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The Top 10 Beers We Drank in May 2025
Making the most of May.
Photography courtesy of Magic Muncie, Social Media Manager, Hop Culture
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Phew, with our travels to Australia and New Zealand, March and April were some intense drinking months. With that in mind, did we take it easy in May?
Well, I guess we’ll let you decide.
A quick trip to Indiana for the Craft Brewers Conference had us making our rounds at some of the best breweries in Indianapolis and cheering on our favorite breweries in the world’s most prestigious beer competition: World Beer Cup.
After our team enjoyed a Kentucky Common in Indy, we decided to dive deeper into this super historical style.
On a Friday afternoon, the Bay Area Hop Culture team finally made it to one of its “Best New Breweries of 2021,” Wondrous Brewing.
And we dug into some packages sent to us, finding gems with a smoked porter and Czech amber lager.
Spring has sprung, beers have been drunk, and guess what, we’re off again traveling in June. So while May has been a nice break, the summer is about to get pretty intense. But before these next thirty days get off the ground, here’s everything we drank this past month.
Hop Culture’s Top 10 Beers We Drank in May 2025
Earth Day – Tree House Brewing Company
Charlton, MA
Photography courtesy of Magic Muncie, Social Media Manager, Hop Culture
American Pale Ale – Although trading beer and ISO callouts may be the halcyon practice of the past, it doesn’t mean it’s totally dead. This past month, our social media manager, who lives on the West Coast, and our senior graphic designer, who lives on the East Coast, did their own little beer swap.
From the east side of the country, a box of Root and Branch, Tree House, and Other Half. And from the west, a package of Russian River, Moonlight, and more.
An American pale ale with Nelson Sauvin and Hallertau Blanc hops, Earth Day “is a crisp, refreshing, hop-forward pale ale with notes of Sauvignon blanc, earthy citrus, and mixed tropical fruit,” writes Tree House in the beer’s Untappd description.
Released for the sustainable April holiday, Earth Day proceeds also benefited The Nature Conservancy.
Great beer, great cause, great exchange.
Plus, doesn’t this beer just look phenomenal in our now-sold-out Steam Bier Willie glass?
Manzanita – Fort Point Beer Co.
San Francisco, CA
Photography courtesy of Magic Muncie, Social Media Manager, Hop Culture
Smoked Beer – The brewery that eats, breathes, and brews San Francisco reached an incredible milestone last year—ten years. Plus, they recently announced their merger with another NorCal icon, HenHouse.
They celebrated a decade in style, bringing back some of their most popular styles from the vault for one-off releases almost monthly.
Including the return of Manzanita, a smoked Altbier.
In 2024, we’ve covered two of our favorite German styles—Altbier and rauchbier. The former, a spellbindingly malty German ale, and the latter a smoked beer.
Both from different regions of Germany—Dusseldorf for Altbier and Bamberg for rauchbier—we haven’t necessarily seen the two cozy up next to the campfire together to make s’mores and hear a scary story.
Until now.
Appropriately, Fort Point calls Manzanita an “imaginative take on the classic German rauchbier,” adding charred Manzanita branches to the grist of classic Beechwood smoked malt to get that characteristic smoky essence.
Bamberg kept the tradition of rauchbier alive because of its proximity to the largest Beechwood forest in Germany.
Here in Northern California, the hardwood Manzanita shrub grows at around one thousand feet above sea level. The indigenous wood makes a perfect addition to Fort Point’s take on a rauchbier.
Drinking this beer immediately reminded us of sipping hot cider around a crackling bonfire after a rainy day of picking apples. Our boots soaked through to our socks, our fingertips frosted over, the hot, mulled, sweet, spiced cider would warm us up from the core (sorry, apple pun).
Apt then that Fort Point calls Manzanita “a beer for a campfire on a crisp fall night.”
We couldn’t agree more, and we wish Fort Point would make Manzanita a permanent addition to its lineup.
Wondrous Hell – Wondrous Brewing Company
Emeryville, CA
Photography courtesy of Magic Muncie, Social Media Manager, Hop Culture
Helles – “[We] don’t f**k with our Hell,” Wondrous Brewing Founder Wynn Wisenhunt told me as we were hanging out in the back of his brewery on a Friday afternoon.
While Wondrous constantly switches up its tap list on Wisenhunt’s whims, one beer always stays: Wondrous Hell.
“It’s the rock of my brewery,” he says.
Could we cheekily say here that Wisenhunt is then always living in Hell?
Hey, if he has to live in Hell so we get Hell, we’ll take that deal with the devil.
Inspired by Wisenhunt’s favorite beer of all time, Augustiner Hell (something he drank a lot of while studying with the Siebel program in Munich), Wondrous Hell has become this tatted brewery owner’s holy grail quest.
Whenever a tank frees up, Wisenhunt fills it with Hell. Everything revolves around Hell.
Starting with a base of German Weyermann light pilsner malt, Hell has a super simple mash schedule and a sixty-minute hop addition of Simcoe.
Originally serving Hell super traditionally and unfiltered, Wisenhunt thought he would just filter it to see what happens.
After running Hell through a plate-and-frame filter for the first time, he took a sample. “Holy f**king shit,” Wisenhunt thought. “It was just so beautiful and perfect.”
To add a little more hop character, Wisenhunt included a five-minute addition of Hallertau Mittelfrüh.
In 2024, Wondrous Hell won a bronze medal at the Great American Beer Festival in the International Light Lager category.
We hope Wisenhunt sticks to his word and never takes this helles off the draft board.
Oertel’s 1912 – Apocalypse Brew Works
Louisville, KY
Photography courtesy of Dallas DuBose | Untappd
Kentucky Common – Look up the definition of Kentucky Common on the Beer Judge Certification Program’s website, and you’ll find they recommend one commercial example as the epitome of the style—Apocalypse Brew Works Oertel’s 1912.
Apocalypse Brew Works Head Brewer and Owner Leah Dienes recovered Oertel’s original brewing logbook from a friend in her local homebrew club who knew the widow of one of Oertel’s original brewers.
A pretty esoteric style today, Kentucky Common was once very, cough, common in Louisville in the mid-1800s and early 1900s. According to Dienes, the city’s biggest brewery at the time, Oertel’s, made 325 barrels of the dark cream ale every day.
Prohibition, unfortunately, killed the Kentucky Common business, but you’ll still see this style pop up occasionally, especially in and around Louisville.
It’s sort of a workhorse or working man’s beer, a cheap-to-produce but low-ABV and full-flavored malty beer that people could drink after a shift or a long day.
Apocalypse Brew Works Oertel’s 1912 uses corn grits, and six-row pale malt, caramel malt, and black malt to give this beer its characteristic copper to light brown color and slightly caramelly aroma and flavor. The American ale pours a dark copper with an off-white head. “Ours has a slightly caramel aroma,” explains Dienes. “And when you drink it, you’ll get a little bit of caramel and black malt. … Because it’s a dry finish, it doesn’t linger.”
At 4.7% ABV, this dark cream ale’s sessionability “makes you want to take another drink,” says Dienes.
When the Louisville-based brewer first made this storied recipe, “nobody had tasted this beer in seventy-five years,” she told me.
If you’re new to Kentucky Commons and looking for a great first version to try, this has to be it.
Batsquatch – Rogue Ales
Newport, OR
Product graphic courtesy of Rogue
Hazy IPA – When Rogue brewed its first hazy IPA, the brewery knew it had to go big.
How much bigger can you get than “beerifying” a cryptid that’s part bat and part Sasquatch?
Allegedly reported flying around Mount St. Helens in the 1980s, the legend of Batsquatch remains…well, a bit hazy. “While there are many tales of Batsquatch, they are all a bit hazy on the details, which makes the truth such a juicy mystery,” writes Rogue about Batsquatch. “So what better way to honor the elusive legend than with a hazy IPA?”
“Batsquatch was our first foray into hazy IPA, so we wanted to make sure we did it well,” says Joel Shields, brewmaster at Rogue Ales. Which meant Shields and his team took several years to dial in the recipe.
“When hazy first started, it was … hard to get stable hazy, put it in a package, and make it look presentable after a month or so,” says Shields. “It took a lot to figure out what ingredients and hops to use … to feel comfortable putting something in a package that tasted good and looked good.”
Shields eventually settled on a mix of Mosaic, El Dorado, Belma, and a touch of BRU-1 hops.
Mosaic and El Dorado are common hazy hops, but BRU-1 “gave a little more haze than others, and that one has a good pineapple note that blends well with the tropical notes of El Dorado,” says Shields.
The real wildcard hop here, though, is Belma.
According to Shields, when Rogue first brewed Batsquatch, Peterborough Farms in Yakima, WA, was the only farm growing Belma.
Today, Peterborough Farms allows Rogue to cultivate a small portion of the wild hops on their own farm in Oregon. But it’s still pretty exclusive.
“In light amounts, [Belma] has more strawberry, ripe melon, or overripe melon that blends well with tropical flavors and gives an extra fruity punch,” says Shields.
Overall, the hop combination gives Batsquatch an incredibly juicy, “smooth, almost sweet mouthfeel with just enough hops to balance out without being overly bitter,” says Shields.
Pouring a slightly hazy light straw color with a nice thick white head, Batsquatch is just a damn fine, approachable hazy IPA.
And so far, fans agree. Batsquatch took flight pretty quickly, catching on in Oregon and around the country; the beer currently ranks as one of Rogue’s best sellers.
Hectare’s Stone Fruit – Hectare’s
Louisville, KY
Photography courtesy of Hectare’s
Delta 9 Craft Soda – In a world where cannabis consumption is growing rapidly, Hectare’s is carving out a space of its own. Based in Louisville, KY, Hectare’s creates premium hemp-derived THC products that offer a fresh, natural alternative to traditional alcohol. Their lineup includes craft sodas, seltzers, gummies, and shots—all thoughtfully crafted with natural ingredients, low-calorie options, low dosage, and a focus on full-bodied, sessionable flavors.
More than just a cannabis brand, Hectare’s is rooted in a deep respect for the land and community. After all, it’s in their name, which pays tribute to the hectare, a unit of land equivalent to 10,000 square metres. Reflecting their ongoing commitment to environmental stewardship, Hectare’s has partnered with 1% For The Planet, donating one percent of its annual revenue to improve the environment through Louisville Grows.
Hectare’s strongly believes its craft soda line has the most potential for the future.
“It offers an alternative that, again, is low calorie, but is full-bodied when it comes to the taste,” says Phillips. “It’s not just a hint of something over water or cannabis. It is full of flavor, but it’s not packed with sugar. It’s not hundreds of calories. So again, it’s something that can be enjoyed socially.”
With its delta-9-based craft sodas, Hectare’s offers some very complex profiles, including Stone Fruit, Dragon Fruit, Watermelon Cucumber Mint, and Blood Orange Vanilla.
Phillips says the Stone Fruit is the top seller and also Hectare’s first recipe.
“That was a unique flavor profile for us,” he says, describing it with undertones of bitters related to an Old Fashioned bourbon cocktail.
Could this be the future? I suppose we’ll just have to drink and see.
How to Make Friends – Hana Koa Brewing Co.
Honolulu, HI
Hazy IPA – Here’s an incredible stat for you: At the World Beer Cup, a competition with 8,375 beers from 49 countries and 1,761 breweries, the beer that took silver in the most-entered category—juicy or hazy india pale ale—with 290 entries: How to Make Friends from the Honolulu-based Hana Koa Brewing Co.
This soft, pillowy 6.9% New England-style IPA isn’t just comfort in a can. Hana Koa gets to the very soul of what it means to be an adult. Spoiler alert: It’s hard to make friends, but beer makes it easier.
“Beer is a catalyst for conversation,” writes Hana Koa on Untappd. “Beer has led to many great friendships and ideas that have changed the world.”
Yes, this beer won a prestigious award, so obviously it tastes amazing, but it’s more than that; it’s a reminder that over a pint, you can strike up a conversation with someone new, and who knows where it will lead. A future friend? A new pen pal? A potential business partner?
When you drink this beer, you aren’t just enjoying an award-winning IPA, you’re telling yourself to take the leap and try something new. And that’s how you make friends.
Human Construct – Primitive Beer
Wheat Ridge, CO
Photography courtesy of Magic Muncie, Social Media Manager, Hop Culture
Lambic – Back in October, when Hop Culture visited Denver for the Great American Beer Festival, we checked in with our friends Brandon and Lisa Boldt, co-founders of Primitive, one of the most incredible spontaneously fermented wild beer-making outfits in the country.
The duo had recently announced the closure of their taproom in Longmont and moved operations to New Image Brewing in Wheat Ridge, CO.
After catching up, the pair kindly sent us a package of some of their latest projects, including this stunner: Human Construct.
A collaboration with Brewery Novalis, a brewery-in-planning in Upstate New York, Human Construct is a four-year golden blend finished in Family Jones Earl Grey gin casks.
A very lovely lambic, Human Construct drinks elegantly with surprising and nuanced flavors of earthy tea and tart tannins.
We still have a couple more beers to enjoy from this package, but if they’re anything like Human Construct, we expect to be blown away.
Nap in the Hammock – Metazoa Brewing Co.
Indianapolis, IN
Cream Ale – When Hop Culture visited Indianapolis at the end of April for the Craft Brewers Conference, it gave the team a chance to brush up on some of the best breweries in the Circle City.
Like Metazoa Brewing, the 2021 Great American Beer Festival Brewery Group of the Year winner and animal-themed brewery that donates five percent of all its profits to animal and wildlife organizations.
If you go, you’ll notice almost all of the beer names have playful animal associations, from the 2021 GABF gold-winning Trash Panda to the 2023 Indiana Brewers Cup gold-medal-winning Mortal Wombat.
We fell in love with Nap in a Hammock, which we suppose is a more loose interpretation of an animal name (I mean, who hasn’t fallen asleep in a hammock with their puppy, right?).
A cream ale, Nap in a Hammock had that lovely corny sweetness paired with a straightlaced malty backbone that washed away quickly with a snappy finish.
You could crush a couple of these in your hammock and have an amazing afternoon. In fact, we did—just minus the hammock and the nap.
Smoke Session – Armor Brewing Company
Allen, TX
Smoked Porter – Last month, veteran-owned Armor Brewing Co. Head Brewer Brian Martin reached out to us about sending us a few beers to try.
When he mentioned that they do things like brew beer with Polish-grown hops never before used in the U.S., experiment with fonio and smoked fruit, and like to make clean lagers and hop-forward American IPAs, we immediately wanted to know (and taste) more.
Martin sent us an incredible package of beers. While we enjoyed everything from the German pils with Polish Tomyski hops and an Altbier that won silver at the U.S. Beer Open in 2023 and gold in 2024, Armor’s Smoked Session smoked porter just edged everything out.
The 2024 Texas Craft Brewers Cup gold winner starts with pale ale, Beechwood smoked malt, chocolate malt, and Carafe 3 special malt.
That Beechwood, which is what smoked beer greats like Schlenkerla use in its own beers, gives this porter so much char on the nose; it’s like walking into a restaurant with an open flame in the kitchen.
But surprisingly and pleasantly on the sip, the smoke isn’t overwhelming. We picked up roast, bacon fat drippings, and umami.
Balance is one of the hardest things to achieve in a rauchbier (or smoked beer), and Armor just nailed it.
Norbert – Sojourn Fermentory
Suffolk, VA
Czech Amber Lager – Another package that showed up on our doorstep, Sojourn Fermentory in Suffolk, Virginia, only opened last August. Based on what we tasted, they’re starting very strong.
A hefeweizen had emblematic notes of baking banana bread, popping bubble gum, and toasting clove, leaning towards the sweeter estery side without being too cloying.
Likewise, a Munich dunkel elegantly balanced chocolatey crusts with leftover bits of cake in the pan.
But our favorite?
Norbert, a Czech amber lager that poured a gorgeous garnet red with notes of cinnamon raisin bagel, strawberry candy, and baked pretzel.
With a slightly dry finish, we immediately wanted to take another sip.
We’re excited to see what else Sojourn Fermentory brews this year.
