Top 10 Beers of the Year
Bichofeo Barbera (Resistencia, Chaco, Argentina) Tasting head brewer Caco Galli’s experiments with grapes, barrels, and wildly expressive microbes was a delightful way to finish the Somos Cerveceros’s 17th annual gathering of amateur and commercial brewers. This saison cofermented with red grapes has the richness found in Australia’s sparkling shiraz Christmas wines, kept in balance by bright acidity. A neon-red body and bright pink foam introduce flavors of pomegranate, plums, and strawberries, giving way to earthy character that readies the palate for Argentine parrillada.
Blue Jay Okay! (St. Louis) Things you wonder about while sitting at the bar of one of St. Louis’s newest breweries, drinking a perfectly made hefeweizen—elusively wheaty, almost fluffy, with banana-bread flavor and peppery phenolics that are perfectly balanced: Would this beer have existed had InBev not bought Anheuser-Busch? St. Louis had only a handful of small breweries in 2008, but as Schlafly Beer cofounder Dan Kopman has said, “the social contract between Anheuser-Busch and local people, St. Louisans, was broken.” That contract didn’t include hefeweizen.
Care Forgot The Riceman Special (New Orleans) Wedged into a tiny space next to the renowned Avenue Pub on St. Charles, Care Forgot is as Louisianan as rice. They brewed this rice lager in collaboration with The Iceman Special, a jam-heavy psych-rock quartet transplanted from the bayous to New Orleans. Floral and herbal on the nose, crackery on the tongue, and perfectly balanced.
Fox Farm Pozar (Salem, Connecticut) Sometimes you must set your biases aside. In my mind, sweet and subtle oak-smoked wheat is a key component in a grodziskie (see: Live Oak Grodziskie). Fox Farm brews its grodziskie with maple-smoked wheat malt, which is a bit richer but not overdone. It’s bright in the glass, light on the tongue, and firmly bitter. Most important for any grodziskie is that it should be about smoke and hops. Pozar checks both boxes.
Fritz Family Cuckoo for Kölsch (Niwot, Colorado) This is best experienced during proper Kölsch service on Wednesday evenings, preferably on a warm summer night—but it’s still okay when it’s raining because then you’re already inside and don’t have to rush in at the top of the hour to experience a dozen cuckoo clocks in action (none exactly at the same time). This beer is five-stange worthy—delicate and firm, fresh and floral, 20 centiliters at a time.
Creature Comforts Brew for One: MJF (Athens, Georgia) This fonio lager is the third collaboration between Creature Comforts and Atlanta’s Our Culture, a brewery in waiting. Finished in Athens, the beer began in the Our Culture home breweries, where the principals trialed the West African grain. The sankofa bird on the can represents reaching back to bring fonio—nutty and earthy with surprising fruity notes—into the modern brewing world.
Half Acre Daisy Cutter (Chicago) This is the perfect ballpark beer, which is why I was drinking it straight from the can at Wrigley Field. An old friend with modern flavors… there’s probably a Wrigley analogy in there. Tropical, piney, and what some would call dank aromas burst through the keyhole opening atop the can. Biscuity malt and abundant hops deliver I-want-that-last-one-again flavor.
Side Project La Belle Fleur #2 (St. Louis) Remember when mixed-culture blends from Side Project or anywhere were all the rage? Back in 2016, I felt like I had to apologize for surrendering to the hype when I put one on my list. Maybe the hype has moved on, but the house cultures keep getting better. Tropical fruit shifts from bold and overripe to subtle. A retronasal touch of wet hay seals the deal.
Varietal Howl (Sunnyside, Washington) Not the first thing I am drinking at Varietal—that would be beer. This is hop water, and it’s the best I’ve found so far. So, maybe I’m drinking it between beers and certainly getting cans to go. It smells and tastes of modern hop varieties while avoiding that how-would-you-like-to-lick-a-cone flavor. Refreshing, palate-cleansing, and—repeating myself—it tastes like hops. That should be the point.
Wayfinder Spider Dance (Portland, Oregon) Sometimes you taste a beer and want to ask the floral and spicy hops, “You aren’t from here, are you?” For example, when you’re drinking this festbier while standing at Crosby Hops’ TopWire Hop Project beer garden, with Cascade hops growing on both sides. The bready malt and German hops in this golden collaboration with Grand Fir begin and finish in unison, each allowing the other to shine.
A Song, a Beer, a Moment
The song: “Who’ll Stand with Us?” from the Dropkick Murphys. The beer: Future Primitive Nazi Punks Fuck Off! As Dropkick Murphys frontman Ken Casey says, “The far right ain’t the new punk.” I want to listen to this turned up to 11 while drinking this pilsner outside the Future Primitive taproom on Alki Beach in West Seattle. (I’ve done both, just not at the same time.)
The Beer I Probably Drank the Most this Year
Cannonball Creek Project Alpha. Just being consistent. One of my Top 10 in 2022. Granted, the hops within are constantly changing, so each iteration is different. I honestly don’t remember which ones were in LXXV (No. 75), which was runner-up grand champion in the Best of the West Coast India Pale Ale National Throwdown. I order this beer first at Cannonball Creek, but not because I want something new. I order it because I know what I’m getting: a perfect expression of whatever hops are included.
What Convinced Me that Craft Beer Is Not Dead
On the third Saturday of most months, nationally known hip-hop artists bring their turntables to the Halfway Crooks beer garden for Crafts and Crates. In June, it was DJ Sammy B, a member of the legendary Jungle Brothers. Pop-ups included vinyl dealers and event-specific merch from Draught Season, which creates gear for craft-beer drinkers and collaborates frequently with women-owned and Black-owned breweries. The customers looked like Atlanta, drinking Halfway Crooks’ killer lagers as well as wine and cocktails.
