Summer is almost over. Let’s just get those words out of the way now. Honestly, we’re kind of excited to put these dog days behind us. We’re absolutely ready (or not) for the invasion of press releases about pumpkin beers flooding our inbox, the Oktoberfest events we see popping up on IG (this one might be the best), and the promise of Festbiers, amber lagers, amber ales, Scotch ales, stouts, porters, and more coming our way. But we’re putting the apple cart before the horse, as they say. Summer hasn’t left just yet, and we’re soaking up the last rays with these top beers of August.
Highlights include:
Shotgunning a PBR in the backyard because you want to relive those college glory days. Well, at least, reminiscing about those days when you used to shotgun PBRs while you actually sip on an Italian pilsner or saison, am I right!?
Seeking out a Daisy Cutter in California because we had too much fun reminiscing about this iconic beer’s fifteenth-anniversary celebration with Half Acre Co-Founder Gabriel Magliaro and Hopleaf Founder Michael Roper.
There was so much IPA content. We mean so much. With two major holidays falling in August—IPA Day and Hazy IPA Day—we absolutely crushed the hops this month, showing you Untappd’s All-Time Top-Rated American IPAs and asking some of our favorite pros in the biz: What was the first IPA you ever drank!? The latter is a super fun read, in case you missed it, because some of the answers really surprised us.
And don’t forget, we caught up with DSSOLVR to chat all things duck sauce, Duke’s Mayo, and dreaming in Durham.
We packed in the stories and beers this month, so while we wipe the late August sweat off our brows, crack one of these cold ones and toast to the final days of the summer.
Hop Culture’s Top 12 Beers We Drank in August 2024
PBR – Pabst Brewing Company
San Antonio, TX
American Lager – The story of Pabst Brewing Company and PBR is like a piece of Americana. In 1848, Gottlieb and Fredericka Pabst immigrated to Chicago from Germany, bringing their young son, Frederick. After Fredericka died of cholera in 1849, Gottlieb and his son survived by working odd jobs at hotels and restaurants. At fourteen, the young Frederick Pabst took a job on the Great Lakes as a cabin steward; by twenty-one, he was a captain.
One day, a Milwaukee brewer named Phillip Best boarded Captain Pabst’s ship with his eldest daughter, Maria Best. The two courted for two years before being married in Milwaukee on March 25th, 1862. But one day, a particularly harrowing storm forced the young Captain Pabst to ground his ship, the Sea Bird. Although he dramatically saved everyone on board, he abandoned the sea life. Instead, he accepted his father-in-law’s proposition and bought a half-interest in the Phillip Best Brewing Company. Price tag? $21,057.05.
By 1866, production had reached 14,139 barrels. By 1873, it was 100,593 barrels. After Captain Pabst’s brother-in-law and business partner Emil Schandein passed away in 1888, Pabst took complete control of the company, changing the name to Pabst Brewing Company on March 12th, 1889.
In 1892, the Milwaukee-based Pabst Brewery produced over one million barrels of beer annually, making it the largest lager producer in the world. Just as Pittsburgh had steel and Detroit had automobiles, Milwaukee had Schlitz, Blatz, Miller, and Pabst. Prohibition knocked the city’s main export, but not for long. By 1950, Milwaukee-based Schlitz was the largest brewer in the country, while Pabst, Miller, and Blatz were all in the top 10.
From its peak of 15.6 million barrels in 1978, Pabst Brewing Company was purchased in 1985 by beer and real-estate baron Paul Kalmanovitz. When Kalmanovitz died in 1987, the company was left to the Kalmanovitz Charitable Trust. In 1996, the company’s beer production was contracted to Stroh Brewery Company, ending a run of 152 years in which Pabst beer was brewed in Milwaukee.
Phew, that’s a pretty incredible history for a brewery that makes a beer we’ve all whittled down to three little letters: PBR.
We give you that historical timeline because PBR has become firmly ensconced in the clutches of generations, from the aging Baby Boomers to the Millennial hipsters to the up-and-coming Gen Zers.
Somehow, PBR has the power to transcend them all.
What is it about the American lager with the blue ribbon that makes us feel like we just won a prize at the county fair? (Fun fact: In 1892, Pabst hand-tied almost one million feet of blue ribbon around what was then called “Best Select” beer, changing its name to “Blue Ribbon” in 1895.) How has this beer captured our hearts for over a century?
Here’s why this beer has such a cult following. Enough to make our list of the 29 Most Iconic Beers to Drink in Summer 2024.
Suffice it to say that when it comes to American lagers, PBR is one of the GOATs.
Cheers to living that lager life!
Daisy Cutter – Half Acre Beer Co.
Chicago, IL
American Pale Ale – “I’ll take a Daisy.” Half Acre Beer Co. Co-Founder Gabriel Magliaro can’t tell you how many hundreds of times he’s heard that refrain when someone orders the Chicago-based brewery’s iconic Daisy Cutter pale ale. And every single time, it makes him smile. “When they ‘cut’ it in half, when I hear it like that, I know that beer has become a part of their life,” he says proudly.
When you give something a nickname, you make it your own; you feel you own it, right? You’ve said it so often that it’s become a natural part of your life. Like shortening Coca-Cola to Coke or Narragansett to “Have a ‘Gansett.” You’re in the neighborhood of good company.
And Daisy Cutter has undoubtedly become a beer with a life all its own, up there in the pantheon of the most iconic beers in American craft beer.
For Chicagoans, certainly. But also for drinkers all across the country.
With Daisy Cutter celebrating its fifteenth anniversary this year, we sat down with Magliaro, Half Acre Director of Brewing Operations Matt Young, and Hopleaf Publican and Owner Michael Roper, one of the first to carry and support Daisy Cutter, to discover just where Half Acre got the idea for this pale ale, why the beer is actually named after a bomb, and how this beer blew up across craft beer.
And, of course, we had to seek out a four-pack of Daisy Cutter near us to drink while we wrote the story. Tasted like memories and good times.
DDH Congress Street – Trillium Brewing Company
Canton, MA
American IPA – One of the only breweries to inch itself amongst the Tree House greats in the list of Untappd’s All-Time Top-Rated American IPAs, Trillium’s Double Dry Hopped Congress Street takes the original Congress Street IPA and revs everything up a little bit.
A study in Galaxy, DDH Congress Street reeks of nectarine, mango, and grapefruit paired alongside earthy pine tar and fresh-cut grass. A velvety mouthfeel and soft carbonation round things out to make sure this beer stays balanced through every sip.
Knocking down 34,007 ratings on Untappd, this American IPA shares the spotlight with Julius with an average 4.48 rating. You’re in good company, my friend!
Torpedo Extra IPA – Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Chico, CA
American IPA – ‘Twas a month of hops! When we asked 13 Brewers to name their first IPA, Green Bench Co-Founder Khris Johnson immediately cited Sierra Nevada’s Torpedo Extra IPA. It just so happens that we had a couple of bottles of this beer in our fridge, so we cracked a few while writing that piece.
Here’s what he had to say.
“My first (legal) IPA was Sierra Nevada’s Torpedo IPA. I purchased a 12-pack of bottles from the grocery store on my twenty-first birthday and shared a couple with my dad. When I was in middle school, my father was a homebrewer and used to make all sorts of styles, but his favorite was IPA. By the time I was drinking age, I had a decent awareness of different beer styles, which was unique back then. So, when it was time for me to purchase my first beer, I decided to get one that I knew my dad would enjoy with me. And it was delicious.”
We still find it delicious, too, Khris!
Crab Rangoon – DSSOLVR
Asheville, NC
Fruited Sour – ICYMI, first-time Hop Culture contributor Brandon Volk put together an entertaining piece on the Surrealist Asheville-based brewers, DSSOLVR, catching up with co-founders Vince Tursi and Mike Semenec about, among other things, how a Chinese-American appetizer represents DSSOLVR in a glass.
Peel apart the layers of Crab Rangoon, a smoothie-style fruited cheesecake sour, and you’ll find “Crab rangoon isn’t about the crab. It’s really just breaded and fried cream cheese. … [Crab rangoon] is about creating a delivery vessel for duck sauce. And what is duck sauce? It’s just pineapple, orange, cardamom.” Which is why DSSOLVR conditions its Crab Rangoon on peach, apricot, pineapple, orange, tangerine, cheesecake, and marshmallow for a tangy, sweet and sour foreplay, writes Volk.
But what’s so funny, as Volk reports, is that “I don’t know how many times I said no to a crab rangoon beer,” Tursi says in a phrase that perfectly describes DSSOLVR’s creative approach and production output. DSSOLVR has succeeded because, unlike many producers, it is not trying to nail down or cash in on some new trend.
“But when they do dial-up something wild, a la a beer modeled after an ever-popular Chinese-American appetizer, you can count on it being tasty,” writes Volk. “And that’s due in large part to the fact that these kinds of endeavors speak to the very nature of what makes DSSOLVR one of the finer outfits out East. Measured doses of creativity combine with insatiable curiosity without flying completely off the rails. And the result of that effort is usually more wild creativity in motion.
“Crab Rangoon highlights what makes this team so unique and successful: brewing beer that, no matter how polarizing it may sound, turns out incredibly quaffable and well-executed. When DSSOLVR decides to play in the portion of the industry sandbox driven by trends, they continue to set themselves apart.”
Don’t miss the rest of Volk’s piece on Duck Sauce, Duke’s Mayo, & Durham – Catching Up With DSSOLVR.
Black to Reality – Moonlight Brewing Company
Santa Rosa, CA
Black Pilsner – Hop Culture Senior Content Editor Grace Weitz and Social Media Manager Magic Muncie were beyond honored to spend an afternoon with legendary Moonlight Brewing Company Founder Brian Hunt. Starting Moonlight in 1992, Hunt shared story after story with us over an afternoon in Moonlight’s taproom in Santa Rosa, CA.
From a side-pull of Moonlight’s stellar Sulla Luna, an elegant Czech-inspired amber lager served in ample dimple mugs, to the crowd-pleasing Reality Czech, beer after beer (and story after story) inspired us. But perhaps our favorite sip of the afternoon touched our soul—the the R&B soul of the ‘90s, that is.
Black to Reality samples ingredients and techniques from two of the brewery’s favorite beers to create a style we haven’t really seen much before—a black pilsner.
This dark lager drinks with a fair amount of roast and malt but snaps back with a crisp, clean gingersnap finish.
This beer and the whole afternoon were just an utter pleasure.
Talking Hands – Trademark Brewing®
Long Beach, CA
Italian Pilsner – Along with being a contender for the best beer label of the year, Trademark’s Talking Hands liquid impressed us too.
Pouring a clear gold, this Italian pilsner drank with an almost lemon-lime Sprite quality. Definitely a sweetness but balanced by a crushable bouquet of citrus, Talking Hands drank light, bright, and crisp thanks to the bushels of Tettnang and Saphir hops.
As Trademark says right on the can, “A passionate pils for the people!”
We couldn’t agree more.
Beach Grass Helles – Elder Piper Beer & Cider
Petoskey, MI
Helles – Last year, former Highland Brewing Communications Manager and Certified Cicerone Eeva Redmond moved back to her hometown of Petoskey, Michigan, to open her own brewery—Elder Piper Beer & Cider—with her husband, Trace Redmond. This summer, Redmond sent us some of her favorite beers they’re making on the idyllic shores of Little Traverse Bay, including Beach Grass Helles.
The beer pours a medium-clear gold and drinks with a great body. We immediately pulled out notes of sweet, fresh corn and homey brown rice cooking in our kitchen. Everything finishes with a snappy bite. Overall, we found this beer super well balanced, like just the right amount of salt added to a dish.
Iron Horse Rustic Amber Lager – Headlands Brewing
Lafayette, CA
Amber Lager – One of our favorite things in the world is discovering new breweries in our backyard. Some of you may remember that we made this one of our “New ‘Beer’ Resolutions in 2024”: to visit ten breweries in our home state for the first time.
Gotta pat ourselves on the pack for this one because it’s going pretty well. In the last eight months, we’ve visited East Brother, Bartlett Hall, Tenma Beer Project, Dokkaebier, Mad Fritz, Hanabi Lager, Olfactory, Armistice Brewing, Gilman Brewing, Cellarmaker’s new spots in Oakland and Berkeley, Two Pitchers, Brix Factory, Ocean View Brew Works, and most recently, Headlands Brewing.
A North American Guild of Beer Writers happy hour turned us on to Headlands, who presented a lager they made with Haná, the grain Josef Groll used to brew the first-ever pilsner!
So when the Lafayette, CA-based brewery opened an outpost in Berkeley, we had to go.
Drinking an Iron Horse Rustic Amber Lager around the fire pit on a sunny Sunday afternoon while finishing a good book proved to be pretty perfect.
Pouring a deep garnet, Iron Horse gave off wisps of smoky toffee and chewy caramel centers. With a little bit of nutty bitterness, almost like browned butter or roasted cashews, this amber lager really impressed us.
Yacht Water – Sneaky Pete Yacht Water
Atlanta, GA
Canned Cocktail – A new venture started by former Monday Night Brewing COO Rachel Kiley and her partner and Monday Night Brewmaster Peter Kiley, Yacht Water is pretty much the quintessential summer beverage in a can.
So we have to say that the canned cocktail’s tagline, “The Official Drink of Drinking,” rings very true to us.
We could see ourselves absolutely crushing Yacht Water everywhere, from our backyard to the beach to our…canoe (yeah, we don’t own any yachts).
Featuring just four ingredients, Yacht Water currently comes in two flavors: an original and jalapeño. Each includes a base of Sneaky Pete Reposado Tequila, fresh Key lime juice, sparkling water, and sea salt. The latter version gets a kick from Sneaky Pete Reposado Tequila with jalapeño.
Both versions drank incredibly vibrant and fresh, with the jalapeño one, in particular, leaving a pleasant, perfectly hot tingle in our mouths.
According to Kiley, Yacht Water has been in development for the last two years. And although Kiley recently announced she’d be leaving Monday Night to take on full-time responsibility as CEO of Sneaky Spirits, she essentially got this brand off the ground while still opening two out-of-state taprooms with the Georgia-based brewer and just, you know, being a badass COO! 😱(If you want to hear more about how she did this, check out Brewbound’s new Q&A where Managing Editor Jess Infante goes into all the deets.)
You can be sure we’ll keep drinking Yacht Water long into these dog days of summer.
Cantankerous Youth – Brix Factory Brewing
Oakland, CA
Rye Beer – We first met former Drake’s Brewmaster John Gillooly when Hop Culture hosted its West Fest beer festival on the West Coast in 2018. So when Gillooly ventured out on his own to open Brix Factory in West Oakland, we knew we needed to stop by at some point. We finally made it to the factory of fermented beverages this past weekend, grabbing a beer before an Oakland Ballers game.
We had a chance to sample several beers, including an elegant French pilsner with French hops Barbe Rouge and Mistral, the latter entirely new for us, a very dependable American lager, and a crazy rosé-like IPA with marionberries.
But, we have to say that our favorite was Cantankerous Youth, a rye beer with German floor-malted pilsner malt, black malt, caramelized dark malt from Admiral Maltings, and unmalted rye.
According to Gillooly, he first brewed a similar beer while working at Redhook as a part of the R&D team tasked to make a “Dark Rye” (to complement Redhook Rye). “We eventually came out with 100bbls in our Blue-line series, so Dark Rye is the first professional recipe I was ever involved in,” he told Hop Culture. “I have riffed on it a few times now at different breweries, but this is the best iteration yet. I love that I got all the flavor I wanted at 4.1% ABV.
After the first sip, a good friend who tagged along for a visit described the garnet-hued beer in stages—chocolate, hazelnut, and finally landing on Nutella! We agreed, adding that the beer finishes with a pleasant earthy spiciness from the unmalted rye and Green Bullet hops. Wrapped everything up in a nice shiny, red bow for us.
We’re excited to see what’s yet to come from Brix Factory, and we’ll certainly be back for more, including a collab black lager collab with Tenma Beer Project that Gillooly teased us with on the way out!
Kaleidoscope – Black Rose Blending Co.
Madison, WI
American Wild Ale – A blending of two brands, Black Rose Blending Co. absorbed the well-known Funk Factory Geuzeria in Dec. 2022.
Initially started by Levi Funk in 2015, Funk Factory gained popularity for its line-inducing ::cough cough:: funky mixed-fermentation lambic-style beers. Two years ago, Funk sold the geuzeria to long-time employee Kyle Metz.
At Black Rose, Metz makes his own exciting, small-batch, often mixed-culture fermentables—mostly beer and occasionally wine, cider, and mead.
For instance, Hausbier #1, a draft-only blended mixed-culture farmhouse ale. Or Kaleidoscope, a wild ale collab with Wandering Mind Spirits, combining plums and honey and aged in a hibiscus liqueur barrel from the aforementioned spirits brand.
Metz sent us a package with the aforementioned Kaleidoscope, bottled in April 2023 (we got bottle 124 of 271!), and a bunch of other wild ales. We loved this tart saison and feel it perfectly emulates one of our Best Breweries to Visit in Madison, Wisconsin.
Pouring a lovely sunset orange, Kaleidoscope dazzles your eyes and taste buds with geometric notes of juicy plums, crisp white nectarine, and candied orange.
Drinking dry in the middle, the American wild ale finishes pretty juicy with a note of effervescence that whets our palate for more.
