The Best Breweries of 2024

BREWERY AWARDS

Each year, we acknowledge the breweries that collectively produced the highest-rated beers as evaluated in our Official Review. 2024 was chock-full of amazing beers and featured the highest number of World Class offerings our judges have ever had the privilege to review, many of which came from the three best breweries of the year. Read on to reveal 2024’s best breweries!

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 finishes in 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.

Congratulations to this year’s winners! Cheers!

pFriem Family Brewers

2 World Class Beer
1 Exceptional Beers
Total Score: 287

Highest-scoring beers:
pFriem Double IPA – Rated 97
Nelson Pale – Rated 96
pFriem Hazy IPA – Rated 94

pFriem Family Brewers in Hood River, Oregon is tied as the first runner-up for Brewery of the Year in 2024. pFriem is no stranger to our Brewery of the Year section, as the picturesque Oregon brewhouse achieved Brewery of the Year status in both 2018 and 2019 and was our first runner-up in 2021.

pFriem submitted a number of tremendous brews over the past year, but the brewery’s top-scoring offering in 2024 was the aptly named pFriem Double IPA. The brewery’s output spans a wide breadth of disparate beer styles, but the brewing team does remain focused on delivering styles that craft beer fans are liable to quaff with regularity – such as the omnipresent IPA and DIPA. Of course, seeing as the hazy IPA trend has slipped from its lofty heights of late, this double IPA is actually a West Coast version, which is fitting for a brewery located in the Pacific Northwest. Our judge loved this release and raved: “Overall, this beer is a beautiful showcase of hop flavor and hop bitterness that is further enhanced by malt sweetness and alcohol warmth. This is a World Class beer executed flawlessly and without gimmicks, using only ingredients and technique.”

Following that was pFriem’s second World Class beer of the year: Nelson Pale, a single-hop pale ale featuring only the beloved New Zealand hop varietal Nelson Sauvin (which has many similar flavor properties to Sauvignon Blanc grapes). Pale ales are often the forgotten little brother of IPAs, but many devotees still believe them to be the superior hoppy beer. Our judge agreed and called it a “near-perfect example of an American Pale Ale with New World hops” that is “supremely enjoyable.”

The final high-scoring beer from pFriem was the plainly titled pFriem Hazy IPA, though its flavor was far from plain. Featuring a lovely hop bill featuring Mosaic, Citra, El Dorado and Chinook varieties, this delightfully hazy brew wowed our judge with its striking appearance and called this hoppy wonder “a classic example of the hazy IPA style.”

Double IPA
pFriem’s top-scoring beer from 2024 is a West Coast wonder that delivers a crystal-clear appearance with hugely hoppy aromas and flavors.

American Pale Ale
This single-hop APA focuses on the beloved New Zealand hop Nelson Sauvin, which provides a stunning bouquet reminiscent of Sauvignon Blanc grapes.

Hazy IPA
Our judge called this a classic example of the hazy IPA style, and we couldn’t agree more. Great look, amazing flavors and a terrific brew.

Pure Project Brewing

2 World Class Beer
1 Exceptional Beers
Total Score: 287

Highest-scoring beers:
Corylus – Rated 97
Rain – Rated 96
Tropical Mist – Rated 94

Pure Project Brewing in San Diego, California is tied for the first runner-up spot for Brewery of the Year in 2024. Pure Project was originally conceived in 2013 in Costa Rica, but the founders opted to open the brewery in Miramar after a space opened up with a prebuilt brewing system. Thank goodness they did, as, fast-forward over 10 years, and the brewery submitted some of 2024’s best beers.

Pure Project delivered an intriguing array of styles to our Official Review in 2024, but the company’s highest-scoring brew was Corylus, a rotating, limited release Specialty Wood-Aged Beer (in this case, a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout) that is highly sought after by Pure Project’s fans as well as barrel-aged beer aficionados on the West Coast – and throughout the U.S. This year, Corylus featured three terrific adjuncts: organic toasted hazelnuts, organic Peruvian cacao and organic Brazilian coffee in their base imperial stout and aged the beer for a whopping 15 months in Cutwater bourbon barrels. According to the brewery, “elements of each ingredient come together beautifully to create a delicious experience for the senses. Expect to be greeted with aromas of cinnamon sugar cookies, bourbon and vanilla wafer that give way to decadent flavors of dark chocolate fudge, hazelnut gelato, and inky espresso on the tongue.”

The brewery’s second highest-scoring beer was Rain, a simply titled German pilsner that is far from simple. Rather, it is a near-flawless representation of a beer style that experienced massive growth in 2024, both particularly and at large: pilsners did well in the year that was and lagers in general had a banner year over the past 365 days. Rain, in particular, is an awesome modern example of a classic German style, and our judge said it “brought back many memories” of his travels to Germany while he imbibed it. High praise indeed!

Last, but far from least, from Pure Project was Tropical Mist, an intriguing fruit beer brewed with crushed organic Valencia oranges. Fruit beers are not the most common among craft beer tap lists these days, so it’s refreshing to see one rank as one of the highest-scoring beers of the year from one 2024’s best breweries.

Specialty Wood-Aged Beer
Pure Project’s top-scoring brew was a luxurious bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout made with organic toasted hazelnuts, organic Peruvian cacao and organic Brazilian coffee.

German Pils
From an ultra-complex and high-ABV imperial stout to a clean, simple and eminently refreshing German pilsner – showcasing Pure Project’s tremendous range.

Fruit Beer
This Valencia orange-infused fruit beer would serve as the perfect accompaniment to a lovely breakfast as part of a spritzy beermosa.

Kloster Andechs

Bergstr. 2
Andechs, Germany 82346

Tel.: 08152 376-252
www.andechs.de/en/monastery-brewery

Congratulations to Kloster Andechs in Andechs, Germany for being named The Beer Connoisseur’s Brewery of the Year in 2024!

2024 was one of the best years ever for our Official Review. A staggering 14 beers achieved scores of 96 or above in 2024, which tied the record for most ever in a calendar year. That means our Brewery of the Year had to produce multiple beers that achieved World Scores of 96 or above, and monastery brewery Kloster Andechs certainly achieved that with three beers featuring scores of 98, 97 and 96, respectively. Andechs is the first European brewery to ever achieve our vaunted Brewery of the Year title, and the first abbey brewery ever featured among our top three breweries of the year. While craft beer’s quality is astounding the craftsmanship achieved by European Trappist breweries remains the gold standard among brewing traditions.

The brewing traditions of the Andechs region can be traced all the way back to the 12th century, when pilgrims came to the Holy Mountain of Andechs and were served food and ale. Kloster Andechs, which is located on the grounds of the Andechs Monastery in Andechs, Germany, is home to Benedictine monks, who have been serving incredible Trappist beers since 1455. “Here in Bavaria, beer is not merely an indulgence, it is food. It is made from grain, yeast and water, just like bread.” These words from Andechs Benedictine monk Willibald Mathäser (1901-1985) perfectly conveys the importance of beer to Kloster Andechs and its Benedectine inhabitants – as well as the extreme care and focus that the monks provide to Andechs’ beer brewing processes.

The Kloster Andechs monastery brewery has been combining Benedictine brewing tradition with the latest brewing technology since its founding in 1455, and the brewery’s traditional brewing techniques are far more time-consuming than conventional brewing methods. However, that focus on quality over turnaround defines the brewing team’s philosophy, which is in keeping with the concept of all of the monastery’s enterprises: “Our tradition is being progressive, and we owe our progress to a long tradition.” While the brewery has grown to become Kloster Andechs’ leading enterprise over the centuries, the abbey formerly has expanded upon its monastery operations over the years and, at one point, those services included a pharmacy, locksmith, blacksmith, engineering offices, fishery, tavern operation and a bakery.

But it’s the beer that everyone keeps coming back for, as well as the pristine environs that surround it, including the Kloster Andechs monastery itself, which is a stunningly ornate baroque monastery with a sparkling golden interior and an instantly recognizable exterior – and it has to be, as Kloster Andechs is home to a pilgrimage that dates back to the 12th century, making it Bavaria’s oldest pilgrimage. Seeing as the United States is only approaching 250 years old as a country, there’s something truly powerful about thinking about holy pilgrims visiting Kloster Andechs in the 1100s and being served the same beer – or something close to it, at least – as the beers that scored highly in our Official Review in the year 2024. That’s approaching one millennium (1000 years!) later. Beer is truly the world’s beverage.

Being able to sample incredibly well-brewed beers made with extreme care by Benedictine monks on a mountainside in Bavaria from the comfort of your own home is truly a miracle, and we thank Kloster Andechs for their contributions to our Official Review this year and to brewing in general. Prost!

Kloster Andechs

3 World Class Beers
Total Score: 291

Highest-scoring beers:
Andechser Weissbier Dunkel – Rated 98
Andechser Doppelbock Dunkel – Rated 97
Andechser Weissbier Hell – Rated 96

Kloster Andechs delivered three astounding beers in 2024, two of which fall under the “wheat beer” moniker, though they’re far from the Americanized versions that have long filled up store shelves (such as Blue Moon or Boulevard’s Unfiltered Wheat). The third was a top-tier Doppelbock that just so happens to be the highest-scoring Doppelbock we’ve ever reviewed in our history.

The brewery’s top-scoring beer was Andechser Weissber Dunkel, which is a Dunkles Weissbier – something of a rare style in the U.S. as it combines the wheatiness of an American Wheat Beer or Hefeweizen with the dark malts of a darker beer, such as a Porter or Schwarzbier. This rather unusual combination was brewed to perfection by the Benedictine monks of Kloster Andechs, as our judge was absolutely floored by the harmonious interplay between fruit aromas from the wheat (ripe banana and pineapple) and caramel and cocoa tones from the malts employed in the background. “Overall,” our judge, John C. Tull said, “this is an outstanding example of a Dunkles Weissbier that is very true to the classic expression of the style.”

The second highest-scoring beer of 2024 from Andechs was Andechser Doppelbock Dunkel. Doppelbock is an iconic style that is certainly synonymous with abbey brewing methods, as this beer style was actually invented by monks in the 17th century to serve as a bread replacement during Lenten fasts. As such, Kloster Andechs producing a nearly flawless representation of the style makes perfect sense, since the monks at Andechs monastery have been producing beer since the 12th century. For the brewery’s Doppelbock Dunkel, expect an unmistakable taste that’s “full-bodied, velvety and strong but with a pleasant malt aroma that’s powerful and lusty,” according to the brewery.

The final top-scoring beer from Kloster Andechs was an intriguing and effervescent Weissbier (aka Hefeweizen) called Andechser Weissbier Hell. Evincing the style’s standard bouquet of bananas, cloves and light bubblegum, the beer’s flavors followed suit, and our judge adored this refreshing, zippy drink that invites multiple bottles in a single sitting, though it was perhaps the beer’s aroma that impressed him the most: “A wonderful expression of yeast and wheat malt aromas emanate from this beer. A classic balance of banana and clove esters and phenols, respectively, is evident with a touch of black pepper in the deep background.”

Dunkles Weissbier
A dark wheat beer with ample complexity, tremendous balance and luscious flavors, this incredible brew was one of the best of the 2024.

Doppelbock
A style invented by monks in the 17th century was brewed to perfection by the Benedictine monks at Kloster Andechs.

Hefeweizen / Weissbier
A refreshing, spritzy German wheat beer with delectable banana and clove aromas and flavors with light black pepper underneath.