15 Classic Beers That Are Definitely Worth Revisiting

[Celerity]

From Sam to Oskar to Pliny, don’t forget about these old standbys.

https://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/best-classic-beers



With at least one craft brewery in almost every neighborhood in America, consumers are spoiled for choice. Sometimes, that’s great. Choice means variety, and variety is the spice of life. But perhaps in the maze of milkshake IPAs and cookie-infused breakfast stouts, you find yourself wishing for simpler times: times when a few-dozen brave independent craft breweries pitted themselves against the might of Big Beer, when discovering a hidden case of Bell’s Hopslam at your local bottle shop felt like winning the lottery, when looking at a taplist involved choosing between five or ten options from breweries that you knew, loved, and trusted. Ah, to be alive and of drinking age in the early 2000s! Luckily, there’s a way to capture that experience. Many of the original breweries that kicked off the craft craze are still making their flagship beers—often in new packaging and more accessible than ever. However, if you’re like me, you probably haven’t tried the old standbys in a while. So this is your cue: Head down to the bottle shop, pick up one of the classics, and remind yourself why you fell in love with craft beer in the first place.



Firestone Walker Parabola

Firestone Walker head brewer Matt Brynildson has more experience aging beer in bourbon barrels than almost anyone in the world. That experience is best expressed in Parabola, a thick 13.6% ABV bourbon barrel-aged stout with notes of chocolate, black cherry, and coffee. A celebratory beer to drink with good friends, the brewery has released a new vintage each year since 2006, which you can drink right away or cellar for years to come.

New Belgium Brewing La Folie

With the tartness of kombucha, the spritz of champagne, the color of rich mahogany, and the taste of oaky tannin and funk, New Belgium’s La Folie isn’t for everyone. But it’s perfect for those who appreciate challenging, complex beers. One of the first commercially brewed sours, La Folie tastes just as good today as it did during its first release in the late ’90s. If you haven’t tried this beer in a while (or at all), you owe it to yourself to quaff a bit of U.S. beer history. Because let’s be honest: When was the last time you drank a Flemish sour brown ale?

The Alchemist Heady Topper

In 2003, John and Jen Kimmich borrowed $150,000 to open a 60-seat brewpub called The Alchemist Pub and Brewery in Waterbury, Vermont. By modern standards, that makes The Alchemist—and its bestselling Double IPA Heady Topper—an OG. Available since the earliest days, Heady Topper spent many years as a functionally unobtainable delight, requiring a pilgrimage to Vermont and crushing defeat if the brewery was sold out. Dank, unfiltered, and endlessly smooth, Heady Topper tastes just as good today as it did then, when patrons snuck into the bathroom to pour their pints into water bottles. True story!

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