[1] Best overall beer in America: Heady Topper (photo © Alchemist Brewery).

[2] Best IPA: Brouwerij West Picnic Lightning IPA (photo © Tavour).

[3] Best lager: Notch Session Pils Czech Pale Lager (photo © Notch Brewing).

[4] Best pilsner: Allagash Truepenny Pilsner (photo © Crystal City Wine).

October 27th is American Beer Day. It’s one of the 40+ international beer holidays celebrated in the U.S. (see all the American-beer-specific holidays belowthe history of beer, which began before written history, in the area around Mesopotamia.

Here are recommendations for “The 13 Best American Beers to Drink in 2022,” compiled by Liquor.com. You can read the full article here, including tasting notes.

These beers are available on Drizly, so here’s a great party idea: Get a few of your favorite beer-loving friends for a “best of America” beer tasting. Assume 4 people per 12-ounce bottle.
 
 
AND NOW, THE GREAT AMERICAN BEERS

 
Beer styles that originated in the U.S. include

 
Here’s more about them.
 
And who knows what’s forthcoming next from the creative minds of America’s craft brewers.
 
Hats off to these beer artisans. Long may they malt, mill, mash, and ferment†.
 
 
> Check out the different types of beer in our photo glossary.

> 100 different ways to say “beer.”

 
 
THE YEAR’S 14 AMERICAN-BEER-SPECIFIC BEER HOLIDAYS

*American Beer Holidays: National Beer Day is April 27th. American Craft Beer Week is the third week in May. National IPA Day is the first Thursday in August. International Beer Day is the first Friday in August. American Beer Day is October 27th.

**National Rotate Your Beer Day on May 1st encourages people to drink fresh beer (most beer taste better when freshly made) and to promote the variety of beer styles. Created by Superior Beverage Group in 2019, the day is a reminder for consumers to check the freshness of their beer. It’s a good opportunity to organize your beers so you’ll drink older beers first, and explore new or diverse flavors.

Beer was drunk freshly-brewed for millennia, until Louis Pasteur’s work on pasteurization culminating in 1876 gave brewers the way to extend shelf life by heating beer to kill microorganisms. This was transformative for commercial brewing. Combined with refrigeration technology, it marked the time when beer became a reliably shelf-stable product that could be stored for many months or years. However, with the exception of certain styles made to age, beer loses its optimal flavor over time, becoming flat and stale with off-flavors like cardboard due to oxidation. The quality is affected by factors like heat, light, and oxygen exposure over time.

†There’s more to brewing, of course. Check out all the other stages of brewing.

‡A wild ale is a sour beer made with wild yeast or some other kind of uncontrolled or atypical microflora. Here’s more about it.

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