You all loved this piece so much last year that we thought we’d keep updating it yearly, adding new brewery membership and bottle societies we hear about and updating past ones with revised details for current editions.
While bottle societies, brewery memberships, and beer clubs may have peaked during the pandemic years, they continue to provide a compelling reason to buy them. They give us a chance to nab some pretty exclusive, experimental beers from top-of-the-line breweries while delving deeper into the depths of breweries we genuinely respect.
Beyond the great liquid in these bottles, most of the following brewery memberships and bottle societies offer many added incentives: opportunities to connect in person, access to behind-the-scenes events, and fun, inventive merch.
Brewery memberships and bottle societies have become one of the best ways to get to know a brewery a little better.
For that reason, in 2024, we’re adding to our collection of our current favorites. A few new comers you’ll see below: Speciation, Southern Grist, Fair Isle, and Outer Range.
This isn’t an exhaustive list of every beer club out there—just our take on some of our favorites. Let us know if we missed one or if we should turn our attention to another! Hit us up at @hopculturemag and tell us your suggestions. We’ll probably add it to the list!
Brewery Memberships and Bottle Societies Open Now for 2024
Firestone Walker Brewmaster’s Collective
Brewery Membership Fee: $399
Join: Now
Perks Include:
- Twenty-one small-batch beers
- Welcome kit + four curated quarterly collections that include customer merch and pairing experiences
- Access to library cellar of rare and past exclusive club beers
- On-site member tastings and events
- Preferred-member pricing (fifteen percent off online and in-store)
- VIP taproom access, including complimentary tours in Paso Robles
- Lottery for chance to purchase tickets to the 2024 Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest
Firestone Walker Brewmaster’s Collective is one of the most fantastic brewery bottle societies in the entire country.
There, we’ve said it. Seriously, this is one razzle-dazzle brewery membership club.
Over twelve months, members receive seasonal collections spanning twenty-one beers developed from the ingenious minds of both Firestone Walker Brewmaster Matt Brynildson and Vintage Barrel Program Manager Jordan Ziegler, who selects the amalgam of barrels for aging the beer.
“We’re supposed to be doing the most special things we possibly can,” says Brynildson. “We’re taking all our beers from our dream board, condensing them into these releases.”
Now entering its fourth year, Firestone Walker’s Brewmaster’s Collective has an incredible lineup ready to roll out.
And we got an exclusive inside look here.
Released in quarterly drops with five beers a piece, plus a welcome kit, corresponding tasting events, inventive merch, and a host of other exclusives, the Brewmaster’s Collective brings an elevated experience to the typical bottle club.
The club has grown immensely popular.
“The community coming out of this club is absolutely astounding,” says Micaela Yeo, club and specialty brands manager. “We’re not just a subscription program shipping beer on a cadence. These people are so involved and care so much about the product, the beer, the community, and our stories.”
Because each beer in the Brewmaster’s Collective tells a narrative.
These aren’t your regular, run-of-the-mill releases. They’re not even your regular beyond-run-of-the-mill releases.
These beers are Firestone Walker’s way of experimenting in ways they never normally can, “pushing the boundaries on what we can to get the highest-gravity beer in the brewhouse,” says Ziegler.
Most importantly, many beers offered in the Brewmaster’s Collective are only available to those in the club. And the ones you get, you may never find anywhere ever again.
Such as beers aged in various unique, personally sourced barrels, mega collabs with breweries from across the globe, and over-the-top, out-of-the-box ideas.
Despite this already stratospheric premise, somehow, Firestone Walker found a way to go even higher this year. From a barleywine collab with the kings of the style—Revolution Brewing—to an imperial stout collab with Omnipollo aged for an entire year on real hand-cut vanilla beans to a pistachio and vanilla-adjunct imperial aged stout in barrels from a burned-down distillery.
Yeah, so there’s that.
To view all the collections in full, head here.
But suffice it to say, these are barrel-aged beers at their best.
Don’t miss out on the Firestone Walker Brewmaster’s Collective this year.
Or you might regret it for the next 365 days.
Speciation Artisan Ales Cultured Club
Brewery Membership Fee: $75
Join: Now
Perks Include:
- Twenty percent discount on everything they sell: bottles, cans, merch, draft pours, and online releases
- Tuesday nights $3 off draft pours
- Four member-exclusive 375ml bottles (two different beers)
- Cultured Club exclusive holiday party
- Membership card
One of the most affordable clubs on this list, Speciation’s Cultured Club, gets you access to the brewery’s fantastic spontaneously fermented wild ales at a fourth of the cost of some of the other options here.
You get four bottles in this bottle society. And while you may think that seems small compared to some of the other brewery membership societies- lofty twenty- or ten-plus offerings. Don’t be fooled.
For $75, you’re getting an incredible value.
Speciation makes some of the most incredible and creatively inspired wild ales in the country. While Owner Mitch Ermatinger couldn’t share exactly what bottles are in store for 2024 (because they usually decide what to blend around mid-March), he did tell us in an email that, “We always try to make some unique blends for the club, and we intend to get pretty experimental this year!”
So, if you want to dip your toes into the bottle society game, the Cultured Club is the perfect place.
The Bruery Reserve Society
Brewery Membership Fee: $325 for new members; $300 for returning members
Join: Now
Perks Include:
- Up to $450 worth of included beer for just $325 annually ($300 for renewing members)
- One 750mL bottle dropped each month for twelve beers total throughout the year—you choose the style of beer included with your brewery membership
- Your choice of flavor: barrel-aged stouts and experimental ales or a mix with sours
- Save fifteen percent off all beer and merch purchases in the tasting room and online
- Access to over fifty Society-exclusive beers throughout the year
- Priority access to other beers released throughout the year (and an additional fifty beers!)
- Invitation to preview all new beers the first Monday of the month at Society Member Monday
- Included member-exclusive welcome gift
- Invitations to Society-exclusive events throughout the year
- Access to share your benefits with a Guest Access Card
- Up to fourteen months of complimentary cellar storage (through 2/28/25)
- And so much more!
The Bruery has been in the bottle society game for a few years now. And their specialty—barrel-aged beers in bottles—lends really well to creating a distinctive brewery membership.
Accordingly, the Reserve Society gets you access to some seriously killer beers.
But there are some unique things about The Bruery’s Reserve Society.
First, you can pick your track: The Bruery Package gets you barrel-aged stouts, traditional ales, and experimental beers, while The Mixed Package focuses on wild and sour ales intermixed with releases from The Bruery Package.
And in 2024, The Bruery created something called the Reserve Society Select, which, according to Holmes, “is a collection of our favorite member beers shipped all at one,” he says.
But if you choose one of the two original adventures, you’ll receive one 750mL bottle each month for twelve beers yearly.
“We pride ourselves on innovation,” says Barry Holmes, The Brueghel CEO. “We have to come up with new challenging things; otherwise, we’d get bored, and our members would get bored. … We’re challenging ourselves to innovate further afield [than] what we’ve done in the past,” Holmes told us last year.
Beers like…
The acclaimed Sundae Sunday, Spicy Island, and Smoking Wood—the three most-requested Bruery Classics.
A new beer—Black Tuesday Grand Reserve.
And a specialty maple syrup barrel-aged Black Tuesday.
Also, a root beer float-inspired Monster Stout and a sixty-edition Small-Batch Black Tuesday collection with four new decadent variants. “Think shortstacks, but…bigger,” writes The Bruery on its website.
There will even be an opportunity for Society members to vote on the direction of a new brewing project.
The complete list of 2024 Reserve Society beers can be found here.
According to Holmes, just the beer in the Reserve Society adds up to around a $450 value, meaning you recoup that original membership fee and then some. “We don’t take the $325 lightly; we know that’s a lot of money, so we try to pack as much value as we can,” says Holmes.
Which is why the perks don’t just stop at the beer.
“The big news [this year] is that you can now get our membership shipped to you in forty-seven states and D.C.,” Holmes told us in an email.
Last year, The Bruery hosted events like the Supper Club series, a special sit-down dinner just for club members, often with James Beard award-winning chefs.
Other member-exclusive events include The Bruery’s Anniversary Invitational, a larger-than-life craft beer festival they host yearly to celebrate their birthday with other craft beer companies from around the country, and Black Tuesday, a week-long series of events centered around the famous Black Tuesday.
No wonder The Bruery calls this “The World’s Most Adventurous Beer Membership.” For a bottle society that truly maximizes its value with beer and events, you can’t beat The Bruery’s Reserve Society.
Outer Range 2024 Summit Club Membership
Brewery Membership Fee: $495
Join: Now
Perks Include:
- Over $1,000 worth of ORB cans through the year for just $495
- Two free four-packs per month for all of 2024
- Members-only collab DDH double IPA (two four-packs)
- One member-only specialty imperial stout (one bottle)
- Exclusive Sempli x ORB genuine crystal craft beer glassware set (not available to the public)
- Two members-only beer tastings and education events with the ORB team
- ORB Alps & Friends specialty European bottle and can share
- Admission to the 2024 members-only party with a plus-one
- Day of Haze for You with a plus-one (valid Jan. 1 – Dec. 31, 2024)
From the magical brewery in the mountains, Outer Range brings you its version of a can/bottle club. For only $495, you’ll get access to two free four-packs per month, a members-only collab DDH DIPA, a members-only specialty imperial stout bottle, and a Sempli x ORB genuine crystal craft beer glassware set.
That’s basically over $1,000 worth of ORB beer each month for the entire year!
Pretty great deal.
Or a great gift too, if you buy it now.
The only catch is that ORB can’t ship beer, so you must pick up your four-packs at the Frisco taproom. Honestly, an excuse to sit in the taproom nestled into the mountains with gorgeous 360 views isn’t an enormous ask.
And fits aptly with the brewery’s motto, “Leave the Life Below.”
For those who make the journey, you’ll enjoy four-packs of excellent IPAs and Belgian beers, a love Co-Founder Lee Cleghorn nurtured after growing up in Brussels as a teenager when his dad received a station assignment in Belgium.
“I was sixteen years old drinking Chimay blue at bars downtown,” Lee told us in a previous article. Attending college in the United States, he never developed a taste for light beer because it simply didn’t taste as good as “some of the best beers in the world he drank at sixteen,” joked Outer Range’s other co-founder, Emily Cleghorn.
Since launching on Christmas Day in 2016, Outer Range gained national attention, named to Craft & Beer Brewing magazine’s critic’s list of best new breweries in 2017, and garnered best recent brewery accolades from BeerAdvocate and USA Today in 2018.
And they did it all at first by brewing mostly those two styles of beer mentioned above.
Now, the Cleghorns have a tap list full of other things, such as sours, pilsner, lagers, and farmhouse ales. But you’ll still find a devoted focus on IPAs and Belgians.
So you can use your Summit Club Membership to buy a four-pack of In the Steep, the brewery’s 4.1-rated Citra hazy, which we first praised in November of 2021. Or Au Naturel, Outer Range’s interpretation of a Belgian tripel.
The other perk of this brewery membership is access to events like members-only tastings, bottle shares, and parties.
Outer Range only has 200 of these memberships available, so get yours while you can!
Pro Tip: If the Summit Club is too rich for your blood, consider the Can Club. For only $200, you’ll get access to two free four-packs of your choice (up to a $24 value) per month.
Humble Sea Subscription Boxes
Brewery Subscription Fee: Starts at $74
Join: Now
Perks Include:
- Pure convenience. Never worry about restocking your fridge with Humble Sea beers again
- Get the freshest Humble Sea beers delivered regularly to your doorstep
- Hand-picked beers from Humble Sea’s expert time
- Free shipping site-wide on orders between boxes of $79+
- Choice of three boxes: Barrel-Aged Box, Hop Box, or Heavy Hitters Box
- Barrel-Aged Box includes two, four, or six bottles delivered every two months. Subscribers are the only people guaranteed barrel-aged bottles!
- Hop Box includes three, four, six, or eight four-packs delivered monthly
- Heavy Hitters box includes Humble Sea’s most decadent and indulgent beers—DIPAs, TIPAs, TIPA smoothies, and beyond. Two duplicate bottles and two duplicate four-packs for monthly delivery
Started by three friends, Frank Scott Krueger, Taylor West, and Nick Pavlina, Humble Sea Brewing Co. embodies the California beer scene. They make damn good beer but with laid-back vibes and hella beach style, brah.
Look, we’ve been riding the Humble Sea wave for a few years. Mainly because they pump out fantastic versions of “Foggy” IPAs (hazy IPAs renamed for the infamous fog that often envelopes the Bay Area) and lagers. We love their beer so much that we named them one of our twelve best craft breweries of 2020.
And that translates into their subscription program, which started as a membership club (The Kooks Club) a few years ago.
But the Humble Sea community spoke last year, and Scott Krueger, West, and Pavlina listened, morphing The Kooks Club into a subscription program.
According to Scott Krueger, one of the absolute main perks everyone asked for was barrel-aged stouts. “So we created a barrel-aged box to solve that,” he texted us.
In fact, this year’s experiment was the first time Humble Sea released barrel-aged dark beers to the public! 🤯
Yes, that’s right. The brewery we constantly praised for its hella sunny hazies kicked off this year’s curated community with dark, dark BA beers. And we couldn’t be more excited. Because we know that this California crew will put the same killer touch on its barrel-aged collection.
These are some of Humble Sea’s most coveted bottles, featuring hand-sourced rare bourbon, cognac, and other unique barrels to age imperial stouts for anywhere from twelve to thirty-four months.
And if you’re a Barrel-Aged Box subscriber, you’re the only one guaranteed to get a taste of these stormy (?) selects.
If BA beers aren’t your thing, stick with what gave Humble Sea its reputation: IPAs. The Hop Box delivers three, four, six, or eight four-packs to your doorstep monthly. Handpicked by the Humble Sea team, the Hop Box is the best way to keep up with what’s freshest and dopest at the brewery.
If you want something “outside the box,” go for the Heavy Hitters Box. Full of what Humble Sea calls its most “decadent and indulgent beers,” inside this one, you’ll find the truly crazy stuff—DIPAs, TIPAs, and TIPA smoothie beers, for instance.
You’ll get two bottles or two four-packs per month in this box.
So c’mon, pull on that wetsuit, grab that board, and paddle out—if you’re not already riding the Humble Sea wave, you’re seriously missing out, brah.
Fort Point Beer Co. Beer Club
Brewery Subscription Fee: $50-$136
Join: Now
Perks Include:
- Create your perfect mix of Core six-packs or Limited 16oz four-packs
- Fifteen percent off beer and cider at Fort Point taprooms
- First access to new releases
- Flexibility—pause or switch anytime you like
Speaking of subscription programs, Fort Point Beer Co. dropped its own this past year, continuing to offer the opportunity to create your own box of Fort Point beer to be delivered right to your door.
“We originally launched Beer Club because we noticed we had a lot of regulars…people who would place a Fort Point order weekly or bi-weekly, and we also knew that major Fort Point fans are always looking for ways to get closer to the brand,” Fort Point Director of Marketing Christina Shatzen tells us in an email. “With a Beer Club membership, you’re able to create your own mix of Core Beers, Limited Beers, and Cider (in increments of four or eight) and choose the cadence by which it’s delivered.”
Which is what we love so much about this particular brewery membership: It’s super flexible and customizable.
First, you choose your Beer Club type:
Core – Time-tested favorites available year-round in six-packs
Limited – Experimental beers canned in 16oz four-packs
Mixed – A fifty-fifty split of Limited four-packs and Core six-packs
Next, you can even decide how many beers you would like at any given time—four or eight.
Fort Point beer or cider gets delivered to you with free shipping along with a few other perks: fifteen percent off at the Fort Point taprooms and first access to order new releases.
“We love a good surprise and try to pepper those in unexpectedly for members,” writes Shatzen. “Sometimes that means getting to try a new beer before it launches; sometimes it means we’ll add a little gift into their order.”
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, you can swap out beers, pause, or cancel anytime.
While most brewery clubs lock you in for an entire year (and that can be great), Fort Point has decided to go a slightly different route, allowing you to switch gears on a whim.
Although, we’re not sure why you would. We’re pretty positive that if we could get a monthly supply of Fort Point’s Italian pilsner Sfizio delivered right to our doorstep, we would be some happy campers.
Superstition Meadery 2024 Guild Membership
Meadery Membership Fee: $425
Join: Nov. 11, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2023
Perks Include:
- Limited-release bottles of mead produced especially for the Guild. Each Guild member will receive an exclusive case of twelve bottles (six brand-new meads, two of each) made just for Guild members. The Guild bottles represent a curated selection of Superstition’s most unique small-batch meads. Superstition is limiting the production of Guild bottles this year to increase exclusivity!
- Twenty percent off your entire bill when you visit the Prescott, AZ, Tasting Room or the Superstition Downtown location in Phoenix or when you make a purchase from the Exclusive Guild Webstore.
- An invitation for two to the 2024 Guild Gathering OR free shipping to your home. Superstition is planning the annual Guild Gathering for March 2024. Guild Gatherings always include great music, exceptional food, samples of all the Guild meads, special releases, and an excellent time! If you cannot attend the Guild Gathering, the meadery will ship your Guild case to your home for free. They currently ship to these states: AL, AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, NC, ND, NE, NH, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, and WY
- Access to the Guild-only Facebook page, a space for our members to engage with each other and Superstition staff, receive updates, and talk about all things mead and cider.
- Special early access to new releases. Updates regarding early access are posted to the weekly Superstition newsletter
- Early access to tickets for events
- Special releases on Guild Day
- Exclusive Guild-only special events
It says a lot when we name one of “The 20 Best Beers We Drank in 2020” a raspberry mead from Superstition Meadery. Aged in port barrels, Endovelicus was just one of the many, many times we’ve been wowed by this Prescott, AZ, meadery.
Founded by wife-and-husband team Jen and Jeff Herbert, Superstition is on a mission to reinvigorate a passion for the historical beverage of mead.
And by all accounts, they’ve succeeded. Superstition ranks high on the beer review app Untappd, earning fans nationwide.
Accordingly, their 2024 Guild Membership opens up a world of magical mead possibilities. Becoming a guild member gets you access to twelve members-only bottles of mead, meaning by joining, you’re getting the exclusive card to join others who feel the need for mead.
“What does it mean to be a 2024 Guild Member?” Superstition asks. “It means you are part of one of the best membership programs in the world. The mead, the services, the private Guild page, the access to special releases, the amazing discounts and specials—the benefits of being a Guild Member are as rare as the meads themselves! Joining the Guild means you are part of an exclusive group of like-minded enthusiasts who want to play a role in the Superstition experience.”
Everything Superstition touches turns to gold; we think of these as the Midas-touch meads. So, just imagine what guild member-only meads will come down the line this year. We’ll let your imagination take over as you hit the button below and sign up to become a mead card-carrying member for life (well, at least for the next year).
Casey Brewing & Blending Extended Family
Membership Fee: $80/year
Join Now
Perks Include:
- Exclusive online access to monthly beer releases
- Quarterly cellar sales
- One bottle of Supreme Clientele, an exclusive fruited farmhouse ale
- Ten percent off at the Casey Brewing Glenwood Taproom
- Ten percent discount for monthly MAXOUT purchases
- Five percent discount for curated BREWERS BOX
- Two exclusive Family Reunions at the Barrel Cellar—vintage sale, prizes, and magnums
- Fresh four-pack of IPA and lagers on the shop
- Exclusive membership-only beers
- Special pickup beer menu available at the Barrel Cellar
- Access to virtual Sour Hour—virtual member session with co-founders Troy and Emily Casey
- Six-month beer storage from date of purchase
- Private Facebook page for members
- Membership glass available with purchase of Fan Package
- Membership hat and glass available with purchase of Premier Package
Like many of these membership clubs, Extended Family was designed to bring the best of Casey Brewing & Blending fans together to enjoy what they all love—Casey’s elegant beers.
“As a small family-run brewery, we only have space for so many barrels and farmhouse ales in our facility, which means we release smaller batches and blends,” says Casey Brewing & Blending Owner/Brewer Troy Casey in a video released by the brewery. “These smaller releases are first and foremost for our Extended Family membership. They range from one-off experimental blends to blends with a very limited fruit variety. Our membership is perfect for you if you love our beer and want to dive deeper into the world of Casey Brewing.”
Casey just opened Extended Family memberships a couple of weeks ago, so strike while the iron is hot (perhaps for the holidays).
This past year, the 2023 Extended Family touted a few fun things: the return of Brett Loves Citra; new collabs with the likes of Floodland, Forager, Phase Three, and Homage; new experimental yeast cultures; new dry-hop combinations; more exclusive member blends; more spirit barrel-aged blends; more lagers, IPAs, and stouts; and more family reunions.
You can expect more of the same, if not more, in 2024!
Brewery Memberships That Are Closed Or Opening Soon That We Love
These brewery memberships aren’t currently open to the public or will open for enrollment next year, so we wanted to put them on your radar so you can keep an eye out for them in the future!
Fair Isle Knitting Circle
Join the Waitlist for Season 5 here
Perks Include:
- Eight 750ml bottles (two per quarter). Often these beers include limited-seasonal, foraged ingredients
- Exclusive access to special events, tours, and private openings
Purveyors of ultra-fine saisons, terroir-focused mixed-fermented, and elegant wild ales, Fair Isle collects all the best beers in its forest full of treasures and releases them in its Knitting Circle.
Named after a small island off the north coast of Scotland, Fair Isle is actually famous for its knitting technique. A play on that process, Knitting Circle connects all the elusive dots of this Seattle-based brewery into one of the most expressive beer memberships on this list. We’re talking limited-batch beers with seasonally foraged ingredients added to one-off beers that you try once and may never be able to again.
We love the story behind Knitting Circle, but the beers released here you seriously can’t find anywhere else.
Southern Grist Loyal Fans of Grist
Membership Fee: $285 for returning members. $300 for new members
Join Here: Membership spots will open Dec. 1, 2023
Perks Include:
- Six 500ml members-only bottles. These bottles are not available to the public
- First dibs on future bottle releases before Southern Grist releases to the public!
- A members-only party at the end of the year. Includes pours of the members-only bottles, specialty beers, food from their chef, music, and good times
- You will also get insider information, a private members only bottle share before in person bottle releases, and a few more taproom perks along the way
- NEW IN 2024: Invitation for returning and new members to the Welcome Party/Mixed in February
- NEW IN 2024: Each membership includes an LFG ’24 Member Shirt
A new edition in 2023, Southern Grist Loyal Fans of Grist is an excellent addition to this list.
The name kind of says it all, but Southern Grist’s membership club is truly a love letter to the devoted fans who have helped the seven-year-old brewery grow.
“When I started here, we had people wrapped around the building standing in line for bottles,” says Southern Grist’s Director of Marketing Jessica Gonzalez, who has taken the reins on running the brewery’s membership club. “Everyone wished we had a club so they could guarantee to get a bottle; we heard this for years and years.”
With plenty of exciting barrel-aged beers on the horizon, Gonzalez says this past year seemed the perfect time to “thank everybody that’s been with us through all of the years.”
Beers like LFG ‘23 Volume V, a barrel-aged imperial stout with adjuncts voted on by club members, including vanilla, cold brew coffee, cocoa nibs, and almonds.
Ten months in, the club has received great feedback. In addition to receiving six 500ml bottles never before released to the public, members also get dibs on future bottle releases (such as Batch One Theory) and access to exclusive events and parties.
“People are saying this is the best bottle club they’ve ever joined,” says Southern Grist Co-Founder Kevin Antoon.
LFG may be the cherry on top of the ever-growing frosted raspberry marshmallow sundae at Southern Grist.
Highland Park Brewery Bottle Friends
Brewery Membership Fee: $179
Join: Memberships for ‘24/‘25 go on sale in late February. To get on the waitlist, sign up here
Perks Include:
- Fourteen to twenty different bottle releases
One of our seven favorite breweries in Los Angeles, Highland Park has earned a spot on the Southern California craft beer map alongside Pizza Port, Homage, and Mumford.
Started by Bob Kunz in 2018, the brewery has become known for their dedication to IPAs—they execute both West Coast (Hello, LA) and hazy styles (DDH More) very well—don’t sleep on their funky, experimental saisons and farmhouse ales. And they make a pretty great pilsner that we like to drink in the shower.
Their HPB Bottle Friends just takes things to that next level, offering special bottles at various times throughout the year, plus first dibs on many exclusive releases.
“Bottle Friends is all about thoughtfully blending and crafting barrel-aged beers with a focus on intentionality, quality, and accessibility for our closest friends and supporters,” wrote Highland Park Brewery Bottle Friends Manager Erik Bianchi.
Past releases, for instance, included Meryl, a blend of barrel-aged imperial stouts aged from eleven to thirty-five months with peanut butter and coconut. Or Terror of Life, a barrel-aged barleywine collaboration with Holy Mountain aged twenty months in whiskey barrels.
And, of course, Highland Park’s yearly barrel-aged imperial stout with Trystero Coffee, BA Griffith.
While 2023/2024 Bottle Friends memberships sold out, 2024/2025 season sign-ups will happen in February 2024. For something just a little different from our SoCal friends, keep an eye out for these!
Pure Project Cellar Cyndicate
Brewery Membership Fee: $275 for regular membership or $685 for Select membership
Join: Usually renews around the fall
Perks Include:
- Two Cellar Cyndicate Exclusive Stouts (500ml)
- Two Cellar Cyndicate Exclusive Sours (375ml)
- Four additional Pure stouts (500mL bottles)
- Four additional Pure sours (375mL bottles)
- Presale access for all bottles and cans
- Twenty percent off all crowler and growler fills throughout the year
- Fifty percent off your first Pure Hops shipment
- One custom 2024 Cellar Cyndicate glass
- Additional Cellar Cyndicate-only merch add-on options available
- Twenty-five percent off 2024 Anniversary tickets
- Presale access to VIP hour of Anniversary party
- Ten percent off tab at monthly bottle release parties with exclusive bottle pours
- Presale access and loyalty pricing for 2025 membership!
- Minimum of two exclusive guided tasting events (two tickets)
Did you just see that list of perks?
Even if Pure Project wasn’t one of our favorite breweries in San Diego or hadn’t made one of our favorite beers of 2021, the perks alone of the Cellar Cyndicate would wow us.
But hey, all the above is true, so with this membership club, you’re getting all the juice out of the squeeze. This is a jam-packed bottle society stuffed with exclusive bottles, tickets to select events, presale access on everything (quads, quints, and barrel-aged beers galore), custom glassware, and more.
“Cellar Cyndicate is Pure Project’s exclusive bottle club membership curated for barrel-aged enthusiasts,” wrote Pure Project Marketing Project Coordinator Brooke Sliger in an email. “It includes special bottle releases along with many other member-only perks and benefits.”
Such as a special version of Enchiridion (which we named as one of our favorites in 2021!) just for Cellar Syndicate Select members. “Enchiridion is our yearly reserve imperial stout release and is a blend of single, double, and triple bourbon barrel-aged stouts,” wrote Sliger. “This year’s Cellar Cyndicate Select-only version will have the addition of toasted coconut and macadamia nuts.”
Throughout the rest of the year, Pure Project will release special bottles—from stouts to sours—only for Cellar Cyndicate members, allow early access to purchase any new release, and include some of their most beloved beers in the club, including Corylus and Planifolia.
But you don’t have to take our word here. Just look at the club’s popularity: Since starting in 2017, the Cellar Cyndicate grew from 100 members to 500 in 2022.
The membership sold out pretty fast this year, so while this one isn’t enrolling, we highly recommend keeping an eye on when this club opens up again in the fall of 2024.
Although, according to Sliger, “Depending on how many bottles are available after the first brews come out of the barrel, they sometimes open a few extra spots before year-end, so be on the lookout!”
Side Project La Coterie
Brewery Membership Fee: $125
Join: Renews every year in the first quarter. If some don’t renew, a lottery will fill open spots
Defined as an intimate and exclusive group of persons with a unifying common interest, coterie is the perfect word for Side Project’s own membership club. Started to make fantastic beer for the amazing people who support The Side Project Cellar, La Coterie gives members dibs on select Side Project beers before they go on sale to the public. Plus, every member gets $100 worth of what the brewery calls “white label” beers.
As far as exclusivity goes, this club is at the top. It’s invite-only, so you must be in the know or grandfathered in. But Side Project occasionally fills vacancies with customers on their waitlist or via a lottery.
So here’s the critical part. If you are interested in a chance at getting in, make sure to subscribe to their newsletter here.
Horus Aged Ales Convocation
Brewery Membership Fee: $400 (plus tax and Eventbrite fees)
Join: Renews every year around late April/early May
Perks Include:
- Twelve 22oz bottles of club-exclusive barrel-aged beers
- First access to purchase any future local Horus events—festival, pairing dinner, or tasting
- Opportunity to purchase several additional club-exclusive beers throughout the year. These beers are not included for free
- Unique email sent out that gets you into the Eventbrite sales
- Members have the first right to renew membership each year for as long as the club exists
Look, Horus does one thing really, really, really well—imperial, barrel-aged stouts with a ton of unique adjuncts.
And actually, Convocation came out more by necessity than anything else. Horus Founder Kyle Harrop needed a way to distribute the limited quantities of each beer he makes.
“I make such a small quantity of beer that I only have enough for a few hundred people with each release,” said Harrop in an article for San Diego Beer News. “It makes sense to offer those beers to the people who always support your company and vision rather than just random people trying to buy a hyped release when one comes around.”
Which means Harrop can get to know his devoted fans really well, often connecting with them on a first-name basis. And what started as 200 members has doubled to 400 as of 2022. But despite the growth, that kind of personal connection makes this club stand out.
Oh, and of course, the beer. Like Flammulated Floccinaucinihilipilifaction, an imperial stout collab with Brujos Brewing that has Auromar Estates Panama Geisha Firestone washed coffee, coconut milk sugar, coconut sugar, desiccated coconut, New Caledonia vanilla beans, and toasted coconut.
Or Saw-Whet’s Shrill, an imperial stout collab with Troon with Comoros vanilla beans, hazelnuts, and Samoa cookies.
Just to name a few.
3 Sons Brewing Co. Family Membership V5
Brewery Membership Fee: Single Bottle Membership $225 (plus sales tax) or Double Bottle Membership: $425 (plus sales tax)
Join: Usually renews around late October/early November
Perks Include:
- Six 500ml bottles of barrel-aged beers for the Single Bottle Membership and twelve 500ml bottles for the Double Bottle Membership
- Double Bottle members have the opportunity to purchase extra Family Member bottles through Oznr when available
- Family Members Party (with an option to purchase a plus-one ticket)
- Ten percent discount on all 3 Sons 4-packs/cans purchased in the tasting room
- Ten percent discount on all 3 Sons tasting room draft beers, including the barrel-aged beers
- Ten percent off on all 3 Sons cellared bottles (on-site consumption only)
- Twenty percent off 3 Sons merchandise purchased
- Early access to all bottle releases offered via Oznr
- Early access to all Event Tickets
For the past few years, 3 Sons Brewing Co. has been one of South Florida’s hottest breweries. In fact, before owner and head brewer Corey Artanis even opened the taproom doors back in 2019, Ratebeer.com had ranked 3 Sons as the Best New Brewer in the world.
It’s Artanis’ pinpoint-perfect pastry stouts that have garnered a devoted following. And a gaggle of awards. Such as Summation, a bourbon barrel-aged Imperial vanilla and coffee stout inspired by Goose Island’s 2010 Vanilla Bourbon County stout. Similarly, 3 Sons has released Broward County Brand Stouts (BCB) for the past few years, a set of exceptional barrel-aged stouts.
The brewery’s Family Membership lets 3 Sons give its most loyal fans some serious perks. Along with a guaranteed six or twelve 500mL barrel-aged releases a year, Family Members also have first access to some serious studs.
For instance, Double Barrel Glass, a Family Members exclusive that 3 Sons called its first true double barrel aged stout.
Perennial Artisan Ales Société du Chêne
Brewery Membership Fee: $390.36 for single membership and $780.72 for double membership
Join: Usually renews around August. Best place to stay up to date is Perennial’s Instagram (@perennialbeer)
Perks Include:
- One bottle for single members and two bottles for double members, each of fourteen barrel-aged beers released over the next year, including a mix of wine, foeder, and spirits barrel-aged beers
- Fifteen percent discount towards on-premise cans and drafts
- Exclusive member pre-sales for releases and events when possible
- Three BA releases (two bottles per release)
- Early access to select beer releases and tappings, private events, and parties
- Special member-only releases
- Happy Hour first and third Wednesday of each month
- Special member gift
- Members’ discounted rate for Weathered Souls event/warehouse space
- Quarterly member bottle shares
- Six member-exclusive bottles of mead (375mL)
- First and second chance on all non-member releases
- One “The Lab” t-shirt
- One “The Lab” taster glass
- Access to member-only Facebook group
- Ten percent off select tasting room purchases (session mead, crowler fills, merch)
- Opportunity to assign a proxy for bottle pickup
- Private bottle share events and preview tastings
- Ability to rent out tasting room for private events
- First opportunity for renewal for the Junior Year
- Member ticket to Graduation
- Two 500mL bottles of seven selected barrel-aged bottle releases (fourteen total beers)
- A welcome gift to each El Catador Club member
- Twenty percent discount on purchases at the Cigar City Brewing Taproom on Spruce St. in Tampa, FL, and the Oskar Blues Taproom on Sunset St. in Longmont, CO
- Members can pick up or assign proxies to pick up at the Cigar City Brewing Taproom in Tampa, FL, or the Oskar Blues Taproom in Longmont, CO
- Eight 375mL bottles of member-exclusive mead from four releases
- Ability to assign a proxy to pick up purchases
- Opportunity to purchase additional member-exclusive meads
- Opportunity to purchase bottle/can sales ahead of the public
- Access to member discount on online merch shop
- Access to Finer Things Club Facebook group for members only
- First opportunity to renew membership in 2024
- First opportunity to purchase tickets to Standard Meadery anniversary party (Grace Day 2024)
The price of admission might be worth it just to get your hands on fourteen (count ‘em) wine, foeder, and spirits barrel-aged beers from one of the best in the game.
Abraxas continues to be one of the most-coveted and highest-rated barrel-aged stouts in the world from this St. Louis-based brewery. And while joining Perennial’s Société du Chêne doesn’t guarantee that beer, it indeed ensures you’ll get more than a baker’s dozen of beer of an equal caliber.
Additionally, like many other clubs on this list, becoming a part of this bottle society gets you first access to other bottle releases before they go on sale.
For instance, the Devil’s Heart of Gold, a wheat wine-style ale aged in bourbon barrels.
Weathered Souls Brewing Company Selective Membership
Brewery Membership Fee: $320
Join: Usually renews around late September
Perks Include:
When Weathered Souls opened in San Antonio, TX, in 2016, they shocked the city with carefully crafted hazy IPAs and barrel-aged pastry stouts.
For the last six years, Weathered Souls Founder Marcus Baskerville has taken the industry by storm (pun intended maybe?), starting the internationally acclaimed Black is Beautiful Project, a collaborative brewing project aimed at raising awareness about injustice. Last year, the 1,300 participating breweries and allied trade participants (representing all fifty states and twenty-two countries) raised more than $3M for 501c3 organizations.
Last year, Baskerville opened a new Weathered Souls location in Charlotte, NC, with the Harriet Baskerville Incubation Program (HBIP), an initiative designed to provide opportunities in the beer industry for minorities and women.
All in all, this is always a brewery that we’re paying attention to. And not only for the beer.
But make no mistake, the beer here is top-notch.
Weathered Souls offers four levels of its Selective Membership, including Selective, Top 60, Elite 15 Tier 1, and Elite 15 Tier 2. However, only the first on that list is open to the public, with all the rest invite only.
At the first level, a Selective membership gets you two bottled beers per release, discounts, parties, and more.
The Top 60 membership gets you a few more perks, including two Top 60-member exclusive releases (two bottles per release).
If you’re a true titan, somehow, you’ll become a part of the invite-only Elite tier, which includes a magnum bottle, a dinner party with Baskerville, and all the Selective bottles.
But really, even a Selective Membership is a win here. Baskerville not-so-sneakily makes some of the best imperial stouts in the country, so don’t pass up an opportunity to get your hands on three of these releases each year.
Selective Memberships just closed at the beginning of November. For the past two years, they’ve opened up to the public the last few days in September, so keep an eye on Weathered Souls’ Instagram (@weaterehedsoulsbrewing_satx) for when these go live in 2024!
Brewlihan The Lab
Brewery Membership Fee: $325 (plus any applicable taxes/fees)
Join: Memberships go on sale in July or August
Perks Include:
If mead is more your speed, join Brewlihan’s The Lab.
According to Next Glass Brewery Solutions Account Executive Kyle Kensrue, Brewlihan sold out of their memberships last year before their taproom was even open!
“Our goal is to create one of the top-tier memberships in the nation,” writes Brewlihan. With a sold-out crowd, it sounds like they’re already well on their way to that goal.
Being a part of The Lab gets you access to six member-only bottles of mead. For instance, last year’s first release was Ghost Particle, a complex wildflower mead traditionally aged in a former Bake Kujira Titanium (Maple Cognac) barrel.
Join the club; prepare to have your mind blown with mead.
Cigar City El Catador Club XVII
Brewery Membership Fee: $250
Join: Usually renews around the fall
Perks Include:
Started in 2013, Cigar City’s El Catador Club is one of the more established on this list. Built to foster community, El Catador Club is a members-only club that gets some of the brewery’s most ambitious and unique barrel-aged stouts into its devoted fans’ hands.
To give you a taste, a few bottles that will feature in this year’s El Catador Club XVII include Thee Wolfman, a wheated bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout, EniW YelraB, a bourbon barrel-aged American barleywine, and Return of the Snack, a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout with cacao nibs and peanuts.
Standard Meadery Finer Things Club
Brewery Membership Fee: $295 (plus taxes and fees)
Join: Usually renews in early April
Perks Include:
Standard Meadery’s Finer Things Club is probably for you if you love mead. Because we all love the finer things in life, right? Becoming a member gets you eight 375mL member-exclusive meads per year. So that means, yes, the public can’t get any of the bottles. As a Finer Things Club member, only you can drink this limited-edition mead.
Go ahead, buy yourself something nice—2024 memberships release in the spring, usually around April, so keep your eyes peeled on Standard Meadery’s Instagram (@standardmeadery) for announcements.
Potential Brewery Memberships to Keep an Eye On
Other bottle societies and brewery memberships that we haven’t heard much about yet this year but definitely worth keeping an eye on as we head into the new year: Cellador Ales Syndicate, Wild Mind Ales Forgotten Barrel Society, Phase Three Brewing P3 Ambassadors, and AleSmith Order of the Anvil.
Did we miss your favorite? Have a brewery membership or bottle society that we should tune into? Hit us up on @hopculturemag and let us know.
