In the last 18 months, more than 6,500 new breweries registered on RateBeer, the largest beer-rating website on the internet. Among them are the distinguished few recently named the 10 “Best New Brewers in the World,” a list that’s unique because it depends on user-generated reviews rather than a panel of judges.
Notably, seven of the breweries are from the United States; the other three are based in the Netherlands (Tommie Sjef Wild Ales), Poland (Brokreacja) and Belgium (Bokkereyder). And though the American bias isn’t particularly surprising — according to the site, “the majority of reviewers and beers [are] American” — it’s still impressive given that only 30 percent of the site’s Top Beer Raters are from the United States.
If anything, the site, its user base and the awards are collective proof that beer is a field where Americans have excelled in recent years, and one they’ll only continue to push forward. These are the new brewers responsible.
Suarez Family Brewery
Opened last summer, Suarez Family Brewery is a self-described “mom and pop production brewery” based in the Hudson Valley. Its driven by the vision of Dan Suarez, an alumnus of Hill Farmstead, who focuses on balanced, low-ABV pilsners, ales and mixed-fermentation “country beers” — those that he and his team “purposefully inoculate with multiple organisms” before resting in oak casks.
Location: Livingston, New York
RateBeer Rating: 98/100
BeerAdvocate Average: 4.31/5