This might be the hardest question in the world for a beer fan to answer: “What if you could only drink one beer (any style) for the rest of your life, what beer would you pick?” Would you select your favorite piney, aggressively bitter IPA? Would you pick a dark, chocolate, and roasted malt-filled imperial stout? Perhaps you’d go for a crisp, refreshing, easy-drinking pilsner?
Aaron Halecky, brewmaster at Great Basin Taps & Tanks in Reno, Nevada has a difficult time answering this important question.
“Oh man, come on,” he starts, “you’re really going to ask me this one? What a brutal cold world this would be if you could only drink one beer.”
But Halecky did answer (you’ll find his answer below), as did some other well-known craft beer experts and brewers. Keep scrolling to see what they said.
Revolution Anti-Hero
Arantxa Garcia Barroso, brewing manager at Lagunitas Brewing Company in Chicago
ABV: 6.7%
Average Price: $11.99 for a six-pack
Why This Beer?
Anti-Hero by Revolution. This is a bright, crisp beer with notes of citrus and pine. It’s so refreshing you just want to keep enjoying its flavor over and over again. What more could you ask for in a beer you’re going to drink for the rest of your life?
Samuel Adams Boston Lager
Chris Spinelli, co-founder and brewer at Roc Brewing in Rochester, NY
ABV: 5%
Average Price: $9.99 for a six-pack
Why This Beer?
Honestly, if it is the only beer I don’t make, it would be Samuel Adams Boston Lager. It’s such a great beer all year round. This iconic beer is such a well-balanced lager with a low ABV, it’s a really easy-drinking, malty, Bavarian-hopped, high-quality beer. It’s one I just don’t grow tired of.
Lupulin Hooey IPA
Garth E. Beyer, certified Cicerone® and owner and founder of Garth’s Brew Bar in Madison, Wisconsin
ABV: 6.2%
Average Price: $13.50 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
Why This Beer?
Lupulin’s Hooey is my beer of choice for life. It’s juicy and medium-bodied. As in, nothing is extreme with this beer, so you won’t get tired of it, but it’s still impactful enough to make you pour one after the other. It’s a hazy, juicy, fruity, IPA that gets extra flavor from unfiltered yeast and hop oils.
Põhjala Orange Gose
Jody Valenta, co-president and COO of Roadhouse Brewing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
ABV: 5.5%
Average Price: $5.50 for a 12-ounce can
Why This Beer?
Põhjala Orange Gose. While I keep it in reserve as a great treat of a beer, it’s something I think you could drink with consistency without losing the appreciation for how something with oranges, rock salt, coriander, and lactobacillus could finish so simplistically refreshing and enjoyable.
Plus, its palate-cleansing nature lets it pair easily with food, and its lightness in flavor doesn’t restrict adventure, but rather rewards it.
Austin Beer Garden Industry Pils
Amy Cartwright, co-founder of Independence Brewing in Austin, Texas
ABV: 4.9%
Average Price: Limited Availability
Why This Beer?
I’d have to say ABGB Industry Pils because it is just so darn good. It’s crisp, clean, effervescent and something you could drink every day. I would miss hoppier beers, but this one is a classic. What’s better than a refreshing, easy-drinking pilsner? Nothing, that’s what.
Aecht Schlenkerla Helles Lagerbier
Aaron Bridges, brewer at Finback Brewery in Glendale, New York
ABV: 4.3%
Average Price: $4.99 for a 500ml bottle
Why This Beer?
Helles Schlenkerla Lagerbier, easily. A perfect, crisp lager with just the right amount of smokiness that makes you thirsty for the next. Lagered in ancient cellars, it’s malty, slightly sweet, and has just a hint of smoke that makes it a highly memorable beer. Definitely, one that I’d drink forever.
Paulaner Oktoberfest
Rob Lightner, co-founder of East Brother Brewing in Richmond, California
ABV: 5.8%
Average Price: $9.99 for a six-pack
Why This Beer?
I’m picking this probably because I drank a bunch of it quite recently, but Paulaner Oktoberfest is one of the best beers I’ve had this year and a beer I’d be happy to drink for the rest of my days. Amazing balance of malt and hop character, and it has “multiple notes” – meaning it dances on the tongue and yields a complex flavor experience.
And at 6% I’m going back for another.
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Aaron Halecky, brewmaster at Great Basin Taps & Tanks in Reno, Nevada
ABV: 5.6%
Average Price: $9.99 for a six-pack
Why This Beer?
I’m just a basic bro so I am going to say that pale ale is my go-to style. So off of that, I will say that it would have to be the one and only OG Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Right out of the bottle. It is a legendary brewery that delivers every time with a great balance between the hops and malt. Because it is so readily available and easy to find, it is always one of the freshest beers that you can drink. Just a staple.
At this point. I say that this baby is a national treasure.
Sacred Profane Dark Lager
Joe Rinaldo, brewer at Allagash Brewing in Portland, Maine
ABV: 3.8%
Average Price: $7.99 for a 16-ounce can
Why This Beer?
This is a newer favorite of mine, but Dark Lager from the recently opened Sacred Profane Brewery and Tank Pub in Biddeford, Maine. It’s got everything I need for a rest-of-my-life-beer: pleasant roasted malt flavors, low ABV (3.8%), it’s refreshing, and is available in 12-packs of 12-ounce cans.
Pilsner Urquell
Enrique Vittorino, brand manager at Wynwood Brewing Co. in Miami
ABV: 4.4%
Average Price: $9.99 for a six-pack
Why This Beer?
Pilsner Urquell. I think it’s an epic yet easy-to-drink beer for most occasions. And life is a bunch of occasions with a narrative, sort of. It helps that it’s the first pilsner and the beer that all other pilsners strive to be. Crip, refreshing, and perfect.
pFriem Pilsner
Ryan Joy, lead brewer at Green Flash Brewing Company in San Diego
ABV: 4.9%
Average Price: $10.99 for a six-pack
Why This Beer?
Pilsner from pFriem Family Brewers, without a doubt. Every brewer appreciates a finely crafted pilsner and the brewers at pFriem nail theirs every time. It’s light and crisp with a wonderful floral and spicy aroma and just enough bitterness to dry your palate making another sip necessary. It’s complex if you feel like delving deep into all the nuances but remarkably simple if you just want to have a beer.
I certainly wouldn’t be mad if this was the only beer I could drink for the rest of my life.
Russian River Pliny The Elder
Rob Day, vice president of marketing at Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers in Framingham, Massachusetts
ABV: 8%
Average Price: $6.99 for a 16.9-ounce bottle
Why This Beer?
Russian River Pliny The Elder. I just think it’s one of the most perfected beers made in a style that I really enjoy and helped bring me into craft beer. This 8% ABV double IPA is brewed with Amarillo, Centennial, CTZ, and Simcoe hops and is known for its bold citrus and pine flavors with a nice malt backbone.
Miller High Life
Ian Brown, head brewer at Biggerstaff Brewing in Atlanta
ABV: 4.6%
Average Price: $6.99 for a six-pack
Why This Beer?
Probably Miller High life. Just can’t go wrong. Always refreshing and pairs with anything. Crisp, easy-drinking, and always there. It pairs well with anything. Plus, you can’t beat that classic, clear bottle.
Rothaus Tannenzäpfle
Ryan Pachmayer, head brewer at Yak & Yeti Brewpub and Restaurant in Arvada, Colorado
ABV: 5.1%
Average Price: $17.50 for a six-pack
Why This Beer?
A fresh German pilsner, such as Rothaus Tannenzäpfle or Schonramer Pils. These beers are incredibly clean, a result of low-temperature fermentation and extended lagering, which is common in pilsners from Germany. What separates these two, however, is their hop selection and techniques. They have a firm bitterness, like many German-style pilsners, but they stand out of the pack with their usage of flavor hops.
It’s tricky in these beers to get the right flavors without having the beer tasting too grassy and these two do a phenomenal job of not being grassy, of having just enough flavor to make these beers more interesting than many counterparts.
