The 25 Best Beers from America's 25 Best Breweries

It hasn't yet been a year since we dealt with Hurricane Sandy, but Jimmy Carbone, owner of Jimmy's No. 43 and host of Beer Sessions Radio on Heritage Radio remembers it as one of the few times he found himself in a grocery store looking for bottles of beer. He was well-acquainted with fancy bottle shops that have plenty of craft beers to choose from, but grocery stores are ordinarily hit or miss with their beer selections. That said, even in the aisles of his neighborhood supermarket, he was able to find some unexpectedly great beers from breweries across the country.

His experience inspired us to come up with the list of the best beers from American's best breweries. Because it can be intimidating entering a store and trying to find a good beer—even when the selection is vast. But it can also be a challenge to pick a good beer out of a small selection.

We've looked at the 25 best breweries around the country and chosen the best beers you can get from each. If you can find one or two of these beers, you're off to a great start. We highly recommend trying any (and preferably all) of these 25 Best Beers from the 25 Best Breweries.

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Where: Seattle
Type: Belgian Ale
ABV: 7%
Available: Limited
Website: elysianbrewing.com

Hailing from Seattle, Washington, Elysian was inspired by fine craft beer from the very beginning. That's likely why they keep trying to improve on already great styles, in this case, the saison. Traditionally a spiced ale, this selection comes with a lot of added spice from the addition of peppercorn. While you'll note the spice in both the aroma and the flavor, it's not too overpowering, allowing the mild citrus of the ale to come through as well.

Where: Rehoboth Beach, Del.
Type: American India Pale Ale
ABV: 9%
Available: Year-round
Website: dogfish.com

Located in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Dogfish Head is another brewery known for taking big risks with beer. But they're definitely paying the bills with their amazing core beers. Almost everyone has heard of the 60 Minute IPA and the 90 Minute takes that brew to another level. The citrus of the hops combines with a well-blended raisin flavor. This is a big beer (it's 9 percent alcohol by volume) so it's good to sip this one slowly—we promise you'll like it.

Where: Papillion, Neb.
Type: Belgian Strong Pale Ale
ABV: 10%
Available: Special release
Website: nebraskabrewingco.com

While many probably wouldn't think that a brewery located in a quiet midwestern state like Nebraska would make remarkable beer, the Nebraska Brewing Company proves those people very wrong. They've been innovating with beers like their Hop God and they've also used their reserve series to explore some more unique styles. The Melange a Trois is a Belgian strong ale that's been aged in French oak Chardonnay barrels, lending a nice, dry character to the sweet ale.

Where: Denver
Type: American India Pale Ale
ABV: 6.2%
Available: Year-round
Website: breckbrew.com

Even though the brewery is named for a different part of Colorado, this brewery is centered in Denver. They've managed to craft a very well-balanced and, as they describe it, "even-keeled" brew with their Lucky U IPA. While hoppy like a traditional American IPA, this selection is also pretty light in body and low in alcohol, making it as enjoyable as a streak of good luck.

Where: Fort Collins, Colo.
Type: Belgian Dark Ale style beer
ABV: 5.6%
Available: Year-round
Website: newbelgium.com

Sure, it's a dark ale but it's a lighter bodied brew than you'd expect. The flavor features dark roasted malt but the smooth mouthfeel makes this an easy beer to drink. It's also nearly sessionable with just a 5.6 percent alcohol by volume. The recipe comes from a rather ancient Belgian manuscript that the Colorado brewery found through a researcher. The team even traveled to Europe to retrieve it so this is as authentic as they come.

Where: Placentia, Calif.
Type: Begian-style Golden Ale
ABV: 8%
Available: Summer seasonal
Website: thebruery.com

Another California brewery, The Bruery is known for their eclectic but accessible beers. The brewers make a wide variety of really great beers and certainly any of them are worth a taste. But, the best by far is their summer seasonal, Tradewinds Tripel. The style of beer originated in Belgium and typically refers to a strong pale ale, often made with candi sugar. To make this brew a little more drinkable, the Bruery uses rice instead and adds Thai basil for a bit of spice. The result is a light bodied ale with a bite of basil.

Where: San Diego
Type: India Pale Ale
ABV: 7%
Available: Year-round
Website: ballastpoint.com

The San Diego, California brewery has been crafting delicious ales since 1996 and Sculpin IPA is definitely among the ranks of their best beers. In fact, in our opinion, Sculpin is still probably their best option. It even won a gold medal at the World Beer Cup, an international beer festival, in 2010. And it certainly deserved it. The tropical fruit aromas translate right into the flavor and feature a light body and crispness that makes this a good beer to pick up on a summer afternoon.

Where: Portland, Maine
Type: Assorted
ABV: 5.70-8.10%
Available: Rotating
Website: allagash.com

The Coolship series includes four very unique beers each brewed in an unusual brewing device called a "coolship." The Portland, Maine-based Allagash Brewing uses this large open-air pan to cool beer after it has gone through a boil. It's pumped into the cool ship and allowed to cool in the air overnight. In this process, naturally occurring yeasts are introduced to the beer and might cause a natural fermentation and that can result in some outstanding flavors. For instance, the red has a bit of a sour raspberry flavor that comes about through that fermentation.

Where: Grand Rapids, Mich.
Type: Wet-Hopped Ale
ABV: 7.6%
Available: October
Website: foundersbrewing.com

This citrusy beer will be available again in October. Founders Brewing, a Michigan-based brewery, tends to make very aggressive brews. Surprisingly Harvest Ale is one of their more accessible options. An IPA, the beer is fresh hopped and full of orange and lemon flavors. It fits well with the harvest season—offering a little taste of fruit and mild toasty malt.

Where: Tampa, Fla.
Type: Nothern English-style Brown Ale
ABV: 5.5%
Available: Year-round
Website: cigarcitybrewing.com

From a Tampa, Florida brewery that has made a name for itself with extreme and experimental beers (like their Humidor series, which often employs white cedar to infuse a cigar-like character into each brew), comes this solid and balanced brown ale. An English-style brown ale with American sensibilities, the Maduro features notes of caramel, espresso, and chocolate in a smooth but sessionable concoction.

Where: Portsmouth, NH
Type: American Brown Ale
ABV: 6.7%
Available: Year-round
Website: smuttynose.com

The retro photo of the brown dog on the label isn't the only thing that will appeal to you about this beer from Portsmouth, New Hampshire's Smuttynose Brewing. The recipe for Old Brown Dog has been around since the late '80s and has only been getting better with time. The dark amber ale has a roasted malt aroma, along with some bitter chocolate flavors and even a hint of grass and earth. At its age, it's pretty well-rounded.

Where: Harrisburg, Pa.
Type: India Pale Ale
ABV: 7.5%
Available: Year-round
Website: troegs.com

It's almost like the guys at Troegs Brewing in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania engineered this brew rather than brewing it. Seven styles of hops are featured in the IPA through the brewing process, the hop back process (which runs the brewed beer through fresh hops) and the dry hopping process (the addition of even more fresh hops to the fermenting beer).

Where: Downington, Pa.
Type: German Pilsener
ABV: 4.7-5.4%
Available: Year-round, at select locations
Website: victorybeer.com

Victory Brewing has a history with German-style beers. Ron Barchet, one of the Downingtown, Pennsylvania brewery's co-founders, actually learned what he needed to know about beer while studying at the Technical University of Munich. That education has found its way into this refreshing and strictly German-style Pilsner. Of course, it has a small injection of American-style beer as well, getting a good dose of hops.

Where: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Type: Smoked Beer
ABV: 3.8%
Available: Year-round
Website: sixpoint.com

Yes, we're dealing with more than one beer here. While many Sixpoint beers are brewed in a Pennsylvania brewery, some special, hand-crafted and limited-release beers are made in the Red Hook, Brooklyn brewery and come from the creative minds of the Sixpoint brewers. A recent creation from this crew is their take on a Grätzer, an old German style beer that's light in color but smoked for a borderline bacon flavor. It sounds weird, but the brew Sixpoint created is nicely balanced and low in alcohol at that.

Where: Denver
Type: Imperial Stouts
ABV: 9.5%
Available: Year-round
Website: greatdivide.com

Denver's Great Divide delivers as big a beer as the name implies. Roasted malt, chocolate, plum and other dark fruits all play a big part in the flavors of this brew. It also has a few friends. The barrel-aged Yeti derivatives include an oak-aged Yeti, a whiskey barrel-aged Yeti and an Oatmeal Yeti. Each and everyone of these is full-flavored and high in alcohol—which means it's good for aging. Of course, if you can't wait, it's good right away too.

Where: Warrenville, Ill.
Type: Rye Beer
ABV: 7%
Available: Year-round
Website: twobrosbrew.com

Sweet and bitter in a very unique way—you might be able to guess that from the name, in fact. This Warrenville, Illinois brewery has devised something very out of the ordinary. The beer comes with a big hop aroma but don't let that trick you—this beer has a lot of vanilla and fruit flavor thanks to an addition of 35 pounds of Thai palm sugar to each and every batch. That doesn't translate to overly sweet beer but a complex combination of flavors and aromas that will definitely satisfy.

Where: Patchogue, N.Y.
Type: Rye Beer
ABV: 7.5%
Available: Year-round
Website: bluepointbrewing.com

This Island-inspired brew brings together west coast hops and rye malts at the hands of the talented Blue Point brewers in Patchogue, New York. The partnership of these ingredients results in a floral and spicy brew that complements the rye flavors really well. In addition, this copper ale has won several awards, including a silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival, which reinforces the fact that this is a great beer—and a good one to look for.

Where: Cooperstown, N.Y.
Type: Blonde Ale
ABV: 6.5%
Available: Limited Release
Website: ommegang.com

This might be one of the pioneer beers when it comes to TV marketing. Cooperstown, New York-based Ommegang brewery partnered with HBO and their award-winning show Game of Thrones to create this Belgian blonde ale. Inspired by the show and its almost medieval style, this is an accessible but still complex beer that can introduce an entirely new audience to craft beer. It also pairs nicely with the politics of King's Landing. GoT fans, you feel us.

Where: Boston
Type: White IPA
ABV: 6.2%
Available: Limited Release: 6-packs only
Website: harpoonbrewery.com

The White IPA is a fairly new style making waves throughout the country. Boston's Harpoon Brewery caught on to this style pretty early and adopted it as their own for their 100 barrel series, a line of limited release brews. For Harpoon, this is the combination of two styles: Belgian Wit and an American IPA. From the Belgian wit side, you get a bit of orange zest and coriander. Meanwhile, the hoppiness of the American IPA give that citrus zing even more emphasis. The beer has been met with such buzz that it's become a regular part of the brewery's lineup.

Where: Athens, Ga.
Type: Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout
ABV: 8.1%
Available: Winter
Website: terrapinbeer.com

It sounds like a mouthful—a coffee oatmeal imperial stout. But the Athens, Georgia brewery takes this combination and turns it into a smooth but flavorful brew. The coffee comes from all over: Costa Rica, Guatemala and even Zimbabwe. Keep in mind, this is a winter beer, so keep an eye out for it in the upcoming cooler months. It's also very high in alcohol (at 8.1 percent alcohol by volume) so you might consider aging it to let the brew mellow a bit.

Where: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Type: American Pale Wheat Ale
ABV: 5.5%
Available: Year-round, New York
Website: brooklynbrewery.com

New York City's own Brooklyn Brewery is growing like gangbusters. While they've stayed in their home in Brooklyn, they're continuing to expand, even opening a brewery in Stockholm, Sweden. But they haven't forgotten about the place that made them what they are. That inspiration is likely what led them to this creative use of farmers' market ingredients. The tangy wheat brew shows how versatile the brewery in Brooklyn really is.

Where: San Diego
Type: Belgian-Style Pale Ale
ABV: 7%
Available: Year-round
Website: greenflashbrew.com

This San Diego brewery began with a solid dedication to hoppy, American-style ales. But over the years, they've adopted Belgian styles as well and made them their own. The Rayon Vert is an excellent example of this. A Belgian-style pale ale, this brew features a combination of traditional malts and the classic Green Flash hoppy character. It's a perfect way to give the west coast a little Belgian flavor.

Where: Lagunitas, Calif.
Type: Wheat Ale/Dry-Hopped Ale
ABV: 7.5% & 8%
Available: Year-round
Website: lagunitas.com

Okay—this one's a bit of a tie. Since California's Lagunitas has one of the most recognizable west coast IPAs, it's a no-brainer that we'd pick two of their other unique and delicious hoppy brews. The Lil' Sumpin' Sumpin' is a silky, smooth wheat ale with a generous injection of hops. Then you've go the Hop Stoopid, which is a big, dry-hopped ale that has all the citrusy flavor you'd expect with a nice dose of bitter dark chocolate on the finish. Both are so good we couldn't bear to choose between the two.

Where: Chico, Calif.
Type: India Pale Ale
ABV: 7.2%
Available: Year-round
Website: sierranevada.com

This is a brewery that has the art of the pale ale down and their Torpedo really takes that craft to another level. It's also a bit of an experimental brew for the Chico, California brewery as well. The brewery put their "Hop Torpedo" to work, a device that dry hops, adding just the right aroma and bitterness. So, you don't end up with an overly bitter beer. Instead, you have a perfect combination and only about 7.2 percent alcohol by volume—so it's a bit high in booze, but it doesn't take away from the greatness of this brew.