Cool beer: 2024’s most exciting breweries
Though the industry’s boom years have passed, “it’s still an exciting time for craft beer,” said Courtney Iseman in Punch. The breweries that have survived a post-pandemic dip in demand and the oversaturation of the market are “innovating more than ever.” Some are betting on “indemand” categories like hop water and nonalcoholic beer while others are “streamlining their lineups to highlight just a few styles” and committing to educating customers about them. Below, five breweries on our 2024 “Who’s Who of Beer Cool” list. Dovetail Brewery Chicago A brewery “built on a passion for traditions,” Dovetail has become “the place to go” to experience Kölsch service, Bierstacheln, and other European beer customs. Dovetail’s “standout brew” is its Rauchbier, made with smoked malt. North Park Beer Co. San Diego With IPAs still dominating craft sales despite a dip in trendsetter interest, brewer Kelsey McNair is building on the success of Hop-Fu!, his award-winning West Coast IPA, and “continues to set the standard for the style.” Bow & Arrow Brewing Albuquerque Shyla Sheppard and Missy Begay run the first U.S. brewery owned by Indigenous women, and their “attention-demanding” beers incorporate Southwestern ingredients such as sumac, prickly pear, and foraged neomexicanus hops, which are native to New Mexico. Dokkaebier Oakland Youngwon Lee and Aaron Weshnak gleefully break brewing’s “Eurocentric rules” with Korean-inflected beers such as a Witbier with galangal and a “very popular” kimchi sour ale. Vine Street Brewing Kansas City, Mo. Missouri’s first Black-owned brewery turned heads with its “delicious” Jazzman dark lager, and revels in such obscure styles as the Kentucky common, a malt-heavy Civil War– era ale with a dry finish.