January brought a plethora of fantastic beers—from bottle shares, to a Charleston trip, to a Southern California trip visiting some of the top breweries in the country, there was no shortage of delicious brews. In no particular order, here are the best beers I had in January 2022:

Everything at Monkish Brewing in Torrance and Anaheim, CA

Is this cheating? Yes. Too bad. Everything Monkish brews is incredibly delicious and I was so thrilled to have the opportunity to visit both of their taprooms on my SoCal trip! I had the following beers and I would recommend them all:

Conscience Be Free: Double Dry Hopped Double IPA with Galaxy, Nelson Sauvin, and Simcoe
Foggier Window: Double Dry Hopped Double IPA with Citra, Nelson Sauvin, and Galaxy
Sticky Traffic: Double Dry Hopped Double IPA with Nelson Sauvin, Citra, Mosaic, and Galaxy
Biggie Biggie Biggie: Triple IPA with Galaxy and El Dorado
One Tree: Triple IPA with Strata and Idaho 7
M 9.5: Saison aged in oak barrels for 18 months and conditioned on spent Blenheim apricots

Nelson!!! (It’s What We Like Here!) at Green Cheek Beer Co. in Costa Mesa, CA

Nelson!!! (It’s What We Like Here!) is a West Coast IPA with hand selected—you guessed it—Nelson Sauvin hops from Freestyle Farm in New Zealand. I generally always choose a Hazy IPA over a West Coast IPA but I decided to branch out while on the West Coast because that’s where they are done best. This was easily the best West Coast IPA I’ve ever had. Shout out to Green Cheek for truly crushing the game.

Luxurious Luxury Volume 10 Collab from The Veil Brewing in Richmond, VA and Evil Twin BRewing in New York, NY

Luxurious Luxury Volume 10 is a Pastry Sour with blackberry, pear, marshmallow and vanilla salt. This latest installment in The Veil and Evil Twin’s collaboration series was absolutely epic. The flavors were exploding and I thoroughly enjoyed every sip.

Double Lightning at Resident Culture Brewing Company in Charlotte, NC

Double Lightning is a Hazy Double IPA with Citra, Mosaic and Galaxy hops. This is the double version of their Flagship Beer, Lightning Drops. I was incredibly impressed with the quality of Double Lightning and look forward to hopefully seeing more of it released.

Study Break, Intrepid Orchid (2022), and Memory Systems at Bottle Logic Brewing in Anaheim, CA

Bottle Logic crushes the Stout game so I of course ordered each one they had on the menu when I visited and they were all delicious!

Study Break: Imperial Stout with lactose, caramel malts, cacao nibs and peanuts
Intrepid Orchid 2022: Bourbon Barrel-Aged English Style Vanilla Barleywine with Madagascar vanilla
Memory Systems 2022: Bourbon Barrel Aged Cinnamon Bun Stout—Imperial Stout aged in a braid of Old Fitzgerald, Heaven Hill, and Elijah Craig barrels and conditioned with a four-day marshmallow steep and a recirculation through Madagascar vanilla beans, Vietnamese cinnamon, and cassia bark

Tomorrow Today from Sante Adairius Rustic Ales in Capitola, CA and La Ruche from Side Project Brewing in St. Louis, MO

Tomorrow Today is a West Coast IPA with Simcoe, Citra, and Mosaic hops. Sante Adairius has long been on my list of breweries I’d love to try so I was absolutely stoked to get to taste some of the draft beer while in SoCal.

La Ruche is a Saison fermented using a blend of local microflora and a traditional Saison yeast. Orange Blossom honey was added for refermentation in a Missouri Oak Foedre and then it was aged to maturity before being naturally conditioned in the bottle. Side Project is always a top-notch brewery and this beer was exceptional.

I enjoyed both of these at Windsor Homebrew Supply in Anaheim. They have a killer tap list and bottle/can selection alongside their homebrew supplies.

Eternal Forever at Pure Brewing in San Diego, CA

Eternal Forever is a blend of Single and Double Bourbon Barrel-Aged Stouts with Cacao & Wild Thai Banana. Pure released this in celebration of their 6th Anniversary and I luckily was in town for the release. I actually had this beer twice while I was in San Diego, at Pure Balboa Park and at Pure Carlsbad, because it was just so good. The banana flavor was epic.

Fros’e Sour Blackberry Puff at Kings Brewing Company in Rancho Cucamonga, CA

Pictured left, this is a Fros'e with blackberry, blueberry, cherry, grape, double vanilla & double marshmallow. Kings is best known for their thiccc Fruited Sours and this brew was the best of the three I had on tap. The fruit combination was fantastic!

Rosé de Gambrinus from Cantillon in Brussels, Belgium

This is a blend of Lambics and raspberries from the famed Cantillon in Belgium. Every brew they create is great and this was a light, fruity, and tart sipper.

Pliny The Elder from Russian River Brewing Company in Russian River, CA

Pliny the Elder is a Double West Coast IPA with Amarillo, Centennial, CTZ, and Simcoe hops. This is probably the best known West Coast IPA in the country and deemed a classic. I’ve had Pliny several times before but I couldn’t pass up the chance to have it on draft on the West Coast at Mostra Coffee’s 4s location. It is always delightful—clean, crisp, and delicious.

Check back next month to see what my top beers of February will be! CHeers —ALexis

CLIMB THE BALLMER PEAK FROM TRILLIUM BREWING IN BOston, MA and Equilibrium Brewery in MIDDLETOWN, NY

The second batch of this Triple IPA loaded with hand selected Citra hops. I love a good collab and EQ teaming up with Trillium was bound to be amazing! I brought this one up Stone Mountain, and although it wasn’t the Ballmer Peak it was a great peak to enjoy such a delicious beer. Check out all my favorite hikes near Charlotte here!

Even More Gummy Saurus from Evil Twin Brewing in New York, New York and Tripping Animals Brewing in Doral, FL

Even More Gummy Saurus is a Fruited Sour with coconut and marshmallow. I did not have high expectations for this beer because I am not a huge coconut fan and I generally like my Fruited Sours to be berry focused, but this one was stellar. Best paired with college basketball watching.

Marvoloso V7 from Commonwealth Brewing Company in Virginia Beach, VA

Wow. This one was an Imperial Chocolate Stout aged on Basil Hayden’s Bourbon and Woodford Reserve Rye barrels and conditioned on marshmallow, coconut, walnuts, cocoa nibs, Tahitian vanilla beans, and Ghirardelli dark chocolate. I enjoyed this adjunct-packed Stout at Carolina Beer Temple, we were lucky enough to visit when they were doing a Commonwealth tap takeover! Their outside patio area is great, I definitely recommend checking them out!

Hommage Bio Frambozen from Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen in Brussels, Belgium

Lambic Life! This is the Season 17|18 Blend Number 60 version Lambic with raspberries, cherries, and local honey. There is nothing that makes you feel quite as boojie as a Lambic basket. This was a special treat for my birthday from a good friend that we enjoyed at The Whale Beer Bar in Asheville. They’ve always got a killer tap list and can/bottle list as well!

Dessert Cart from Mountains Walking Brewery in Bozeman, MT and The Whale Beer Bar in Asheville, NC

Dessert Cart is a Pastry Stout brewed for The Whale's 3rd Anniversary using Mountains Walking’s thick and decadent Pastry Stout base conditioned on toasted coconut, toasted pecans, cocoa nibs and Tahitian vanilla bean. Creamy, thicc, flavorful, and delicious! We enjoyed this can at Salud Beer Shop, one of my favorite spots in Charlotte.

Second Hand Shanty from Vitamin Sea Brewing in Weymouth, MA and Resident Culture Brewing in Charlotte, NC

This is a Triple IPA Double Dry-Hopped with Mosaic, Strata and Michigan Copper. Vitamin Sea and Resident Culture both crush it in the IPA game so it was no surprise that this collaboration was great. I personally preferred Vitamin Sea’s version, but both were absolutely fantastic!

January 2022