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SIERRA NEVADA BREWING COMPANY Chico, CA, and Mills River, NC
Don’t do a double take at the location; the original Sierra Nevada, one of the eldest craft breweries in the U.S., is still located in Chico, but it’s expanded to the East Coast with a LEED Platinum–certified brewery near Asheville. Its Pale Ale is iconic, but Sierra Nevada has kept up with the times by adding new IPAs as well as trendy styles, like gose, while maintaining excellent quality. TRY The reliably well-crafted seasonal options like the classic Oktoberfest, crisp Summerfest or fresh hop winter seasonal Celebration Ale.
of beers pitched and voted on by the brewery staff. This has yielded creations like Tropical Stout and Mint Julep Ale. Bonus: The labels are the work of Ralph Steadman, an artist known for working with Hunter S. Thompson. TRY Bloodline Blood Orange Ale, which has a massive grapefruit nose but doesn’t finish bitter.
GOOSE ISLAND BEER CO. Chicago
Goose Island opened brewing operations in 1988, expanded in 1995 and 1999, and was acquired by Anheuser-Busch in 2011. All of this expansion has put its mainstays, like its IPA, in front of consumers from coast to coast. Perhaps most intriguing among its smaller batches is the Sisters series, comprised of beers that are variously barrel-aged, fruit-spiked or inoculated with special yeasts. TRY Matilda, a Brettanomyces-fermented Belgian pale ale that is dry, spicy and incredibly food-friendly.
HALF ACRE BEER COMPANY Chicago
The Windy City is awash with superb suds, both homegrown and imported. With all this competition, it can be difficult for the average brewery to stand out. Half Acre doesn’t have
ON THE UP
With craft beer, tastes are always
New England–style pale ales & IPAs Often hazy-bordering-on-opaque, these beers are fruity and hop forward without being very bitter, and beer nerds are lining up for them. The Alchemist’s Heady Topper is their granddad and
India Pale Hefeweizen
A few years back, White IPA (a witbier/IPA hybrid) had its moment. Hefeweizens—cloudy, banana- and clove-flavored German-style witbier—are
Dry-hopped sours
Beers like New Belgium’s Snapshot have helped to mainstream tart and sour flavors in beer. Now, as with everything else, add hops. Lagunitas Aunt Sally is a great example of dry-hopping (hops after fermentation ends) a beer with a tart, crisp chassis, lending even more grapefruit and floral notes.
Artisan coffee in craft beer Flying Dog Brewery
Expect those stouts, porters, and even IPAs to start incorporating locally roasted beans, often from single origins.
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this problem. It’s well known for Daisy Cutter Pale Ale, which beer fans go nuclear for. The laid-back brewpub space has a ton of personality and great pours, among them the Pony Pilsner, a stunningly crisp showcase for barley, without being too malty. TRY Its collaborations; they don’t last long, but there’s always something else to take its place.
OSKAR BLUES BREWERY Longmont, CO, Brevard, NC and Austin
Craft beers in cans are commonplace today, but Longmont’s Oskar Blues pioneered the practice in 2002 by, as they say, “stuffing [its] huge, voluminously hopped mutha of a pale ale in a can.” That pale, named after founder Dale Katechis, is now iconic. Beyond Dale’s Pale,the brewery produces IPAs like the imperial Deviant Dale’s and one simply named IPA. TRY The sleeper pick is G’Knight, named in honor of Gordon Knight, who died tragically fighting a wildfire near Oskar Blues. The double-red IPA is 8.7 percent ABV and very heavily hopped.
VICTORY BREWING COMPANY Downingtown, PA
Victory’s story is one of a friendship dating back to fifth grade: The co-owners recently celebrated 20 years of cranking out German- and American-inspired beers. A number of IPAs and lagers anchor the portfolio, which is dispensed from three brewpubs in Pennsylvania. The brewery recently has been flexing its creative muscles with its Kirsch (read: cherry) Gose, plus a 13 percent, heavily hopped quadrupel. TRY Victory’s Prima Pils is a crowd-pleaser and one of the best American pilsners anywhere.
PHOTOGRAPHS (FROM TOP): COURTESY SIERRA NEVADA BREWING COMPANY; COURTESY FLYING DOG BREWERY
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