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The Rarest Beers in America

The concept of vintages for beer may seem a bit absurd – unlike wine, which changes by season and region, beer is traditionally the result of industrial processes that prize faithful repetition from batch to batch. That's why beer is so plentiful, with mountains of cases stacked up in elaborate displays at local supermarkets.

No longer. Craft breweries and microbreweries have brought a new sensibility, with styles and processes that don't lend themselves easily to mass production. The result is a proliferation of handcrafted, limited-release beers that are attracting rock concert–style lines at shops carrying them, wildly expensive resale markets, and near hysteria.

Rare beers typically fall into one of two categories. The first category comprises wildly hopped IPAs produced in small batches or released at limited times. The second is barrel-aged beers that get better with time – typically extremely strong and malty or brewed with wild yeasts.

We worked doggedly over the past several years to get our hands on some of the most sought-after domestic brews, and there are still a few that elude us even now. Here are the eight best rare beers in America.