The Best Beer of the Month: April 2021
May 2, 2021
The number one question we get asked at The Beer Travel Guide: “Had any good beers lately?” And the answer, invariably, is always yes. In the past, we’ve made our fair readers wait until the end of the year to find out our relatively recent favorites. However, this year, we’re going to let you know every month all of the new craft beers that have blown us away. We’ve selected ten beers that we feel are worthy of calling the best beers of April 2021!
Like our other lists, we’re only allowing ourselves to put one beer per brewery, so we can spread the love to as many fantastic breweries as possible. During this troubled time, your local craft breweries need your support more than ever. So please go support the ten breweries below and any others in your hometown to help them survive this pandemic and serve us amazing beer for years to come. Now, without further ado, our favorite beers this April!
Bottle Logic: Tropical Hideaway
“Smoothie beers aren’t always our scene, but when they work for us, they tend to *really* work… and Bottle Logic delivered to this festival one of the best smoothie sours we’ve ever had, period.” Read more about this beer in our Last Drop Beer Festival coverage.
Bow and Arrow Brewing: Cosmic Arrow
We loved many of the breweries we visited for the first time on our recent trip to Albuquerque, but when we took our initial sip of Cosmic Arrow, our first beer at Bow and Arrow Brewing, we knew we were in for a special selection. Cosmic Arrow is a Brett farmhouse ale aged in red wine barrels, and it was easily one of the best wild ales in New Mexico. Notes of citrus and stone fruit intertwine with dark barrel funk. We could have put any of the beers we had at Bow and Arrow on this list – and since we brought home several cans, there is a distinct chance they end up on this list again in May.
Burley Oak Brewing: JREAM: Pineapple, Coconut, Cheesecake
Shout out to our local bottle shop, Blackbeard’s Crafts, for bringing Burley Oak’s delicious Jream beers from from Maryland into our hands on the West Coast. Those who follow our site have read us sing the praises of the JREAM beers in the past— the mad scientists at Burley Oak create insane flavor combinations that don’t just work, they *soar.* A pineapple coconut cheesecake sour could easily be too sweet, too cloying, too unbalanced, too much. Instead they’ve crafted a Hawaiian masterpiece, a pineapple Pina colada with a hint of brown sugar on the finish. We dream of more Jream.
You’ve undoubtedly seen us write about our love for the sour beers at Cellador Ales time and time again. We recently went to their newly reopened taproom to try more of their best-in-Los-Angeles sour beers… But we were surprised that when we left, all we were talking about was their Pilsner. Cellador gives you a slow five minute pour when you order their Pilsner on location, and good heavens, it’s luxurious. Light, floral, rich in flavor, but still so crisp and so clean with a magnificent head beckoning you. We drank this as slowly as Julio poured it, and it was easily one of the best Pilsner experiences we’ve ever had.
Cinderlands Beer Company: Brick Top
Coffee beer is a favorite of this site, but we can’t recall ever having had a coffee Belgian quad before, at least not until Cinderlands Beer Company from Pittsburgh did us a favor by putting Brick Top into a can. It’s distinctly coffee, but it’s not dark and bitter like so many coffee beers. Quite the opposite, really— as it blends with the caramel maltiness of the abbey ale, the coffee feels lighter and sweeter, while still remaining roasty. Needless to say, with words like “caramel” and “sweet” in the mix, it should be no surprise that Brick Top also disguises its 10+% ABV very well. It’s without a doubt one of the more unique coffee beers we’ve ever had.
Enegren Brewing: American Reinheitsgebot
Our first in person beer event in over a year was Enegren Brewing’s Fruhlingsfest – and what an event it was. Bratwurst, sauerkraut, a German oompah band, and oh yeah, some of Enegren’s masterful lagers! Their newest release, American Reinheitsgebot, is a collab with Beachwood Brewing that follows the German purity law stating beer must be made using only water, malt, hops, and yeast. This Dortmunder style lager is crisp, bready, a little citrusy, and perfection when sipped from a liter stein under the California sun. Prost!
Gravity Bound Brewing: East of Law
On our recent visit to Albuquerque, we squeezed in a visit to Gravity Bound, one of Albuquerque’s newer breweries, right before their last call. We were only able to order one round, but we were so impressed by those two beers, we raced back the very next day to try everything else! If we had to choose just one, we’ll go with their hazy double IPA, East of Law, a creamy citrus concoction that easily ranks as one of the best IPAs in New Mexico. Anyone who isn’t on the lookout for Gravity Bound needs to put it at the top of their New Mexico ISO list, because this gang is cranking out exceptional product.
Trillium Brewing: Cacao PM Dawn
This will come as no surprise to any of you, Trillium Brewing in Massachusetts continues to put out fantastic beer. Our friend Ronnie sent us a package of some of the newer releases of IPAs, sours, and stouts from Trillium. While the IPAs were of their usual caliber, it was the Cacao PM Dawn that left the most distinct impression in our minds. Dark chocolate, dark coffee, dark roast, dark everything: the PM Dawn stout set us adrift on memory bliss.
Wanderlust Brewing: 7th Anniversary
We took our first trip to Flagstaff since the publication of our best breweries in Flagstaff guide, and we once again left the city impressed by the work done at Wanderlust Brewing. There are several terrific breweries in Flagstaff, but none have the combination of high-quality IPAs, lagers, sours, and stouts that Wanderlust is putting out on a regular basis. Their 7th Anniversary beer is a doppelbock aged on maple staves, and it was malty, caramely, and oh so rich.
White Elm Brewing: Casual Friday
Our friend Megan came over last month, and since she’s from Nebraska, it felt like the perfect time to crack open our can of Casual Friday from Nebraska’s own White Elm Brewing. White Elm’s stouts have been instant adds on the Tavour app over the last couple of years— we even named one of them our favorite beer from Nebraska in 2020. Casual Friday definitely lived up to our expectations: luscious smell, thick mouthfeel, and big dark chocolate, smooth vanilla, and toasted coconut flavors. We’ve now got to find more White Elm, as Megan will undoubtedly ask for more every time she visits.
BONUS: Honey Pot Meadery: Blue Eye (Mostra)
You know we couldn’t write one of these articles without shouting out another fantastic meade. Our first trip to Honey Pot Meadery in Anaheim last month left us blown away by the caliber of meade they’re producing. We expected to just order a flight before heading home… and we ended up staying and ordering more than half the total menu. So many of the meades we had could’ve made this list, but if we have to choose, the Blue Eye (Mostra), a blueberry vanilla and coffee meade, was a standout. It somehow balances so many flavors with a decadent sweetness. Honey Pot is now a permanent fixture on our Orange County brewery hop.
BONUS #2: Party Beer Company: Shandy Slushee
OK, one more special addition to this list. We were eager to check out new Los Angeles brewery Party Beer Company, and their sublime outdoor space and delicious vegan food did not disappoint. More importantly, the beer and seltzers we had were all high-quality for a new brewery. Their west coast IPA Oh My Gatos! was especially well-executed. That said, nothing refreshed us on that hot California day quite like their Shandy Slushee, one of the more refreshing alcoholic slushee drinks we’ve had in recent memory in Los Angeles. We strongly recommend anyone in Los Angeles check out this brewery and join the party.
What was your favorite beer of April 2021? Leave it in the comments below! Also, follow Russell and Emily both on Instagram to find out what they’re drinking on a regular basis– and please check out our favorite beers of January, February, and March while you’re here. Thanks for supporting our site! Cheers!
