Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine Best in Beer 2016: Readers’ Choice & Editors’ Picks

Our first-ever Best In Beer issue kicks off with a selection of awards categories chosen by thousands of you—our readers—through an online survey of subscribers. What do you, and your beer and brewing enthusiast peers, consider to be your favorite beers, breweries, styles, and more? Read on for your top picks.

Best Beers of 2016

1. Bell’s Brewery Two Hearted IPA
2. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
3. Russian River Pliny the Elder IIPA
4. Ballast Point Sculpin IPA
5. Boulevard Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale
6. Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro
7. Founders All Day IPA
8. New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale
9. Brasserie Dupont Saison Dupont
10. Founders Breakfast Stout
11. Stone Enjoy By IPA
12. 3 Floyds Zombie Dust Pale Ale
13. Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA
14. The Alchemist Heady Topper IPA
15. Stone IPA
16. Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
17. Duvel-Moortgat Duvel
18. Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout
19. Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA
20. Lagunitas IPA
21. Yuengling Lager
22. Brasserie d’Orval Orval
23. Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
24. Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin IPA
25. Anchor Brewing Anchor Steam
26. Verhaeghe Brewery Duchesse de Bourgogne
27. Bell’s Brewery Hopslam IIPA
28. Firestone Walker Pivo Pils
29. New Holland Dragon’s Milk Stout
30. Tree House Julius IPA
31. Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale
32. Lagunitas Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’
33. Lawson’s Finest Sip of Sunshine IPA
34. Allagash White
35. Odell IPA
36. North Coast Old Rasputin Stout
37. Victory Golden Monkey Tripel
38. Cigar City Jai Alai IPA
39. Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA
40. Prairie Artisan Ales Bomb! Stout
41. Unibroue La Fin du Monde
42. Deschutes Black Butte Porter
43. Half Acre Daisy Cutter Pale Ale
44. Samuel Adams Boston Lager
45. Sierra Nevada Celebration IPA
46. St. Bernardus Abt 12 Quadrupel
47. Creature Comforts Tropicalia IPA
48. Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
49. Jack’s Abby Hoponious Union IPL
50. Victory Prima Pils

“Wishlist” Breweries & Beers

We asked you to tell us what breweries and what beers you haven’t had (yet) but that are tops on your list to seek out.

Wishlist Breweries

1. Russian River (Santa Rosa, California)
2. The Alchemist (Waterbury, Vermont)
3. 3 Floyds (Munster, Indiana)
4. Cantillon (Brussels, Belgium)
5. Brouwerij de Sint-Sixtusabdij (Westvleteren, Belgium)
6. Tree House (Monson, Massachusetts)
7. Samuel Adams (Boston, Massachusetts)
8. Hill Farmstead (Greensboro Bend, Vermont)
9. Cigar City (Tampa, Florida)
10. Maine Beer Co. (Freeport, Maine)
11. Trillium (Canton, Massachusetts)
12. Founders (Grand Rapids, Michigan)
13. The Lost Abbey (San Marcos, California)
14. Toppling Goliath (Decorah, Iowa)
15. Brew Dog (Columbus, Ohio)

Wishlist Beers

1. Russian River Pliny The Elder
2. Russian River Pliny The Younger
3. The Alchemist Heady Topper
4. 3 Floyds Dark Lord
5. Westvleteren XII
6. Samuel Adams Utopias
7. Tree House Julius IPA
8. 3 Floyds Zombie Dust
9. Cigar City Hunahpu’s Stout
10. Maine Beer Co. Dinner
11. Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout
12. The Lost Abbey Duck Duck Gooze
13. Russian River Blind Pig IPA
14. Toppling Goliath Kentucky Brunch Brand Stout
15. Cantillon Fou’ Foune

“Desert-Island” Beers & Breweries

That hypothetical scenario where you could drink only one beer or one brewery’s beer while stranded on a deserted island:

“If you could drink only one beer for the rest of your life…”

1. “My Homebrew”
2. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
3. Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale
4. Russian River Pliny the Elder IIPA
5. Founders All Day IPA
6. The Alchemist Heady Topper IPA
7. 3 Floyds Zombie Dust Pale Ale
8. Guinness Extra Stout
9. Brasserie Dupont Saison Dupont
10. Stone IPA
11. Duvel-Moortgat Duvel
12. New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale
13. Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
14. Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin IPA
15. Tree House Julius IPA
16. Brasserie D’Orval Orval
17. Cigar City Jai Alai IPA
18. Odell IPA
19. Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA
20. Creature Comforts Tropicalia IPA

“If you could drink only one brewery’s beer for the rest of your life...”

1. Stone Brewing (Escondido, California)
2. Sierra Nevada (Chico, California)
3. Dogfish Head (Milton, Delaware)
4. Founders (Grand Rapids, Michigan)
5. Russian River (Santa Rosa, California)
6. Firestone Walker (Paso Robles, California)
7. New Belgium (Fort Collins, Colorado)
8. Boston Beer Co. (Boston, Massachusetts)
9. Bell’s Brewery (Kalamazoo, Michigan)
10. “My Homebrew”
11. Avery Brewing (Boulder, Colorado)
12. Lagunitas (Petaluma, California)
13. Tree House (Monson, Massachusetts)
14. Ballast Point (San Diego, California)
15. Hill Farmstead (Greensboro Bend, Vermont)
16. Odell (Fort Collins, Colorado)
17. Deschutes (Bend, Oregon)
18. Trillium (Canton, Massachusetts)
19. New Glarus (New Glarus, Wisconsin)
20. Boulevard (Kansas City, Missouri)

Your Favorite Breweries