Americans are known for a variety of things, one of which is their rising fascination with the culture of craft brewing. Craft beer provides an experience for everyone, whether it’s coming to the taproom for a sample in your favourite local brewery, or taking a behind-the-scenes tour with the brewers themselves.
The landscape of the Americans’ brewery culture is vast and continuously changing, with flavours ranging from hoppy IPAs to experimental brews like a maple bacon coffee porter – so why not learn about and experience the best American beer there is?
Dark Lord
It’s difficult to see how different the current craft beer landscape in America would be without Dark Lord. Dark Lord created the patterns and expectations that all other whales have followed as one of the first real “whales”. Dark Lord is truly special for many Americans who love their craft beer. It’s an astonishingly rich stout that oozes down the throat with the thickness of heavy oil.
Alesmith Hazy IPA – Tropical Marmalade
Aloha and Sabro hops add strong flavours of coconut, red berries, and mango to this wonderful hazy India pale lager. One sip of this amazing range of American craft beer and you’ve been transported to a summer paradise filled with aromas. This hazy IPA is made with Aloha, a tropical hop combination that adds flavours of red berries, mango, and citrus to this smooth beer. Tropical Marmalade is creamy, full-bodied pour that pairs best with any of your summertime parties.
Dale’s Pale Ale
Did you know that this is the beer that sparked the can-revolution? We wouldn’t have Bell’s in a can if it weren’t for Dale’s. Someone had to go first, and that someone was Oskar Blues brewery. The fact that it’s a really good pale ale with a little bit of citrusy bitterness balanced by just enough yeasty, malt backbone is the cherry on the top.
Breckenridge Vanilla Porter
In this porter, a foundation of chocolate and toasted nuts is invigorated by the addition of vanilla beans. It’s so luxurious that you will be amazed how is this year-round brew. It has such depth of character that you’d think it’d be a treat available for Christmas only. But, no worries, you can have a tallboy of this sweet American craft beer whenever you desire to do so.
Founders KBS
This beer combines the best of both worlds in a craft beer — bourbon notes and lager. The KBS from Founders is an imperial stout with notes of coffee and chocolate on the tongue. This beer was stored in oak bourbon barrels for a year after it was made to guarantee that the warm notes of the whiskey shine through the rich flavours of coffee and chocolate.
Creature Comforts Mind Matter
Athens, Georgia’s Creature Comforts make some of the tastiest time-limited edition American beers including Tritonia and Cosmik Debris. This hazy beer smells just as you’d expect it to. Aromas include ripe melon, tangerine, lime zest, and floral hops. When you drink it, you get earthy pine, orange peel, pineapple, other tropical notes, and subtle lemongrass. The finish is crisp, with a pleasant balance of fruity sweetness and bitter, flowery hops. Perfect for a hot summer day!
Grapefruit Sculpin
Ballast Point’s Grapefruit Sculpin was the first outstanding citrus IPA to gain coast-to-coast distribution, and there’s rarely a better example of citrus-infused ales to win over new customers. Of course, the tart grapefruit is complemented by the strong, floral Sculpin IPA, a longstanding Men’s Journal favourite.
Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen
Widmer Brothers have been producing high-quality American craft beer for over 30 years and are one of the few American breweries that claim a Hefeweizen as their flagship beer. In other words, this is the American Hefe by which all other American Hefe beers are measured. It’s fun to know that this is the beer where a lemon wedge was first added as a part of the whole experience.
Green Flash Palate Wrecker
This Imperial IPA’s bottle screams “aggressive,” and for once, marketing does justice to the ingredients. Don’t mess with this 9.5%, hop-infused beer. Green Flash recently updated the recipe of some of their flagship beers to be more like Palate Wrecker, and for a good reason: after a drink like this Imperial IPA, your ordinary IPA won’t do it anymore.
Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
Therefore, this beverage quickly became a prestige beer for Goose Island, long before the brewery was acquired by Anheuser-Busch. Its barrel-aged flavour is still potent today, and that doesn’t even take into account the many versions, such as Bourbon County Coffee or a spin-off like Bourbon County Barleywine.
In terms of “influential beers” for the present craft beer landscape, it’s impossible to find a single beverage more influential than Bourbon County Stout. Nobody had ever tasted anything like it when it initially rolled off the bottling lines just over ten years ago.
Matching Food and Beer
IPAs can be bitter and hoppy. That’s why it must be combined with foods that have comparable strong flavours to avoid overpowering the dish. The bitterness of the IPA can also cool things down, so a spicier food, such as tacos or a burger with barbeque sauce, would be a perfect companion.
Stout beer complements roasted foods, smoked foods, barbecued/grilled foods, salty foods, oysters, rich stews, braised dishes, chocolate, and desserts (ideally the beer is to be sweeter than the dish).
Hefeweizen pairs best with lighter, earthier flavours such as watermelon and tomato salad, lobster and avocado salad, and don’t forget to try it with smashed beets with goat cheese, which is not only tasty but also good for you. And as always, moderation is king. Especially when it comes to any alcoholic beverage you may wish to enjoy.
