This year's list provided few surprises—8 of the 10 beers were on last year's most popular beer list. Also unsurprising: IPAs and bourbon barrel stouts made up almost the entire list.
Indeed, the biggest surprise was what shook out as the year's most popular beer: a category bender from one of the most well known breweries in the country.
Anyway, without further ado, here are the 10 most popular beers of the year—enjoy!
Some hesitate to even call this year's list-topper a beer. It sits at 28% ABV, and even Samuel Adams says its reminiscent of port, cognac, or sherry. Only 13,000 bottles hit the shelves in 2017.
The classic west coast IPA was our most popular beer last year, and this year it moved down just one spot. Like most of the beers on this list, we have only one wish: wider availability.
An 8% double IPA housed in that beautifully yellow 16oz can. One of the first truly East Coast IPAs, this one is legendary, both in the Northeast and across the country. Believe us when we say that the entire state of Connecticut seems to live and die by Sip of Sunshine deliveries.
This one marks the start of the holiday season for many beer lovers. Thick, rich, and an ABV that will surely warm you up in the cold weather (it varies from year to year, and especially when you bring variants into play). Once extremely rare, this one is now turning up more and more.
Photo courtesy of @3floydsbrewing.
It's no surprise seeing the famous “undead” pale ale on this list. 6.2%, juicy, and smooth. Plus there's the bottle's artwork: an awesome collaboration between Three Floyds and the comic industry.
The winter release has long been special in the Midwest. It's dry hopped with Simcoe, has a significant malt backbone (a very far cry from some of the other IPAs on the list), and also includes a generous amount of honey to help smooth out that malt. Look for it in January.
One of the very first top-level barrel-aged stouts, this one's brewed with coffee and chocolate, then aged in bourbon barrels for one year. Even with the recent boom in special stouts, this one still holds strong, both in quality and in popularity. Look for 2018's release in April.
There's one thing about Dragon's Milk that stands out from the rest of the beers on the list: availability. Whether you're in New York City or you're a little closer to New Holland's Michigan home, this one is almost always findable.
Well, nothing like a beer whose ABV varies from 15% to 20%. This one has been legendary for awhile, and with good reason. It's a perfect beer to put in the cellar for a few years, and one that necessitates sharing: nobody has any business drinking this one by themselves.
Photo courtesy of @alch3mistb33r.
The legendary beer that arguably created the NEIPA craze. Found in that beautiful silver and black 16-oz can, cracking a fresh Heady Topper is something all beer lovers should experience.
That does it for our year-end wrap-up lists. Here's to a happy, healthy, and enjoyable 2018! Cheers!