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America’s Top Brews: The Definitive Guide to U.S. Beers, Ranked
Beer isn't just an enjoyable adult beverage. It also plays a significant role in the economy. According to Beer Serves America, the industry contributed 409 billion dollars to the U.S. economy, and in 2022 supported 2.4 million local jobs, from agriculture and retail to distribution and manufacturing. Old traditional favorites like Budweiser and Coors continue to dominate sales, but craft beer is steadily gaining ground.
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 definite guide to U.S. beers.
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.
Here is the definite guide to U.S. beers, ranked.
This post was updated June 16th, 2025, to reflect additional information.
39. 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
38. Fresh Squeezed IPA
- Style: IPA
- Brewery: Deschutes Brewery
- Location: Bend, Oregon
- Tasting notes: infinitely refreshing ale balances lemony and tropical fruit flavors against a solid malt center
37. 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
36. 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
35. 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
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 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: Asheville, North Carolina (temporarily closed due to Hurricane Helene)
- 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: Galesburg, 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.'