Beer for Winter 2021- Top 10 for the New Year

The following ten beers are recommended based on style, activities/meals typically enjoyed in the Winter and national distribution availability (except for two Washington state breweries). Drinking a beer for winter 2021 is a great way to warm up or take it easy.

It seems easy to look forward to a new start and new year beginning in 2021, due to how hard and challenging 2020 has been. I prefer to take a peek back at 12/31/19 and remember attending a low key party with close friends and assuming 2020 was simply going to be the start of a new decade. The party had a pony keg of home-brewed west coast IPA, numerous cans of hazy IPAs and plenty of conversations about the NFL playoffs. None of us were paying attention to Patrick Mahomes and his teammates in Kansas City.

Impact of COVID-19

Fast forward to mid-March 2020, everything started to change in the state of Washington and my perspective of finding and trying new beers had to adjust due to the daily “normal” life impacts caused by COVID-19. Some breweries offered curbside pickup services, some offered shipping, some expanded their products in supermarkets. Additionally some focused on their flagship beers and some focused on expanding their beer portfolios. Taprooms and bottleshops followed suit with curbside pickup services and social media updates for special beer release dates.

It was a strange market to try to navigate as a consumer. All beer geeks could do was try to find new beers as long as it was safe and healthy to do so, and the price of beer was somewhat affordable. As I’ve adapted to the new beer market over the past ten months. I have a completely different perspective on how to kickoff 2021 with a beer in hand and being thankful for a new year that has to be better than 2020.

Beer for Winter 2021 Listing

#1 Stone Brewing (Escondido, CA) Enjoy By 01.01.21 Unfiltered IPA

For those beer fans who send out holiday cards early each year (prior to Thanksgiving) and want to get a head start on 2021 by checking an action item off their list. This is the beer to drink no later than 1/1/21. This unfiltered double IPA (DIPA) weighs in at 9.4% ABV, which will leave you wondering how long New Year’s Day really lasts and if you should have a second glass. A great beer for all hop heads, but tread lightly due to 2021 being a new marathon.

#2 Founders Brewing Company (Grand Rapids, MI) Breakfast Stout

My favorite meal on New Year’s Day is breakfast and the best way to compliment a big stack of pancakes with maple syrup and bacon strips, is this oatmeal breakfast stout disguised as strong coffee. You don’t need a beer glass to enjoy this tasty stout. Use your favorite coffee mug, turn on the college football playoff games and soak in this beer for winter 2021.

#3 Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (Milton, DE) SeaQuench Ale

The most popular New Year’s resolution is to vow to get more exercise and lose weight. Start 2021 off on the right foot by reaching for this sour fruited gose. Thankfully this beer clocks in at 4.9% ABV and only 140 calories. Tastes very similar to a margarita without any of the sugar. This gose/kolsch mash-up is crushable due to the low ABV. Find this beer, drink this beer, repeat cycle. Crank up the Jimmy Buffet digital tunes and welcome a mellower 2021 compared to 2020, wearing beach attire is optional.

#4 Huyghe Brewery (Melle, Vlaanderren Belgium) Delirium Tremens Belgian Strong Golden Ale

This beer has been nominated numerous times over the past 20+ years as the best beer in the world. Additionally has won a gold medal at the World Beer Championships in Chicago in 1998. Distributed throughout the USA and in 6-7 variants, focus on the pink elephant bottle/can that holds the original recipe. Not only does Belgium have a world class men’s soccer team, they also make a lot of kick-ass beers as well.

This golden ale sneaks up on you at 8.5% ABV, but if you like it move onto a bottle of Duvel and then explore more beers from Belgium. If/when things get back to normal to have social beer gatherings, there’s always one person who likes Belgian ales, even though everyone else is drinking IPAs. Delirium Tremens will keep that person very happy during gatherings.

#5 Reuben’s Brews (Seattle, WA) Pilsner

Lagers and pilsners made a big comeback popularity wise in 2020 due to focusing on simpler beer recipes. Brewers focus on producing cold, straight forward refreshment. Reuben’s Brews makes top notch beers across their entire diverse portfolio (170+ unique beers in 2019) and is a must stop if you’re in Seattle. Their Pilsner is a perfect representation of the Czech-Style using bready malt and spicy/floral hops. If time permits, tune into the Reuben’s Sightglass podcast. This program gives a unique view on how breweries across the country have adapted to the new Covid regulations. They are literally creating a new beer marketplace on the fly due to business decisions.

#6 Melvin Brewing (Alpine, WY) – Heyzeus Pale Lager

For those folks on New Year’s Day that simply want to snack on nachos, chips&salsa, chips&guacamole, or street tacos, grab a six pack of Heyzeus and don’t look back. As Dennis Green famously stated in 2006 after his Arizona Cardinals fell apart and lost to the Chicago Bears in a Monday Night Football game, “This is exactly the beer we thought it was! We let it out of the refrigerator!” Cold, crisp and refreshing. Don’t overthink this beer for winter 2021 when you are dipping your toes into the shallow end of the swimming pool.

#7 Oskar Blues Brewery (Longmont, CO) – Ten FIDY Imperial Stout

How long ago was is considered bad form to buy and consume beer stored in aluminum cans? Best practice was to order/buy beer on tap or in bottles. Cans were only used for camping trips and if you liked Bud Light, Coors Light, or Miller Lite. Oskar Blues Brewery took a risk in 2002 and started packaging their own craft beer in cans, which led to resealable containers. This led to the birth of the crowler being released in 2012. The brewery also expanded to a second location in Brevard, North Carolina. It helped that Oskar Blues was making tasty beers being produced in cans. This brewery has grown significantly since 2012, benefited by a solid distribution plan that they have executed almost perfectly.

All beer geeks should raise a glass/can to Oskar Blues when purchasing the latest four pack of 16 ounce cans at their favorite brewery/taproom/bottleshop. For those beer drinkers who want a desert beer on New Years Day, find a can of Ten FIDY Imperial Stout. This beer is best enjoyed in a glass and tastes like liquid devil’s food cake. The aroma, body and mouthfeel of this stout is top notch, but have a game plan due to the 10.5% ABV. This stout gets significantly better tasting as it warms up in the glass and yes…..this dog’ll hunt.

#8 Structures Brewing (Bellingham, WA) – Junior Blue Label Session IPA

I sometimes miss the craft beer market before hazy IPAs took over nationally, due to seasonal beer releases. Winter was dominated with porters and stouts. Spring was a mixture of pale ales and IPAs. Summer would highlight shandys and lagers. Lastly, fall would be pumpkin beers and winter warmers. Session IPAs looked like they might make a trendy entrance to the beer market in Spring 2013. And then they disappeared quicker than a 1990s Top 40 pop music hit. That disappearing act could have been due to buyer trends of DIPAs and triple IPAs, or the slow growth of sours. There’s a handful of session IPAs in the market now, but they are very hard to find.

Stuctures Brewing is located near the Washington/Canada border and they make incredible beers, with an emphasis on hazy IPAs. Structures has perfected shipping fresh beers in Washington state during 2020. They are very unique by constantly changing the hop profiles in their flagship beers, which causes each batch to improve. This batch of Junior is brewed with Amarillo and Simcoe hops and weighs in at a lite 4.8% ABV. You can easily drink 3-4 cans of Junior and maintain not only your composure but also a sense of humor. Helps a lot that the can label shows a great Hall of Fame baseball player with one of the smoothest swings in MLB history.

#9 Goose Island Beer Company (Chicago, IL) – Bourbon County Brand Stout 2020

For those who want to kick off 2021 in a slow and deliberate way, start by lighting up a cigar, seriously consider how fans will be able to attend sporting events in the future, and crack open a bottle of this stout that is consistent year after year. This bourbon barrel aged stout is simply one of the best. It ages incredibly well for 1-5 years, if you want to lock away all memories of 2020. Best suggestion is to share a bottle of this with a loved one or cherished friend. Remember to discuss how the simple things in life are important again.

#10 Lagunitas Brewing Company (Petaluma, CA) – Sucks DIPA

2020 has been a lousy year and it is simply time to kick it to the curb and move on with 2021. Might be therapeutic to not only drop some stress relief emojis while drinking this DIPA and keep repeating the name of this beer (very loudly) during each swig. That’ll help 2021 to be better on 1/1/21 and for the next 364 calendar days.

No matter what activities you decide to try or do on 1/1/21, please be safe, be healthy, take care of your families and be ready for a brand new beer for winter 2021 adventure! All of the lessons learned and applied in 2020 could make buying beer easier (no long special beer release lines), more interesting (talking to the curbside pickup reps is how you get the water cooler talk at most breweries), and most importantly the use of social media and beer geek conversations to find that special beer you want to get to make 2021 more memorable than 2020!

Check out our recommendations and usage for Growlers if any beer for winter 2021 happen to be available on tap!

Cheers and keep it classy everyday!