The Best Craft Beer of 2021

2021 was all about getting back to Beer Travel Guide basics. Yes, our jobs were crazier than ever, which led to drastically trimming down the number of articles and list updates we featured on the site. However, we also started a TikTok, got back to attending beer festivals, and tried more beer in a calendar year than ever before. So even though The Beer Travel Guide may be shifting its format focus, rest assured we still love beer, we still love travel, and we still love sharing our favorites with you. So even though we hadn’t yet written an article about the best craft beer of 2021, according to us, we produced videos on social media with our selections– and I felt it only appropriate to share those lists with you now.

THE BEST LAGERS OF 2021

@thebeertravelguide if you love lagers, this is the video for you! The Best Lagers of 2021! #craftbeer #bestbeer #bestof2021 #lager #pilsner ♬ Spider-Man: No Way Home – Trailer Music – L’Orchestra Cinematique

2021 saw us consume more craft lager than ever. We went to several lager-only breweries. We went to more local Oktoberfest celebrations than we ever have. We attended a lager-only beer festival, Bagby Beer Company’s Low & Slow Festival, which was an absolute blast. So it felt prudent to lead with the lagers. Several are from the aforementioned lager specialists– Art History, BarrieHaus, Bierstadt Lagerhaus, Enegren, Goldfinger, Halfway Crooks, Rosenstadt– and a few are from big-name breweries that show they aren’t just know for hazy IPAs and sours, but also for brewing some of the best lagers in the country– The Bruery, Casey, Monkish, Tree House, and more. We’ve got at least one lager festival in store for 2022, so we’re excited to learn more about the best lagers that American craft beer has to offer.

Art History: Bauhaus
BarrieHaus Brewing: Tivvy Tmave
Bierstadt Lagerhaus: Slow Pour
The Bruery: Ruekeller Helles
Casey Brewing: Pils
Cellador Ales: Slow Pour Pilsner
Enegren Brewing: The Lightest One
Goldfinger Beer company: Pils
Gravity Bound: Proof of Life
Halfway Crooks: Mavy
Humble Sea: HS4 with Highland Park
Lupulin Brewing: Dortmunder
Monkish Brewing: Hamster
Tree House Brewing: Idle Mind
Rosenstadt Brewery: Vienna Lager

THE BEST IPAS OF 2021

@thebeertravelguide our year-end roundup starts with the best IPAs we had in 2021! be sure to leave your favorites in the comments! #craftbeer #ipa #bestof2021 #bestbeer ♬ Spider-Man: No Way Home – Trailer Music – L’Orchestra Cinematique

In 2020, we listed *forty* IPAs on our site as the best of the year, so you can only imagine how difficult it was trimming down from 40 to 15. Still, a number of west coast beers from the west coast were represented– Arrow Lodge, El Segundo, Monkish, Slice– as were some incredible fresh hazies from in-person visits– Barebottle, Buttonwoods, Casey, Definitive, Outer Range. And, of course, it wouldn’t be a beer website unless we got absolute top-tier haze via trades last year, from places like Fidens, Southern Prohibition, Tree House, and more. Obviously we had a lot of familiar favorites last year, but with the festival circuit hopefully going back into full swing, and with travel getting less restricted, we’re hopeful to discover plenty more elite IPAs from new-to-us breweries in 2022.

Arrow Lodge Brewing: OG Citra Side B
Barebottle Brewing: Ultra Luxe
Buttonwoods Brewery: Learning Curve #8
Casey Brewing: 100% Nelson
Dancing Gnome: Mosaic Jam
Dankhouse Brewing: DDH Couch Kush’n
Definitive Brewing: Particles
El Segundo Brewing: Nuclear Power Plant
Fidens Brewing: Tuneless Moonlight
Modestman Brewing: Center of Attention MEGA
Monkish Brewing: West Coast Flow
Outer Range Brewing: Sendy
Slice Beer: Hippie Cabbage
Southern Prohibition: Space to Face 4xDH
Tree House Brewing: Jjjuiceee Project: Citra + Galaxy

THE BEST STOUTS OF 2021:

@thebeertravelguide love stouts? here are our Best Stouts of 2021! (special cameo at the end 😎) #craftbeer #bestbeer #imperialstout #barrelagedstout #pastrystout ♬ Spider-Man: No Way Home – Trailer Music – L’Orchestra Cinematique

Plenty of our best stouts of 2021 came from our travels, including several first-ever visits– Arrow Lodge, Hidden Springs, Mikerphone, Ruse, and Stoneface. We also ended up with several stouts from familiar favorite breweries– over half the breweries on this list have been featured in our year-end awards in years past. As we spent way more time visiting (or living in) hotter states in 2021, we likely didn’t have as many stouts as we usually do. With a couple of trips up north coming up in 2022 (including a trip to the Winter Beer Dabbler in Minnesota), we’re bracing our livers for more barrel-aged big boys this year.

Aardwolf: Hazelnut Bourbon BA Early Bird Special
Adroit Theory: Eat the Rich
Arizona Wilderness: Nocturnal Opulence
Arrow Lodge: Puff Pastry
The Bruery: Black Tuesday (2021)
Hidden Springs Ale Works: Nautical Unicorns
Highland Park Brewery: Griffith J. Griffith
Horus Aged Ales: Proper Dose
Mikerphone: Double BA Super Imperial Smells Like Bean Spirit
Movement Brewing: Illuminati Biscotti
Pure Project: Corylus w/ Vanilla
Ruse Brewing: Midnight Stories
Southern Prohibition: BA Cake Walk: German Chocolate Cake
Stoneface Brewing: Barrel Aged Rum RIS (2021)
Weathered Souls: Habitual Line Stepper

THE BEST SOURS OF 2021:

@thebeertravelguide our year-end roundup continues with the best sour beers of 2021! #craftbeer #sourbeer #bestbeer #bestof2021 ♬ Spider-Man: No Way Home – Trailer Music – L’Orchestra Cinematique

Finally, one of our first loves: sour beer. We certainly featured a wide variety of barrel-aged sours in our best of the year list, as we always do… but we also had some of the best, most distinctive fruited sours we’ve ever had last year, from places like Around the Horn, Blue Oak, Energy City, King Maker, Lazy Duck, and Woven Waters. We also got to visit in-person for the first time some of the great makers of barrel-aged sour in America– Allagash, Odd Breed, Pretentious Barrel House, and Unseen Creatures. We’ve no doubt that we’ll consume a ton of sour beer in 2022, as we always do– we’ll have our antacids ready for the challenge.

Allagash Brewing: Wild Ale Aged on Haskap Berries
Around the Horn: Tip Top Mocha Pop Sour
Blue Oak Brewing: Instagratification
Cascade: Mulled Apple Sour
Casey Brewing: Raspberry Rosé
Cellador Ales: Deadcrush
Energy City Brewing: Pineapple and Habanero Heat Wave Turbine
Highland Park Brewery: Coldbox Coolship Raspberry
King Maker Brewing: Roasted Jalapeno Pineapple Sour
Lazy Duck Brewing: Pineapple Coconut Quack
Odd Breed Wild Ales: Halo Kibbles
Pretentious Barrel House: Cuvée de Josh 2021
Pure Project: Euphorik w/ Double Cherries
Speciation Artisan Ales: Incipient
Unseen Creatures: Fire & Brimstone
Woven Waters: Blue Hawaiian Fusion

We’re pumped to have more articles coming up in 2022– we’ll have more beer festival coverage and hopefully some other exciting things in store. In the meantime, please check us out on Instagram and TikTok— and if you see us at a beer festival, stop us and say hello! Cheers!