Best in Beer 2023

While the recipe is big for a Czech pale lager—it’s really 14°P rather than the typical 12°—it drinks well below its strength and makes a bright showcase for that floor malt and ample Saaz hops.

Gorilla Brewing in Busan, South Korea, shares this recipe for a tart and spicy celebration of a cherished local staple.

It can be a polarizing dish for those who didn’t grow up with it, but there are some affinities between certain styles of beer and this fermented Korean favorite. Can you brew with it? Of course you can.

What does it mean to worship at the altar of crisp? For brewers, it means special attention to technique and to the cellar.

One of the world’s most respected brewers of dry, rustic farmhouse ales, Daniel Thiriez of Brasserie Thiriez, shares the story of his brewery, his yeast, and their place in the small northern French town of Esquelbecq. As told to Ryan Pachmayer.

Fermented with Thiriez’s house saison yeast, this ambrée has a complex, malt-forward flavor with aromas of citrus peel, hazelnut, caramel, and gingerbread.

How much time you got? Time enough, maybe, to consider Sweden’s exceedingly rare, little-known hundred-year beer—a solera-method manorial ale that can keep going for as long as you’re dedicated to the care and feeding of the family barrel.

This fresh and peachy poke bowl gets a quick splash of classic saison or mixed-culture farmhouse ale—and it’ll taste great alongside the rest of it, too.

Dubbed a “pumpernickel stout” by Atlas Brew Works in Washington, D.C., this 2023 World Beer Cup gold medal winner gets a portion of rye malt and the flavorful addition of blackstrap molasses.

At last year’s World Beer Cup, the team at Atlas Brew Works brought a gold medal home to the nation’s capital with Silent Neighbor—a “pumpernickel stout” brewed with rye and blackstrap molasses. Here’s how they put it together.

From our Love Handles files on the world’s great beer bars: In the characterful Trúc Bạch neighborhood of Vietnam’s capital, Standing Bar is an ideal spot to relax and get a taste of the country’s independent brewing scene.

The beers of Wunderkammer get their own rustic character via locally foraged ingredients, mixed cultures that include Brett, and a stripped-down, old-fashioned process featuring direct-fired kettles and fermentation without strict temperature control.

Whether they’re working in farmhouses or warehouses, today’s saison brewers are united in their pursuit of rustic character. While that goal is abstract, they achieve it via concrete choices about ingredients and process—and the ways to get there are as varied as the brewers and beers themselves.

It may be more story than style, but these five examples inspire the five brewers who recommend them.

Trial and error led to a winning combo of grist and hop bill in this recipe, and the result is a fun and interesting rye rewind on the ubiquitous IPA.

We know that we can get better at smelling and tasting beer, but how does it work? From Tasting Beer author and sensory guru Randy Mosher, here are some insights to help us identify and better understand our own strengths and weaknesses.

Here's a sandwich fit for sturdy trestle tables and seasonal festivals, featuring a smoked-trout salad that gets a splash of märzen or festbier. Guten appetit!

From 12 West Brewing in Gilbert, Arizona, here’s a recipe for their Citra-Mosaic lager that scored a 98 with our blind-review panel and went on to become one of our Best 20 Beers in 2023.

This is the recipe for one of several rotating porters that North Carolina’s Incendiary likes to make and keep on tap for its customers—but this is the one that took home gold from the 2023 World Beer Cup.

Last year was a great one for dark beers from Incendiary in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. While their Schwarzbier earned its spot on our list of Best 20 Beers in 2023, this porter also nabbed gold at the World Beer Cup. So, what makes it tick?

From de Garde Brewing in Tillamook, Oregon, head brewer Trevor Rogers shares this recipe for a spontaneously fermented beer flavored with foraged spruce tips—though the process is easily adapted for mixed-culture pitches or clean, single-strain fermentations.

Easy to forage and easy to use, spruce tips can add a range of flavors to your beers and be used in a variety of ways—and the best time to harvest them is just around the corner.

From our Love Handles files on the world’s great beer bars: For more than two decades, O’Brien’s Pub has been one of the most influential drinking spots in one of the country’s most dynamic beer cities.

Whether you call it black IPA, Cascadian dark, or something else, this unholy union of hops and darkness enjoys a cult following that continues to watch the style evolve.

Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head in Milton, Delaware, focuses on beers that stand out in his memory for their flavors, for their times and their places, and for the people with whom he enjoyed them.

A splash of Mexican-style lager finds its way into (and alongside) this earthy, spicy, comforting dish from the Southwest.

The style that helped launch the craft movement has been on the back burner—but the next evolution of American pale ale is underway. Here, brewers Matt Brynildson and Sam Tierney review Firestone Walker’s pale ale journey—and reveal its next destination.

From our Love Handles files on the world’s great beer bars: Famous among beer lovers and centrally located—yet oddly tricky to find—the De Garre pub in Bruges, Belgium, oozes atmosphere and class.

It’s been years since we’ve highlighted any clothing, hats, pins, or other items that showcase a love of beer. So, we put out the call for items that we’d be proud to rock, even among our non-beer-drinking friends. Here’s a quick rundown of some of our favorites so far.

We love when equipment comes along that solves a problem in a way we hadn’t considered before.

Beer writer and critic Stephen Beaumont, co-author of the World Atlas of Beer and a Toronto native, names five Canadian breweries that beer lovers everywhere ought to know, now.

Want to get into some great cider but don’t know where to start? Beth Demmon, author of The Beer Lover’s Guide to Cider, names five who could be the faces of American cider’s future, from innovative newcomers to groundbreaking icons of the craft.

Breweries submitted more than 1,200 beers to Craft Beer & Brewing for blind panel reviews in 2023, culminating in our annual Best in Beer issue. But which states sent the most beer? Here we map it out.

Need a last-minute gift idea? Here are some quick hits on new beery reads.

Be generous with the gourd and toast your own allpsice for this smashing pumpkin ale that’s easy as, well, pie.

Pumpkin ale is a seasonal American tradition strong enough to smash even the most cynical pumpkin-spice fatigue. It’s also fun to make—and drink, and share—at home.

IPA continues to top the charts, but lagers made steady and significant gains in 2023.

Our cofounder, editorial director, and podcast host shares his most memorable beery highlights from an eventful and far-ranging year.

Our managing editor—with his finger on the craft beer pulse from his outpost in Bangkok—selects top-of-mind picks and thoughts fresh off the past year in beer.

The New York City–based writer, tarot enthusiast, author of the Hugging the Bar newsletter, and noted metalhead shares her beery high points from the past year.

It was a memorable year, to say the least, for the driving force behind the Malt Couture podcast and DontDrinkBeer.com, and one of the wittiest commentators on the joys and absurdities of American craft beer.

The accomplished author of Brewing Local and For the Love of Hops—and our own Hops Insider—shares a harvest of highlights from the year that was.

Here are the high points of the year in beer from our contributing editor, one of the most prolific and astute journalists covering the industry today.