Top 10 Honey Beers Brewed in America
The top 10 honey beers are lagers and ales. Some brewers will choose to experiment with ingredients, while others will add honey to traditional styles. Overall the character of honey should be evident but not totally overwhelming. U.S. brewers may add honey to the boil kettle (as a sugar source) or post-boil (to preserve more volatile aromatics).
1. Old Town Honey Wheat – La Quinta Brewing – California
2. Orange Blossom Common – Karl Strauss Brewing – California
3. Jetty Ale – Great South Bay Brewery – New York
4. Feisty Blonde – Hopfuison Ale Works – Texas
5. Honey Hips Strong Blonde Ale – Latitude 33° Brewing – California
6. Summer Honey Wheat – Blue Moon Brewing – Colorado
7. Honey Please – Armadillo Ale Works – Texas
8. Honey Matrimony Brown Ale – CAUTION: Brewing – Colorado
9. Honey Kolsch – Rogue Ales – Oregon
10. Mexican Honey Imperial Lager – Indeed Brewing – Minnesota
History of Honey Beers
Honey beers, including the hybrid style known as braggot, have a history rooted in the earliest days of fermentation, dating back to around 7000 BCE. Archaeological evidence from Jiahu, China, reveals a mixed beverage of rice, honey, and fruit, suggesting honey’s role as a fermentable sugar in proto-beers or meads. In ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt (circa 3000–2000 BCE), honey was used to sweeten and fortify grain-based brews, as seen in Sumerian texts like the “Hymn to Ninkasi” and Egyptian honey-flavored beers like “Heqet.” These early beverages bridged mead and beer, with honey’s antimicrobial properties and sweetness making it a prized ingredient in regions where grain brews were less robust.
By the Iron Age and Classical periods (1000 BCE–500 CE), honey-grain beverages resembling braggot emerged in Europe. Finds like a 500-liter cauldron from Hochdorf, Germany (525 BCE), and drinking horns from Denmark (1st century CE) contained residues of wheat and honey, indicating mixed fermentation. In medieval Europe, particularly in Wales and Ireland, braggot became a celebrated drink, often spiced and valued for its sweet, hearty character. However, as hopped beers gained prominence and honey became costlier due to agricultural shifts and the Little Ice Age (1350–1850), braggot and honey beers declined, though they persisted in regional traditions into the 19th century.
The modern era, sparked by the late 20th-century craft beer movement, saw a revival of honey beers and braggots. Brewers in the United States and beyond began experimenting with honey in styles like IPAs, saisons, and stouts, adding it late in the brewing process to preserve its floral and fruity notes. Braggot also reemerged, with craft breweries like Dogfish Head recreating ancient recipes, such as one inspired by King Midas’s tomb (700 BCE). Today, honey beers are celebrated for their smooth, sweet profiles, with events like National Honey Bee Day showcasing local honey varieties in brews like New Belgium’s Honey Orange Tripel and Jester King’s Bière de Miel, ensuring this ancient style remains vibrant in the global beer scene.
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