Top 10 Beers of the Year
Slice Mac Salad (Lincoln, California) Clarity in color and clarity in aroma and flavor are the hallmarks of Slice’s West Coast IPAs, and Mac Salad represents everything good about the style. Light yet wry, with a playful tension between sweet citrus and zesty-bitter tropical fruit, the slender body lets every element of the hop character shine. Direct and present, with an unmistakable verve.
Primitive Cursed Heirloom: Irish Whiskey (Longmont, Colorado)
A bottle shared over a podcast always results in the question, “Was it as good as I remember, or was I just enjoying the moment?” In this case, revisiting it with our blind-review panel (and their score of 98) reminded me just how much I loved the smoky take on soft stone-fruit acidity.
Xül Lost to History (Knoxville, Tennessee)
No surprise, it’s Nelson Sauvin again, but wrapped in a delicate off-dry package, with a soft, creamy thiol-citrus expression and an illusion of sweetness that feels more decadent than it is. This was my first experience of this brewery, and I look forward to more.