These beers rank highest on the hopIQ Score — a nightly-updated weighting of style authenticity, award history, and community signals. Filter by style family or country to narrow the list; the top-3 podium and full ranking below always reflect the current day’s data.
How this ranking works
The hopIQ Score judges every beer against its style first: it rewards medals from competitions that judge within style categories and deducts points where a beer measurably deviates from its style reference. Community ratings add to that. Non-alcoholic excluded. No paid placement — order follows the data alone. Ranking spans 4835 beers from 1214 breweries.
Top 5 of 50
Shiner BockBest Overall
ABV
4.4%
Bitterness
Mild
Colour
deep amber 18
Originally a seasonal, Shiner Bock has been brewed year-round since 1973 and remains the beer most closely tied to the town. Despite the name, the brewery itself calls it an American-style amber lager, made with roasted barley malt and… Ranked on fit to the Lager reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
ABV
5.7%
Bitterness
Lightly bitter
Colour
amber 12
A sip of this copper-hued smoked lager is meant to land you at a crackling campfire in the Alaskan wilds at dusk. Brewed in the style of a traditional German Rauchbier, it is a smoky, crisp and exceedingly drinkable classic, and each sip… Ranked on fit to the Lager reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
ABV
5.0%
Bitterness
Lightly bitter
Colour
pale gold 4
The lager that carries the brewery's name, bottom fermented from water, barley malt, hops and yeast. It pours a deep, bright gold beneath a firm white head. The nose is led by lively hop aromatics with a floral, lightly herbal edge over a… Ranked on fit to the Lager reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
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ABV
4.9%
Bitterness
Lightly bitter
Colour
amber 14
Revived from old recipes, this amber lager opens with a straight malt note, blossoms and pickled peach. Fine caramel follows on the palate, carried by softly bound carbonation, and the aroma reads spicy and full-bodied. The colour comes… Ranked on fit to the Lager reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
5
ABV
4.9%
Bitterness
Lightly bitter
Colour
pale gold 4
pFriem Japanese Lager follows the Japanese practice of brewing a German-style lager with rice, which lightens the color and dries out the body. Pilsner malt makes up most of the grist, and Perle, Tettnang and Saphir give it a pronounced… Ranked on fit to the Lager reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
Ranks 6–10
6
The beer that launched the American craft revolution — Jim Koch's 1984 recipe based on a great-great-grandfather's homebrew. A Vienna-style lager with caramel malt sweetness, Hallertau hop spice and a balanced, smooth finish. Boston Lager… Ranked on fit to the Lager reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
7
pFriem Pilsner is built on German and German-style pilsner malt and hopped with Perle, Saphir, Tettnang and Spalt Select, then fermented cool and stored cold for a long time. It pours brilliant gold under fluffy white foam. The nose brings… Ranked on fit to the Lager reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
8
Fohrenburger Jubiläum is the brewery's main beer and a Vorarlberg Spezialbier, the regional counterpart to a German-style Export: 12.8 degrees Plato and 5.5 percent, a little stronger than the Märzen that dominates the rest of Austria. It… Ranked on fit to the Lager reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
9
Asahi Super Dry was launched in March 1987 and is fermented with Asahi's own yeast strain No. 318, which works the wort unusually far and leaves very little residual sugar. Alongside barley malt, the recipe uses rice, corn and starch. The… Ranked on fit to the Lager reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
10
Caramel leads, with a restrained malt sweetness and light fruity notes. Mild and full-bodied, it closes on a fine, spicy finish with 20 bitterness units. Amber in colour, brewed from Hohenloher special malts at 13 % original gravity and… Ranked on fit to the Lager reference, award history in style-judged competitions and community ratings.
The taste landscape
Of the 50 top beers, 31 lean malt-forward and 13 lean hop-forward.