50 of the World’s Most Cultish Beers

im39_cover_310x400

This article was originally published in Imbibe magazine.

At this advanced stage of the craft brewing revolution, finding a good brew is often as simple as strolling to your local beer store or bar. Buying a great beer, one of those brews perched atop online best-of lists, can be trickier. Due to limited production, tight distribution and consumer demand that can make a Depression-era bank run seem tame, a select cluster of well-respected imperial stouts, IPAs, sour ales and barley wines are as rare as they delectable. To taste these cultish beers, drinkers will wait in line for hours, travel halfway around the country or max out credit cards to buy them for marked-up prices online, a tactic increasingly drawing brewers’ ire. There are few flaming hoops that hard-core beer fans will not leap through for a goblet of Russian River’s hopped-up Pliny the Younger—or these 49 other cultish, hyped brews that have captured drinkers’ taste buds.

Imperial Stouts

Portsmouth Brewery: Kate the Great

Here’s a lottery fit for beer geeks: Come March, New Hampshire’s Portsmouth Brewery sells 10,000 scratch-off lottery tickets for $2 apiece (proceeds go to charity), with the 900 winning tickets permitting winners to purchase one bottle of Kate the Great, a creamy Russian imperial stout dosed with brown sugar, then given a nice long aging on port-soaked wood.

Three Floyds Brewing Company: Dark Lord Russian-Style Imperial Stout

Possibly the pinnacle of rare-beer releases is Dark Lord Day—DLD, to the thousands who flock to the Munster, Indiana, brewery’s daylong hullabaloo to snag wax-dipped bottles of the massive stout made with honey, coffee and molasses. Attendees also receive a scratch-off Golden Ticket, which permits winners to buy über-rare Dark Lords aged in perhaps cognac or bourbon barrels.

Foothills Brewing: Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout

Since it was first brewed for Valentine’s Day in 2007, the silky, cocoa-infused imperial stout has become a phenomenon, attracting droves of die-hards to the yearly winter release in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The fun starts with Pre-Sex Friday, when attendees congregate to share their cellared treasures and occasionally stay up till the next morning’s release.

The Bruery: Black Tuesday

A disastrous brew day in 2008 led to the creation of Black Tuesday, a weightlifter-strong stout—nearly 20 percent ABV—that slumbers in bourbon barrels for more than a year. The leviathan is released on the last Tuesday of October and allocated to members of the Bruery’s membership-only Reserve Society, ticketed attendees to the release party or those lucky enough purchase a bottle during the online sale. In 2011, it took less than an hour to sell out.

Cigar City Brewing: Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout

Once a year, Tampa, Florida’s favorite brewery breaks out raw Peruvian cacao nibs, ancho and pasilla chiles, cinnamon and Madagascar vanilla beans to concoct Hunahpu, so-named after a slain figure from Mayan mythology who transformed into a cacao tree. Securing a bottle requires you to attend March’s Hunahpu’s Day at the brewery, featuring food trucks, bands and scads of specialty beers to sample.

Surly Brewing Co.: Darkness

Since appearing on Minnesota’s brewing scene in 2005, Surly has become the state’s darling thanks to assertively hopped IPAs and stouts such as Darkness, a Russian imperial doozy released every October. Acquire a bottle of that nicely bittered flavor bomb during the band-filled Darkness Day or, if you’re lucky, at a beer store around Minnesota. Darkness does not travel beyond state lines.

Jackie O’s Pub & Brewery: Dark Apparition

Back in the 1990s, Athens, Ohio’s O’Hooley’s was hardly a destination-worthy brewpub. But since it was rebooted as Jackie O’s, brewmaster Brad Clark has made waves across Ohio, and nationally, with his tingly sour ales and barrel-aged behemoths, namely Dark Apparition. The Russian imperial stout is a chewy, roasty revelation unveiled in teensy batches during raucous release parties at the brewpub.

Fifty Fifty Brewing Co.: Eclipse

To fairly manage the crushing demand for its medal-winning imperial stout, the Truckee, California, brewery runs the Eclipse Futures program allowing customers to place a 50 percent down payment to reserve a bottle before, well, the beer is bottled. Every batch of Eclipse, which debuts each December, is aged for at least six months in oak barrels that contained bourbons and whiskeys such as Rittenhouse Rye, 12-year-old Elijah Craig and Old Fitzgerald.

AleSmith Brewing Company: Barrel-Aged Speedway Stout

San Diego may be known for mega-hoppy IPAs, but one of the city’s most lusted-after creations is this imperial stout the color of motor oil after a cross-country trip. The special release is kicked up with coffee beans, then dozes in bourbon barrels for more than a year till the brewers deem it ready for the brewery-only limited-edition release. Last year, only about 1,000 bottles saw the light of day.

De Struise Brouwers: Black Albert

In 2007, to honor the annual Belgian fest at rural Maine’s Ebenezer’s Pub, Belgium’s De Struise Brouwers created Black Albert—its name references its charcoal hue and Belgium’s King Albert. Despite registering a 13 percent ABV and a palate-pummeling 100 IBUs, the silky commemorative stout is dangerously drinkable, chockfull of cocoa, coffee and a vinous, grape-y complexity. Black Albert is now sold outside Ebenezer’s but it’s no cinch to find.

Dieu du Ciel!: Péché Mortel

Quebec boasts a thriving beer scene, chief among them Montreal’s madly inventive Dieu du Ciel! Amid its marvelous brews (the Equinoxe de Printemp Scotch ale made with maple syrup, the aged Solstice D’hiver barleywine), few are as fawned over as Péché Mortel, a coffee-infused imperial stout that’s as dark and dense as chocolate cake. It’s the definition of a slow-sipper.

Founders Brewing Company: Kentucky Breakfast Stout and Canadian Breakfast Stout

A frenzy surrounds this duo of imperial stouts prepared with outlandish levels of coffee and chocolate. KBS is cave-aged in bourbon barrels for a year, while CBS (it has a slightly different recipe) naps in bourbon barrels that last contained maple syrup. The inaugural release of CBS last October led to ludicrous lines at beer shops, as well as the 1,700 bottles that rapidly vanished snapped up at Founders’ Grand Rapids, Michigan, taproom.

Imperial IPAs and Other Hoppy Delights

Russian River Brewing Co.: Pliny the Younger

While brewing at Temecula, California’s Blind Pig Brewery in 1994, brewmaster Vinnie Cilurzo debuted his Blind Pig IPA, which helped create the double IPA category. His follow-up, the piney and aromatic Pliny the Elder, is one of the country’s most clamored-for imperial IPAs, only bested by its burlier big brother, the draft-only Pliny the Younger. Its limited annual release is accompanied by rock concert–like lines at bars lucky enough to serve it, as well as pilgrimages to Russian River’s California brewpub.  

Bell’s Brewery: Hopslam

Too often, imperial IPAs are as unbalanced as a football player and a jockey sharing a teeter-totter. They’re too boozy, too bitter, too sweet—which is why Bell’s Hopslam is such a treat. The aromatic winter seasonal (think: grapefruit, topical fruit) is made with Pooh Bear–appeasing honey that makes the brew as smooth as fresh-poured blacktop and ably masquerades the 10 percent ABV.

Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales: 120 Minute IPA

The Delaware brewery makes numerous madcap ales that incite gotta-have-it passions, such as the mega-extreme 120 Minute. Only a couple batches annually are made of the IPA that tips the scales at up to 20 percent ABV. It’s made by continuously adding hops during a long two-hour boil, then aging the beer for several more months with even more hops. The high alcohol content precludes it from being sold in many states, ratcheting up its cachet.

Hill Farmstead Brewery: Ephraim

Few brewery debuts in the last several years have generated as much buzz as Vermont’s Hill Farmstead, where Shaun Hill crafts complex saisons, wild ales, stouts, IPAs and other curiosities that bear the name of family members. The small batches, combined with the beers’ mainly draft-only status, ensure they’re snapped up as soon as they’re tapped at Northeast bars. While select a single IPA is tough, we must cast our vote for the resinous Ephraim, a double dry-hopped delight named after Hill’s great-grandfather.

Troëgs Brewing Company: Nugget Nectar

During the darkest depths of winter, Hershey, Pennsylvania’s Troëgs brightens moods with the annual return of the highly covetable Nugget Nectar, the ratcheted-up version of the year-round HopBack Amber Ale. The imperial Nugget’s caramel-malt flavor is complemented by a fresh, floral perfume that causes fans to snap it up by the case.

The Alchemist Brewery: Heady Topper

Last August Hurricane Irene lashed the Northeast, leading to the destruction of one of Vermont’s most respected brewpubs, the Alchemist. The disaster’s silver lining is that brewer John Kimmich’s in-the-works production facility was untouched, and soon after he cranked up the canning line and released his single perfect product: Heady Topper, a heavenly hop bath for you mouth.  

Half Acre Beer Company: Double Daisy Cutter Pale Ale

Demand has so outstripped capacity for Chicago’s Half Acre that the brewery has trouble supplying the city with enough Daisy Cutter, a fragrant pale ale concocted with a quintet of hops. So you can imagine the fervor that surrounds the irregular release of Double Daisy, which pumps up the grain bill and doubles the dry hopping. As Half Acre warns on its website, “Grab it when you see it.”

Kern River Brewing Company: Citra Double IPA

Among the new-breed hops, few varieties have incited as much excitement as the tropical-tinged Citra, which takes a starring turn in the hazy, pungent Southern California–brewed double IPA. A gold-medal win at the 2011 Great American Beer Festival has forced the brewery to only allocate the beer to the brewery. Just 120 cases were released over three days in March.

Alpine Beer Company: Exponential Hoppiness

A short drive from San Diego sits Alpine Beer, one of the region’s pined-for producers of hoppy ales such as the golden Nelson—it’s made with white wine–like Nelson Sauvin hops—and the dank Pure Hoppiness double IPA. However, hop heads lose their lids for Exponential Hoppiness. It’s made via an intricate hopping technique that doubles each previous addition, culminating with whole hops and oak chips. 

Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro: Imperial IPA

Bellingham’s Boundary Bay has long run its popular Single Hop Pale Ale series, but it’s the full-bodied, garden-fresh Imperial IPA that gets beer drinkers buzzing. By and large, the award-winning ale is a draft-only specialty, but every blue moon the brewery bottles it for sale at its pub. February’s one-day-only release limited customers to four bottles apiece.

Ballast Point Brewing Company: Sculpin IPA

San Diego’s mastery of the almighty hop is on display in the much-desired Sculpin, so-named after a fish with incredibly tasty flesh and venomous fins that cause redness and swelling. That’s the philosophy behind Sculpin, which backs up its initial bracing sting with lush, crisp flavors apricots, peaches and enough tropical fruit to transport you to the Caribbean.

Sour or Wild Ales

Captain Lawrence Brewing Company: Rosso e Marrone

Over the last several years, New York’s Captain Lawrence has earned a sterling reputation for his idiosyncratic sour ales that are sold to fervent fans at the brewery’s always packed release parties. The most sought-after sour is Rosso, which is fermented with grapes, aged in oak, then mixed with wild yeast Brettanomyces, more red grapes and sent back to sleep in emptied wine barrels. The beer, like the line, is worth the wait.

Allagash Brewing Company: Coolship Series

To create an authentic, Belgian-style lambic, the Belgium-inspired Maine brewery installed a coolship, which is a shallow tray that’s filled with hot wort (the broth that becomes beer). The liquid cools overnight, inviting in wild yeast and bacteria. The inoculated wort is transferred into oak barrels, where it sleeps till ready—a process that can take years. Allagash only releases its Coolship brews, such as the cherry-tinted Cerise, at its brewery, basically unannounced.

Upland Brewing Co.: Sour Ales

Armed with curiosity and a quartet of oak barrels, head brewer Caleb Staton launched the Bloomington, Indiana, brewery’s sour-ale program in 2006. In six year, it has blossomed to include eight fruited lambic-style ales (counting persimmons, kiwis, and blueberries), a Flanders red, wild ales, and the blended, Gueuze-style Sour Reserve. Since reservations to purchase sours sell out in minutes, Upland switched to a more egalitarian lottery system.  

Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project: Sour Ales

Colorado’s Chad Yakobson was so obsessed with Brettanomyces that it was the subject of his Masters dissertation. Now, he’s turned his research into super-limited wild ales such as Blackberry Petite Sour, the 100 percent Brett-fermented L’Brett d’Or and the Wild Wild Brett Series that replicates the colors of the rainbow. Want to try it? Your best bet is buying one of the 400 slots in the Cellar Reserve Membership, providing members a bottle of most beers and first dibs on other releases.

Cascade Brewing: Bourbonic Plague

A gold medal at 2009’s Great American Beer Festival cemented the cult status of this puckering pleasure. Dark and potent porters that aged in oak, bourbon and wine barrels are blended with another porter spiced with cinnamon and vanilla beans, then mixed with dates and to sent to bed in the oaky darkness for more than a year.

Logsdon Farmhouse Ales: Seizoen Bretta

After more than two decades wrangling brewing yeast, Wyeast Laboratories cofounder David Logsdon introduced his eponymous brewery last year, earning instant acclaim for his all-organic saisons, especially the Seizoen Bretta. Sealed with beeswax, the unfiltered and bottle-conditioned beer drinks dry and crisp, with a funk that keeps you coming back for more.

Brasserie Cantillon Brouwerij: Lou Pepe Series

As the world’s most famous lambic brewery, Belgium’s Cantillon has sour heads eating out of its hand. The brewery can never produce enough lambic to meet international demand, especially for its extremely rare Lou Pepe line (a nickname for grandfather in southwestern France.) If you spot the unblended cherry Kriek, raspberry Framboise or the Gueuze uniquely made with two aged lambics, snap it up post-haste.  

New Belgium Brewing: La Folie

Before working at New Belgium, brewmaster Peter Bouckaert toiled in Belgium at Rodenbach, where he helped concoct the brewery’s renowned sour red ale. He brought his bacterial know-how to Colorado and launched one of the country’s first large-scale souring programs, creating La Folie: The Folly. Each year’s release ages in French oak for up to three years, resulting in a brightly acidic indulgence with echoes of sour apples.

Ithaca Beer Company: Brute

Over the last several years, New York­–based Ithaca’s sour program has garnered national acclaim, namely for its blueberry-and-Brettanomyces LeBleu and Brute, a double medalist at the GABF. The secret to its funky, lemony flavors and dry effervescence are acid malt, Brettanomyces, a nine-month catnap in American oak barrels, aged New York hops and a trio of Champagne yeasts. Demand is so intense, and supply is so limited, that in 2011 Ithaca only sold the beer at its tasting room.

The Lost Abbey: Cuvee de Tommy

Lost Abbey brewmaster Tomme Arthur is such as nut for Brettanomyces that, above the entrance to the brewery’s barrel room, hangs a sign proclaiming in illa brettanomyces, nos fides. Roughly translated from Latin, the phrase means in the wild yeast we believe. One taste of the bourbon barrel–aged Cuvèe de Tommy, infected with Brett and crafted with sour cherries, and you’ll be a believer too—that is, provided you arrive at the brewery to buy a bottle the day it’s released.  

Jester King Craft Brewery: Boxer’s Revenge

While Texas came late to the craft beer party, Austin-area Jester King is making up for lost time with rustic ales such as Das Wunderkind!, a sour, barrel-aged saison, and Black Metal, an imperial stout with a farmhouse edge. However, we’re most smitten by Boxer’s Revenge: a potent “provision” ale aged in French oak wine barrels alongside dual strains of Brettanomyces and a bevy of fragrant Cascade and Centennial hops.

Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen: Framboos

Belgium’s 3 Fonteinen pulls double duty as a lambic brewer and a blender, using its sour creations and those from the likes of Lindemans and Boon to formulate gueuzes and krieks of uncommon complexity. We could make a case that of the brewery’s releases deserve cult status, but Fonteinen’s Framboos raspberry lambic is a harmonious convergence of sourness and fruit. In 2012, the only bottles were sold at Copenhagen’s Sour & Bitter festival.

Barley wines, Strong Ales, Belgians and Other Limited-Releases Curiosities

Lawson’s Famous Liquids: Maple Tripple Ale

Once each spring, nanobrewer Sean Lawson relies upon locally harvested concentrated maple sap to make his unique Maple Tripple Ale, which then ages for a year before it’s released—just a couple hundred bottles, all reserved for Vermont’s Mad River Valley. Also achieving cult status: Lawson’s tropical Double Sunshine IPA.  

D.G. Yuengling & Son: Yuengling Traditional Lager

Once upon a time, you could not find Coors east of the Rocky Mountains, causing drinkers to hanker for the mile-high brew. These days, drinkers reared on Yuengling but relocated elsewhere feel the same way about the biscuity, caramel-influenced lager made by America’s oldest and largest brewery. To try the classic pre-Prohibition lager, you must venture east of the Mississippi River.

Russian River Brewing Company: Batch 23

While we tried to not list breweries twice but Russian River is a most delicious switch-hitter, specializing in hop bombs, wild, sour ales and Belgian-inspired beauties. Each one could make a case for inclusion. However, none are rarer than Damnation Batch 23, a souped-up version of the strong, fruity Damnation that’s only brewed every 23rd batch. Extra hops, alcohol and oak chips make it extra-special.

Great Lakes Brewing Company: Christmas Ale

For beer fans in northeast Ohio, few days are more anticipated than when Cleveland’s Great Lakes releases it Christmas Ale, a heap of seasonal cheer spiced with honey, cinnamon and fresh ginger. To meet the exorbitant demand for the holiday present to drinkers’ taste buds, Great Lakes brews around 300 batches of the seasonal, using about 178,000 pounds of honey and 6,000 pounds apiece of ginger and cinnamon.

New Glarus Brewing: Spotted Cow

If you ask beer lovers what they’d like for the holidays, the most common wish would likely be for New Glarus to broaden its distribution. The cultish brewery only distributes its beer in Wisconsin, which only intensifies demand for the Raspberry Tart, Wisconsin Belgian Red and the state’s unofficial beer, the smooth and fruity Spotted Cow cream ale. Expats so crave it that bars risk fines to illegally import it: In 2009, New York’s Mad River Bar & Grille was fined $20,000 for selling Spotted Cow.

Shipyard Brewing: Pumpkinhead

Though Halloween does not hit till the end of October, Pumpkinhead mania starts in August for this crisp, Maine-brewed wheat ale spiced with nutmeg, cinnamon and plenty of the namesake vegetable. Demand in the Northeast is so strong that, in 2011, the brewery kept producing the brew through Thanksgiving. Another sign of Pumpkinhead’s popularity is its dedicated Twitter feed: @PumpkinheadAle.

Samuel Adams: Utopias

Since Utopias’ 2002 debut, the blend of strong beers aged for up to 18 years in Scotch, bourbon, Madeira or perhaps sherry barrels has gradually crept up the alcohol ladder, landing at an astounding 27 percent ABV, or 54 proof, for its 2011 release. Sweet, viscous and drenched in oak, Utopias is more akin to Cognac or port. Only 10,000 bottles are released biannually (next up: 2013), costing upward of $200.

East End Brewing Company: Gratitude

Brewing a generously hopped, American-style barley wine is only the first step in creating Gratitude. The beer is hand-bottled, wrapped in hand-printed paper (featuring birds such as crows, chickadees and goldfinches), wax-sealed, numbered and then signed by brewer Scott Smith. East End releases less than 2,000 bottles annually, selling them exclusively at the Pittsburgh brewery.

Hair of the Dog Brewing Company: Dave

Among beer collectors, brewer Alan Sprints stands apart for his bottle-conditioned beers that are improved by the ravages of time, such as the Doggie Claws barley wine and Adam, a re-creation of Germany’s extinct Adambier. However, the Hair of the Dog holy grail is Dave, a barley wine first brewed in 1994 that, following freeze distillation, registers 29 percent ABV. At an online auction in 2008, five bottles sold for $2,838.30.

Goose Island Beer Co.: King Henry

Last fall’s release of King Henry drove beer geeks bonkers. The English-style barley wine was aged in scarce, 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle bourbon barrels, a tailor-made complement to flavors of toffee and caramel. Since Goose Island has no current plans to re-brew the barley wine in 2012, expect to pay, well, a king’s ransom for a taste.

Brouwerij Westvleteren: Westvleteren 12

The monks of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren make it tough to acquire their rich, dark fruit–drenched quadruple, which is regularly rated as one of the world’s best beers. Customers must call to make a reservation—overcoming the endless busy signals—provide their license-plate number and swear they will not re-sell the beer. (This year, importers Shelton Brothers and Manneken-Brussels made acquiring 12 a bit easier by selling Westvleteren gift packs, the proceeds of which will fund the abbey’s restoration.) 

Firestone Walker Brewing Co.: §ucaba

Branding litigation forced California’s Firestone to reverse course and change the name of its Abacus barley wine to §ucaba. No matter what you call it, the barrel-aged barley wine is a delicious doozy, a mélange of oak, bourbon, dark fruit and chocolate wrapped up in a thick and sweet package designed for slow-sipping. Mark your Google Calendar for the next vintage, set to debut in February 2013.

Brouwerij Bosteels: DeuS

One of the most fascinating new hybrid styles is bière de champagne, or bière brut. It follows the same painstaking protocol used in Champagne production, including lengthy multiple fermentations and disgorging the yeast from the bottle’s neck. The best of bunch is DeuS (pronounced DAY-ews), which is fermented in Belgium but finished in France’s Champagne region. The net result: a bone-dry, delicately bubbly revelation with plenty of citrus and a fab touch of funk.

Block 15 Brewery & Restaurant: Figgy Pudding

With Oregon awash in beer, it takes a unique brewery to float to the top. The rise of Corvallis’ Block 15 is due to its cellaring program that includes an authentic coolship. The brewery’s release parties for its cocoa-flavored Super Nebula imperial stout and bourbon-barreled Pappy’s Dark strong ale attract fans from hours away, but Block’s most hotly anticipated beer is winter’s brandy barrel–aged Figgy Pudding that’s inspired by a 16th-century steamed Christmas cake once popular in England.

Brasserie de Rochefort: Trappistes Rochefort 10

Among the Belgian abbey’s trio of numbered beers (including the strong, dark 6 and the dubbel 8), the blue-capped 10 is the monks’ rare jewel. The boozy quadruple (that 11.3 percent ABV sneaks up quick) pours a leathery brown with ruby highlights and tastes of caramel, figs and holiday cake, with a mouth-coating creaminess. Fresh, 10 is terrific. To experience transcendence, try it aged.