Ah, world beer: I have only two rules for selection into my top 50 (in no particular order). The first is that the beer in question must be a good-quality example of its style — that’s obvious enough.
The second is that it must not be brewed in the UK. The term ‘world beer’ was coined to distinguish between genuinely imported beers brewed in their country of origin and those brewed under licence in the UK. If you are brewed in the UK and pretend that you’re not, you don’t make the cut — simple as that.
In our rapidly evolving beer market, ‘world beer’, ‘speciality beer’ and ‘craft beer’ have overlapping distinctions and I challenge anyone to separate them satisfactorily. This selection is heavy on lager (in a nod to what we commonly understand ‘world beer’ to be) but stretches to the very ends of the ‘beeriverse’.
So here are 50 of the best — not the 50 best — beers from beyond these shores. Choose even one from each of the categories below, and receive the adulation of the masses for what a well-stocked beer fridge you keep.
LAGER
Bondi Beer
(Australia) 4% ABV
I thought this sounded awful, then learned it was a very impressive lager that drinks well above its strength. If only all ‘Australian’ lagers were this well made — sorry, ‘crafted’.
Brooklyn Lager
(USA) 5.2% ABV
Brewed to a pre-Prohibition recipe, this modified Vienna-style amber lager is the perfect silencer for anyone still proclaiming that “American lagers are really horrible”.
Budweiser Budvar
(Czech Republic) 5% ABV
No list of great beers is complete without the true Budweiser. If 60 days’ conditioning really is no longer necessary for true quality, as bigger brewers claim, why don’t their lagers taste as good as this?
Cruzcampo
(Spain) 4.8% ABV
It’s easy to dismiss Spanish lagers as bland and inconsequential — and be completely wrong. Lagers like this one have a creamy smoothness and perfect balance of flavour.
Heineken
(Netherlands) 5% ABV
Heineken is the U2 of beer — corporate, omnipresent, and you want to hate them. But when you do encounter this beer, you have to grudgingly admit: “OK, damn it, that’s actually quite good.”
Jever Pilsener
(Germany) 4.9% ABV
Dry with a bitter buzz, and some pleasant, spicy and grassy hop notes, this is a superior and distinctive lager that always exudes class.
Krušovice
(Czech Republic) 5% ABV
Newly launched in the UK, this is a classic Czech Pilsner using the wonderful Saaz hop. Mellow, balanced and clean.
Nils Oscar God Lager
(Sweden) 5.3% ABV
‘God’ is actually Swedish for ‘good’, and it’s a perfectly apt name for a decent Dortmunder Export-style beer.
Paulaner Munich Lager
(Germany) 4.9% ABV
Munich is lager heaven and Paulaner one of its six gods — the product of nearly four centuries of brewing expertise.
Peroni Nastro Azzurro
(Italy) 5.1% ABV
A surprising choice perhaps, but while light on flavour it’s delicate, crisp, refreshing, and works as a perfect foil for fried food.
Pilsner Urquell
(Czech Republic) 4.4% ABV
I’ll never understand why the ‘original Czech Pilsner’ never quite captures the imagination of British drinkers, despite regular relaunches by owners SABMiller. It should be at the heart of any self-respecting beer range.
Tusker
(Kenya) 4.2% ABV
You know when you go on holiday and love the local beer and then bring some home and it tastes horrible? Tusker still tastes as good as when you first had it on that honeymoon safari. A global cult classic.
Vedett
(Belgium) 4.7% ABV
A month’s lagering delivers great balance and structure — it tastes like the most famous Belgian lager used to, back when it was made with this much care.
Warsteiner
(Germany) 5% ABV
Popular during the first bottled premium lager craze back in my university days, this solid, malty German Pilsner has now made a welcome return.
Żywiec
(Poland) 5.6% ABV
Has suffered in the past from poor handling and old stock sold in seedy convenience stores, but I tried a fresh one recently and was blown away by its vitality and zing.
WHEAT BEERS
Blanche de Bruxelles
(Belgium) 4.5% ABV
Quietly holds a widespread reputation as one of the best Belgian-style wheat beers. Added coriander and dried orange peel give it an orangey sweetness that makes it a perfect summer refresher.
Grolsch Weizen
(Netherlands) 5.3% ABV
Hasn’t taken off as much as it should — really quite a remarkable wheat beer, borrowing elements of both the German and Belgian wheat-beer tradition. An amazingly versatile food matcher.
Pyramid Hefeweizen
(USA) 5.2% ABV
An American take on the German style. Biscuity, toffee, banana and clove notes.
Schneider Weisse Original
(Germany) 5.4% ABV
Great German-style Hefe with a fruity, banoffee character. A complex, yet supremely refreshing beer.
Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier
(Germany) 5.4% ABV
Simply one of the best beers in the world, in this or any other style. Has won more awards than I’ve had cold beers.
ALE & IPA
5 Barrel Pale Ale
(USA) 5.2% ABV
Doug Odell combines a genuine love of old British styles with the bigger US versions that have evolved from them. This is a beautiful, fresh and lively pale ale from Odell Brewing Company.
Coopers Brewery Sparkling Ale
(Australia) 5.8% ABV
A bottle-conditioned golden ale that Aussies are fond of rolling on the bar to agitate the yeast before pouring cloudy.
De Koninck
(Belgium) 5% ABV
As well as everything else, Belgians can make a decent brown ale. De Koninck is served in a traditional glass called a ‘bolleke’. And yes, it does mean what you think it does.
Früh Kölsch
(Germany) 4.8% ABV
Look closely enough and the distinction between ale and lager disappears. There’s perhaps a bit more of a malty body here than in German lagers, but this traditionally-brewed ale does anything a lager can.
Goose Island IPA
(USA) 5.9% ABV
“I don’t like beer. I prefer wine.”
“Try this.”
“I love beer!”
Works every time.
Houblon Chouffe
(Belgium) 9% ABV
American hops in a Belgian beer? Sounds like a rotten idea. But it works here — an unlikely but beautiful marriage.
Little Creatures Pale Ale
(Australia) 5.2% ABV
A hop-forward ale that manages to balance vivid citrus fruit aromas with gentle bitterness and crisp refreshment. One of the very best beers in the world.
Modus Hoperandi IPA
(USA) 6.8% ABV
Blows away any doubts that great beer can’t come in cans — zingy and citrusy with a quenching, smooth finish — if anything, this brew, from Ska Brewing, is fresher and more vital than bottled beers.
Nøgne Ø IPA
(Norway) 7.5% ABV
‘Nurgner-Ur’ is a classic example of how Scandinavian craft brewers inspired by the US are creating beers that at least equal their influencers.
Racer 5 IPA
(USA) 7% ABV
One for the hopheads: this is a dazzling kaleidoscope of grapefruit, orange, pine and hints of tropical fruit with a firm, caramel body to hold them together, from the Bear Republic Brewing Company.
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
(USA) 5.6% ABV
The very first American-style pale ale to be brewed with bags of Cascade hops has never been surpassed. For anybody with a sane palate, this is simple perfection.
STOUT/PORTER
Alaskan Smoked Porter
(USA) 6.5% ABV
Dark and robust with a nice, smoky body. If it doesn’t sell, it actually improves with age, so you can’t lose.
Black Chocolate Stout
(USA) 10% ABV
Mmm... this brew, courtesy of Brooklyn Brewery, is like enjoying a sexy chocolate dessert laced with sherry at a candle-lit table with someone you’ve fancied for ages.
Bourbon County
(USA) 15% ABV
In the arcane world of craft-beer geekdom, the Goose Island brewery is no longer ‘craft’ because it’s owned by AB InBev. If this multi-layered, endlessly fascinating, majestically powerful beer is not a craft beer, then I’m not an overweight professional northerner.
Einstök Icelandic Toasted Porter
(Iceland) 6% ABV
Nutty and smooth, characterful yet drinkable, a total surprise when it first appeared and now deserves much broader recognition.
Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter
(USA) 9.2% ABV
One of the first US craft brews to be imported to the UK remains a show-stopping treat: rich and intense roast flavours with a vinous streak.
Narwhal
(USA) 10.2% ABV
If Bourbon County (three places above) is too much, Narwhal, from Sierra Nevada Brewing Co, is still big and vinous, but somehow remains smooth and drinkable despite its size. Worth crossing continents for.
BELGIAN TRAPPIST & ABBEY-STYLE BEER
Chimay Blue
(Belgium) 9% ABV
Sadly sometimes forgotten as wave after wave of interesting new beers breaks on our shores, this old stalwart remains a fascinatingly complex brew that demands quiet contemplation.
Duvel
(Belgium) 8.5% ABV
Now gaining widespread recognition, this beloved monster first tries to climb out of the glass and punch you with its aggressive foam, then seduces you gently with deceptively easy strength.
Orval
(Belgium) 6.2% ABV
Spritzy and zesty with precisely the right amount of funky, wild yeast character, this is a unique beer and its out-of-date stock actually sells at a premium in better Belgian bars.
Rochefort 10
(Belgium) 11.2% ABV
Many people say the ludicrously rare Westvleteren XII is the best beer in the world. But those who really know Belgian beer reckon this deep, dark, chewy nightcap is even better still.
St Stefanus
(Belgium) 7% ABV
Known as Augustijn in Belgium, a reputable abbey ale now happily given much broader scope thanks to a global distribution deal with SABMiller.
Westmalle Dubbel
(Belgium) 7% ABV
Rich and chocolaty with an indulgent vein of rum and spicy fruit — the perfect beer to drink in front of a log fire.
SPECIALITY
Bacchus Framboise
(Belgium) 5% ABV
Fruit beers don’t have to be sickly sweet alcopops-by-any-other-name: this lambic is spritzy and refreshing, a nice balance of sweetness and acidity.
Deus Brut des Flandres
(Belgium) 11.5% ABV
Brewed with Champagne yeast, riddled and disgorged in the Champenoise tradition, this super-premium beer is the one you reach for when there is something truly
special to celebrate.
Grand Cru (Rodenbach)
(Belgium) 6% ABV
Michael Jackson used to claim that this was the most refreshing beer in the world, which makes the intense acidity it gains from oak barrel ageing a bit of a shock. Once you get accustomed to it though, MJ had a point.
Kriek Boon
(Belgium) 4% ABV
Fresh cherries are added for a slightly candied sweetness, perfectly balanced by a refreshing sourness. Another fruit beer for grown-up palates.
Mikkeller Big Worse Barrel Aged (Red Wine Barrels)
(Denmark) 12% ABV
Bourbon barrel-ageing is so last week in Craft Beer World — this barley wine matured in red wine casks is challenging and complex, with notes of caramel, vanilla, wood and cherry.
Pietra Amber Ale
(Corsica) 6% ABV
Brewed with chestnut flour, what could be a gimmick actually makes a sessionable, refreshing beer with a distinct personality of its own.
Schlenkerla Rauchbier
(Germany) 5.1% ABV
“I’m going to stock this to prove I run a proper craft-beer bar.”
“You’ll hardly sell any of it. It tastes like Frazzles.”
“You’re wrong — one day, people will acquire that taste and all the beer geeks who pretend they love it will actually buy it and drink it. It’s OK, I can wait.”