have seen their stars wane stateside. Consider this a call to action to revisit this classic quadrupel, a dark and malt-forward beer that tastes of figs and caramel. Try Rochefort 10 with a leg of lamb or grilled steak.
21. Duvel Belgian Ale
Style: Golden strong ale
Brewery: Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat, Breendonk, Belgium
ABV: 8.5 percent
The Belgian brewing giant takes no shortcuts to create Duvel, the archetypal golden strong ale. The 90-day process includes four kinds of French barley, yeast to spur a secondary bottle fermentation, and extended aging in both warm and cold cellars. The golden finished product is spicy, floral, and sneaky strong.
20. Best Hazy IPA: Tree House Brewing Company Julius
Style: Hazy IPA
Brewery: Tree House Brewing Company, Charlton, MA
ABV: 6.8 percent
Though the lines for beer releases have diminished at breweries across America, drinkers continue to queue at Tree House’s locations across Massachusetts for the brewery’s peerless IPAs, including the flagship Julius. It’s as plush and luxurious as goose-down pillows, the flavor not unlike biting into ripe mangos and peaches while sipping orange juice.
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19. Best Hefeweizen: Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
Style: Hefeweizen
Brewery: Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan, Freising, Germany
ABV: 5.4 percent
Three brewmasters oversee production of Weihenstephan’s essential hefeweizen that’s made with Bavarian malt and hops grown north of the brewery. You’ll find Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier golden and hazy in appearance, tasting pleasantly of honey and fruit. It’s a warm-weather staple, plus a great companion to weisswurst, the classic Bavarian sausage.
18. Taras Boulba
Style: Belgian pale ale
Brewery: Brasserie de la Senne, Brussels, Belgium
ABV: 4.5 percent
At Brasserie de la Senne, which is named after a river coursing through Brussels, head brewer Yvan de Baets specializes in beers that balance moderate alcohol with massive flavor. Taras Boulba leans on European hops to create a citrusy, herbaceous scent. It’s a dual-purpose beer you can gulp by the liter, or just slowly sip on a sunny afternoon.
17. Best Smoked Beer: Aecht Schlenkerla Helles
Style: Helles lager
Brewery: Brauerei Heller-Trum, Bamberg, Germany
ABV: 5 percent
The world’s definitive rauchbier producer makes lagers with malt dried over beechwood, imparting a deep smokiness. Instead of smoked malts, Aecht Schlenkerla Helles gains its subtle smoldering quality from the brewery’s house yeast. The lager drinks clean and brisk, the smoke omnipresent yet never overpowering, making it an excellent friend to brisket and BBQ.
16. Rodenbach Classic
Style: Flanders red ale
Brewery: Brouwerij Rodenbach, Roeselare, Belgium
ABV: 5.2 percent
Sour ales can sometimes verge on vinegar. The venerated Belgian brewery softens this beer’s acidic sting by blending one part wood-aged ale—upward of two years old—with three parts fresh ale fermented in stainless steel. The ratio results in a tangy, ruddy-brown ale that recalls sour cherries. Rodenbach Classic is terrific with cheese and charcuterie.
15. Best IPA: Bell's Two Hearted IPA
Style: IPA
Brewery: Bell’s Brewery, Comstock, MI
ABV: 7 percent
Named after a renowned Michigan trout river, Bell’s flagship IPA traces its DNA to a 1993 homebrew experiment by employees Rik Dellinger and Rob Skalla. Utilizing then-novel Centennial hops, they formulated a grapefruit-forward, piney IPA that evolved into Two Hearted. “IPA trends have come and gone, but this Michigan standard has remained more or less unchanged,” Nilsen says. “Two Hearted hasn’t needed to change to stay relevant.”
14. Pilsner Urquell
Style: Pilsner
Brewery: Plzensky Prazdroj, Pilsen, Czech Republic
ABV: 4.4 percent
First brewed in 1842, this trailblazing Czech pilsner has inspired legions of imitators over the last 180-plus years. The brewery utilizes a painstaking triple decoction, boiling a portion of the water to intensify the malt character. The Czech Republic’s native Saaz hops create the crisp golden Pilsner Urquell with an enlivening bitter snap.
13. Orval Trappist Ale
Style: Pale Ale
Brewery: Brasserie d’Orval, Florenville, Belgium
ABV: 6.9 percent
“Organizing beers into styles can help sift through the sometimes confusing varieties of beer, but Orval’s lone commercial product continues to defy categorization,” Nilsen says of the bone-dry Trappist Ale that “has the bracing hop bitterness of a pale ale, the grassy hop aromas of a German pilsner, and the gently fruity yeast flavors of many Belgian ale styles. The wild card is the Brettanomyces yeast added to each bottle, which lends an earthy spice and will continue to subtly alter the beer as it ages in the bottle.”
12. The Alchemist Heady Topper
Style: Double IPA
Brewery: The Alchemist Brewery, Stowe, VT
ABV: 8 percent
Hazy IPAs were more or less seen as a mistake until The Alchemist’s unfiltered double IPAs helped reset America’s perception of what a complex yet easy-drinking IPA could be. You’ll appreciate Heady Topper's pungent yet appealing profile of grapefruit, pine trees, and tropical fruit. “The wonderful blend of pure hop delight balanced along pleasant malty sweetness makes this beer a certain favorite,” says Mark Medura, the founder and CEO of Level Crossing Brewing Company in Salt Lake City.
11. Firestone Walker Parabola
Style: Imperial stout
Brewery: Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Paso Robles, CA
ABV: 13.6 percent
One of Firestone Walker’s most anticipated beers is Parabola, an intense imperial stout that ages in bourbon barrels for a year. Good things come to those who wait for great beer. Parabola is as dense as flourless chocolate cake, and tastes of black cherries, espresso, and caramel. The beer’s note of tobacco might put you in the right mind to smoke a cigar.
Related: 30 Best Nonalcoholic Beers That Taste Like the Real Thing
10. Best Pilsner: Rothaus Tannenzäpfle
Style: Pilsner
Brewery: Badische Staatsbrauerei Rothaus, Grafenhausen, Germany
ABV: 5.1 percent
Tannenzäpfle, an unpasteurized German pilsner, has a cultish following among craft beer fans, and for good reason. The state-run brewery in the Black Forest uses natural spring water, local barley, and Hallertau and Tettnang noble hops that grow nearby to fashion a perfect pilsner with a spicy edge.
9. Best Lambic: Fou’Foune
Style: Fruit lambic
Brewery: Brasserie Cantillon, Brussels, Belgium
ABV: 5.5 percent
Brasserie Cantillon specializes in spontaneously fermented beers that spend months and years aging in oak barrels, souring bacteria and yeast working in concert to create complex flavors and refreshing acidity. We love all Cantillon beers, but we reserve a special place in our cellar for Fou’Foune, a merger of lambics aged for 18 to 20 months with Bergeron apricots, a classic French variety.
8. Best Barley Wine: J.W. Lees & Co. Vintage Harvest Ale
Style: Barley wine
Brewery: J.W. Lees & Co., Manchester, England
ABV: 11.5 percent
The legendary British brewery’s once-a-year Harvest Ale is an agricultural celebration of the current year’s barley and hops crops. The smooth and silky barley wine tastes like really good whiskey that’s lightly sweetened with brown sugar and maple syrup.
7. Best Imperial Stout: WeldWerks Medianoche
Style: Imperial stout
Brewery: WeldWerks Brewing, Greeley, CO
ABV: 13.7 percent
WeldWerks is known for both its Juicy Bits hazy IPA and its dedication to making intense, highly concentrated imperial stouts—black holes of flavor. The flagship barrel-aged stout is Medianoche (“midnight”), and each year’s vintage might age for upward of two years in freshly emptied bourbon barrels that previously contained Blanton’s, Eagle Rare, and E.H. Taylor. WeldWerks also releases variants, including a particularly good peanut butter spin.
6. Best Saison: Saison Dupont
Style: Saison
Brewery: Brasserie Dupont, Tourpes, Belgium
ABV: 6.5 percent
Modern farmhouse ales are indebted to Tourpes, Belgium, where Brasserie Dupont has been making its rustic saison (French for “season”) since 1844. The brewery uses spring water and its distinct yeast strain to deliver a dry and lively saison that’s a great reward for yard work. The saison is “a class act that set the standard for what saison is, and could be,” says cartoonist and Pints and Panels founder Em Sauter, an advanced cicerone and beer judge. She sees Saison Dupont as an ideal food beer. “Its stylish bottle fits well on any dining room table and is a great choice for Thanksgiving when you want to veer away from wine.”
5. Lawson's Sip of Sunshine
Style: Double IPA
Brewery: Lawson’s Finest Liquids, Waitsfield, Vermont
ABV: 8 percent
Veteran homebrewer Sean Lawson and his wife, Karen, founded Lawson’s Finest Liquids in 2008, and their tiny shed brewery has since grown into one of the Northeast’s finest IPA producers. The brewery’s flagship is Sip of Sunshine, a clean-drinking double IPA that stars Citra hops for a tropical pop. The brewery champions freshness, and you’ll often find cans in the marketplace that are just days or weeks old.
4. Best Witbier: Allagash White
Style: Witbier
Brewery: Allagash Brewery, Portland, ME
ABV: 5.2 percent
When Allagash founder Rod Tod brewed his first batch of White in 1995, he couldn’t have anticipated it would become America’s landmark example of the Belgian-style witbier. Brewed with oats and both raw and malted wheat, and spiced with coriander and Curaçao orange peel, White is ideal with lobster rolls and lazy summertime hangs. “I never get tired of drinking Allagash White,” Sauter days. “Their flagship is a must-order whenever you see it.”
3. Best Double IPA: Russian River Pliny the Elder
Style: Double IPA
Brewery: Russian River Brewing Co., Windsor, CA
ABV: 8 percent
Since its release in 1999, Pliny the Elder has become a bucket list beer for drinkers around the world. (The double IPA is named for the Roman naturalist who wrote about hops and died in the 79 CE eruption of Mount Vesuvius.) Pliny is a piney, resinous reminder that even-handed bitterness is an asset to an excellent IPA.
2. Best Pale Ale: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Style: Pale ale
Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA; Mills River, NC
ABV: 5.6 percent
Released in 1980, this iconic pale ale was one of America’s first modern beers to prominently feature Cascade hops and their floral, grapefruit-like character. It's one of America’s most consistent beers, full stop. “Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is without a doubt my favorite beer in the universe,” Steen says. “I always know that it will have that perfect balance of crisp, biscuity maltiness with piney and citrus hops and a touch of bitterness. It’s the perfect beer back for a table bourbon.”
1. Best Stout: Guinness Draught
Courtesy of Guinness
Style: Irish dry stout
Brewery: Guinness Ltd., Dublin, Ireland
ABV: 4.2 percent
There’s a good reason why Guinness is our unquestioned top beer in the world. The global favorite has soothed souls with its rich, creamy taste for generations. With a velvety run on the tongue and a slight bitter finish, this imported Irish stout has become a trusted staple of any self-respecting pub—and countless craft beer bars too. The brewery’s commitment to both quality and educating bar staff on the perfect pour means that you’re guaranteed to have a great Guinness most everywhere in the globe, whenever the urge strikes. “My husband has a tradition of drinking Guinness at airports all over the world,” Sauter says. “I think it’s because there’s a security in knowing wherever you go, Guinness will be there and Guinness will be good.” (P.S., don’t let the dark color trick you: The stout is about the same ABV as many low-calorie light lagers).
What We Look for When Choosing the Best Beers
Creating a list of the best beers in the world requires a hearty liver and loads of research. I began by canvassing seasoned beer experts for their top picks, and then cross-referenced popular ratings sites such as Untappd. And then I started drinking, and drinking some more.
Instead of sipping from a can or bottle, I poured each beer into its appropriate glassware to appreciate its foam. The cloudy cap—caused by carbon dioxide surging to the surface—captures a beer’s aromatic compounds and delivers a more fragrant experience, each tiny pop a blast of a beer’s distinct perfume. Foam also impacts mouthfeel and can contribute a pleasant creaminess, especially in wheat-rich styles such as a witbier and hefeweizen.
It takes about three sips to acclimate your palate and get a true snapshot of a beer, and I gave each beer a full appraisal. A great beer fired on all cylinders, from flavor to foam, appearance and fragrances, its memory lingering long after I emptied a glass.
The style of beer did not influence rankings. Hazy, juicy IPAs might be broadly popular, but I sought to include archetypal examples of less popular, though highly laudable styles like the Belgian saison and strong, warming barley wine. Excessive hops are not the best marker of excellent beer.
If you're new to beer, this list is a great start to locate some great ones. But to learn more, chat with the employees at liquor stores and bars. Ask them what’s fresh and what they like best. Their opinions are important, but it’s your taste buds that matter most. If you don’t like a beer, it’s no big deal. There’s always something fresh and new to try in your search of the best-tasting beers.
Why You Should Trust Me
I'm a veteran journalist who's been covering the beer industry for more than two decades, thoroughly chronicling the rise of the American craft beer industry for The New York Times, Food & Wine, Imbibe magazine and, of course, Men’s Journal. I’m also the author of six books on beer including The Complete Beer Course, which has sold more than 100,000 copies and been translated into multiple languages.
Over the decades, I've tasted thousands of different beers, from spiced pumpkin ales to summer shandies, coffee-infused stouts, spontaneously fermented Belgian ales, lightly fruity kölsch, nonalcoholic beers, and every mass-produced lager you can name. That means you, PBR, Asahi Super Dry, Peroni, Old Milwaukee, and more.
For this article, I refreshed my palate by trying dozens of beers over a two-month period. I also spoke with experts that included a range of journalists, beer judges, authors, beer-bar owners, brewery owners, and other leading voices in the beer industry.
Meet our experts: Advanced Cicerone David Nilsen, a writer and publisher of several beer zines, including Final Gravity and Bean to Barstool; cartoonist and Pints and Panels founder Em Sauter, an Advanced Cicerone and beer judge; Shane Monteiro, chief operations officer for Brooklyn bar Queue Beer; Allo Gilinsky, owner of the Craft Beer Concierge consultancy and event-production company; Mark Medura, founder and CEO of Level Crossing Brewing Company in Salt Lake City; and Eric Steen, founder and director of Forest Green PR and creator of the Earth to Beer project.
