11 Best Breweries of 1998

By Marc Dornan

In the past year Beverage Testing Institute panels tasted 999 beers, within 60 different styles categories, from 27 countries. This annual list honors the 10 breweries (well, this year we had to expand it to 11) with the highest average score over the past year for a minimum of four beers reviewed. This list honors breweries that make consistently great beers across their entire line.

Privatbrauerei Aying, Germany

For the fifth time in five years Ayinger has been included in our Breweries of the Year listing. In its fourth generation of family ownership under the stewardship of Franz Inselkammer, Ayinger produces classic rich Bavarian brews that are almost instantly appealing to the novice and the connoisseur alike.

The brewery is located in the heart of Bavaria only 30 minutes outside of Munich in the charming hamlet of Aying. Some of the structures of the associated inn and brewery date back to 1550, and a tavern is believed to have stood on the same spot as far back as 1300, which gives a sense of historical perspective to the operation. The current brewery's first batch of beer was brewed in 1878.

Although one can locate their distinctive labels in havens of good beer from New Orleans to New York, their most important market does not extend more than 60 miles concentrically from their brewery, where 90% of Ayinger is consumed.

Brouwerij Boon, Belgium

Brouwerij Boon has been cited more than once on our year end list, belying the fact that the lambic style of beer this brewery specializes in producing is a rarity in its home country, and the US.

Although the antecedents of the lambic styles date to the middle ages--the basic process historically predates conventional hop-flavored beers--Brouwerij Frank Boon was only founded in 1977, and as such Frank Boon came into the Lambic brewing business as an outsider. As a blender of lambic beers, he could not find sufficient amounts of artisanal lambic to blend and age, so he founded his own brewery.

Enormous political debates have raged among the lambic community and its proponents and critics as what the correct style of lambic should be. While the Boon lambics are clearly artisinal products, the standard range is not currently among the most austere examples of the style to be found. Boon's Mariage Parfait bottlings in particular represent the artisinal character of lambic beer. These vintage dated bottlings are imported in small quantities, but are worth seeking out.

Boon's production is very small, the equivalent of 200,000 750 ml bottles across all his styles of fruit lambics, gueuze, and faro. However, one does not drink such beers in large quantities.

Brouwerij Lindemans, Belgium

Lindemans has made this list on three previous occasions. Established in 1869, it is a significant commercial presence in the lambic brewing industry centered on Brussels. They are located in the heart of the lambic brewing region southwest of Brussels, where the airborne yeasts are favorable for the creation of such spontaneously fermented exoticae. Currently, they brew the equivalent of 2.4 million 750 ml bottles, making them a fair-sized producer of lambic beers. Still a family concern, the head brewer and proprietor is René Lindemans.

Most of the Lindemans products have a pleasant sweetness, and are neither as tart or dry as some of the most traditional lambics. Even so, recent years have seen the sugar levels decline in the range sampled here. The remaining sweetness is complimented by a dry, wine-like acidity and bitterness on the finish, a characteristic of fine lambics. Lindemans standard range of lambics are ideal for beginners to the style or those that simply find unsweetened lambics too dry. For the dry, unfiltered, and unpastuerized lambic experience, Lindemans Cuvee René is one of the outstanding examples of geueze in the lambic world.

Capital Brewing Co., Wisconsin

Capital Brewing Co. of Madison, Wisconsin is a lager specialist. Indeed, Wisconsin, sporting a strong German heritage, has a receptive market for lagers.

Kirby Nelson is the brewmaster responsible for the excellent range of lagers produced by Capital Brewing. Nelson is a man much enamored with the taste of malt. This quality shines through Capital's outstanding blonde dopplebock and potent fall offering, Autumnal Fire. A large factor accounting for this malt generosity is the special mash boil that a portion of these brews undergoes to enhance and deepen the malt flavors. To complete his range of Germanic style beers, Nelson introduced an outstanding weizen in 1998 with commendably authentic yeasty character and a touch more pale malt dryness than Bavarian examples.

Surprisingly, with his penchant for producing such authentic brews, Kirby Nelson has spent only a week in Germany--though while there he did taste 112 beers. Lager connoisseurs in the Midwest should watch for beers from Capital Brewing, whose products stand out among the ale-dominated microbrews.

Fuller, Smith & Turner, England

Fuller, Smith & Turner of Chiswick, London was founded in 1845, though it is still a family-owned firm run by the descendants of its founders. In the UK Fullers has built their reputation through producing outstanding cask conditioned real ales through a modest number of "tied house" pubs in the London area and beyond. All Fuller ales are still brewed at the original, extensively modernized Griffin Brewery in Chiswick, West London. They export a range of bottled ales to the US.

Two of these ales are bottle conditioned: Fullers 1845 Ale and the Vintage dated Christmas Ale. The Porter and IPA have been particularly well received on the US market. The importer and brewery must be commended for printing freshness dates on all of the labels for the US market, a practice that others could well follow.

King & Barnes, Ltd., England

King & Barnes is a member of an increasingly rare species in England: the family run regional brewer. Located in Horsham, Sussex, in southern England, the brewery was established in 1800 as the North Parade Brewery, but took on the family name of King & Sons in 1870 when James King acquired the company. The Barnes family amalgamated in 1906, giving the brewery its current name.

By English terms they are certainly small, although they have a 10 million-pint capacity per year. Most of this is appreciatively consumed in the form of cask conditioned "real ale" in 57 local pubs in the environs of the brewery. Die-hard enthusiasts might care toDie-hard enthusiasts might care to know that a special tankard is presented to all persons who consume a pint of King & Barnes ale in each of these pubs. According to the brewery one person has taken 48 tankards off their hands!

More recently their name has spread due to the development of an excellent range of bottle conditioned ales which are now available in major markets in this country.

It is not likely that they will ever be as ubiquitous as other bottled English imports due to their small size and independence, but one hopes that quality conscious specialist retailers will make the effort to stock them for the benefit of ale connoisseurs.

New Glarus Brewing, Wisconsin

New Glarus Brewing of New Glarus, Wisconsin, was founded in 1993. Deborah Carey set it up in partnership with her husband Daniel, who has the distinction of being a Diploma Master Brewer. Daniel numbers Anheuser-Busch among his former employers, but says "life is too short to spend it in corporate brewing." Currently he brews approximately 6,000 barrels of fruit beers, stouts, and various lager styles in an artisanal brewery based in a town best known for its quaint Swiss heritage.

Although New Glarus Brewing is a notable local producer of bock and pilsner beers, it is with its fruit beers that they have gained notoriety and commanded the attention of the brewing world. The first, and still the best, fruit beer produced by New Glarus was homage to the Belgian red style, Wisconsin Belgian red. The recipe for this magical combination of whole Door County Wisconsin cherries and ale married in oak foudres was developed over the course of six years. Certain aspects of the production process are even patented. It has been followed up by an outstanding Apple Ale and Raspberry Tart Ale. This trinity of fruit beers solidifies the reputation of New Glarus as one of the country's most distinctive and original craft breweries.

New Glarus Brewings' lagers and stout reach a local Wisconsin market, but the fruit beers can be found in Portland, Chicago, and the New York metro area.

North Coast Brewing, California

North Coast Brewing was established in 1988 at Fort Bragg on the mist-shrouded periphery of some of California's best wine regions. Following a familiar pattern for success, it started life as a brewpub, but when demand for bottle beer outstripped the capacity of the original brewery, it expanded its bottled production into a new 22,000-barrel facility across the street. North Coast Brewing is notable for its excellent range of ales that span the breath of styles from stout to Belgian Golden ale. For the most part their style is firmly rooted in the aromatic, hoppy mold that characterizes West Coast ales.

The man, indeed partner, behind the brew kettle is Mark Ruedrich, who developed his passion for good ales during the 1970's in England, at a time when Samuel Adams and their like were no more than a twinkle in the eyes of certain brewer-entrepreneurs.

Currently Mark Ruedrich produces eight year round beers, four of which were reviewed in 1998, and all of which have been reviewed in years past without failing to rate Highly Recommended or Outstanding.

North Coast's reputation has been founded on the quality of such regular brews such as Red Seal Ale and Old Rasputin Imperial Russian Stout which have become well known in the wider beer community. It also produces a range of specialties that are telling of the high level of artisanship of Ruedrich and his brewers. (Though not yet officially tasted by BTI, this writer can personally attest to the extraordinary complexity of North Coast's 10th Anniversary Ale, an oak aged strong ale packaged in a 750 ml cork and wire cage format.)

Samuel Smith's Old Brewery, England

Samuel Smith's should need no introduction to any regular followers of BTI's tastings. This independent brewery hails from Tadcaster, Yorkshire, in northern England and has been family owned by the Smiths since 1847. The brewery was founded in 1758. The tiny town of Tadcaster sits beside a limestone lake, the source of the water for brewing. Although exact production figures are not available, they have invested in impressive modern bottling facilities, and have a wide following among connoisseurs of beer all over the world.

Samuel Smith's bottled range of ales have become a marked success in the US due to their quality and some skillful marketing by their longtime US importer, Merchant du Vin. These beers have introduced many Americans to the taste of Yorkshire ale, and have helped revive interest in stouts and porters at a time when there were few to choose from. With their distinctive packaging and labels, these beers should be easy to find in any good beer specialty shop.

Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan, Germany

Weihenstephan is located just to the north of Munich and claims to be the world's oldest brewery with a record of brewing on the site stretching back to 1040. The commercially run brewery is attached to a university brewing faculty that is now owned by the state of Bavaria, which rose to prominence under the patronage of the Bavarian Royal family.

Weihenstephan wheat ales are modern and clean, of the classic Bavarian variety. They are distinguished by a particularly fruity character that is most noteworthy in the aromatic Hefe-Weissbier.

Wild Goose Brewery, Frederick, Maryland

Wild Goose Brewing, founded in 1993, grew to prominence regionally with an outstanding range of English style ales. In early 1998, Wild Goose Brewery was sold to Frederick Brewing Company, and production was moved from Cambridge to Frederick Brewing Company's larger facility in Frederick. Wild Goose has moved from being a regional producer of craft brewed ales to a nationally distributed brand. It is even exported to China!

Despite the expansion, the recipes remain unaltered. All Wild Goose ales are made from imported English malts and English ale yeast cultures, but they have assertive Yakima Valley hops to give then a distinctly homegrown accent.