Top 10 Beers of the Year
Game Brew Dilemma (Yoshinogari, Japan) I’d done the diligence in plotting out an Osaka beer map, but the small, punkish bar named Fuji Rock was not on it. Our next discovery was this “cold pale ale” on draft there—immaculate, led by paloma-like lemony-pink-grapefruit hop flavors, then evaporating into dryness, forcing you to go back for more—which we tried to do the following night, but the keg had kicked, leaving me with a feeling of wanting that continues to this day.
De Dolle Oerbier Special Reserva 2005 (Esen, Belgium) One of the early mindblowers in my better-beer education came about 18 years ago—a Leary-esque opening of consciousness that showed me what was possible—and I never expected to taste it again. Walking through the wonderfully janky old West Flanders brewery in May with founder Kris Herteleer, seeing him grab this particular bottle from his famously dank, moldy cellar, and then getting to sip it in a cluttered tasting room—punchy, vinous acidity, with notes of dried cherries and tart prunes, still getting structure from tannins and residual bitterness, and still finishing dry despite its body and all that depth. If I am a beer hunter, this was a capstone experience.
Side Project Dry-Hopped Saisonnier, Blend No. 1 (Maplewood, Missouri) This bottle had a couple years on it, kept cold, when I cracked it on a quiet evening at the farm in Missouri over the summer. I needed no help to kill the 750. It’s foeder-aged and dry hopped with Rakau, and I’m fascinated by the role the hops continue to play. The nose blossoms with lemon, lime, oaked riesling, and pleasant floral hints, while the acidic tang goes gently into the super-dry finish—lime peels, dusty snow, and cobwebs, all of it evaporating on the tongue. Quenching and stupid-drinkable at 4 percent ABV, this was a perfect summertime drink.
Craft Beer Base 004 Sorachi Silk Snow (Osaka, Japan) The 和 is “wa”—the oldest name for Japan, also signifying harmony or balance. Ai Tani, owner of Osaka’s Craft Beer Base, is experimenting with combinations of koji-fermented rice, among other ingredients, as she aims to capture the essence of Japanese flavors. Hopped with Sorachi Ace, this saison includes portions of rice fermented with yellow and white kojis. The flavors are fresh and green—sweet herbs, cool grass, and a suggestion of spearmint, with lightest body and finest bitterness. It’s delicate, classy, and highly compelling, far removed from the fruity flavors that rule the day.
Urban Artifact Gadget (Cincinnati) Now that I’ve dissed fruity flavors… Urban Artifact’s Midwest fruit tarts have a special place in my heart. I’m not sure anyone knows more than Bret Kollmann Baker about getting the most from various fruits in various forms, using acidity and other elements to define and support those flavors, while combining some intensity with balance and drinkability. Deeply purple with real foam, this beer’s nose is full of summertime just-baked berry cobbler from the backyard harvest. It’s tart, fluffy, seedy, and lush, yet never truly sweet—delicious and dangerous at 8 percent ABV.
Knoblach Lagerbier (Schammelsdorf, Germany) Our beer year is basically fiscal, running from one Best in Beer issue deadline to the next—October to September, roughly. I splurged on a trip to Germany as November turned to December, making my way from Munich to Berlin with a few days in Oberfranken along the way. Dropping four or five Franconian lagers into this list would have been an honest thing to do, but I’ll limit it to one—and drinking fresh, earthy, bitter Lagerbier from the steinkrug in the Knoblach family’s pub is such a joy. It didn’t hurt the experience that Otherlands’ Ben Howe and I had just spent about an hour picking brewer Johannes Knoblach’s brain.
Amalgam Sitting in Stillness (Denver) Easily my favorite barrel-aged thickness of the year. I’ve refined my critical framework on these monster stouts, and what I want is an elusive combination of heft, balance, and malt flavors—I want it heavy but not sweet, and I’m done with the fig bombs. This one has raisin and port, but they’re wrapped in a spectrum of chocolate with hints of umami-shoyu and smoke. Threads of roast, hop-bitterness, and tannin tag-team to provide structure, and it even dries out (a bit) in the finish, as dark-cocoa notes linger. Indulgent and multifaceted, yet seamless.
Senne Jambe-de-Bois (Brussels) Including Senne here isn’t an annual obligation; it’s just honest—and as much as I need a pipeline of Taras Boulba running into my house, I’ve found that when in Brussels I feel a compulsion to track down this guilty pleasure on draft. Properly bitter and packed with floral-spicy German hops, it’s only a tad sweeter than those other two—but sneaky at 8 percent ABV. Tripels should be hop-forward—Westmalle Tripel is hoppy, when you get it fresh—but there’s none more amply and skillfully hopped than this one.
Vertere Liponesco (Okutama, Japan) Cracking into cans and bottles late one night at the excellent Namton’s House Bar in Chiang Mai, I wasn’t even sure where this beer was from, but my notes were effusive. A fruit tart with black currant, cloves, and vanilla—the spicing incredibly subtle—its nose was like cranberries mashed into merlot, with cool wine-cellar funk adding interest. It was tart, bitterish, and seedy, but never harsh, with tannins that had erected a grown-up structure for balance and drinkability. I know next to nothing about Vertere, yet, except that someone there has a fine palate and their own way of doing things.
Sandport Tha-Sai IPA (Nonthaburi, Thailand) Some legal changes last year opened the door to more brewpubs in Thailand, and now we’re learning more about what studious, flavor-obsessed Thai brewers can do when they get professional kit. One of my favorites has been United Peoples, where head brewer Khun Toon is making some bright, sharp-edged, West Coasty IPAs under his Sandport brand. Tha-Sai is clean, citrus-forward, avoiding modern overripeness while getting every one of those 40 IBUs into its snappy bitterness—so, I’m not at all surprised that he just picked up gold and silver medals at the 2024 Asia Beer Championships.
Most Memorable Beer Experience of the Past Year
Hi, I’m a seasoned traveler in my middle years—totally spoiled, inevitably jaded. So, it’s easy to forget that I can still have the kind of trip I had to Osaka and Kyoto in February with my friend Mike—just two food- and drink-obsessed buds eating and drinking the best we could find while wandering the cities for hours, alternating between craft and ice-cold, izakayas and dives, singing karaoke for the locals and destroying our hangovers with ramen. Life is short. Plan that thing you think you need to do, and don’t wait.
Experience that Gives You Hope for the Future
It’s been a blast to watch Thailand’s brewing scene mature from semi-clandestine homebrewing on steroids to a state of greater legitimacy. The fresh ideas were always there, but the execution is growing in quality alongside some ace examples of classic and modern styles. From the Spacecraft Event Horizon stout that picked up the country’s first World Beer Cup medal last year to the Thai milk tea pale ale that really tastes like Thai milk tea, and from the lush, tart, super-magenta red roselle mead to the dry-hopped or fruited craft riffs on sato, the traditional rice beer… In case you don’t know: Craft brewing isn’t American, it never was, and everyone will have their say in its ongoing evolution.