The Best Breweries of 2018
Photo via Fremont Brewing
Okay, first a disclaimer: your favorite brewery probably isn’t on this list. Last time we counted, there are something like one million breweries in operation in the United States. There are so many breweries that, if you’re reading this, and of drinking age, there’s a good chance that you own a brewery yourself. And we have no doubt that it’s absolutely amazing. Kudos to you. But is it “the best?” And what does “the best” even mean, really? It’s a completely subjective idea—one man’s garbage is another man’s gose. So, for this list, we ran all one million breweries through a scientific algorithm developed by NASA dropouts that gave a certain amount of points to winners of our monthly blind tastings where we rank specific styles of beer, and a certain amount of points to medal winners at major beer competitions like the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup, and a certain amount of points to breweries who did really cool things in 2018. Then we looked at the results of that algorithm and carried the one because the NASA dropouts forgot to do that, and then we got really nervous about the list because if they forgot to carry the one, then what else did these failed rocket scientists forget to do? So we double checked all of the breweries on that list with our Magic 8 Ball. In the end, we came up with this: the seven best breweries in 2018. Read it, laugh and cry, get angry, high five each other and debate amongst yourselves.
Monday Night Brewing
The initial concept behind Monday Night Brewing was to brew beers for the weeknight. Easy drinking, balanced beers meant to be enjoyed with food. So, it makes sense that Monday Night would eventually create a beer that would win our Best Pale Ales. After several years brewing fan favorites like Slap Fight IPA and Draft Kilt scotch ale, Monday Night beat out big hitters in the pale ale category (Maine Beer, Cigar City, Toppling Goliath…) to earn top honors in what is one of the most competitive beer styles in the country. And here’s the thing: Han Brolo is kind of weird. It’s not your typical pale because it’s brewed with lactose and comes out hazy and hoppy as hell. It’s only 4.7%, but you could easily slip this beer into an IPA tasting and nobody would second guess your decision. Although there’s no need for subterfuge because Monday Night landed a beer in the top 10 spot for our Best IPAs blind tasting too. Their blind tasting success in 2018 just proves that winners keep winning; Monday Night had a hell of a 2017, winning two medals at GABF and opening a second brewery in Atlanta to handle the demand for barrel aged beers. So, 2018 basically saw more of Monday Night. More of their standards like Han Brolo, more of their seasonals (they brought back Dust Bunny, their hazy IPA and put Drafty Kilt on nitro) and more of their limited release Black Tie and Garage series, most notably releasing three variants of Bourbon Barrel Aged Drafty Kit recently. Oh, and Monday Night is even into whiskey now; they’ve partnered with ASW Distillery to release a single malt. And it’s good. But you probably guessed that already.
Austin Beer Garden Brewing
I know Austin Beer Garden Brewing wasn’t the first American craft brewery to rediscover the pilsner, but I feel like they were the first to truly perfect the style. Actually, let’s broaden that statement: Austin Beer Garden Brewing is nailing not just pilsners, but lagers in general. The Texas-based brewery has dominated the pilsner and lager category at GABF in the last few years, and this year was no different. They won two golds at GABF, one for Hell Yes (a Munich-style Helles) and one for their pilsner, Rocket 100. They also pulled home the big cheese by being named the Large Brewpub of the Year at GABF. That’s a pretty big deal and it’s kind of mind blowing when you consider the general landscape of American craft beer has been dominated by pales and IPAs since like, forever, and ABGB is all about the lagers. They probably didn’t need the extra accolades after being crowned kings at GABF this year, but ABGB also won first in our blind tasting of 134 pilsners this year with their Industry Pilsner. We decided it was “simply the best American-made version of a classical German pilsner that you’re going to find in the world today.” So the takeaway here: Find anything that ABGB is making, and drink it.
Fremont Brewing
Washington-based Fremont Brewing had an incredible year, at least if you’re going by the massive blind tastings that we undertook in 2018. Their beautifully-canned Pride took top honors in our kolsch blind tasting in July because the low-ABV beer was packed with character—spicy, fruity, woodsy—and so damn easy to drink we contemplated stocking our entire fridge of it. Earlier in the year, they won our barleywine blind tasting with their first anniversary beer, Batch 1,000, which had been chilling in a cellar since 2014. They also cracked the top 5 of that same list with another anniversary beer, Batch 2,000. Oh, and they climbed into the 21st spot of the best IPA tasting this year too (out of 324 IPAs). And to be honest, I really dig how Freemont makes beer. They’re big into renewable energy, even going so far as to use on-site steam to power some of their facility, and use predominantly local ingredients. The brewery also helped launch Cascadia Grains Conference, an organization dedicated to reviving the local farming community. This summer, they opened a barrel-aged and sour facility and taproom, because Fremont truly knows how to barrel age a beer. Beyond the barleywines that blew us away in our tasting this year, we’re dying to get our hands on the barrel-aged version of their imperial oatmeal stout, Dark Star.
