4 New England breweries landed on Wine Enthusiast’s annual best beers list
Including one that made the No. 1 spot.
Wine Enthusiast
recently released its list of the Top 25 Beers of 2019, an annual roundup that began in 2009 and that, in its most recent iteration, celebrates “the most impressive, interesting, and exciting beers we had the pleasure to review throughout 2019.”
This year, four breweries from New England made the list — including the No. 1 slot.
Like the wines reviewed by Wine Enthusiast, these beers were scored on a 100-point-scale. The publication named the Bourbon Barrel-Aged Framinghammer from Jack’s Abby the No. 1 beer of 2019 with a score of 95 points, calling the Baltic porter “big and bold right from the start,” and describing it as “an outstanding barrel-aged porter, with everything playing well together and in perfect harmony.”
Springdale, Jack’s Abby’s sister brewery, landed at No. 11 for its Springdale Friends in Merlot Places, an American wild ale brewed with California merlot and aged in French and American oak wine barrels. “The result is a harmonious, vibrant and grapy pour, with assertive vinous aromas of tart raspberry, cherry and balsamic that are partnered with seductive hints of cocoa powder, caramel, and raw sweet dough,” the publication described, giving the ale a score of 94.
Maine Beer Company‘s Peeper, an American pale ale, claimed the No. 14 spot with 92 points. Wine Enthusiast said it offers “more notes of pithy grapefruit, lemon and strawberry hull at first, but then veers into a grainy sweetness that fleshes out the feel and lends some support to the final dry, bitter impression.”
Connecticut brewery Two Roads Brewing Co. was the final New England brewery to make the list, landing at No. 15 with its Area Two Brett Noir. The American wild ale earned 92 points, and the publication noted how it bridges the wine and beer worlds: “It’s tangy and refreshing, with a cleansing pucker followed by an evolving finish that offers notes of leather, dried orange blossom and cocoa-dusted cherry skin.”
Check out the “Top 25 Beers of 2019” as selected by Wine Enthusiast.
Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled the name of Maine Beer Company’s Peeper ale. Boston.com regrets the error.
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