Craig’s 30 Most Memorable Beers of 2024

At the beginning of last year’s listicle, I warned about breweries starting to close. We lost some ones close to us in 2023, but that paled in comparison to 2024. It seemed like every week another brewery announced its closure. We lived in fear of the black-and-white Instagram post or the “Dear Friends…” intro. While not an exhaustive list, losing breweries (or locations) like the Revolution Brewpub, the Afterthought taproom, Temperance, Ravinia, and Waypost among others really stung and hit home. 

But breweries are still opening and having the Is/Was taproom, Industry Ales, Demo, Monochrome, and Suncatcher around softens (ever so slightly) the blow of those closed breweries. As I said last year, if you like a brewery or their beer, go out and support them.

Despite the bad vibes of the year, the beers themselves have never been better. While barrel-aged beers still rule the roost, lighter fare has become more prevalent and (in my case) a go-to. You can find a quality beer almost everywhere you go.

List Stats

In what can be seen as a possible reckoning, three styles tied for the most on my list – barrel-aged stout, lager, and sour at four apiece (13.33% each). (If barrel-aged sours were included, sours would be the most on the list, an unexpected but pleasant development!) Three saisons (10%) and two barrel-aged sours (6.66%). Hoppy beers (IPAs and their evolved forms) only took two spots this year, a far cry from their halcyon days of 2017 and 2018, when those styles were approaching 10 entries on the list. Every other style came in with one entry, leading to my most varied list possibly ever, style-wise. 

Barrel-aged beers of any kind occupied 13 spots on my list (43.3%), down slightly from last year. The number of Illinois breweries stayed the same as last year with seventeen (56.7%). I went to Austin, TX earlier in the year and brought back some shows, so Texas has five spots on my list (16.6%). Missouri clocks in with three beers (10%) while North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Colorado have one each (3.33%).

Our Patreon exclusive Low ABV episodes – absent from my list for the past two years – come roaring back with six entries on the list, the most since four in 2018 and the most ever. And there were a few more I could’ve added as well. If you’re not donating to the show, we’re having great beers on our Low ABVs and having a ton of fun. Definitely worth at least $1 per episode!

The limit of two beers per brewery remains in place – the Revolution rule if you will. And yes, Revolution would’ve had at least 5 on this list if not in place. But other breweries have joined them, with Half Acre, Old Irving and Heavy Riff all placing two beers on the list each. More were considered for these breweries as well, with Half Acre leading the way.

Rules

1. We had to have it on the show or reviewed it for the website; not talk about it, but actually drink it.
2. Rankings are based on “memorable beer experiences.” That means yes, beer X might be better in some way than beer Y, but beer Y is higher on the list. Why? It was more memorable to me. That’s it. You’ll have your own list, of course, and feel free to argue, yell, or send us an email saying Craig’s an idiot. It’s all good.
3. Patreon-exclusive Low ABV beers are in-play and not excluded from future listicles! Kind of like September call-ups in baseball that keep their rookie eligibility.
4. Maximum of two beers per brewery on the list.

Time for the Craig’s ABV Chicago 2024 Wrapped!

30) Joanie | Kettle Sour (Gluten-free) with strawberries and vanilla | G5 Brewing Company | Beloit, WI | 5% ABV – listen

Typically with these types of beers, all the brewery needs to do is hit the flavors of the things listed on the can. G5 accomplishes that with Joanie. Big strawberries and a vanilla note that immediately remind you of strawberry shortcake. Strawberries obviously dominate the flavor. The vanilla, however, doesn’t really shine as big but provides support and a nice creamy note. A crust-like flavor comes from the addition of almond flour (not listed on the can but in the online description). The only (small) knock against it is that the finish doesn’t ride off and instead just stops but it’s something I can sacrifice for all the flavor I’m getting. G5 knows their way around these sours and hazy IPAs so don’t hesitate to grab either if you see them.

29) HefeWeizen | Hefeweizen | Live Oak Brewing Company | Austin, TX | 5.3% ABV – listen

Live Oak’s HefeWeizen is viewed as the standard hefeweizen in the US for a reason. Big banana notes – as a hefeweizen should – but it’s not just all banana. A big bready note joins the banana and forms a lovely banana bread aroma and flavor on the beer. It’s got a full mouthfeel but remains light and enjoyable. Most other hefeweizens we’ve had lean into the banana and have a bubblegum backing and not the bread. It was absolutely essential to have this on the show as I actually got to taste the nuance of this beer (as opposed to a festival). I swear Live Oak has dropped off some things in Chicago from time to time (I might be wrong) but if this does ever hit the city, grab it.

28) Barrel-aged Peace Treaty | Barrel-aged imperial stout with cocoa nibs, vanilla beans, and peanut butter | Old Irving Brewing Co. (collab with Forbidden Root) | Chicago, IL/Columbus, OH | 14% ABV – listen

Peanut butter’s an interesting adjunct. Too little is definitely not good but actually going overboard with it is somehow fine. But when combining that with other adjuncts, you really don’t want too much as it’ll overpower everything else. Old Irving collaborated with Forbidden Root on this Ohio Buckeye-inspired beer over a year ago, then barrel-aged it for 18 months. The result is an outstanding mix of bourbon, vanilla cocoa nibs and peanut butter. While the peanut butter still dominates, the chocolate and vanilla do show up a bit, giving off a gourmet Reese’s vibe. The bourbon only adds to the vanilla notes while also rounding the beer off and giving it some heft. Beers like Barrel-aged Peace Treaty are a dime a dozen nowadays so it takes a skilled hand to get me to recognize and remember a beer like this.

27) V.S.O.R. Select | Barrel-aged ryewine | Revolution Brewing | Chicago, IL | 15.7% ABV – listen

I swear some magical things happen when Revolution starts to extend aging. While this year’s Ryeway to Heaven really wasn’t in my wheelhouse, V.S.O.R. Select did everything right. It had everything that Ryeway had – bready notes and rye spices mainly – with some added surprises. Due to the bourbon barrel included in the mix, chocolate, vanilla, and a bit more oak/wood came through on the palate, resulting in a more rounded and deep drinking experience. The fact that no alcohol burn came through always amazes me, but it’s now become Revolution’s M.O. It all comes together to mimic something like a snickerdoodle but without any over-the-top sweetness you’d expect in a beer if I said that. The V.S.O.’s in Revolution’s portfolio deserve all the accolades they get and V.S.O.R. Select continues in that tradition. Amazing beer.

26) A Long Time Ago | Adambier | Side Project Brewing (collab with Hair of the Dog) | St. Louis, MO/Portland, OR | 11% ABV – listen

A Side Project and Hair of the Dog collab? An adambier? Sign me up. This aggressive collaboration of 2 of Hair of the Dog’s Adam and Side Project’s Längst does everything you could hope it would. Molasses, chocolate, caramel, raisins, bourbon and umami comes at your nose in waves. Silky smooth with a little burn on the end of the sip lets you know you’re drinking a big beer here. And somehow little bits of all the aromas show up at various times throughout the sip. Flashes of caramel, chocolate, dark fruits, and bourbon sprinkle themselves across the tongue while a lovely current of molasses stays throughout. It’s not syrupy thick so drinking it is not a chore, although that bourbon burn on the end will slow you down a bit. It’s most definitely a wild, flavorful ride with a beer that’s kind of a blend between a barleywine and a stout. Fitting for two masters of the barrels.

25) Black Seed | Barrel-aged imperial stout | Maplewood Brewing & Distillery | Chicago, IL | 12% ABV – listen

When barrel-aging was in its relative infancy ten years ago, having something aged in apple brandy barrels caused demand to skyrocket. Nowadays, with pastry stouts all over the place and sweetness the name of the game, already sweet apple brandy barrels push the limits a bit too much sometimes. Maplewood used their noggins on Black Seed, putting a roastier imperial stout in the sweeter apple brandy barrels. The integration of that apple brandy into the base stout was simply flawless. The roast of the stout along with some bitter chocolate and a little caramel provide a contrast to the sweet and apple-y barrels and yield a sweet and roasty beer that keeps you coming back again and again. The apple brandy doesn’t overtake the base or go too sweet and every sip has a little bit of it in it. The base beer keeps the sweetness in check and isn’t too boozy, making it an easy drinker. On these shows I rarely finish the entirety of the can/bottle afterwards. Black Seed was gone shortly after hitting stop. Delicious.

24) Pennies From Prague | Czech Dark Lager | BuckleDown Brewing | Lyons, IL | 4.8% ABV – listen (Patreon Exclusive)

Over the last few years we’ve kind of become experts on Czech dark lagers. All I’m looking for is a defining flavor that hits you but then everything gets out of the way, making you want to drink it again. A coffee roast note permeates both the nose and palate while a small amount of chocolate joins in as well. The defining and memorable characteristic of Pennies, though, is the creamy mouthfeel. It somehow begins the sip creamy but finishes like a lager should, with everything going away. Both the mouthfeel and the insane coffee notes warrant repeated sips and, in this case, a place in a beer cocktail with Bailey’s. I typically like Czech dark lagers/schwarzbiers on the chocolatey side of the spectrum, but when you hit me with coffee like this, it can’t be denied.

23) Sweet Potato Ale | Wheat beer with sweet potatoes and spices | Bent River Brewing Co. | Moline, IL | 4.81% ABV – listen

When putting together shows we typically know what we’re getting ourselves into beer-wise. Every once in a while, we get a surprise. This Sweet Potato Ale from Bent River surprised the hell out of me. Figuring it would be more wheat beer and spices with not enough sweet potatoes, I was quickly proven wrong. Sweet potatoes dominate the palate, with some sweet and earthy notes taking over. By itself that would be too much, but thankfully the spices are there. They add a little zip and cut enough of the earthiness from the potatoes to make the entire beer enjoyable. Sweet potatoes are not something that’ll cause me to order that beer solely for that ingredient. At the very least, Bent River has me questioning that assumption.

22) Floating Fields | Saison with rice | Forest & Main Brewing Co. | Ambler, PA | 4% ABV – listen (Patreon Exclusive)

Sometimes we’re able to will beers into existence (not really though). Right after our rice lager episode was finished, this rice saison shows up in Chicagoland and absolutely wowed me. Knowing what we like about those rice lagers (some rice-grain like notes, thanks Asahi) and what we didn’t like (um, no rice-grain like notes), Floating Fields started from a disadvantage. It surpassed all of my expectations and then some. It had the freshly picked rice grain-like flavor and a fuller mouthfeel and some lemon notes thanks to the saison base. Forest & Main know how to make farmhouse beers but the rice showing up that well really vaulted this beer onto this list. I would implore more breweries to make saisons with rice so I could see how they pull it off. 

21) Ilaria | Barrel-aged smoked peach sour | Whistle Hop Brewing Company | Fairview, NC | 7.7% ABV – listen

I’m thankful I got to try one of the two beers that took the GABF gold medal ahead of my 2023 beer of the year – Double Clutch’s Rauch Helles. Considering I had another lictenheiner that I decidedly did not like and this one was aged in Mezcal barrels I was trepidatious. Ilaria somehow nailed both of these aspects. The smoke was there but not off-putting or dominant. Same for the Mezcal in that it added just a little of the vegetal note to the beer. The peach took a star turn adding a tart, juicy note. It all came together extremely well in a surprisingly drinkable and enjoyable libation. I still like the Rauch Helles better, but I can clearly see why Ilaria won a gold medal. If you’re a smoked beer fan and can get your hands on this, do so.

20) Le Jus Clear | Clear IPA | Alarmist Brewing | Chicago, IL | 6% ABV – listen

Those assholes at Alarmist did it again. Every year (or seemingly every year) they tease a funny beer name or style for April Fools’ Day on their socials. Le Jus Clear is the second time one of those “joke beers” have appeared on my list (Au Jus in 2021 was the first at #6 that year). Le Jus Clear – a West Coast IPA, not a “Clear IPA” – takes everything that we’ve loved about Le Jus and just added some crucial elements – bitterness and malt sweetness. It’s fruity but adds some malt sweetness (not lactose sweetness) and dank and piney bitterness to the beer. It drinks like a classic, early 2010s IPA with new hops and techniques added to the mix. It comes off as the best of both IPA worlds. I typically stay off the internet and social media on April 1; that still won’t change, but I’ll definitely set up some notifications for Alarmist that day. No idea how they top this. 

19) Kräusen | American Lager | Art History Brewing | Geneva, IL | 4.6% ABV – listen (Patreon Exclusive)

If there’s a surefire way to get me to remember a lager, it’s to make it smell and taste like fresh grain as opposed to creamed corn. Kräusen has that in spades, so point in its favor. The mouthfeel is the other star, as it has a fuller mouthfeel reminiscent of a kölsch rather than a pilsner. Cracker and biscuit flavors weave into the beer while a tad bit of sweetness shows up on the finish. Combine all these things together and you have one of the best lagers that I’ve had this year. If this is what kräusening does to a beer, I’m all for it. Kräusen me a barleywine, stout, saison – anything. Just kräusen it. 

18) Monadnock | American Porter | Hop Butcher for the World | Chicago, IL | 6% ABV – listen

While their hazy and West Coast single, double and triple IPAs are what pays the bills, Hop Butcher’s other styles have been making some noise the past few years (at least on this podcast). Their barrel-aged offerings are getting better with each passing iteration and their pilsners and lagers are solid and stand with some of the best in the city (see Supreme Being at #6 on my list last year). But a porter? It seriously might be the only porter I’ve ever seen from them and it slaps. A crazy amount of coffee roast on both the nose and the tongue had me convinced this had some coffee addition to it. But its real magic was making me appreciate it being a porter and not wishing it was a stout. A full and silky mouthfeel will make me do that, and I wish more porters were like that. An excellent example of a porter from Hop Butcher and one that I hope leads to more of that style from them.

17) Miko’s | Fruited Sour with meyer lemon | Old Irving Brewing Co. | Chicago, IL | 6% ABV – listen

I’ve become wary of beers tasting like their name intended as it usually means they dumped whatever it is in. From my research, it appears that Miko’s doesn’t do that. Brewed with Meyer lemons and Hallertau Blanc hops, Old Irving flat out nails this Italian ice-inspired beer. Tart and refreshing, it’s perfect for a hot summer day on the beach. It has enough heft at 6% to make it feel like you’re not drinking water. The Meyer lemons add that tartness and it never goes too far to face-puckering sourness. Just a stupidly enjoyable and fun beer that should hopefully be available every summer. It’s up there with Yuzu Fierce from Off Color for the title of most refreshing and enjoyable summer beer.

16) Nocturn Chrysalis | American Wild Ale with blackberries | Jester King Brewery | Austin, TX | 5.1% ABV – listen

No surprise a Jester King beer makes this list. Nocturn Chrysalis features their base sour hit with a ton of blackberries. Jester King knows its way around a sour so you get both dichotomy and balance in the beer. Acidic yet tart. Sweet yet dry. Fruity yet funky. It never skews too far in one direction causing it to be undrinkable. The blackberries provide some sweetness and a little bit of tartness, but the base sour really does the heavy lifting. Lemon, funk and some earthiness from that base sour keep the blackberries in check. Conversely, the blackberries stop the beer from being an acid bomb on your esophagus, allowing you to enjoy sip after sip without reaching for the Tums. It shows that Jester King has been making this beer (and their sour series) for about 10 years now as it’s dialed in. Outstanding in any decade!

15) Gose To Fino’s | Barrel-aged gose with lemon and lime zest and coriander | Heavy Riff Brewing Company | St. Louis, MO | 6.2% ABV – listen

Gose and gin definitely go together but few breweries seem to ever out the two together. And if they do it usually comes out a little to gin forward with not enough of the base beer coming through. Heavy Riff does a master class with Gose To Fino’s, somehow having enough lemon and lime zest to match whatever they got from the gin barrels. The result is a refreshing, tart, botanical treat that I’d like to have more of. While the coriander does come in a little near the finish of the sip, for the most part it’s tart lemon, zesty lime and the juniper and dryness from the gin barrels. It definitely reminds me of Gin Yuzu Fierce from Off Color, only with different fruits. Worth the trip to St. Louis to procure.

14) Barrel-aged Tepoztecatl | Barrel-aged stout with Mexican coffee, cinnamon, and vanilla | Saint Errant Brewing | Evanston, IL | 13.9% ABV – listen

In my experience two additions to a beer seems to be the sweet spot in getting everything to show up on the palate and not overdoing it. The more you add, a more deft hand is needed to get that balance right. Saint Errant nailed that balance with Barrel-aged Tepoztecatl. The base beer features some big chocolate notes, the vanilla and cinnamon show up in moderation (but enough to taste them!), and the coffee adds a small roast and bitter note to everything. While the coffee doesn’t show as much as the other additions, it cuts some of the sweetness (along with the barrel) to make the beer more enjoyable and able to finish in one sitting. It kind of brought me back to the early days of the Mexican hot chocolate beers (Abraxas, Hunahpu’s, Malevolence Caliente, etc.) with the balance of flavors – minus the chiles –  and the ease of drinking. 

13) Sour Mango Papaya | Sour ale with mango and papaya | Edmund’s Oast | Charleston, SC | 5.5% ABV – listen

Edmund’s Oast has won 2 GABF medals – both for their sour beer. It’s all about that base (beer) there, as the Sour Mango Papaya just does everything right. It’s not an overfruited sour, where it just tastes like straight fruit juice. It has enough of the sour beer flavor in there to let you know you’re actually drinking a beer. A nice streaming thread of mango and papaya show up in equal parts allowing you to basically pick which fruit you’re going to taste. That fruit integrates well with the sour base, seamlessly going from fruit to tart Berliner Weisse-like finish. Sour ales can have a host of issues – too sour, not enough (or too much!) fruit, off flavors – but this one just hits all the right buttons. If more sour beers like this came out, sours might be a more popular style of beer.

12) All Over The Map | Saison with cumin, orange peel, sage, and honey | Hold Out Brewing (collaboration with Keeping Together) | Austin, TX | 6.8% ABV – listen

When visiting a new brewery to me – or an out-of-state one – I usually stay away from can pours. But All Over The Map has two key words that made it my first beer at Hold Out Brewing – Keeping Together. So yeah, I knew the beer would be good, but this one really knocked it out of the park. The orange peel drives the bus on All Over The Map. Somehow both the cumin and sage stay in check and lean more towards herbal and earthy in the beer rather than something spicy. The honey adds a fuller mouthfeel giving off the impression that it’s coating the tongue more so than it actually does but still retaining that soft, pillowy mouthfeel you’d expect. It was easy to drink and flavorful, standing out against all the other Hold Out beers I had as well as whatever I had drank throughout the day. Hold Out had some bangers on as well – including Liquid Television, their hazy IPA – but this one shined. Helped that visiting the taproom was a major high point on my Austin trip as well. 

11) Hell Yes! | Helles Lager | Austin Beer Garden Brewing Co. | Austin, TX | 4.5% ABV – listen (Patreon Exclusive)

Given the choice, I’d probably go for a standard lager as opposed to a helles lager – unless it’s this one. Austin Beer Garden Brewing’s multiple medal-winning Helles Lager lives up to the hype and then some. Some biscuit and cracker aromas join with a fresh grain and slight vanilla nose flavor to get you salivating. And then you drink it. And drink it and drink it. Then you get mad that it’s gone. Why? Fresh grain, some grassy hop bitterness and a dry finish give you all you need to sip and savor or chug. A fuller helles lager mouthfeel makes the Hell Yes! seem heftier than it actually is and give you some satisfaction in drinking it. There’s even a slight sweetness to the finish as well. Yes, all those medals are justified and then some. 

10) Karnstein | Amber Lager | Acopon Brewing Company | Dripping Springs, TX | 5.4% ABV – listen

To be honest, Acopon was not on my list of breweries to hit when visiting Austin. But when Averie Swanson gives you a full endorsement of a place, you go, enjoy, and bring something back. And it ends up on your year-end list naturally. Karnstein – listed as a Maren-style lager – definitely leans into that style with a big aroma of rye bread. It veers off that course with some toffee, nutty and festive spice joining in, but once you take a sip you can see why. That bread and nuttiness continues on the palate while a heavy dose of sweetness comes through from the malt. It then finishes like a lager would, with things getting out of the way fast. But those bready nut flavors linger, making Karnstein one of those beers you just want to keep drinking. Too bad I couldn’t get a cask-poured crowler to bring home!

9) Fruit Aisle: Pineapple Whip | Fruited Sour with pineapple, vanilla, and lactose | Triptych Brewing | Savoy, IL | 6% ABV – listen

On the pineapple show we put together I mentally braced myself for two distinct styles of beer – hoppy/wheat ones with pineapple added and the fruited sour, sweet-and-filled-wth-pineapple bombs. While the last half of my prediction kind of came true, Triptych’s offering defied everything I thought about it going in. Sure, it had pineapple, but it wasn’t over-the-top and loaded with visible chunky pineapples. The vanilla added a little sweetness, but it really wasn’t the star like the pineapple. The lactose hit you with that smooth mouthfeel and, like the vanilla, stayed out of the pineapple’s way. The result took me back to the tropical area in the Magic Kingdom, eating a dole whip on a 100-degree-plus Orlando summer day. You get the ingredients on the can exactly and nothing wallops you over the head (except for maybe the aroma). If a fruited sour can be balanced, this is it. I’d like to try more of the Fruit Aisle series of beers now. 

8) smol. | Table Beer | milieu fermentation | Aurora, CO | 2.7% ABV – listen

It’s always nice to feel validated. After having it at GABF and being wowed by it over almost everything else I had, having it win gold at FoBAB ensured it was no mirage. Finally having it for the first time in a non-fest setting cemented its status as it really stood out. A vibrant aroma filled with a little funk and a bounty of citrus, tropical and stone fruits had my brain thinking that I’m drinking some barrel-aged sour that’s going to hurt me going down. The funk dies down on the palate but all that complex fruit stays around for a ride across the tongue. It’s on the finish that you finally realize the amazing truth – it’s a 2.7% ABV table beer, not some 6-8% sour. And you love it even more because you can drink a keg of this without breaking a sweat. You get all the flavor and mouthfeel of a complex, barrel-fermented sour without any of the nasty acidic characteristics that sometimes come with it. Just a clean, table beer-like finish. I hope this brings about some new trend of flavorful table beers because I’m here for it. In the meantime, take a trip to Aurora, CO and load up on the smol.

7) The Illusion of Finality | Rye saison with Michigan cherries, chamomile, black pepper, and honey | Keeping Together | Chicago, IL | 8.4% ABV – listen (Patreon exclusive)

The best beers usually make you feel something beyond the beer itself. Keeping Together beers invoke those feelings with regularity and The Illusion of Finality is no exception. Big, tart cherries on both the nose and palate but it doesn’t ride out on a big tart cherry bomb. The chamomile adds some depth and complexity while the cherry cinnamon character comes out in the beer as well. It made me feel like the ending of summer – not my favorite feeling as a teacher but one that definitely brings about certain emotions. Everything else about Finality is typical Keeping Together – pillowy soft mouthfeel, restrained finish, enjoyable beer experience. Hopefully we’ll be able to have another Keeping Together beer for our 500th Low ABV!

6) I Believe In A Thing Called Lager | Barrel-aged dark lager | Mikerphone Brewing | Elk Grove Village, IL | 11.99% ABV – listen

Barrel-aged lagers I’ve had previously sat in barrels for under double-digit months. Mikerphone went the other way, aging this lager for 21 months in rye whiskey barrels. The results are outstanding – but really depend on when you drink it. Straight off the tap or out of the fridge, it comes off as straight spirit and kind of abrasive. Let it warm up and you’ll see its excellence. Rye spices, caramel, vanilla, and toffee mix bloom when at room temperature. They all sit on a lager base that, quite honestly, gets out of the way and lets those flavors shine. A little boozy on the finish, that lager causes the beer to finish dry and at times almost crispy, leaving all those amazing Peerless rye whiskey flavors on the tongue to savor. I Believe In A Thing Called Lager has no business being this good and working the way it does, but it succeeds in every aspect. Just let it warm up!

5) Daisy Cutter Select | American Double IPA | Half Acre Beer Company (collab with Sierra Nevada) | Chicago, IL/Chico, CA | 8% ABV – listen

From the first announcement of this beer I knew it would end up on this list somewhere – and probably high on it. Pairing the hoppy know-how of Half Acre with the OG hoppy beer maker in Sierra Nevada is something I hope happens at least semi-regularly. Dank, fruity, and grassy aromas lead to an aggressively bitter and fruity taste while not being overbearing at all. Malt adds just the right amount of sweetness and body to the beer. Even at 8% a four pack of this is in danger of being inhaled in one sitting as the booze never really takes over. This throwback DIPA is only aided by the industry move toward hazy and juicy IPAs as it stands out so far above all of them.  This would’ve been amazing in 2014; in 2024 it’s essential. My hope is Daisy Cutter Select is a yearly thing and not a one-off 15th anniversary celebration beer. An outstanding beer.

4) Orin | Barrel-aged American Strong Ale | Half Acre Beer Company | Chicago, IL | 13.6% ABV – listen

When Half Acre decided to re-launch their barrel-aged program, it was Orin (and regular Benthic) that led the way. Over time, Half Acre has dialed it in, with more recent vintages utilizing blending over just being a single barrel. For Orin 2024, Half Acre blended bourbon and apple brandy barrel-aged beers together to achieve something that few breweries rarely do. Caramel, apple, toffee, molasses, fruit, and brown sugar notes fill the room. But the star by far are the barrels, as they add complexity and depth to the base beer. The strangest thing was that a caramel apple flavor sits on the tongue long after the sip is finished. Like I had to wait to take another sip because I could still taste it and wanted to enjoy it. That’s insane. Orin is unfortunately overlooked by the Benthics and Catch Hells in Half Acre’s barrel-aged portfolio but hopefully no more!

3) Quadrophanic Euphoria | Barrel-aged Belgian Quadrupel | Heavy Riff Brewing Company | St. Louis, MO | 13.2% ABV – listen

Few breweries even make a quadrupel anymore; even fewer decide to barrel-age them. When I hit their booth a GABF last year I tried everything. I’m happy to report that it wasn’t festival or vacation bias coming into play on it. It tastes just as great right out of the bottle in a controlled setting. It did everything I wanted out of a Belgian quad. Brown sugar, dark fruits, and some spices playing well together. The 2 years in port barrels really amped up the dark fruit melange with cherries, figs, and raisins moving to the forefront. Yes, a little sweetness showed up a bit more but it was tempered by the dry, tannic finish of the beer. It honestly gets really close to an Oud Bruin, fruit-wise (and no tartness!). A delicious base beer that somehow still shines through even after the barrel-aging is the true mark of a great barrel-aging brewery. Do not skip Heavy Riff if you happen to visit St. Louis.  

2) D.B.X.O.D. Le Tronçais | Barrel-aged imperial oatmeal stout | Revolution Brewing | Chicago, IL | 16.8% ABV – listen

The Revolution team is very good at hyping up their Deep Wood beers. It’s typically some vein of, “the best we’ve ever done,” and it’s usually warranted, but not all the time.D.B.X.O.D. Le Tronçais warrants all the praise and more. The aroma features chocolate, oak, vanilla, tannins, roast, fruit – a bouquet of stoutly aromas you’re so familiar with. All those come through on the palate but the dominant ones (for me anyways) are the chocolate and vanilla. It really came off like a s’mores to me that didn’t finish sweet. Further sips brought out more tannic notes as well a more roast, but the chocolate and vanilla could not be denied. The real star here are the barrels from the Tronçais forest in France. These first use barrels add a complexity and dryness that most other barrel-aged stouts I’ve had can’t compete with. Marty Scott and the Revolution barrel crew know how to hide ABV and Le Tronçais is no exception; I’ve finished a 16.9 ounce can in one sitting more than once. 

1) Rascal King | Best Bitter | Flipside Brewing | Tinley Park, IL | 4.8% ABV – listen (Patreon Exclusive)

When a beer like a best bitter (or pub ale as Flipside calls it) stands out at a festival (Beer Under Glass) with tons of flavorful and high gravity beer, you know it’s something. Rascal King does what any good pub ale does. It has a bready character, a little roast and caramel, malty sweetness, goes down easy – but it just does it better. All those flavors return every sip so every sip is enjoyable. There’s even a little bitterness bite on the end to make you want to drink it even more. It makes an excellent pairing with food as well. It’s a beer that has some big flavor but it doesn’t really overtake the beer itself. This had to exist before as it’s so perfectly dialed and consistent. It’s something I always want in my house to drink anytime I’d like. More pub ales and more cask beer please!