Paste’s Top 10 Beers: January 2017

When it comes to beer, there are a ton of choices out there, with more being added everyday. Each month, we round up some of our fave new finds. Some of the brews we did full reviews on, while others are just special gems we found on tap while we were out and about that we think you should know about.
Check out our favorite beers from December here.
By no means a comprehensive list of everything new that came out in January (we can only drink so much!), here are some of our favorites that we’d recommend you grabbing a pint of while you’re out with friends, or picking up a few bottles of at your local bottle shop.
Discover something new this month that you absolutely love? Be sure to tell us about it in the comments!
Council Beatitude Boysenberry Barrel-Aged Imperial Tart Saison
If you’re familiar with Council’s other Beatitude beers, “imperial” is good way to describe this barrel-aged Boysenberry version. Not only is it twice the ABV, but it’s also a lot more sour than those other brews. If you’re new to sours beers, we recommend you start with the non-barrel-aged offerings first. They offer a good introduction to the style that’s more tart than sour, which makes them a bit more approachable for most folks. However, sour fans should consider giving this brewery-only imperial release a good long look. It’s truly a stunning beer and last time we checked, it’s still available at the brewery’s tap room.
River North Brewery Mr. Sandman
This month we did a blind tasting of 102 of the best non-barrel aged beers out there. The winner was River North Brewery’s Mr. Sandman. River North sent in no fewer than four stouts for this tasting, all of which were interesting in some way. Mr. Sandman is the closest to a “standard” imperial stout, being the same base beer used in their coffee variant, Nightmare Fuel. The latter was also included, and proved divisive in the blind tasting because there was just so much coffee in it. The beer is one of those rare beers that comes along and no one at the table has anything negative to say about it. It excels not by being specifically unique but by assembling a pitch-perfect composite of all the flavors you want in a big, motor oil imperial stout. Dark fruit flavors of raspberry and cherry intermingle gently with dark, bittersweet baker’s chocolate. Sturdy roast provides a drying counterpart to molasses-like caramelization. Booze—there’s definitely booze, no doubt about that. And like so many of the other great stouts, the x-factor is textural, as Mr. Sandman perfectly balances a decadently creamy mouthfeel with surprising, dangerous drinkability. You could nurse one of these all night, or you could just as likely consume it all too quickly. That’s what being a great imperial stout is all about.
Surly’s darkness came in second place in our stout tasting. This one is no particular surprise, as Darkness has consistently been considered one of the best non-barrel aged stouts in the country over the years, but we imagine that Surly will enjoy the feather in their cap all the same. Burly and rich, but balanced, Darkness is a synthesis of everything that craft beer geeks tend to like about this style: Roast, cocoa, dark fruitiness, dried fruitiness, and of course booze. A silky, creamy mouthfeel gives way to prominent cocoa flavors, what one tasting sheet referred to as “German chocolate cake,” sans coconut. Booziness is considerable, but not overwhelming—rather, it’s one of those beers that rolls down your throat and begins warming your chest. Like the Westbrook that precedes it, Darkness also feels like it could reasonably be a few ABV points bigger than it actually is, which is likely a testimony to how well the brewers know their craft. Dried fruit impressions of raisin and perhaps fig are a signature note here, but the whole of the beer is more than the sum of its parts.
Turntable is named in honor of the city’s rock ‘n’ roll history, a Czech-style pilsner branded as “a reissue of a classic style.” The beer is effervescent, and more golden than straw colored. The aroma is complex: grassy and floral like a traditional pils, but a touch earthiness with a citrus element like orange peel. The flavor profile, unsurprisingly, is a similarly delicate dance between these notes, mostly working a mildly sweet but earthy interplay, but with a crush of orange and floral hops that balance out the grains. That touch comes from American Sterling hops, a similar variety to the Saaz commonly found in European pilsners.