America’s 40 Most Delicious Beers

Craft beer snobs may scorn at this bright, hop-heavy pioneering modern pale ale, made by one of America’s largest independent breweries in America, but its consistency and delightful flavor likely account for its No. 3 place in the American Homebrewers Association most recent ranking of the country’s best beers.

A fragrant IPA, described by the brewery as a “citrus bomb,” balancing lemony and tropical fruit flavors against a solid core of malt.

A rich, intensely flavored one-of-a-kind stout, aged for more than three years in 25-year-old bourbon barrels.

A maceration with fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium) adds an exotic herbaceous note to this lightly citrusy farmhouse ale.

Sourness and a counterpoint of sweetness, with a hint of acidic bite, characterize this dry-hopped ale, barrel-aged for two years.

IPAs are defined by forthright hops character, but this one takes the concept almost to the limit, with hops, hops, and more hops. Resin, grapefruit, green grass, and more combine in the aroma and on the palate.

A malty, tobacco-box juggernaut with dried fruit character but not too much sweetness.

This very pretty farmhouse ale, with hints of vanilla, is flavored with nectarines and peaches grown by celebrated Central California organic farmer and author David “Mas” Masumoto.

Russian stout is produced in a style said to have been developed to please the tsars of the 18th century, dark and high in alcohol (though this one is a comparatively modest 9% ABV). Old Rasputin is full-bodied, malty, and chocolatey, with a hint of bitterness.

Toasty and powerful (at 13.9% ABV), El Gordo is malty, with flavors of coffee, vanilla, chocolate, and oak.

Brewed in a rustic Belgian style, this earthy, haystack-yellow ale is herbaceous, crisp, and dry.

This one has a not unpleasantly funky aroma, lots of fruit, some toasty character, and plenty of hops.

Starry Noche is a confection made from selected batches of this brewery’s popular Medianoche imperial stout, aged 18 to 22 months in bourbon barrels, then flavored with coconut flakes and chips and toasted hazelnuts.

Dogfish Head has been making this brown-sugar-sweetened ale for more than 20 years. Hoppy bitterness and malty sweetness characterize the flavor.

A beer for tea-lovers, thanks to an infusion of chamomile flowers, this farmhouse ale is earthy and spicy, with a dry, refreshing finish.

Heady (at 11.5% ABV), dark in color, and richly textured, with some fruit and a hint of gingerbread spice.

A chocolatey, high-strength, jet black imperial stout from a one-time independent craft brewery now owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, of Bud Lite fame.

A Golden State interpretation of the classic Belgian style called gueuze (hence the punning name). Gueuze is a type of lambic — beer fermented with wild yeasts and bacteria –made by blending young and older barrel-aged beers. This one is lively and redolent of stone fruits, with some tartness and sweetness.

This is a blend of barrel-aged wheat stouts, aged 20 to 30 months and then flavored with Ugandan vanilla beans for a well-rounded, bittersweet mouthful.

Calling itself an “Australian” IPA (the term India Pale Ale was first applied to beers sent Down Under), this hop-forward entry is brewed from Maine wheat and oats.

Black and heavy, with plenty of oak from its aging in bourbon barrels and a serious kick (it’s 14% ABV); finished with coconut and vanilla beans, for an exotic confectionary character.

Generously hopped, but softened with a touch of honey; intensely fragrant and reasonably potent at 10% ABV.

Very dark and viscous — a spicy seasonal imperial stout brewed with cinnamon sticks, ancho chiles, cacao nibs, and vanilla beans and aged for a year in Rittenhouse Rye barrels.

A two-fisted Texan take on wild-fermented Belgian framboise (raspberry-flavored beer), surprisingly dry and vivid on the palate.

Redolent of American and Australian hops, with a piney, herbaceous character and a citrus bite, this is a complex brew developing nicely in the glass.

A dry, fresh, clean double IPA, fruity and spicy, with a resiny flavor and lightly bitter finish.

Dark, smooth, sweet, and oaky; brewed with what its makers call “a blend of coffees and imported chocolates” and aged in bourbon barrels that had previously held Michigan maple syrup.

This high-octane imperial stout — from a Central Coast wine country producer now owned by the major Belgian brewery Duvel Moortgat — offers flavors of dark chocolate, tobacco, malt, and bourbon-barrel oak.

A heady imperial stout (14.3% ABV), blended with Madagascar vanilla beans and aged in bourbon barrels; rich and dark, but with fairly subtle oak and whiskey flavors.

Named for the great-grandfather of the brewery’s owners, and brewed with well water from the farmstead property, this is a solid, hazy, very nicely balanced IPA.

This classic IPA, named for the Two Hearted River in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, is well-rounded, fresh, and smooth, with plenty of malt supporting forthright hop aromas and a piney hops flavor.

Pliny the Elder (see No. 4) is a double IPA. This piney, floral offering, with a touch of smoothing sweetness, is a triple — made with three times the usual ration of hops.

Not to be confused with the brewery’s Julius. King Julius, or JJJulius IPAs, this is an immensely rich, hops-forward brew offering a whole bouquet of fruit aromas and a pronounced bitterness in the mouth.

A rich, thick, black stout, double barrel-aged in rum and apple brandy casks, with cacao nibs, ancho and pasilla chiles, cinnamon, and Madagascar vanilla beans — adding up to a heady (11% ABV) dessert in a glass.

Imperial stout, rich and well-balanced, brewed with coffee and maple syrup; medium-rich and sweet but not cloying.

A rich, malty, and earthy imperial stout brewed with what Founders calls “a massive amount of coffee and chocolates;” according to one Beer Advocate reviewer, “The look is epic — black like Texas crude.”

Malty and slightly bitter, this imperial double IPA offers an earthy, grassy hop character in the nose and plenty of malt and citrus on the palate.

The seminal New England double IPA , sold in cans — bitter but well-balanced and full of floral, citrusy, and piney flavors. Considered, as one Beer Advocate reviewer put it, “the granddaddy that today’s IPAs were born from.”

Ranked No. 1 on the most recent Beer Advocate listing of America’s top 250 beers, with an almost perfect score, this imperial stout is thick, dark, sweet, complex, smooth, and memorable, combining flavors of chocolate, coffee, maple syrup, bourbon, figs, toffee, and vanilla to what its many fans consider transcendent effect.

Elegant proof that a beer doesn’t need extraneous ingredients to be complex and immensely satisfying, this textbook-perfect pale ale, strongly flavored with Yakima Valley Citra hops, is attractively resinous in the nose, fruity, and yeasty.