The Best Breweries of 2018
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Editorial Dept.
BREWERY AWARDS
Each year, we award the breweries that collectively produce the highest-rated beer of the year as evaluated in the Official Review. In 2018, breweries worldwide demonstrated impressive brewing expertise through a myriad of styles. With the rise of new and interesting Specialty IPAs, such as Brut IPAs and hazy examples, as well as a continued focus on fruit adjuncts, pastry stouts and sours, our breweries of the year represent the cutting edge of craft beer.
How We Award
We look at the top three highest-scoring beers (as rated by our judging panel) for each brewery in the calendar year.
We then consider how many of the three place into the 100 to 96: World Class category and the 95 to 91: Exceptional category. For example, a brewery with two world-class beers and one exceptional would rate higher than a brewery with a single higher-scoring world-class beer and two exceptional beers.
The brewery with the most world-class beers followed by the most exceptional beers is awarded the Brewery of the Year.
If two or more breweries have the same number of world-class and exceptional beers, then the brewery with the highest point total wins.
In the event of a tie, a fourth reviewed beer is counted as a tiebreaker.
If a fourth beer was not reviewed, we look at the highest score total among the brewery’s two top-scoring beers.
Read on and raise a glass to this year’s winners!
Second Runner-Up: Brauhaus Riegele
One World Class Beer & Two Exceptional Beers
Total Score: 284
Highest-scoring beers:
Privat – 98
Riegele Augustus – 94
Riegele Noctus 100 – 92
Brauhaus Riegele of Augsburg, Germany rounds out our top three candidates for Brewery of the Year in 2018.
The headlining beer in this year’s Official Review was Riegele’s Privat, an incredible Festbier that typifies the style in every facet. As one of only 10 scores of 98 that have ever been registered by our judges, Privat uses only the finest natural ingredients to produce elegant, subtle flavors that form a unique harmony exemplified by the balance of floral hops and freshly milled malt varietals.
Riegele Augustus is the “emperor of Weizenbocks,” according to the brewery, and it’s easy to see why. A strong alcohol content (8.0% ABV) combines with a robust malt bill of Steffi, Wheat and Munich to produce a strong, smooth beer with notes of banana, plum and clove.
Clocking in with a score of 92, Riegele Noctus 100 rounds out the brewery’s world-class and exceptional selections. An Imperial Stout at 10 percent ABV, this strong dark beer makes for a filling treat with a deep, rich flavor profile that offers complexity and balance.
First Runner-Up: Breckenridge Brewery
One World Class Beer & Two Exceptional Beers
Total Score: 285 points
Highest-scoring beers:
Nitro Irish Stout – 96
Brewery Lane Series: Imperial Vanilla Porter Aged in Rum Barrels – 95
Hop Peak IPA – 94
Breckenridge Brewery of Littleton, Colorado had a strong year in this year’s Official Review.
Leading off Breckenridge’s slate of world-class and exceptional beers was the beautiful, cascading pour of Nitro Irish Stout, which scored a 96. An easy-going stout that adds a welcoming Colorado spirit to an old-world style, this roasty, chocolaty brew features a pillowy mouthfeel due to the nitrogenation and coffee, dark chocolate and espresso elements.
Breckenridge delivered another exceptional dark brew with Brewery Lane Series: Imperial Vanilla Porter aged in Rum Barrels. The series is named after the street upon which the brewery is located in Littleton, Colorado. A lush and filling brew, this sweet and boozy creation spent 55 days aging in rum barrels with vanilla beans to provide excellent complexity in an elegant and luxurious dark beer.
Showcasing Breckenridge’s depth and ability to craft various styles, Hop Peak IPA was a sterling representation of the American IPA style. Brewed with whole-cone Simcoe and Citra hops as well as Citra lupulin powder, this beer gushes out piney, citrusy and earthy aromas.
Brewery of the Year: pFriem Family Brewers
Two World Class Beers & One Exceptional Beer
Total Score: 287
Highest-scoring beers
Oud Bruin – 96
Maple Barrel Aged Smoked Porter – 96
Nectarine Golden Ale – 95
Congratulations to pFriem Family Brewers of Hood River, Oregon for being named The Beer Connoisseur’s 2018 Brewery of the Year!
It’s been an accomplished year for pFriem Family Brewers, which is now BC’s Brewery of the Year for the second time in three years. This year they submitted two beers that were rated as world class, pFriem Oud Bruin and Maple Barrel Aged Smoked Porter. Beyond that, the brewery submitted an impressive thirteen beers that were rated as exceptional – a record for the most highly rated beer in a single year for a brewery in the history of the Official Review.
To top off its 2018 accolades, pFriem also had an excellent showing at the 2018 Great American Beer Festival where it won a Gold Medal in the Mixed-Culture Brett Beer category for Druif and a Silver Medal for pFriem Pilsner in the German-Style Pilsner category. The brewery was also named the Brewers Association’s 2018 Mid-Sized Brewing Company of the Year.
Additionally, it was awarded a World Beer Cup Gold Medal in the Belgian Style Fruit Beer category for Nectarine Golden Ale and four awards at the Oregon Beer Awards (including Large Brewery of the Year).
Since opening its doors in 2012, pFriem Family Brewers has produced some of the most interesting and well-brewed examples of styles they choose to explore, and the brewery has been highly acclaimed throughout its six years of operation. According to Josh Pfriem, Brewmaster and Co-Founder, “Our goals for the brewery are modest ones — to build a business that was tightly integrated with our family lives, to honor the place we call home and love so dearly, and to create a warm, friendly space where others could experience our creations. Our goals for the creations themselves are anything but modest.”
pFriem has long attempted to follow its motto of “Proudly Crafted, Humbly Offered” when creating the Belgian and German-inspired brews upon which the brewery can hang its hat. By employing high-quality natural ingredients and taking painstaking efforts to ensure they produce only the finest brews, pFriem has well earned its 2018 Brewery of the Year title. pFriem is truly a beer connoisseur’s paradise and we encourage you, the reader, to visit the brewery and experience world class for yourself.
pFriem Family Brewers
707 Portway Ave.
Suite 101
Hood River, OR 97031
Tel.: (541) 321-0490
www.pfriembeer.com
pFriem Family Brewers submitted an outstanding thirteen beers in the 2018 Official Review that scored in the exceptional category. The two top-scoring world class beers the brewery submitted were pFriem Oud Bruin and Maple Barrel Aged Smoked Porter.
The brewery’s take on the fabled Oud Bruin style was an expertly crafted brew aged in an authentic foeder with notes of sherry, leather, marionberry, apple butter and Cabernet wine all finished off with a tart and jammy aftertaste that lingers. Our judge imagined pairing this beer with steamed seafood such as buttered lobster or shrimp.
In contrast, Maple Barrel Aged Smoked Porter featured a complex array of eight different specialty malts – creating a rich feast for a drinker’s palate to enjoy. Our judge compared the flavor to a bacon breakfast that was well balanced with a backdrop of smooth, light roast coffee.
Nectarine Golden Ale was aged six months in Sauvignon Blanc barrels then finished with nectarines to produce an elegant brew that’s redolent of marmalade, citrus zest, peach nectar and cantaloupe.
pFriem’s 2018 World Class & Exceptional Reviews
Maple Barrel Aged Smoked Porter – 96
pFriem Oud Bruin – 96
Nectarine Golden Ale – 95
pFriem Vienna Lager – 95
Super Saison – 94
pFriem Barrel Aged Saison II – 94
pFriem Flanders-Style Red Ale – 94
pFriem Helles Lager – 93
Sauv Blanc Barrel Aged Golden Ale – 91
Druif (2018 Vintage) – 91
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