What’s the best beer? It's a question that's nearly impossible to answer definitively. However, the popular food website Taste Atlas has taken a crack at it by compiling a ranking of the best European beers and beer styles.
On the Taste Atlas site, people rated different beers from one to five stars. The more stars, the better the beer. So, it’s not a professional review, but more of a popularity list. We’re surprised by the winner, but we’re definitely going to try it out!
6th Place: Lambic
This traditional Belgian beer style has roots in Brussels and the Pajottenland area. It’s made with at least 30 percent wheat and wort that is always spontaneously fermented with local and naturally occurring wild yeasts. Thanks to various local microorganisms, these beers always have a unique and often unpredictable character. Due to the wild nature of lambic, many batches are sometimes blended, which is a style known as gueuze, to create a tastier version.
Rating: 4.1 out of 5
5th Place: Tripel
Belgian Tripel is a very drinkable beer with a high carbon dioxide content. It traditionally has high alcohol content, ranging between seven to ten percent. It’s characterized by a yellow-gold color and a strong, spicy, fruity, and mildly sweet malty character. The first tripels were brewed as monastery beers.
Rating: 4.2 out of 5
4th Place: Bavarian Beer
“Bavaria has been an important beer-making region for centuries, and all Bavarian beers are produced according to the Bavarian Beer Purity Law of 1516,” TasteAtlas mentions. The foundation is high-quality ingredients, mainly sourced locally. The quality of the beer and its ingredients is even checked by scientific institutes.
Today, Bavaria has more than 600 breweries – almost half of all breweries in Germany – and every year, Bavarian brewers produce more than 20 million hectoliters of beer.
Rating: 4.2 out of 5
3rd Place: Munich Beer
Munich beer has a long tradition, and (not just) locals swear by it. As TasteAtlas notes, beer with this label can only be produced by Munich breweries according to ancient recipes with pure, natural ingredients, like pure water from their own wells, and the best malt and hops.
The most popular beer festival in the world, Oktoberfest, celebrates these beers and attracts around seven million international visitors every year.
Rating: 4.2 out of 5
2nd Place: Czech Beer
Czech beer is a very broad term, covering beers brewed throughout the Czech Republic with protected geographical indication (PGI). About 14 breweries use this label for 80 brands of beer. “In most cases, Czech beer contains residual (unfermented) extract, which is one of the typical properties of Czech beer. Others are more intense color, higher bitterness, and pH value compared to foreign beers,” writes the BeerResearch website.
Rating: 4.3 out of 5
1st Place: Trappist
And here’s the first place. Surprise? Trappist beer is a special category that includes various styles brewed in Trappist monasteries, writes Taste Atlas. Trappist beers are internationally certified and can only be produced by Trappist abbeys – among them six monasteries in Belgium and two in the Netherlands, while Italy, Austria, England, France, the United States, and Spain each have one certified Trappist brewery. The beer must be brewed in the immediate vicinity of the abbey, and the entire production must be supervised by monks. The money from sales goes back to the monastery’s needs or helps the poor.
Rating: 4.4 out of 5
