The 11 Best Breweries of 2024

Every year, we think this list will get harder and harder to make. But then we get off our butts to drink at incredible beer festivals, visit taprooms around the world, and drink beers new to us. And we listen to what our fans are drinking and where our friends in the industry are enjoying spending time at the most. Eventually, when November comes around, and we start putting together this list, we realize we have way more places than we can count that we want to shout out. But somehow, we manage to whittle it down.

In 2024, the breweries below had us laughing, crying (tears of joy), and dropping our jaws to the floor, from a highly rated nomadic brewery in Finland to an unforgettable emporium in Quebec, Canada, to a grain-forward gem in Napa, CA.

Before you get to the main event, don’t forget to sneak a peek at our “Best New Breweries of 2024” and “Best Hidden Gem Places to Drink in 2024.”

As with past years, we called on folks across the Next Glass team from different backgrounds and geographies to get a representative list. Together, we shared what we saw as the best breweries of the year.

To that end, we’ve presented the best craft breweries in no particular order except for Métier Brewing and Brown Girl’s Brew, which we proudly named the best breweries in 2024.

Of course, any “best” list is open to interpretation, so take these picks with a grain of salt. If you passionately feel that we missed one, slide into our DMs (@hopculturemag) and let us know.

Without further ado, Here are our picks for the best breweries of 2024.

The Best Breweries of 2024

Métier Brewing

Seattle, WA
Submitted by: Grace Lee-Weitz, Senior Content Editor, Hop Culture

Two years ago, at the Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival, I struck up a conversation with Erin, who runs sales and distribution for Métier Brewing. She told me about the incredible community the Black-owned brewery fostered in Seattle. I put a pin in the back of my head, noting if I ever traveled to the Pacific Northwest, Métier would be at the top of my list.

Which is how I found myself sipping through a flight with Métier Brewing CEO and Co-Founder Rodney Hines, who got into homebrewing because “I couldn’t afford all the good beer that I wanted to drink.”

While working as the director of U.S. social impact and eventually city strategy at Starbucks, Hines says he started to wonder “How do you create inviting, welcoming spaces for everyone in the community? And how do you do that specifically in the Black and Brown communities?”

For the last six years and now spanning three locations, Métier Brewing Company (MBC) has stood for “My Beloved Community,” says Hines, pointing out that of the people sitting in the taproom while we chatted, many were either women or People of Color. “I don’t know how often you walk into a brewery and see that.”

For Hines, these are the moments that matter the most. “I’ve seen older women of all races sitting alone, either reading or at their laptop, or I see groups of women, women of color, white women, just sitting alone and enjoying their space,” he says. “That’s part of the culture of creating a beloved community and everyone feeling welcomed.”

You’ll see those moments of magic everywhere at Métier, from the art on the wall made by folks of color to each can telling a story to various events like pup meetups, live music, salsa night, plant making, candlemaking, and more, to a local Black chef popping up in their Cherry St. taproom.

“I want people to … through our beer, through the space, through the strangers they may meet in the space, through our team members, to feel some affinity, some connection with who we are and what we’re doing,” expresses Hines.

But make no mistake: The common thread here is beer.

“We can’t do anything unless we brew damn good award-winning beer,” laughs Hines.

Such as the Black Stripe – Coconut Porter, Métier’s first award-winning beer, which picked up a silver medal at the Washington Beer Awards.

Made with roasted coconut flakes, this 5.5% ABV porter has a very pronounced roasted flavor with a luscious mouthfeel.

In many ways, the Coconut Porter acts as a gateway. People who are self-proclaimed non-beer drinkers will come in for an event or with friends, but once Hines can get them to try the Coconut Porter…it’s a game-changer.

Much like Métier itself.

Proudly Black, proudly inclusive, proudly brewing Damn. Good. Beer, Métier stood out to us as one of the top breweries of the year. We’re only sorry it took us this long to get there!

Learn more

Brown Girl’s Brew®

New York, NY
Submitted by: You on Instagram!

Technically, our fans on Instagram named Brown Girl’s Brew as making some of their favorite beers of the year. But we feel this brand deserves a spot on this list…and we’ll tell you why.

We just haven’t seen any other brewery out there like Brown Girl’s Brew. I think all of you will agree that in today’s industry, with just a whisker shy of 10,000 breweries in the country, that is very, very hard to do.

Started by Christina Thomas, Brown Girl’s Brew transforms cherished pastries into crushable beers. These aren’t just any old recipes.

“I grew up in quite a large family,” says Thomas, the youngest of eight. “My mom was always baking. … She made sure we had desserts all the time.”

With a dream to open a bakery, Thomas’ mother eventually converted a family-owned house in Chicago into a makeshift bakery—Allie’s Cakes & Bakery.

The place became a delicious haven.

“Most of her customers were neighbors, people from her religious community, [and folks who came] from word of mouth,” says Thomas.

Vibrantly spiced carrot cake and crowd-pleaser lemon pound cake were always on the menu, along with specials around the holidays, such as German chocolate cake.

In 2009, Thomas, who first got into craft beer after drinking a Fat Tire, had a brilliant idea.

She wanted to transform her mother’s recipes into beer.

Now known as the Brew Mistress, Thomas has introduced five beers to Brown Girl’s Brew including Carrot Cake Amber Ale, Lemon Pound Cake Lager, Key Lime Pie American Ale, Banana Pudding Hefeweizen, and German Chocolate Cake Stout.

With by far and away the most comments from our fans pointing us to Brown Girl’s Brew as making their favorite beers of the year, we clearly see the impact Thomas is making on her community.

But you don’t have to take our word for it either.

During the 2023 Untappd Community Awards (which celebrated the thousands of great breweries and beers rated as best-in-class by Untappd’s 11 million users last year!), Brown Girl’s Brew won gold for the highest-rated American Amber / Red Ale in New York with its Carrot Cake Amber Ale.

It’s the beer Thomas is most proud of because she believes it truly embodies Brown Girl’s Brew. “It is bringing unique, culturally inspired flavors to the craft beer scene,” says Thomas. “We took the warm spices and rich flavors of a classic carrot cake and balanced them with the malty base of an amber ale. It was a bold experiment, but the response has been incredible. Not only does it resonate with people who love the flavors, but it also showcases how craft beer can honor tradition and tell a story. This amber ale represents our creativity, our roots, and our dedication to creating something distinct in the industry.”

Thomas’ mother’s recipes didn’t just feed a community; they fed a community’s soul. Thomas wants to do the same with Brown Girl’s Brew.

“Some of us think that it’s just the liquid that is the main component, and it’s really not,” she told us. “Brown Girl’s Brew is on a mission to make sure we push the needle for diversity, not only in the brewing space but just the entire ecosystem around the beer industry.”

When Thomas first had the idea for Brown Girl’s Brew in 2009, she asked herself, “Who was I going to call?” The list was small or, more honestly, non-existent because the representation didn’t exist.

Which is why it took Thomas many more years to bring Brown Girl’s Brew to life.

But now that she’s here, inspired by her mother’s tenacity, strength, love, and delicious recipes, Thomas and Brown Girl’s Brew are kicking down doors, walls, and barriers.

Learn more

Messorem Bracitorium

Montreal, QC, Canada
Submitted by: Magic Muncie, Social Media Manager, Hop Culture and Untappd

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Messorem (@messorembracitorium)

Messorem Bracitorium, a microbrewery in Montreal, Canada, was founded in 2019 and has since risen to become one of the most innovative breweries around. Known for their unique interpretations of modern styles, Messorem had quite an impressive showing in 2024. With striking artwork, incredible collabs, and an array of epic merch, Messorem crafted unforgettable experiences for craft beer lovers throughout the year.

Learn more

Human Robot

Philadelphia, PA
Submitted by: Dustin Jeffers, VP of Brewery Product and Experience, Next Glass

Human Robot in Philadelphia is a brewery that consistently stands out in one of the world’s greatest beer cities. Remarkably, they manage to do so year after year.

When you visit on a random Wednesday, you may find another brewery from out of town there. This is a testament to Human Robot Co-Founder Ken Correll and the team at Human Robot’s dedication to producing some of the finest lagers in the country.

They’ve even made MilkTube pours trendy in the U.S., which could be one of the reasons why everyone wants a LUKR faucet in their tasting room.

If you ever find yourself in Philadelphia, make sure to visit their Kensington tasting room. Order a full pour of Czech 10º, a MilkTube of Polotmavy 12º, one of Poe’s Sandwich Joint’s chicken cutlet hoagies, and finish it all off with an Underberg.

Learn more

Green Bench Brewing

St. Petersburg, FL
Submitted by: Adam Feingold, Team Brewery Lead, Next Glass

Green Bench is a brewery that truly does it all and with excellence.

Head Brewer/Co-owner Khris Johnson has put this BIPOC-owned brewery on the map.

From lagers to classic styles, each and every beer they release hits the mark. They also brew some of the best mixed-culture beers in the state, let alone the nation, which can be found at their annual Foeder For Thought (one of our can’t-miss beer festivals).

Johnson has done such a bang-up job with Green Bench; we’re just super excited to see what he continues to brew in the future.

Learn more

Vector Brewing

Dallas, TX
Submitted by: John Gross, Director, Strategic Business Development, Next Glass

Somewhere over in the east side of Dallas rests one of the best brew pubs in the country: Vector Brewing. They’ve been knocking it out of the park since opening shop in 2020 with their consistent lager program and wood-aged, mix-culture offerings. All of their beers pair gloriously with what’s coming out of their scratch kitchen. This is one of those places where the food is way better than it has any business being—a spot where the brewers, chefs, and front-of-house staff all CARE and just GET IT.

Their design (both taproom architecture and label art) are a cut above thanks, in part, to the creative duo who own Vector, Veronica, and Craig Bradley. Catch the literal mom-and-pop tapping casks, bussing tables, and hosting events almost any day of the week. The space they’ve created is inclusive, and the beers are adventurous!

Offerings such as Pho Sho (a Pho-inspired rice lager) and Her Royal Majesty Queen Beetrice Vulgaris of House Vector (oak-aged brett lager with golden beets and grapefruit) juxtapose nicely with the clean-as-a-whistle Bullpen Classic American Lager.

The kitchen lovingly cranks innovative, outside-of-the-pizza-box offerings with revolving pies such as a migas pizza, which previously scientists had never been able to crack the code on!

Vector collaborates with all of the best spots in the state, and seemingly everything they touch comes out perfect. Amarillo fresh hops? Smoked Lichtenhainer? Table beer? Vector just gets it.

When in DFW, go to the Lake Highlands hood, behold the giant breeze-block patio, and buy some Vector 4-packs to smuggle to your pals. Everyone needs to taste what’s happening in the Lone Star State.

Learn more

Revenant Brewing Project

Kuopio, North Savo, Finland
Submitted by: You on Instagram!

We have to admit, we were thrilled to see our community name a brewery outside of the States as one of their top of the year, with quite a few folks writing in to tell us about Revenant Brewing Project.

Founded in 2023, Revenant Brewing Project is a passion project from Kuopio, Finland, for a couple of long-time beer enthusiasts, wrote Revenant Brewing Project Co-Founder Petteri Sikanen in an email to us.

Just thirteen months since unleashing their first beer, Revenant now counts sixteen beers in its portfolio that have garnered 12k reviews. Currently, Revenant Brewing holds a highly esteemed 4.07 rating on Untappd.

“I think it’s far to say that we’ve been blown away by the love and positive feedback,” wrote Sikanen.

Top beers include Turmoil, a 4.28-rated hazy TIPA with Cryo Citra, Citra, and Nelson, along with Artifact, a 4.12-rated hazy DNEIPA with Citra, Nelson, and Galaxy.

“We draw inspiration from American breweries pushing the limits of hazy IPAs, but also from everywhere around us, be it from passionate people or our sometimes bleak Finnish weather with its four distinct season,” wrote Sikanen, noting that currenlty means very cold and dark weather!

According to Sikanen, Revenant Brewing Project has only brewed IPAs so far and plans to continue running a very tight portfolio of two to three beer styles “to make sure everything we do is treated with love and to a high standard.”

Named figuratively for “returned from the grave,” Revenant means that “everyone goes through life-changing experiences on their journey on this planet, some of them good and some of them bad, but we should still strive to retain a curious mind,” explained Sikanen, “to be at peace with your surroundings but also open to new experiences, to seek quality over quantity in all aspects of life!”

This small but mighty brewery has embraced the pace of life. Something you can seemingly taste in their electrifying, heart-pounding IPAs.

If you can’t make it to Finland, look out for Revenant at this year’s Hop City festival in Leeds, where they’ll be pouring alongside Other Half, Outer Range, and Track.

Learn more

Hanabi Lager

Napa, CA
Submitted by: Grace Lee-Weitz, Senior Content Editor, Hop Culture

When Nick Gislason started Hanabi Lager, he chose the name purposefully. He told me that hana means flowers in Japanese, and bi means fire. “So it’s flowers of fire, which is the mentality of how Japanese culture looks at fireworks,” says the winemaker and brewer who found a passion for making fireworks at a very early age on the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington. “It’s this art form meant to emulate nature, so the fireworks are named after different flowers, trees, and weather patterns. Some symbolize life cycles—being young, growing up, getting old, and finally, finishing.”

Which is precisely how Gislason approaches his grain-forward brewing at Hanabi Lager.

At Hanabi Lager, grain always comes first. Over about ten years, Gislason and his motley crew have made sixteen beers with fourteen unique grains. Whereas most breweries focus on hops, grain is the rock star at Hanabi Lager.

The boyishly handsome Gislason, whose shaggy hair, mutton chops, and tan overalls make him unmissable, talks about the raw materials like putting together a band—the hops are the backup vocals or the bass, “there for support and richness of sound and complexity, but you don’t want them to dominate,” he says. In contrast, the grains are the lead singer.

Throughout fourteen years the Screaming Eagle Winemaker has touched and felt the grapes all day, tasting the terroir. He finally asked himself, “Wow, wouldn’t it be cool to do that with grain?”

That’s the goal: to find rare, exclusive heritage or landrace grains—like Purple Egyptian Barley, Chevalier, Hana, and San Juan Bere, to name a few—and, with the utmost respect, bring them to life within the backdrop of a crisp, clean lager.

At the tiny hand-built brewery in a bay of an old sake plant, Hanabi Lager uses one of the world’s most popular beer styles to showcase the flavors, complexities, and textures of grain.

I guarantee you that if you ever have a chance to enjoy Hanabi’s only flagship beer—Haná Pilsner—it won’t taste like any lager you’ve had before.

At least, that thought popped into my mind the first time I tasted it.

I actually joined Gislason and his band of misfit boys for a sixteen-hour brew day in May. The team, which always includes Jared McClintock, who used to manage operations at JV Northwest, the country’s premier brewery equipment manufacturer, which has built kits for everyone from Wayfinder to Deschutes, and Trevor Luttrell, a master welder who was one of McClintock’s best, only brews four times a year with the changing seasons.

With a backdrop of clashing metal and nineties hip-hop music, we hand-mashed in grain (something I’ve never seen before), triple decocted, and changed temperatures during decoction and boiling by hand, inching wheels or dials millimeters at a time.

Over the years, Gislason, McClintock, and Luttrell built this little breathing beast together, welding each piece at the Hanabi Fabrication Shop in Napa during marathon-long weekends.

Brewing is done by hand, soul, and feel here. Your senses are key. You’re constantly assaulted by the steampunk sounds of a handmade brewery. Metal clangs, valves squeak, steam hisses, hoses sploosh.

“A lot of people just buy stuff,” Luttrell told me.” You can buy anything with money. We build it.”

It’s just one of the many, many things at Hanabi Lager that makes your jaw drop and your eyes bulge like a Looney Tunes character.

Although rare for me, I’m trying to keep what I say short here because if you get me started on Hanabi Lager, I’m likely to talk your ear off for the next…sixteen hours.

For those looking to try Hanabi Lager, it can be a bit of an adventure, especially if you don’t live in California. They currently don’t have a taproom and release their batches of beer only four times yearly. The best way to get your hands on these incredible beers is to shoot the brewery an email ([email protected]) and ask to join their mailing list. As new beers become available, they’ll let you know. Note: They currently only offer shipping anywhere within California and local pickup and delivery.

Editor’s Tip: If you do want to hear more, you can read the full story in the new issue of Final Gravity, which graciously gave us the space to tell the story of Hanabi Lager’s obsessive devotion to brewing lagers with rare grains. Seriously, you don’t want to miss this one.

Read More

Sand City Brewing Co.

Northport, NY, and Lindenhurst, NY
Submitted by: Derek Campos, Senior Graphic Designer, Next Glass

One of the best things about Sand City, besides the beer, is the environment of each of its locations. If you’re looking for a more intimate setting, their small OG location nestled at the end of an alley tucked between two buildings in Northport is the way to go. Their South location features more open space where they host everything from yoga to hardcore shows. Sand City continues to play its hits with some killer IPAs, but there is always a wide variety of styles on tap, each more solid than the last, not to mention their frequent collaborations with other local breweries, which always go fast.

Learn more

Icarus Brewing Company

Brick Township, NJ
Submitted by: Adam Feingold, Team Brewery Lead, Next Glass

Located in South (Central) Jersey, Icarus Brewing Company brews a plethora of styles, vigorously innovating and showcasing whatever they can think of. With a brand new location, they’ve evolved from their humble beginnings and have been able to double down on what they do best, “Go big or go home.” With multiple weekly beer releases, continually reimagining, and one-upping themselves, Icarus Brewing is one of the best breweries I’ve visited in 2024.

Learn more

Other Half Brewing Co.

Brooklyn, NY
Submitted by: Dustin Jeffers, VP of Brewery Product and Experience, Next Glass

This year, Other Half Brewing celebrated its tenth anniversary with a bang! Over the past decade, they’ve consistently dominated the hazy IPA scene and have become a benchmark for other breweries. To mark this milestone, they unveiled an impressive lineup of beers.

The Freak Week re-release series, where they brew other’s beers was highlighted by Special Combo #4 Death by Broccoli collaboration with Veil Brewing, 60 Minute IPA collaboration with Dogfish Head, and Insert Hip Hop Reference Here collaboration with Monkish and Trillium.

They also reintroduced some of their past anniversary beers, adding to the excitement.

But that wasn’t all—they went even further by releasing multiple 10th Anniversary Collaboration Series beers with collaborations from renowned breweries like Side Project, Fidens, Omnipollo, Mortalis, Hoof Hearted, Tripping Animals, North Park, and Green Cheek, among others.

It’s clear that Other Half Brewing has mastered the art of collaborations, and their tenth-anniversary celebration is a testament to their success.

Learn more