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Winter 2024, Issue 70
The Beer in Review
Hello all and welcome to our annual, year-end edition of The Beer Connoisseur® magazine! This issue, as always, reflects the past year in beer with our trademark reviews, feature stories and wrap-up lists – showcasing the best breweries, beers and beer styles of 2023.
2023 held notable news across the board for the beer industry, including tragic stories (the shuttering of legendary craft brewery Anchor Brewing Co.), surprising stories (the rise of non-alcoholic beer) and stories of mega-beer boycotts (the Bud Light boycott by conservatives that caused it to fall from its sales throne).
Beyond all that, brewers continued to push the boundaries of brewing and produced an impressive number of top-flight brews, which we have aimed to highlight in our year-end Beer in Review winter edition.
Our Official Review saw a striking 12 World Class beers get reviewed, including one of only six scores of 99 that our judges have ever had the privilege to review. This marks two straight years that we have reviewed a beer that reached that lofty score. The beer scene is still thriving, despite near-constant rumblings of potential setbacks due to increased competition, market saturation and more.
Our Brewery of the Year for 2023 is actually a past winner, but they managed to one-up themselves in terms of high-quality beers this year, as their overall score was higher than it was in their prior year winning the award. Read on to find out which brewery I’m referring to!
We continue to cover upcoming beer and beverage trends for 2024, as well as what beer styles are likely to take the craft world by storm in the coming year. This issue also features a thrilling profile of northwest Arkansas’s Fayetteville Ale Trail and passport program. We also detail the rarest beers around the world for collectors.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INDUSTRY OUTLOOK
2024 Beer and Beverage Trends
An exploration of Circana sales data, which tracks some of the most popular beers by brewery and by sales category.
Top Emerging Beer Styles for 2024
Every year sees new styles rise and older ones fall by the wayside, and 2024 will be no different.
THE BEER IN REVIEW
Top 100 Beers of 2023
The best of the Official Review in 2023 as evaluated by our judges, including a whopping 12 World Class beers with one even scoring a 99.
The Best Beers of 2023 by Style Category
The year’s best beer categorized by the most populated beer styles in the 2023 Official Review. A one-stop shopping list of the best brews on shelves today.
The Best Breweries of 2023
The breweries that submitted the highest-scoring beers collectively in 2023. These brewers demonstrated mastery of their craft.
FEATURES
The Fayetteville Ale Trail Puts the Spotlight on 24 Breweries in NW Arkansas
Journey to the region and discover local craft beverage culture as presented by Experience Fayetteville and its passport program.
The World's 15 Rarest Beer for Collectors
One-of-a-kind rare beers have become far more commonplace in recent years. Explore this list of 15 of the most intriguing options for beer collectors around the world.
REVIEWS
Official Review
Single-blind reviews from our panel of experts. Featuring Mount Saint Bernard Tynt Meadow, Westmalle Extra, Moniker Brewery Geräuchert Smoked Helles Lager and more!
Brewer Q & A
Brewers share secrets of their highest-scoring beers.