February and March 2025

February and March were jam-packed months for me with the height of college basketball season, Queen City Brewers Festival, Brewsology, 3 bottle shares, and trips to Puerto Rico, Greer, and Wilmington for Feast! Over the course of all of those adventures I tried 189 beers in February and March, and here were the best of the best:

Lunar Handshake from Lesser-Known Beer Co in Winston-Salem, NC

Lunar Handshake is a Czech-inspired Dark Lager open fermented and conditioned for five weeks. A visit to Lesser-Known is always full of stellar beers, and Lunar Handshake certainly blew me away.

Yodel: Riwaka; Primordia 3; Signet: Gin from Freak Folk Bier in Waterbury, VT

In January’s top beers post I said I couldn’t wait to see what came next in Freak Folk’s new single hop Yodel series, and the next version absolutely lived up to the hype! Yodel: Riwaka is a double dry-hopped double IPA with all Riwaka hops. Primordia 3 is an ale fermented in oak puncheons with mixed culture that was brewed in January 2021. Signet: Gin is a mixed culture bier aged for 18 months in Tom Cat gin barrels and conditioned on marigolds. Freak Folk continues to absolutely crush it!

Bring the Ruckley (2024) from Transient Artisan Ales in Bridgman, MI

Bring the Ruckley is an Imperial Stout aged in Eastern Kille Rye Whiskey barrels with vanilla, Tugboat coffee and Michigan maple syrup. Transient is a fantastic brewery for Stout lovers and continues to impress.

Abiding Cycles from Sante Adairius Rustic Ales in Capitola, CA

Abiding Cycles is a barrel aged Saison with fresh pressed pear juice. If you’ve been around here for a while you know I love a pear Saison, so it was no surprise that this SARA brew was absolutely phenomenal!

Nelson Sauvin Cutting Tiles from Trillium Brewing Company in Boston, MA

The Cutting Tiles series from Trillium has definitely made my top beer lists before, and when Pop The Top had this new Nelson Sauvin version on tap I knew I needed to try it! This is a Double IPA with raw wildflower honey.

Brew 6000 (2022) from Fremont Brewing in Seattle, WA

Brew 6000 is an English-Style Barleywine Ale aged in Bourbon Barrels. Fremont used to be all the hype in the dark beer game, but you haven’t heard much excitement around them as of late. Brew 6000 was a good reminder of just how fantastic their beers can be.

Amburana and Vanilla Bourbon Barrel Temple of Minerva from Jackie O’s Brewery in Athens, OH

This brew is an Imperial Stout aged for 20 months in bourbon barrels and conditioned on Amburana wood and vanilla beans. I wasn’t quite sure what to make out of a beer with Amburana wood but of course Jackie O’s created another banger. This was a remarkable brew and I can’t wait to try my coconut version of it!

Ammo Can: Double Coconut and February Drill Double Barrel Maple Leaf 2025 from Forgotten Road Ales in Graham, NC

Ammo Can: Double Coconut is an Imperial Stout loaded with delicious coconut. February Drill Down Barrel Maple Leaf 2025 is a Barleywine-style Ale aged 25 months in 15 year old bourbon barrels then aged and additional 4 months in American single malt barrels with maple syrup, vanilla and cinnamon. I enjoyed both of these delicious beers at the Brewsology festival and look forward to my next visit up to FRA!

Triple Rose from Fidens Brewing Company in Albany, NY

Triple Rose is a Triple IPA with Citra and Galaxy hops. A delicious Fidens Triple? Color me shocked.

Check back next month to see my top beers of April! Cheers —Alexis

February 2023

February flew by in a breeze but I somehow tried 152 different beers in this quick month. Bottle shares and beer flights always mean getting to try a wider variety of beers which I love! This list of beers has the best of the best that I had over the past 4 weeks which I rated a 4.5 or above on Untappd.

This month included a trip to Savannah and the Jacksonville Beach, Florida area to hang at the beach and explore the local brew scene as well as the local beer fest Queen City Brewers Festival, a bottle share, a Superbowl share, many visits to local breweries and lots of great beers at home in between.

In no particular order, here are the best beers I had in February 2023:

Even More Daily Servings from Trillium Brewing in Boston, MA and Evil Twin Brewing in New York, NY

Even More Daily Servings is a Fruited Sour with raspberries and marshmallow. This is an amped up version of Twice the Daily Serving which is already my favorite Sour, so add more fruit and marshmallow and it can only get better! Another superb collaboration from Trillium and Evil Twin.

Paulus from Schilling Beer Company in Littleton, NH

Paulus is a Helles Lager with Noble hops. Schilling crushes the Lager game and I am so excited to be seeing more of their beers around North Carolina. I enjoyed this at Salud Beer Shop in Charlotte, in a big ole dimple mug as it should be done.

Medium Raw from Root and Branch Brewing in Copiague, NY

Medium Raw is a multi-oat/wheat Triple IPA with Citra and Freestyle Motueka hops. This was a fantastic brew from Root and Branch. Especially for it being a Triple IPA this was way too easy to drink and I wish I had more cans of it!

Searching For The Proof That We’ve Truly Lived from Percent Tap House in Harrisburg, NC and Forgotten Road Ales in Graham, NC

This is a wine barrel aged Farmhouse Saison with pairs, honey and locally grown Green Szechuan. It is pictured right in the photo above. These two breweries tend to be a little quieter in the North Carolina brew scene but are always cranking out delicious beers! This was a very interesting collaboration with superb flavor.

Flora (Batch 10) from Hill Farmstead Brewing in Greensboro Bend, VT

Flora is the wine barrel aged version of Florence, a wheat Farmstead Ale. This was barrel aged for over two years. Hill Farmstead continues to crush this style of beer.

Double Barrel Coconut Fionn from Angry Chair Brewing in Tampa, FL

Double Barrel Coconut Fionn is a rum and bourbon barrel aged Imperial Porter with hazelnut coffee and coconut. While in Florida a dark beer from Angry Chair is always a must. I enjoyed this one at 9 Zero Pour in Jacksonville, FL. The rich notes of coconut were fantastic!

Infiltrator from Root and Branch Brewing in Copiague, NY

Infiltrator is a multi-oat/wheat IPA brewed and dry hopped with New Zealand grown hops from Freestyle Hops. Normally it is difficult for a single IPA to be overly impressive when you can pack so much more flavor into a Double or Triple IPA, but Infiltrator is a top-notch beer. I’ve had this beer in the past and am always impressed by just how incredible it is!

Genealogy of Morals: Buena Vista Organic from Hill Farmstead Brewing in Greensboro Bend, VT

From Hill Farmstead: “We have chosen three barrels as the base for this single country origin coffee and cacao nib variation. After aging more than 26 months in select bourbon barrels, we conditioned the beer atop organic Buena Vista beans from Caranavi, Bolivia, sourced and roasted by our friends at The Coffee Collective in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as organic Bolivian cacao nibs.”

Check back next month to see my top beers of March! Cheers—Alexis