America’s 40 Best-Tasting Beers, Ranked

A nice, crisp, refreshing beer may seem ideal on a hot summer day – or any day – and many people would agree that this brew is delicious. The most popular alcoholic beverage in the world is beer – believed to be the oldest too – and ranks third to water and tea as the most consumed beverage. It also takes the top spot in the United States, and even though Americans’ beer consumption has declined over the past 20 years as wine and cocktails have gained popularity, beer remains the top alcoholic drink in the U.S. where over 6.5 billion gallons was consumed in 2023.

From Budweiser, Coors, and Corona to Heineken and Guinness, mass-market brands dominate sales, but craft beers are steadily gaining ground. In 2023, craft beer consumption grew to 13.3%, accounting for a quarter of the American beer market, bringing in more than 68 billion dollars. Unlike unchanging corporate brews, experimental craft breweries constantly pour new aromas and flavors into the market, offering novel options to beer drinkers, which appeals to the 40% of Americans who drink the brew. (It’s also the most popular drink at football stadiums, and in just 73 days, you can return to watching Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce take the field.)

24/7 Tempo consulted numerous rankings and reviews on specialist sites, including Beer Advocate, Hop Culture, RateBeer, and Craft Beer & Brewing, and from such general-interest publications to assemble an admittedly subjective list of the best-tasting beers in America. While numerical scores, where given, were factored into our choices, consideration was also given to the comments of reviewers, both amateur and professional, in describing various beers.

While many think craft beers are far superior to other varieties, and may offer more health benefits than commercial brands due to their high phenolic content, they also have downsides. Per the National Library of Medicine, craft brews can be difficult to find, with limited local or seasonal availability. Plus, they carry premium pricing, sometimes $50 or more per bottle. With bold flavors, high alcohol content, and bitterness, craft beers won’t suit every palate but they exemplify the pinnacle of American craft brewing today. (Here’s the best local beer from every state.)

Here are the best-tasting beers in America

40. Arrowhead Red Ale

• Style: Irish red ale
• Brewery: Montauk Brewing Company
• Location: Montauk, New York
• Tasting notes: Traces of stone fruit, with a ribbon of butterscotch running through it and a crisp finish

39. Fresh Squeezed

• Style: IPA
• Brewery: Deschutes Brewery
• Location: Bend, Oregon
• Tasting notes: infinitely refreshing ale balances lemony and tropical fruit flavors against a solid malt center

38. Death and Taxes

• Style: European dark lager
• Brewery: Moonlight Brewing Company
• Location: Santa Rosa, California
• Tasting notes: Light on the palate, smooth, crisp, and clean, with a bracing finish

37. Abner

• Style: New England IPA
• Brewery: Hill Farmstead Brewery
• Location: Greensboro Bend, Vermont
• Tasting notes: Solid, hazy, very nicely balanced IPA, showing floral notes and plenty of hoppy flavor

36. Anabasis

• Style: American barleywine
• Brewery: Side Project Brewing
• Location: Maplewood, Missouri
• Tasting notes: Rich, earthy, piney, and oaky, with plenty of caramel, vanilla, and almond notes

CLOSED 35. Bone’s Desire

• Style: Grodziskie
• Brewery: Necromancer Brewing Co.
• Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Tasting notes: Made with oak-smoked malted wheat, it’s smoky, with pinpoint carbonation, nice hoppy bitterness, and a hint of sweetness

34. Duck-Duck-Gooze

• Style: Belgian-style sour ale
• Brewery: The Lost Abbey
• Location: San Marcos, California
• Tasting notes: Lively and redolent of stone fruits, with some tartness and sweetness

33. A Deal With the Devil – Triple Oak-Aged

• Style: American barleywine
• Brewery: Anchorage Brewing Company
• Location: Anchorage, Alaska
• Tasting notes: Dried fruit, caramel, chocolate, vanilla, brown sugar, a bit of smoke (17% ABV)

32. Monster Tones

• Style: American Imperial stout
• Brewery: Modern Times Beer
• Location: San Diego, California
• Tasting notes: Rich, black, malty, and bittersweet, with an aroma that hints at coconut and chocolate and a mouth-coating body that mixes suggestions of caramel and coffee (13% ABV)

31. New World Geography

• Style: Italian-style pilsner
• Brewery: Alma Mader Brewing
• Location: Kansas City, Missouri
• Tasting notes: Attractive citrus and resin notes in the background and a soft, flowers-and-herbs character in the mouth

30. Atrial Rubicite

• Style: Sour ale
• Brewery: Jester King Brewery
• Location: Austin, Texas
• Tasting notes: Gorgeously garnet in color, surprisingly dry and vivid on the palate, with plenty of juicy fruit

29. Daily Wages

• Style: Saison/farmhouse ale
• Brewery: Brasserie Saint James
• Location: Reno, Nevada
• Tasting notes: Earthy, haystack-yellow ale that is herbaceous, crisp, and dry, with some bitterness and earthy flavor

28. Old Rasputin

• Style: Russian imperial stout
• Brewery: North Coast Brewing Co.
• Location: Fort Bragg, California
• Tasting notes: Full-bodied, malty, and chocolatey, with a hint of strong espresso bitterness

27. Qualified

• Style: Quadrupel
• Brewery: Taxman Brewing Co.
• Location: Bargeersville, Indiana
• Tasting notes: Classic dessert-style beer, with lots of dried fruit, brown sugar, baking bread, and roasted almonds both in the nose and on the palate

26. Más Verde

• Style: New England IPA
• Brewery: River Roost Brewery
• Location: Hartford, Vermont
• Tasting notes: Bright golden in color, with tropical fruit and pine in the aroma, and a creamy mouth-feel with tinges of citrus and spices

25. Elevated IPA

• Style: American IPA
• Brewery: La Cumbre Brewing Co.
• Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Tasting notes: Resin, grapefruit, green grass, and more combine in the aroma and on the palate

24. Le Terroir

• Style: Sour ale
• Brewery: New Belgium Brewing
• Location: Fort Collins, Colorado and Asheville, North Carolina
• Tasting notes: Sourness and a counterpoint of sweetness, with a hint of acidic bite (barrel-aged for two years)

23. Westly

• Style: Saison
• Brewery: Sainte Adairius Rustic Ales
• Location: Capitola, California
• Tasting notes: Apricots lend a seductive jammy character to this sour, tart, oaky, barrel-aged delight

22. Very Green

• Style: Double IPA
• Brewery: Tree House Brewing Co.
• Location: Charlton, Massachusetts
• Tasting notes: Piney, herbaceous character, and a bracing citrus bite

21. Sip of Sunshine

• Style: Imperial IPA
• Brewery: Lawson’s Finest Liquids
• Location: Waitsfield, Vermont
• Tasting notes: Generous aroma full of pine needles, roses, and warm biscuits

20. Maman

• Style: American Imperial stout
• Brewery: Perennial Artisan Ales
• Location: St. Louis, Missouri
• Tasting notes: Toasty malt and chocolate aromas and a flavor that evokes more chocolate and maybe a hint of good cigars

19. Dinner

• Style: Double IPA
• Brewery: Maine Beer Co.
• Location: Freeport, Maine
• Tasting notes: Dry, fresh, clean double IPA, fruity and spicy, with a resiny flavor and lightly bitter finish

18. Clover

• Style: Saison
• Brewery: Hill Farmstead Brewery
• Location: Greensboro Bend, Vermont
• Tasting notes: Elegant, complex beer, with honey and vanilla in the earthy nose and a faintly funky flavor with hints of tart apples, citrus fruits, and white pepper

17. O.W.K.

• Style: Imperial stout
• Brewery: Side Project Brewing
• Location: Maplewood, Missouri
• Tasting notes:  Jet-black vanilla-heavy stout, distinct smack of chocolate, and some toasty malt with earthy undertones

16. Very Hazy

• Style: New England IPA
• Brewery: Tree House Brewing Co.
• Location: Charlton, Massachusetts
• Tasting notes: An abundance of fruit – orange, lemon, melon, pineapple – and a nice edge of hoppy bitterness to counterbalance the sweetness

15. CBS (Canadian Breakfast Stout)

• Style: Stout
• Brewery: Founders Brewing Co.
• Location: Detroit, Michigan
• Tasting notes: Dark, smooth, sweet, and oaky (brewers call it “a blend of coffees and imported chocolates”), and aged in bourbon barrels that had previously held Michigan maple syrup

14. Inherited Wisdom

• Style: English dark mild ale
• Brewery: Westbound & Down
• Location: Lafayette, Colorado
• Tasting notes: Seductive dark ale that offers a flavor suggesting Anadama bread glazed with caramel and a smooth, unctuous texture

13. Fundamental Observation

• Style: Imperial Stout
• Brewery: Bottle Logic Brewing
• Location: Anaheim, California
• Tasting notes: Stout blended with Madagascar vanilla beans and aged in bourbon barrels has a subtlety of oak and whiskey flavors

12. Zombie Dust

• Style: IPA
• Brewery: 3 Floyds Brewing Co.
• Location: Munster, Indiana
• Tasting notes: Textbook-perfect pale ale, strongly flavored with Yakima Valley Citra hops, attractively resinous in the nose, fruity, and yeasty

11. Two-Hearted Ale

• Style: IPA
• Brewery: Bell’s Brewery
• Location: Comstock, Michigan
• Tasting notes: Well-rounded, fresh, and smooth, with plenty of malts supporting forthright hop aromas and a piney hops flavor

10. Pliny the Younger

• Style: Triple IPA
• Brewery: Russian River Brewing Co.
• Location: Santa Rosa, California
• Tasting notes: Piney, floral offering, rich but suave, with a touch of smooth sweetness, is a triple (made with roughly three times the usual ration of hops)

9. King JJJuliusss

• Style: Double IPA
• Brewery: Tree House Brewing Co.
• Location: Charlton, Massachusetts
• Tasting notes: An immensely rich, hops-forward brew offering a whole bouquet of fruit aromas and a pronounced bitterness in the mouth

8. Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout – Double Barrel Aged

• Style: Imperial stout
• Brewery: Cigar City Brewing
• Location: Tampa, Florida
• Tasting notes:  Thick black stout, double barrel-aged in rum and apple brandy casks, with cacao nibs, ancho and pasilla chiles, cinnamon, and Madagascar vanilla beans (11% ABV)

7. Barrel-Aged Abraxas

• Style: Imperial stout
• Brewery: Perennial Artisan Ales
• Location: St. Louis, Missouri
• Tasting notes: Spicy seasonal imperial stout is brewed with cinnamon sticks, ancho chiles, cacao nibs, and vanilla beans and aged for a year in Rittenhouse Rye barrels

6. Blessed

• Style: Imperial stout
• Brewery: Anchorage Brewing Co.
• Location: Anchorage, Alaska
• Tasting notes: Hearty Alaskan beer with plenty of oak from its aging in bourbon barrels, finished with coconut and vanilla beans, for an exotic confectionary character (14% ABV)

5. Mornin’ Delight

• Style: Imperial stout
• Brewery: Toppling Goliath Brewing Co.
• Location: Decorah, Iowa
• Tasting notes: Serious stout, brewed with coffee and maple syrup, is medium-rich and sweet but avoids being cloying, and closes with a long, luscious finish

4. KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout)

• Style: Imperial stout
• Brewery: Founders Brewing Co.
• Location: Detroit, Michigan
• Tasting notes: Earthy imperial stout brewed with what the founders call “a massive amount of coffee and chocolates,” richly textured and pleasingly sweet

3. Pliny the Elder

• Style: Double IPA
• Brewery: Russian River Brewing Co.
• Location: Santa Rosa, California
• Tasting notes: Earthy, grassy hops character in the nose (it has been described as a “hop bomb”) and plenty of malt and citrus on the harmonious palate

2. Kentucky Brunch Brand Stout

• Style: Stout
• Brewery: Toppling Goliath Brewing Co.
• Location: Decorah, Iowa
• Tasting notes: Dark, dense, sweet, complex, smooth, and memorable, combining flavors of chocolate, coffee, maple syrup, bourbon, figs, toffee, and vanilla (ranked No. 1 on the most recent Beer Advocate listing of America’s top 250 beers)

1. Heady Topper

• Style: Double IPA
• Brewery: The Alchemist
• Location: Waterbury, Vermont
• Tasting notes: Forthright bitterness and complex interweaving of floral, citrusy, and piney flavors (Beer Advocate reviewer said “It might well be considered ‘the granddaddy that today’s IPAs were born from.’”