The Top 8 Guides to Brewing the Best Styles in 2024

Photography courtesy of Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers

Oktoberfest season in Munich, Germany, sees millions of people heading to the Theresienwiese fairgrounds to celebrate, consuming gallons upon gallons of beer—namely Festbier. But unofficial Oktoberfest celebrations take place throughout the global beer community, especially in the U.S.

Depending on where you go and who makes it, you might get a classic take on Festbiers or a more contemporary one.

“It comes down to interpretation,” Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan Brand Ambassador Matthias Ebner says. “Oktoberfest—the original Festbier—were darker, sweeter, stronger. But over the centuries, the style evolved and changed, and people wanted something lighter—maybe not from alcohol, but the malt side. It’s paler in color. They ferment longer, to let it get crisp.”

Ebner adds, “Now the majority of beers here, this is where the style is at home.”

For a German perspective of the style, we spoke more with Ebner and got a U.S. take from Jack’s Abby—who has, in the past, collaborated with Weihenstephaner to make a Festbier—as well as Goldfinger Brewing Company. We’re covering how the experts define the style, the top considerations when making it, an ideal recipe, and just how long it should sit in a tank before serving.

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Photography courtesy of Firestone Walker Brewing Company

It goes without saying (but we’ll say it anyway) that IPAs are the top craft beer style among consumers. The proof is in the data. Untappd’s Year in Beer for 2023 reveals that consumers checked-in IPAs nearly thirty-two million times—almost twenty-four million check-ins more than the second-most checked-in category in stout. And that’s coming after a year in 2022 when IPAs ranked in the top four checked-in styles for Untappd users. Consumers love American, hazy, West Coast-style, and double IPAs, triple IPAs, and even cold IPAs. But what about black IPAs?

Since this one goes a little against the grain compared to the traditional take on the hop-forward beer, we chatted with three makers of top-rated black IPAs including Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Burnt Mill Brewery, and Foothills Brewing about top considerations, ideal grist, and whether black IPAs still have some traction in the market.

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Photography courtesy of The Drowned Lands Brewery

It’s no secret that light lagers are gaining traction within craft beer trends. The style has even climbed up Untappd’s Year in Beer charts, ranking third in 2023, just behind IPAs and stout. We’ve written about different ways you can make a quality lager—Mexican lager, helles, and Marzen, to name a few. Rice lager is another trending lager variation you can brew to add a low-ABV, drinkable option to your draft list.

We spoke with experts in rice lagers from Atlanta, GA-based Halfway Crooks Beer and Warwick, NY-based The Drowned Lands Brewery to learn precisely what a rice lager is, how to create a recipe for it, what to know when brewing it, and how to nail the fermentation process.

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Photography courtesy of Steph Byce | Dovetail Brewery

We’ve covered a number of classic old-world beer styles that originated in Germany—Märzen, helles, Berliner weisse, and schwarzbier—to name a few. With hundreds of years of history, these beers are timeless classics that remain relevant in Germany as well as craft breweries in the U.S., including the kölsch.

Kölsch is a centuries-old style that originated around Cologne (Köln), Germany. Brewers of the time would concoct light, clear, highly attenuated, and hop-accentuated top-fermented beer. The beer essentially unifies top-fermented beers with lager-style cold-conditioned bottom-fermented brews.

That’s merely a simplification of the kölsch style. We chatted with Human Robot and Dovetail Brewery, makers of great takes on the style, who shared top considerations when brewing kölsch, challenges you can run into, and how to create an ideal recipe.

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Not all stouts are created equal. In just the last year, we’ve written about how to brew the best milk stouts, oatmeal stouts, pastry stouts, imperial stouts, and even chocolate stouts. But sometimes, a simple beer, like a dry Irish stout, can become one of the most popular beers in the world.

Guinness is the standard for many breweries in how they concoct their dry Irish stouts. And for good reason. For the last six years, Guinness Draught has topped the Untappd charts as the beer with the most global check-ins.

For this piece, we chatted with two other well-known American dry Irish stout makers, Trillium and Roaring Table, to learn more about the top things to consider when brewing this style and how to execute a quality beer—even if it’s not a clone of Guinness.

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Photography courtesy of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company

We’ve covered a lot of big beers in this space, including dessert-flavor-packed pastry stouts, imperial stouts, and even Belgian tripels.

Along the lines of the malt-forward Scotch ale that we wrote about earlier this year, barleywine is another boozy beer that has gained momentum in the industry. According to Untappd, English barleywines ranked as the second highest-rated style on the world’s largest beer social media platform in 2023. Previously referred to as old ales, barleywine is actually a descendant of those aforementioned Scotch ales.

There are several breweries throughout the country making fantastic takes on the style. We chatted with Cambridge Brewing Company (CBC) Brewmaster Will Meyers and Private Press Owner and Brewer Brad Clark, who have been knocking barleywines out of the park for quite some time, about the top considerations, some tips and tricks, and the intricacies of brewing a great barleywine.

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Photography courtesy of Genesee Brewery

Here in the U.S., some classic styles still ring true in taprooms—for instance, the cream ale.

A style that dates back to the mid-1800s in the States, cream ale, an ale-lager hybrid, is designed to be pale in color, low in ABV, and crushable. Neither overly hoppy nor malty, the cream ale could be considered among the first lawnmower beers in America; even the BJCP harkens to that in its description of the beer’s overall impression.

The BJCP describes a cream ale as “a clean, well-attenuated, flavorful American ‘lawnmower’ beer. Easily drinkable and refreshing, with more character than typical American lagers.”

We chatted with breweries nailing the style, including Lexington Brewing, Good Measure Brewing, and one of the most iconic cream ale makers, Genesee Brewing Company, to learn the cream ale’s top considerations and the challenges of making a great one.

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Photography courtesy of @factionbrewing

Hop-forward beers dominate the craft beer industry from a consumer perspective, as evidenced by IPAs topping the charts of the latest Untappd Year in Beer. Whether it’s hazy, American IPA, cold IPA, double, or triple, consumers are throwing them back in droves. Another hop-forward style, albeit a lighter version, American pale ale, could be worth adding to your brew schedule to round out your menu.

We chatted with experts in the style from Faction Brewing and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery to understand the American pale ale’s top considerations, challenges you can face, what hops work best, and what ABV to use to finish the beer.

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