The Best Things We Drank in 2023

Our editors sampled lots of beer, whiskey, wine and more this year — here are our favorites.

collage of whiskey on a table, a person holding a pack of beer, and people cheersing cocktails Cann, Talisker, Alabash Brewing

Every month throughout 2023, we tasted a huge amount of beer, whiskey, spirits, weed drinks, cocktails, non-alcoholic drinks and other beverages. In some cases, we’re taste-testing the industry’s best new products, and in others, we’re coming across hidden gems in the wild.

Over the course of the year, we’ve been documenting our favorite drinks we’ve tried each month. But in case you haven’t been keeping up with our tasty journeys, we’ve got you covered, as we’ve gathered up all of the best things we drank in 2023 here in one place. Have a look below and see how many of these fantastic beverages you had a chance to try this past year — and see which bottles and cans you need to add to your shopping list.

To learn more about our testing methodology and how we evaluate products, head here.

January – March

cans of beerWeldwerks Brewing Co

To kick off the year, we filled our bellies with a wide variety of warming beverages to keep away the winter chill. Our favorites included the first “super-aged” North American single malt whiskey (which is old enough to drink itself), a craft sour ale that tastes just like one of our favorite childhood cereals, a red wine-barrel-aged tequila, a crowd-pleasing IPA from a brewery not known for making IPAs and more.

April

people cheersing cans and cocktails around a tableCann

Not everything we drank this year had booze in it, and one of our favorite April beverages was a tasty THC-infused seltzer. Of course, there was plenty of alcohol we enjoyed too, including a peach-flavored moonshine from a notable 2000s rapper (care to guess which one?), a subdued Spanish wine that was perfect for spring, a 22-year-old single malt Scotch with Aston Martin branding and more.

May

a four pack of beer on a table with pie on a plate10 Barrel Brewing

May saw many experimental libations enter our gullets, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. We tried an awesome alcohol-free spirit infused with a hefty dose of THC that left us buzzing, a decadent marionberry cheesecake-flavored sour from Oregon (which we tried while visiting Oregon), a slightly alcoholic kombucha that tastes like chardonnay, a Mexican spirit aged in WhistlePig rye barrels and more.

June

a bottle of talisker 30 year old single malt scotch whisky and glasses by the oceanTalisker Whisky

June found one of our editors in Cape Cod to try a 30-year-old version of Talisker’s classic maritime single malt — and it just may have been his favorite Scotch of the year. We also knocked back a trendy prebiotic soda (for science), tasted an outstanding 21-year-old PX sherry-finished Scotch rum, revisited an old friend (well, a classic India Ale) we hadn’t seen in some time and more.

July

a bottle of ardbeg bizarrebq whiskyARDBEG

What do you get when you cross Scotch whisky with BBQ? You get one of the best things we drank in June, that’s what. We also enjoyed some non-alcoholic THC-infused canned cocktails, tried some great suds that are only available to members of an exclusive beer club, an ultra-refreshing prosecco rosé filled with summer flavor, a calming weed drink containing Lion’s Mane mushroom and more.

August

cans of allagash beerAllagash Brewing

We certainly didn’t take it easy during the dog days of summer — hey, somebody’s got to put in the hard work of trying all these new drinks. This month, we enjoyed a tasty light lager from a craft brewery, a summery canned cocktail made with a top bourbon brand, a beer based on a legendary southern soda, a hard-to-track-down brew exclusive to the state of Maine and more.

September

jeffersons bourbonJefferson’s

With fall on the horizon, our attention started to shift to brown spirits, and nothing warmed us up more than a bourbon aged in the tropical heat and humidity of Singapore. We also bid farewell to a longtime favorite West Coast beer, drank a local American single malt whiskey while in Pennsylvania, tried an alcohol-free witbier from the brand that’s redefining NA beer and more.

October

blundstone boot next to wine bottleTank Garage Winery

October saw the release of … a wine collab with a popular boot brand? Oh yeah, you bet we tried it (and loved it). We also imbibed a lesser-known beer from a major craft brewery, a tasty malted rye whiskey from a brand best known for bourbon, a hyped-up and impossible-to-find bourbon release from one of the nation’s most acclaimed master distillers and more.

November

bottles of beerGoose Island

Every fall sees the much-ballyhooed release of Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout lineup. And every year we try it, including this year. And while that was certainly the headline-grabber for November, we also tasted a Japanese-inspired single malt Scotch, a Texas single malt whiskey that knocked our socks off, a selection of West Coast IPAs that kept away the creeping cold weather and more.

December

a bottle of alcohol and a boxSAM GENTRY

Did we save the best of 2023’s drinks for last? We’ll let you decide. During the last month of the year, we were lucky enough to try a cult-favorite annual American single malt release, a California Zinfandel referred to as a “musical supergroup in a bottle,” an absurdly premium Scotch distilled in 1978 at an iconic (and long-extinct) distillery, a spiced alcohol-free spirit perfect for buzz-free holiday cocktails and more.

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