During the last month, we’ve already talked about the best new beers of 2015, and rounded up the winning beers from all of our massive blind taste tests. In the process, we’ve detailed some amazing beers, and all that’s left as we rapidly approach 2016, is to talk about the breweries themselves—those mad scientist/artists that actually create all these amazing beers. So we asked our beer writers to pick their favorite breweries—the shops that knocked it out of the park in 2015. Here’s the completely subjective, but totally incredible list that they came up with, in no particular order.
Grimm Artisanal Ales
Brooklyn, New York
Look, nobody at Paste had ever even tasted a bottle of Grimm before the huge double IPA blind tasting. The bottle showed up sans label. Just a sticky note, the same way your buddy labels his half ass home brew. And yet, Grimm’s Lambo Door ruled the day with its schizophrenic fruit notes, and full-throttle hop character. Grimm is a nomad brewery operating out of Brooklyn, distributing scantly and never promising to make the same beer twice. Fickle artists. And if you think it was a fluke that such a small shop toppled craft beer giants in the blind tasting, consider this: Grimm had another beer, Tesseract, that landed in the top five of that same blind tasting. That’s no fluke. That’s just awesome. –Graham Averill
Great Raft Brewing
Shreveport, Louisiana
It’s roughly two years old, but Great Raft Brewing already feels like the undisputed champ of the Louisiana craft scene. Evidence certainly continues to mount with things like Chef John Besh wanting these folks as collaborators. That resulting line of beers, Provisions and Traditions, pairs Great Raft with a specific Besh restaurant and challenges the brewery to use local ingredients, create a perfect pairing for varying cuisines, and keep things appropriately seasonal. (It’s all done in the name of culinary charity to boot.) The results? This year’s Edition II was a summer Gose that used Avery Island salt and complimented Mexican dishes, and Edition III was an Oktoberfest with the state’s famous cane syrup to compliment your fall brats. If these one-offs are any indication, people beyond Shreveport should be counting down the days until the brewery’s other experimental offerings—say, it’s Christmas-seasonal, an 8.0% ABV Belgian Dark Strong Ale called Awkward Uncle—are delivered far and wide. Luckily in the meantime, fans around Louisiana have Great Raft’s unparalleled standard lineup to tide them over: Southern Drawl (Pale lager), Reasonably Corrupt (Black lager), and Commotion APA (American pale ale). Naturally, each is well above average for its style.—Nathan Mattise
Firestone Walker
Paso Robles, California
Like so many of the big regional breweries struggling with distribution challenges and production limitations, Firestone Walker looked towards outside partnerships in 2015. But instead of selling to a mega-brewing company or international conglomerates interested more in branding than brewing, Firestone chose a quiet and measured “partnership” with the well-respected Duvel-Moortgat company (who also own New York’s Ommegang and Kansas City favorites Boulevard Brewing). The arrangement gives Firestone Walker the ability to continue to grow their Paso Robles, California brewery and better service their expanding distribution footprint, and it gives Duvel another marquee American brewery and access to one of the fastest growing brands of craft beer (Firestone’s once locals-only 805 Blonde Ale). But FW’s business savvy isn’t what makes them one of the best breweries in the world — it’s the beer. Firestone does it all, and they do it all extremely well. The core lineup (including highly ranked Union Jack IPA and Pivo Pils, one of the flat-out best craft brewed lagers in America) is stellar, their spirit barrel-aged brands are superlative (Parabola anyone?), and their satellite Barrelworks facility produces a steady trickle of wild ales that are as excellent as they are innovative. Firestone Walker is the Bo Jackson of the beer world, so good at every aspect of their game that they make the rest of the industry look kinda like slackers. —John Verive
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
