The Top 12 Beers We Drank in November 2025

For us, November is always about taking time to think about the things we’re most thankful for.

We’re thankful for the opportunity to travel to Outer Range’s new taproom in the French Alps, a tiny brewery in Italy only known by word of mouth, and one of Manchester’s best breweries.

We’re thankful for time-honored seasonals like Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale and Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout.

And we’re thankful for trying beers from breweries new to us, like Alternate Endings, Origin Beer Project, and Barquentine Brewing.

We urge you to take a moment during the holidays to pause, reflect, and think: What are you most thankful for?

Hop Culture’s Top 12 Beers We Drank in November 2025

In the Steep HyperBoost – Outer Range Brewing Company French Alps

Sallanches, France

Hazy IPA – At Outer Range’s new taproom in the French Alps, on a clear day, you can see the mighty Mont Blanc. While we absolutely love Outer Range’s OG location in Frisco, with its 360-degree views of the Colorado Rockies, when you’re in the presence of Western Europe’s highest peak, you can’t help but be awed.

In the Steep HyberBoost is kind of the same.

We love Outer Range’s OG In the Steep; it’s an IPA we can come back to again and again, delighted every time.

But In the Steep HyberBoost is like a glammed-up version of the brewery’s iconic hazy IPA, using one hundred percent Citra HyperBoost.

Somehow the beer drinks a bit brighter, juicier, just everything…elevated.

Probably helped that, as we took our first sip, the glorious French Alps peak peeked out from behind some clouds.

“In the winter, when it’s sunny, it’s the most gorgeous,” said Outer Range French Alps General Manager Elise Mucke. “I could spend hours sitting on a chair and looking at that.”

So could we.

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IX Anniversary – Brasseria Della Fonte

Pienza, Italy

Barleywine – Three hours from Rome, in Pienza, there’s a farm brewery unlike any other. Down a slightly sloped dirt road is Italy’s highest-rated brewery, according to Untappd—Brasseria Della Fonte.

But this isn’t a flashy place. The farm brewery, which has its own on-site place to stay and restaurant, makes beer that head brewer and founder Samuele Cesaroni loves to drink—English bitters, classic German lagers, hop-forward ales, and barrel-aged barleywines and stouts.

The latter are standouts at Brasseria Della Fonte, with Cesaroni often sleeping overnight in the brewery during long boils to make sure he’s making the most balanced beer.

Inspired by barrel-aging savants like Kane Brewing, Bottle Logic, and Goose Island, among others, Cesaroni uses only real ingredients in all his barrel-aged beers.

“For me, it’s the best way, and it’s what the drinkers want,” Cesaroni told Hop Culture Social Media Manager Magic Muncie when he visited last month.

One of Muncie’s favorites from his trip, IX Anniversary is brewed and blended every year to commemorate the brewery’s anniversary.

For this year’s version, Cesaroni crafted a blend consisting of 85% barleywine aged in 12-year Heaven Hill barrels and 15% imperial stout aged in Weller bourbon barrels. He described the divine beer he stored in these barrels as “the heaviest beer I have ever brewed,” drawing inspiration from Side Project’s well-known barleywines.

Here’s what Muncie had to say about the beer in his own words, “The intricate amalgamation, aged for thirty-five months in barrels, is a tribute to flavor, showcasing an elegant profile with hints of brown sugar, caramel, dark fruit, fresh coffee, dark chocolate, and vanilla. Never overpowering and perfectly balanced in sweetness and viscosity, this barrel-aged beer showcased a refined demonstration of patience, technique, and taste.”

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Bourbon County Brand Chocolate Praline Stout (2025) – Goose Island Beer Co.

Chicago, IL

Imperial Stout – Speaking of Goose Island, we were lucky enough to attend an early virtual tasting of this year’s Bourbon Country Brand Stout lineup. While all six beers wowed, the Chocolate Praline Stout stood out.

Modeled off the Pearson’s Candy Nut Goodie, a caramel nut candy bar often found in shipments of BSG malt, BCBC Chocolate Praline Stout includes Ghanaian cacao nibs, 11,500 pounds of three different nuts, including two Goose Island has never worked with before in BCBC—cashews and hazelnuts—and dates.

“It all comes together really nicely,” said Goose Island Brewmaster Daryl Hoedtke. “You get sweetness from the dates, nuttiness, and all that chocolate praline character.”

For those who are unfamiliar with this confection, “the easiest way to describe praline is caramelized sugars with nuts,” explains Goose Island Innovation Manager Paul Cade, who says it’s similar to a Turtle with caramel, nuts, and chocolate. “You can’t go wrong!”

Goose Island takes a lot of pride in how it adds adjuncts to its imperial stouts, often combining flavors for a purpose—to invoke a childhood memory, for example, while also talking poetically about barrel and time as two critical ingredients.

“When everything comes together in the class,” says Goose Island Head of Innovation Michael Siegel, “it speaks for itself; it’s delicious.”

For us, this beer did indeed taste like a liquid candy bar, but without tipping into oversaccharine territory. Oftentimes, pastry stouts can be too sweet in our opinion, relying on ingredients simply for the sake of going over the top.

Here, Goose Island has a deft hand, expertly using the barrel aging to round out those sweet characteristics with a warming blush.

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Sonoma – Track Brewing

Manchester, England

Pale Ale – A bicycle trip from Virginia to Sonoma in California inspired Track Brewing Founder Sam Dyson to a) start his own brewery back in Manchester—Track Brewing—and b) brew a beer reminiscent of some of his West Coast favorites—Pliny the Elder, Lagunitas IPA, and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale—but with a U.K. mentality.

When Dyson thought about what he first wanted to make at Track, he had one beer in mind. “A 3.8% ABV pale ale is like the sweet spot for the northwest region of the U.K.,” Dyson explained to Hop Culture Social Media Manager Magic Muncie when he visited. “The beer industry has come a long, long way. But really, if you can make a three to four percent pale ale on cask that is good, you’re going to get it into a lot of places.”

He didn’t nail the recipe the first time, but Dyson’s second shot at a pale ale came in at a sessionable 3.8% ABV and absolutely nailed what he had envisioned.

Sonoma put Track on the map with local craft beer lovers.

“There’s so much emotional connection to that beer, and particularly in cask,” says Track Events & Creative Manager Stefan Melbourne, who came to Track after a career in music. “Anyone who knew us in the early days, that was the thing that drew them to us.”

Even brewers who visited from the States, from well-known breweries like Green Cheek, Bagby, and Other Half, couldn’t stop drinking Sonoma.

Today, the approachable pale ale reigns as Track’s flagship brew—the crowd favorite—and has morphed into a variety of versions.

It was the first beer Muncie tried in the taproom. Overflowing with resinous vibes of fresh, fluffy mandarin and juicy mango, this is the definition of a perfect pale ale.

“In Manchester, it’s a part of our identity,” says Melbourne.

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Sea Bear – Barquentine Brewing Company

Edgewater, CO

Saison – This month, we participated in a virtual tasting with Root Shoot Malting Founder Todd Olander and Barquentine Brewing Company Head Brewer and Founder Kyle Knudson, sampling a few beers with Root Shoot’s craft grains.

Those like Sea Bear, a saison featuring Root Shoot’s Genie Pale.

The grain with the highest velocity at Root Shoot, Genie Pale, “has a lot of sweetness from the enzymes in there,” explained Olander.

A little darker than a pilsner malt but still fairly pale, Genie Pale is great for IPAs, but craft brewers like Knudson are using it in other styles, too.

The award-winning malt went into Barquentine’s saison, Sea Bear, where Knudson found it “has more character, a little bit more honey, and that toasted bread,” he says. “It’s a really light colored malt that gives you a lot of punch.”

In Sea Bear, a house beer since Barquentine opened, that punch rounded out the fruity esters from the brewery’s house yeast, giving this beer a silkier mouthfeel.

“The trick with a great saison,” said Knudson, “is that you allow the yeast to be expressive.”

The Genie Pale in here, along with a mix of malted rye and white wheat, gave this beer a toasted honey-nut, earthy, spicy complexity that stood up well to the yeast’s bubblegum-like esters.

Sometimes with saisons, we enjoy the first couple of sips, but tire of the sweetness by the back end. With Sea Bear, the balanced, complex layers of ingredients kept us going back for more.

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Blessed – Anchorage Brewing Company

Anchorage, AK

Imperial Stout – Blessed, an aged imperial stout brewed with Madagascar vanilla beans and thousands of pounds of coconut, blends a one-year-aged and three-year-aged beer from a mixture of Willet and Woodford Reserve Double Oak Barrels. Brewed with actual toasted coconut and vanilla, Blessed marked the first time Anchorage Brewing Co. Founder and Brewer Gabe Fletcher ever put adjuncts in his beer.

“I’ve been pondering brewing adjunct beers for a while, but just couldn’t figure out a way to get the large amount of ingredients I wanted into the beer,” says Fletcher in a previous article for Hop Culture. After plenty of research and advice, Fletcher finally found a solution. He ended up purchasing his own infuser.

“It’s a 10-barrel tank that has screens on the bottom and all these racking arms in it. You can essentially purge the thing with CO2, fill the [tank] with coconut and X adjunct, and recirculate it. You press it out and keep doing that until you get the flavor you’re looking for,” says Fletcher.

Bingo! Huge flavor.

Fletcher first discovered the idea of the infuser from none other than his good friend Cory King, owner and brewer of the aforementioned Side Project Brewing in St. Louis, MO.

“I can’t say how much toasted coconut [I used], but let’s just say it was hundreds and hundreds of pounds,” says Fletcher.

Additionally, Anchorage spent $36,000 on Madagascar vanilla beans to complement the tropical fruit. “There are no fake ingredients in this beer. Everything is real,” says Fletcher.

This beer tastes like German chocolate cake—decadent chocolate, oozing caramel, and tons of toasted coconut.

Which is probably why it ranks highly on the list of Untappd’s All-Time Top-Rated Imperial Stouts.

Want to know what else is on that list? 👇👇👇

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Celebration – Sierra Nevada Brewing Company

Chico, CA

American IPA – Yes, the holidays are here! And that means Celebration season. Unlike other Christmas ales that feature spices or fruit, Celebration Ale, at its core, is a beer all about hops.

Which is why we love it so much.

Pouring out a beautiful ruby red color, Celebration Ale almost looks precisely like an ornament you’d hang on the tree or a candle you’d place in the kinara (candleholder) for Kwanzaa (red candles represent one of the colors of the Pan-African flag, along with the struggles of the past).

Not an easy color to hit in beer, red really represents the holidays. “Visually, it’s an absolutely striking beer,” says Sierra Nevada Head Innovation Brewer Isaiah Mangold.

And the hue stands out against the pillowy white head. “To me, one of the real standouts is the foam,” says Sierra Nevada Product Manager Terence. “It performs great in a pint glass. The lacing you get from Celebration Ale is so inviting, and it’s such a pretty beer in any type of glass.”

Along with its striking color, Celebration Ale will hit you in the nose with citrus, pine, and that aforementioned rose characteristic. “But you get a little backbone of caramel and toffee notes too,” says Sullivan, courtesy of the caramel malts Sierra Nevada uses in the recipe.

And here’s where things get interesting.

Sullivan and Mangold consider Celebration “one of the first true West Coast IPAs ever made,” says Sullivan. But some jestingly disagree.

Those like Russian River Brewing Company Co-Founder Vinnie Cilurzo, who playfully argues that West Coast IPAs do not include caramel malt and color. “Vinnie always gives us s*** because we use C-60 caramel malt because why would you ever do that [in a West Coast IPA],” laughs Sullivan. “But he loves Celebration Ale; he just likes to bust our chops.”

And the malt is crucial in Celebration Ale. It softens the edges of what could be an overly bitter beer. “It reminds me of a lot of really great salsas,” says Sullivan. “The flavor is not overly aggressive, but there is a nice sharp bitterness … not over the top, but just the right amount of bitterness that makes you want to come back for another sip and another sip.”

Because on the palate, Celebration Ale truly shines like a highly polished ornament. “Celebration is so perfectly balanced that, even though it’s aggressively hopped, it has that little caramel, raisin note from the specialty malt that plays so well,” says Mangold. “They’re just in perfect harmony.”

Whether you’re pairing the beer with Thanksgiving dinner or a simple night around the campfire.

“I’ve had people ask me: What would you pair this with?” says Mangold. “I’m like: Life!” The beer just simply goes with any occasion … any celebration.”

This is even more impressive, considering that Celebration Ale is actually a relatively simple recipe. It’s just two kinds of malt—pale and caramel—and two signature hops: Cascade and Centennial.

That and “a lot of love that makes Celebration Ale finish the way it does,” says Sullivan with a smile.

When year-end looms and days darken, we often turn to dark beers, stouts, and porters. Normally, we slow down on hoppier styles. But Celebration is the rare exception. A winter mainstay brewed to invoke the sensation of evening strolls by tall pine trees, Celebration is one of the best holiday beers worth sipping every year.

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Oh Geez – Origin Beer Project

Providence, RI

West Coast Pilsner – Brewed for Origin Beer Project’s fifth anniversary, this West Coast pilsner came to us courtesy of a package of about fifteen different beers. Out of all the ones we tried, Oh Geez stuck with us the most. Pouring a clear gold, the hoppy lager hit us first with a dominant dankness on the nose. On the sip, though the hoppiness from the experimental HBC 522 remained subtle, it built with each sip. The word that stuck out in our minds the most: smooth. Sometimes with West Coast pilsners or hoppy lagers, the presence of our little green friends can override the characteristics we love in lagers—crisp, malty, clean. But in Oh Geez, Origin Beer Project nailed this harmony.

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Out of the Shadows – Alternate Ending Beer Co.

Aberdeen, NJ

Czech Pilsner – Another anniversary beer that just crushed it, Out of the Shadows from Alternate Ending Beer Co. celebrated the brewery’s fifth trip around the sun. Something about a five-year anniversary in the air this month, are we right?

Brewed following traditional Czech practices, Out of the Shadows was triple-decocted, open-fermented, and brewed with Edelweiss malt from Sugar Creek Malt Company. The latter, which the brewery mentioned, was highly unmodified, making the decoction process crucial for accessing those complex flavors.

Pouring a clear, rich gold, this Czech-style pilsner had an incredible clingy, fluffy foam on top.

With deep, rich aromas of soft water and riverbeds, Out of the Shadows drank with herbaceous notes paired perfectly with a deep, baritone breadiness from the decoction.

The clean finish had us cannonballing back into that cloud-like foam sip after sip. We found this to be a beautiful beer to celebrate a great occasion.

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Scotch on the ROCs – Wallenpaupack Brewing Company

Hawley, PA

Scotch Ale – Wallenpaupack calls Scotch on the ROCs a Rochester-style Scotch ale brewed with Scottish ale yeast. Dark, peaty, smoky, rich, and umami, yet also light on the tongue, Wallenpaupack’s Scotch ale wowed us with those smoked-beer-like vibes without actually being a smoked beer.

We found notes of chocolate ice cream sundae sauce, bacon, and cocoa. This was a great beer to pour into a Scotch tumbler and sip on as we watched the leaves fall outside our window on a cold autumn day.

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Strawberry Lemonade – Uncle Arnie’s

Marina del Rey, CA

Hemp-Derived Beverage – We’ve all got that one uncle. You know the one—he shows up in a tie-dye tee, cracks the best jokes at the cookout, and somehow makes even your grandma laugh about the “good ol’ days.” Now imagine that same fun uncle…but in a can. That’s Uncle Arnie’s.
This isn’t your stoner roommate’s weed story. Uncle Arnie’s is here to flip the script on cannabis culture—no bongs, no paranoia, just good vibes poured over ice. Whether you’re winding down, gearing up, or trying not to lose it during holiday chaos, there’s an Uncle Arnie’s with your name on it.

For instance, the crowd-pleasing Strawberry Lemonade that has killed it over the summer and fall. With zero sugar and a low amount of calories, this throwback to a ‘90s summer on the beach is “the most go-to for a chill evening,” says Uncle Arnie’s VP of Digital and Ecommerce, Mo Hassan, “just sitting by the pool, the deck, the fireplace with a Strawberry Lemonade in your hand.”

Uncle Arnie’s CCO Jeff Bull adds, “Strawberry Lemonade is crushing it right now.”

Think of this THC-infused bevvie as your “uncle-approved” way to chill—without the next-day regrets. With over a million cans cracked open and counting, Uncle Arnie’s is helping everyone find their inner fun uncle (minus the questionable dance moves).

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Earl Grey Makgeolli Hard Seltzer – SWRL

Korea and New York City

Rice Seltzer – What if the next big thing in beverage alcohol wasn’t born in a brewery, but from centuries of Korean tradition? That’s the spark behind SWRL, a modern take on makgeolli—the beloved Korean rice liquor known for its creamy texture, cloudy appearance, and unmistakably comforting flavor.

For founders Inji and Haley Kim, SWRL isn’t just a drink; it’s a cultural invitation. “We want to make the world more welcoming through culture,” says Inji. And for the beverage innovators, alcohol is that bridge, bringing generations, people, and cultures closer together.

Inspired by the explosive growth of Korean culture worldwide—from K-pop to K-dramas to seaweed snacks—the duo set out to create something equally approachable and authentically Korean. Their idea? Transform makgeolli into a sparkling, zero-sugar, low-calorie hard seltzer that highlights the beverage’s traditional character while appealing to a global audience.

We don’t often find ourselves curious about something new anymore. But that all changed when we learned about the world’s first makgeolli hard seltzer.

To make SWRL, Inji says they developed a unique makgeolli fermentation recipe. Usually, with makgeolli, fifty percent of the fermentable sugars remain, giving you that sweet, creamy rice liquor. With SWRL, Inji and Haley turn one hundred percent of the sugar into alcohol, “which makes it super light and much drier,” says Inji.

For flavors, Inji says they want to develop an approachable line with some Asian influences.

While the original is the brand’s most popular flavor, the Earl Grey offers the milk tea flavor we really enjoy. When Inji and Haley launched initially in Korea, people loved the Earl Grey, so they wanted to introduce it to Americans as well.

You can find SWRL at select locations around New York City and shipping to forty states including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Go ahead, give SWRL a whirl!

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