My Top Beers in November 2023

November was a month full of travel! I visited Charleston SC, Hickory NC, and took a road trip through Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia. I tried 130 different beers in November, and here were the best beers I had over the past month:

A Decade Under the IPA collaboration brew from Fonta Flora Brewery in Morganton, NC

A Decade Under the IPA is a celebratory IPA dry-hopped with 10 different hops, selected by 10 different breweries for Fonta Flora’s 10th anniversary. This was easily the best West Cosat IPA I have ever had. The hops were: Bearded Iris - Mosaic, Burial - Simcoe, Fast Fashion - Anchovy, Firestone Walker - Azacca, Green Cheek - HBC 582, Highland Park - Nelson Sauvin, Monkish - Chinook, Other Half - Motueka, Russian River - Amarillo, and Trillium - Citra.

Houtenhamer (2021) from Burial Beer in Asheville, NC

Houtenhamer is a Double Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout aged twice in bourbon barrels. The 2021 edition came in at a whopping 16.2% ABV. Houtenhamer is Burial’s classic no-adjunct Stout and always a favorite. I had been hanging onto this bottle for a while and was very impressed!

Mixed Berry Cobbler from Southern Grist Brewing in Nashville, TN

Mixed Berry Cobbler is a Fruited Sour with lactose, vanilla, cinnamon, blueberry, blackberry and strawberry purees. Southern Grist always makes great Sours but I loved all of the different fruits in this one in particular.

TenneSPON Traditionelle from Barrique Brewing and Blending in Nashville, TN

TenneSPON Traditionelle is a Wild Ale that is a blend of one, two and three year old spontaneously fermented Lambic-inspired ales. My visit to Barrique was filled with delicious beers but this one took the top spot. I love a non-fruited Lambic and this blend was superb.

PB&J Mixtape from Xul Brewing in Knoxville, TN

PB&J Mixtape is a Fruited Sour inspired by peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I have been lucky enough to have this beer several times in 2023 and every time it is fantastic. It truly tastes like you’re just biting into a sandwich, in all of the best ways.

Bone in the Throat from Root and Branch Brewing in Copiague, NY

This was Batch 6 October 2023 of Bone in the Throat, an Imperial IPA. I have lost count of how many times a Root and Branch IPA has made my “best beers” list—they absolutely crush the IPA game.

Pressed from Phase Three Brewing in Lake Zurich, IL

This was the Maple Batch 2 version of Press from Phase Three. It is an Imperial Porter with Tugboat Coffee and maple syrup. Normally I don’t love Porters but the coffee/maple combination in this one was absolutely delightful.

Check back in February for my top beers from December and January! Cheers —Alexis

My Top Beers in May 2022

May was a month of bottle shares and an 11 day Northern California road trip, so there was a ton of good beer consumed and new breweries visited. Check out my top beers of the past month, in no particular order:

The Maison from de Garde Brewing in Tillamook, OR at The Monk’s Kettle in San Francisco, CA

The Maison is a Spontaneous Wild Ale aged in oak barrels and blended for 3+ years. de Garde is definitely one of my favorite breweries in the country so finding them on tap in San Francisco was a treat! The Monk’s Kettle was a fantastic beer bar with great food, I highly recommend checking them out in the Mission District.

Coeur de Cuvée (Blend #8) from Side Project Brewing in Maplewood, MO

Coeur de Cuvée is a series of blends of wine barrel fermented and aged Saisons from Side Project. This eighth release contains select barrels of a Chablis-inspired Saison which was then refermented on Michigan pears before being blended in a Bière de Coupage style and conditioned for an extended period of time in bottle. This was another fantastic beer from Side Project, who never seems to disappoint.

10,000 Steps (Batch 2) from Private Press Brewing in Santa Cruz, CA at Holy Water in San Francisco, CA

10,000 Steps Batch 2 is a blend of barrel aged Imperial Stout and Barleywine brewed with maple syrup and conditioned on cacao nibs and vanilla beans. Private Press is a sought after brewery with no taproom and limited releases in the Bay Area. Seeing them on tap at Holy Water was a delight! Holy Water is a chill beer bar in the Bernal Heights neighborhood with fantastic beers.

Supplication at Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa, CA

Supplication is a Brown Ale aged in Pinot Noir wine barrels for one year with sour cherries, brettanomyces yeast and lactobacillus and pedioccus bacteria. Visiting Russian River was definitely a huge goal of mine so I was pumped to make it out to Santa Rosa. I tried 8 beers at Russian River and was truly surprised to find that Supplication was my favorite.

Everything at Sante Adairius Rustic Ales in Capitola and Santa Cruz, CA

I visited both Sante Adairius locations while in Northern California—the OG taproom in Capitola and The Portal in Santa Cruz. I was insanely impressed with every single beer that I had:

Queen of the Season Foudre aged Saison; Wisdom is Learned Barrel Aged Saison with peaches; The Gift of Comfort Barrel aged Blonde ale with rose hips and Meyer Lemon; Landscapes #3 Oak aged Saison dry hopped with Kohia Nelson; Anais House Saison; Cellarman Oak aged Saison in collaboration with Triple Rock; Tomorrow, Today IPA with Citra, Simcoe and Mosaic

Everything at Moksa Brewing in Rocklin, CA

Visiting Moksa was also extremely exciting for me, so it was tough not to drink the entire menu as I loved everything. My two favorites at Moksa were Smells Like C.R.E.A.M. Spirit, an Imperial Stout with port barrel aged maple syrup, vanilla beans and coffee in collaboration with @mikerphonebrewing and One Million Blueberries Imperial Sour Ale with blueberries and vanilla.

Hypnotized Minds Volume 2 Collaboration beer from Xul Beer Co. in Knoxville, TN, BlackStack Brewing in St. Paul, MN and Orchestrated Minds Brewing in Fort Lauderdale, FL at Resident Culture Brewing Company in Charlotte, NC

Hypnotized Minds is a Double Dry Hopped Triple IPA with Azacca, Citra & Simcoe hops. In celebration of CLT Beer Week Resident Culture hosted a tap takeover with a few guest taps, one of which was this fantastic Xul, BlackStack, Orchestrated Minds juice bomb!

Home Sour Home 2022 at The Rare Barrel in Berkeley, CA

Home Sour Home 2022 is a Golden Sour aged in oak barrels with peach, cinnamon and vanilla bean. Everything at The Rare Barrel was superb, but Home Sour Home was particularly delicious! This beer has a great balance of tartness and sweetness, making it easy drinking and phenomenal.

Schmoojee Hydra collaboration brew from Imprint Beer Co. in Hartfield, PA and Mortalis Brewing in Avon, NY

Schmoojee Hydra is a heavily fruited sour with mango, pineapple, passionfruit, banana, coconut and marshmallow. Mortalis and Imprint are two of the best in the game for Fruited Sours so it is no surprise that this was delicious. It was light and refreshing while also being thiccc and fruity at the same time.

Check back next month for my top beers of June 2022!
Cheers —ALexis