Best california breweries8/27/2023 ![]() While we could’ve easily featured the Ruekeller Marzen, which we crushed through the entire month of October, this list simply wouldn’t be complete without the Ruekeller Helles. We also need to discuss the Bruery’s Ruekeller line, which is cranking out some of the best lagers in the country. Many pancake beers go too heavy on the maple syrup, but this one strikes the right blend of blueberry, maple, and bourbon- and it’s tremendously smooth for a 19+% ABV. We had several of the Black Tuesday variants this year- and if we weren’t limiting ourselves to two beers per brewery, more of them would be on this list- but we’ll highlight the Black Tuesday: Blueberry Pancake here. While we’ll discuss their sours with a Bruery Terreux mention, their Black Tuesday stouts are a highlight every year. The Bruery has been a highlight of both our festival coverage and our Best Of coverage in years past, so it’s no surprise to find them here. Whenever we travel to Anaheim, we visit both Bottle Logic and The Bruery- neither can be missed. The Bruery: Black Tuesday: Blueberry Pancake We were there the day it dropped, and they served coconut raspberry ice cream to compliment it- and that combination still lingers in our minds four months later. The Fall of Umibozu is a double mash imperial coffee stout collaboration with Toppling Goliath that is viscous and smooth, and the coffee flavors aren’t delivered with overwhelming bitterness… and the Space Jam is an absolutely absurd BBA coconut, chocolate, and raspberry stout. Bottle Logic continues to crank out world-class IPAs and sours, but they crafted two of the best stouts we had all year. This year, we’re remedying this egregious oversight. They’ve made several of our year-end lists in the past but never for their stouts- which is bizarre since they make some of the most consistently great stouts in the country, let alone California. For those interested, be sure to check out our Best of 2019- but for now, dive into the best California beers we had in 2020!īottle Logic has been a favorite of The Beer Travel Guide for years. This is our first Best of 2020 article– be on the lookout in the coming weeks for more lists of our favorite beers across America over the past year. We’re looking forward to hopefully getting to explore the Bay Area more in 2021! Also, as you might expect, since we live in Southern California, the honorees here do tend to skew more toward the southern side of the state. We limited ourselves to two beers per brewery, in order to most effectively spread the love to as many deserving California breweries as possible. This year, with COVID shutting down all of our plane travel, our percentage of California beer consumption was higher than ever in 2020- so for our first Best of 2020 article this month, it only felt right for us to discuss the best California craft beer we drank this year.īy the end of 2020, we’ll have consumed over 500 different California craft beers, much of it incredibly good- so narrowing it down to 50 beers was a huge struggle, and a good number of *fantastic* beers did not make this list. Most of the festivals we attend are in California, our favorite bottle shops carry largely California beer, and, since we love supporting our local craft breweries, we consume a huge amount of Los Angeles County craft. The biggest California-based brewery of any type is Los Angeles-based Pabst, whose brands also include Schlitz, Rainier, Lone Star and Pearl.Living in California, we routinely drink more California beer than beer from any other state. Green Flash and Alpine, originally from San Diego County, are no longer considered Californian by the group, being included under Atlanta-based SweetWater. Includes the parent company in Illinois.īecause of the association’s criteria, some notable names in Bay Area brewing aren’t on the craft beer list: Lagunitas (owned by Heineken), Anchor (Sapporo) and Magnolia (New Belgium/Kirin). Kings & Convicts (Ballast Point), #34 in U.S. ![]() Includes Boulevard in Kansas City and Ommegang in Cooperstown, N.Y. Duvel Moortgat (Firestone Walker), #4 in U.S.Brooks’ analysis of the new numbers and what they say about the state of California brewing. Ranked by beer sales volume are the following breweries considered both small (annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less) and independent (less than 25% owned by an alcoholic beverage company that is not itself a craft brewer).Ĭlick here for beer writer Jay R. The craft brewing trade organization Brewers Association has released its list of the nation’s 50 biggest craft breweries for 2021 - which include 10 in California.
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