The latest edition of Beer of the Week includes an ale that tastes uncannily like your favorite trail snack, five very different IPAs, and a pilsner collaboration that’s trying to close the equality gap.
If you love beer, you’re in the right place—at the right time. With more than 9,000 breweries in the United States alone, there are more craft beer varieties, styles, and flavors than ever. And, every day, experimentation and innovation are taking beer in new directions. To keep track of what’s brewing, we’re taste-testing and calling out some of the best beers you can find. If you want to pick up something special to drink, check out our favorite beers available now.
Allagash Brewing Company x Crowns & Hops Brewing Co. Cur-8
Style: Pilsner
Allagash and Crown & Hops aren’t close. The first is based in Maine, while the other is getting ready to open its flagship location in Inglewood, CA. However. the two breweries have found a way to bridge a different kind of gap with a new collaboration. Cur-8 is a mix of Crown & Hops’ 8 Trill Pils and Allagash’s Curieux, a barrel-aged tripel. 8 Trill Pils gets its name from a statistic in a W.K. Kellogg Foundation report that suggests the U.S. could realize an $8 trillion gain in national GDP by closing the equality gap by 2050. It’s an issue that’s vitally important to Crowns & Hops, one of about 70 Black-owned breweries in the U.S.—out of more than 9,000 total breweries. As for Cur-8 the beer? It’s a really interesting collaboration. It’s slightly hazy and straw-like in color with notes of vanilla, bourbon, and light grains. Drinking it, the beer has the crispness of a pilsner and a maltiness that works well with flavors of vanilla, caramel, and oak.
