The Best American Strong Beers

American Strong Beer on this ranking is a mixed category rather than a barleywine-led one. Of the 13 US strong beers here, the largest single sub-style is Scottish Ale (4 entries), plus single-entry Scotch Ale and Scottish-Style Ale — together giving the Scottish/Wee Heavy tradition 6 of 13 beers (46%). Barleywine — despite being the historically-important American craft strong style (Anchor Brewing's Old Foghorn, launched 1975, was the first commercially-produced American barleywine and helped establish the category) — accounts for only 2 of the 13 entries in this specific ranking, including one Cognac Barrel-Aged American Barleywine. The rest spread across Doppelbock, Maibock, English Strong Ale, American Strong Ale, and a Pumpkin Ale — with 13 distinct breweries producing 13 beers.

The hopIQ ranking captures the American craft strong-beer scene through this mixed-sub-style lens. Founders Brewing (Grand Rapids MI), Anchorage Brewing (Alaska — barrel-aging specialist), Dogfish Head (Delaware — often working with off-format specialty strong beers), Weyerbacher (Pennsylvania — Blithering Idiot barleywine legacy), Stone Brewing, Oskar Blues, Yards, Real Ale, Capital Brewery, Four Peaks, and single-brewery contributors round out the ranking. American strong beer is smaller as a coherent category than any of the other American craft families (IPA, Stout, Pale Ale) because the "strong" label itself is a technical descriptor rather than a stylistic tradition — American craft brewers produce strong beers across many sub-styles, and only some are family-classified as "Strong."