The 45 Best Beers of the Year, According to Brewers and Beer Geeks

By Niko Krommydas

With over 7,500 breweries in America and many others around the world, a large majority of which place a premium value on providing consumers with a variety of new offerings each year, attempting to create a compendium of the best beers of 2019 is an impossible task.

That’s not to say we didn’t encounter plenty of top-tier beers, including everything from lagers fit for the fall and revolutionary IPAs. But it all amounts to a tiny fraction of the fluid ounces released over the past 12 months by breweries in all 50 states. So we sought the help of 45 respected beer pros around the globe, asking each to share their favorite new brew of the year, with the only requirement being they select something outside of what they produced or were involved in producing.

Oxbow Pils & Love

ABV: 4.5%
From: Portland, ME

“This has to be the largest collaboration of all time. Approximately 40 of the breweries participating in this year’s Pils & Love festival, hosted at Oxbow in July, came together to create a stellar pilsner with floral aroma hops, light bittering, and a dry clean, malt profile. One of the many reasons I love the Pils & Love fest is because it’s a gathering of like-minded brewers and customers. No gimmicks, just world-class pilsners, swimming at a lighthouse, and an amazing international beer community who are averse to pretzel necklaces. Oxbow always kills it and this is one of my favorite beer festivals, that fortunately happens to be in my backyard.” — Shahin Khojastehzad, co-owner of Novare Res Bier Cafe

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