Top 10 Beers of the Year
BareWolf Smoke Wheat Everyday (Amesbury, Massachusetts)
Love to see a grodziskie get the branding treatment of a DDH DIPA. This one has the refreshing chuggability of a light lager, all crisp, wheaty cracker until the subtly meaty, camp-fiery smoke billows in and lingers just the right number of seconds after each sip is gone.
North Park Cool Stache (San Diego)
As an emphatic member of #TeamColdIPA, I had a lot on a West Coast trip, and North Park’s reigned supreme. Cool Stache starts with Citra Incognito and then gets double dry hopped with Idaho 7, Simcoe, Simcoe Cryo, and Citra Cryo. It’s a crystal-clear and prolonged explosion of apricot, tangerine, melon, and pine, delivered with a satisfying punch of bitterness and a dry finish.
Tree House At Ease (Charlton, Massachusetts)
It pays to care what else Tree House is doing besides IPAs—you can walk right up to their “classics bar” while everyone else waits in the haze line. No one should sleep on a “classic” like this oak-conditioned altbier, which nails the balance of hearty, crusty brown bread and clean, easy-drinking bitterness. There’s a touch of earthiness, too, and it’s all warmed up by a hint of complexity from the oak.