The 8 Best Beers to Drink in 2022

Our Top Picks

Best Pilsner: Oskar Blues Brewery Mama’s Little Yella Pils at Drizly

From mowing the lawn to fine dining, the refreshing pilsner hits the spot any time.

Best Sour Ale: New Belgium Brewing Company La Folie at Minibar

This is a widely distributed sour ale that’s a great introduction to the category.

Best Pale Ale: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company Pale Ale at Drizly

Bright notes of grapefruit and pine lead the way into a lightly toasty body, before finishing crisp and clean.

Best IPA: Bell’s Brewery Two Hearted Ale at Drizly

It smells like grapefruit and is designed for good times.

Best Stout: Modern Times Beer Black House at Drizly

The coffee-infused beer is a darkly delicious delight.

Best Wheat Beer: Allagash Brewing Company White at Drizly

Quite possibly the perfect beer, the aromatic and easy-drinking White is a true crowd-pleaser.

Best Low-Calorie/Low-Carb Beer: Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales Slightly Mighty Lo-Cal IPA at Drizly

Who says IPAs need to be heavy? Slightly Mighty’s flavor punches far above its calorie count.

Best Nonalcoholic Beer: Athletic Brewing Company Run Wild IPA at Drizly

No booze? No problem. The aromatic Run Wild IPA tastes just like the real thing.

The beer world is mighty mobbed these days, with more than 8,000 breweries in America and counting. The country is arguably in a golden age of beer, but with unparalleled selection comes plenty of confusion. Scores of new beers debut every week, a tidal wave of IPAs, stouts, and pilsners flooding the country’s liquor and grocery stores.

Fishing for a great-tasting beer can be tricky. Is it delicious? A disappointment? To help sort through the highly crowded coolers, we tapped an array of experts to select the top IPAs, stouts, pilsners, wheat beers, and more. Here are eight great beers to help make your next happy hour even happier.

Best Pilsner: Oskar Blues Brewery Mama’s Little Yella Pils

Courtesy of Drizly

Pilsners are the world’s most popular beer style, and for good reason: They marry massive refreshment to moderate alcohol, creating the perfect beer when you want to have more than one. Of late in America, craft brewers have reembraced the pilsner and started churning out flavorful versions that are far more than fizzy booze water. Aaron Gore, certified Cicerone (beer expert) and the founder of Fresh Pitch Beverage Consulting, favors Oskar Blues’ widely available Mama’s Little Yella Pils, calling it “one of the best American interpretations of a truly classic style.”

He notes that Czech Saaz hops provide a snappy, peppery bitterness without being overpowering, while crackery malts make it interesting and complex. The pilsner is a “great beer for any occasion, from mowing the lawn to a five-course dinner, and everything in between,” he says.

Price at time of publish: From $19 for 12 Pack

Best Sour Ale: New Belgium Brewing Company La Folie

Courtesy of Total Wine

New Belgium is one of the country’s preeminent producers of barrel-matured sour ales, which derive their multifaceted flavors and acidity from a custom microbial blend. One of the first American-made sour ales is La Folie, a sour brown ale that spends up to three years aging in massive oak vessels called foeders before it’s packaged in an elegant bottle corked and caged like Champagne.

“It’s also one of the easiest sours to find, not to mention one of the finest beers produced,” says Em Sauter, an advanced Cicerone and the founder and cartoonist behind Pints and Panels. “The beer has an intense cherry flavor and is the perfect beer to give as a gift for someone new to sour beers.”

Best Pale Ale: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company Pale Ale

Courtesy of Minibar Delivery

Founded in 1980, Sierra Nevada is a founding father of America’s craft beer movement, carving a flavorful path followed by today’s inventive breweries. For four decades, the brewery’s flagship Pale Ale has been the “quintessential American craft beer,” Gore says. “It set the tone not only for the American pale ale style but for the entire industry. Bright notes of grapefruit and pine lead the way into a lightly toasty body, before finishing crisp and clean. It's one of the world’s most balanced beers.

Price at time of publish: From $12 for 6 Pack

Best IPA: Bell’s Brewery Two Hearted Ale

Courtesy of Walmart

Too many IPAs are unbalanced wrecks—too bitter, too sweet, the alcohol burn hot enough to light a campfire. Two Hearted Ale is none of the above. The Michigan brewery’s flagship sits squarely at 7 percent ABV—strong but not overly so, with an agreeable malt sweetness and a bewitching scent supplied by American-grown Centennial hops.

Expect a fragrance of just-cut grapefruit mixed with a touch of pine trees, freshly enticing from first sip to final swig. Fun fact: The beer is named after a famous Michigan trout river, and its origins trace back to a 1993 homebrew experiment from several Bell’s employees.

Price at time of publish: From $24 for 12 Pack

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Best Stout: Modern Times Beer Black House

Courtesy of Total Wine

Fans of coffee and beer will find lots to love about Black House, the dark crown jewel from San Diego’s Modern Times. The Southern California brewery roasts the coffee—a mix of Ethiopian and Sumatran beans—used to make this luscious oatmeal stout that, in the brewery’s words, “tastes like a chocolate-covered espresso bean, only drier and more like beer.”

Megan Reynolds, a certified beer sommelier and the owner of the beer-focused R&R Taproom in Woodstock, New York, appreciates the beer’s “satisfying roasty bitterness and perfect amount of coffee. At about 5 percent ABV, it’s not just a sipper for winter but great year-round.”

Price at time of publish: From $12 for 4 Pack

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Best Wheat Beer: Allagash Brewing Company White

Courtesy of Total Wine

Every expert agreed: The Portland, Maine, brewery’s Belgian-style white ale, hazily refreshing and spiced with coriander and Curaçao orange peel, is the ultimate wheat beer. Allagash White is “almost a universal crowd-pleaser,” says Reynolds, who calls the peppery, citrusy beer “summer in a bottle.”

But the beer is also great for year-round imbibing. “It may be one of the most perfect beers ever created, as it’s just so intensely satisfying in all seasons,” Sauter says. “When I’m in a bar and I see Allagash White, I’ll order it.” White is also wonderful at the dinner table, too, “perfect for fish, salads, or chicken,” Gore says.

Price at time of publish: From $12 for 4 Pack

Best Low-Calorie/Low-Carb Beer: Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales Slightly Mighty Lo-Cal IPA

Courtesy of Drizly

For years, drinking light beer meant reaching for light lagers low in calories and taste. Of late, though, craft breweries have begun cracking the low-cal code to create more flavorful offerings. Gore likes Dogfish Head’s hazy Slightly Mighty, which relies on monk fruit to build body and contribute a touch of sweetness.

“Ringing in at only 95 calories, this beer punches way above its weight,” Gore says. “With huge tropical fruit notes from the hops, it is deceptively flavorful for a beer that has fewer calories than some hard seltzers."

Price at time of publish: From $20 for 12 Pack

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Best Nonalcoholic Beer: Athletic Brewing Company Run Wild IPA

Both Gore and Sauter agree that Connecticut-based Athletic Brewing makes America’s best nonalcoholic beer, lacking booze while delivering massive flavor. “In nonalcoholic beer, oftentimes it is as hard to hide what isn’t there as much as it is to hide what is,” Gore says. “Athletic Brewing has mastered the art of making flavorful, full-bodied beer that feels every bit as satisfying as traditional brews.”

Sauter likes the aromatic Run Wild IPA, not waiting until happy hour to crack a can. “Their IPA has a wonderful bouquet of hops and great flavor,” she says. “I find myself reaching for a Run Wild during the day, especially at lunchtime.”

Price at time of publish: From $12 for 6 Pack

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What to Look for When Buying Beer to Drink

Taste

Different brands and styles of beer will have their own unique taste. Some will be bitter, others sweet, while others can be sour. It all depends on the ingredients used when manufacturing the beer, what type of container it's put in, age, and storage. But what the taste of beer boils down to is what you, as the one who is imbibing, enjoy.

Style

Taste and style go hand in hand when it comes to beer. There are two major categories of styles: ales and lagers. Within those categories are subsets, including IPAs, Porters, Stouts, Pilsners, and Wheat Beers, to name just a few. These styles are different from each other in color, flavor, body, etc. Grab one that you think you might like, sample it, and move on until you find what you like the best.

Freshness

Look at the expiration date when buying beer. You want the freshest beer possible. You should see a "best by" date or "bottled on" stamped on the carton, can, or bottle. Buy beer that was most recently bottled and try to avoid ones that are nearing their end date.

FAQs

Should beer be refrigerated?

Beer is best when stored in the refrigerator, as doing so extends its shelf life. It does not hurt to keep beer at room temperature before putting it in the fridge to cool down.

How should you store beer?

Beer should be stored standing upright and not lying on its side. This way of storing it keeps the beer from being exposed to any possible air in the container.

What is the proper temperature for a beer fridge?

Set the temperature zone to a cool 35 F to 38 F, and you will hit the temperature that most bars serve beer from the tap. If you don't have a designated beer fridge and it stores wine also, the fridge should be set to around 50 F to 55 F.

Why Trust The Spruce Eats?

Joshua M. Bernstein, the author of this piece, knows beer. He's penned five books on the subject, as well as articles for The New York Times, Wine Enthusiast, Men’s Journal, and Imbibe. He interviewed three beer experts for this article.

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