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The 10 best non-US breweries in 2020, according to Ratebeer’s users
The beer world’s answer to Tripadvisor, Ratebeer, released its latest top 100 brewery ranking last week.
Ratebeer, which was fully bought out by AB InBev in February 2019, is a “world site for craft beer enthusiasts and is dedicated to serving the entire craft beer community”, according to the company’s website. It allows beer fans the world over to upload photos of the beers they are drinking and review them, creating a user-generated database for appraising breweries and their beers.
The ranking is based on 10 different weighted scales, which look at factors such as user reviews of the past year and top performing beers, but also includes historical all-around performance, a brewer’s strength across a range of styles, and a few other factors to compare newer and older, larger and smaller brewers under a single method of processing.
While Ratebeer insisted to the drinks business the ranking is compiled with due diligence to ensure there is a fair global representation, our readers rightly pointed out that all but one brewery in this year’s top 10 was based in the US. In fact, just 35 out of the top 100 this year are located elsewhere.
We thought it only fair to look at the best breweries that lie outside of the United States, from historic British powerhouses, to family-run lambic specialists in Belgium, as well as including their current ratings on rival review site Untappd.
Keep scrolling to see which breweries won over Ratebeer’s legions of fans
10. Fuller’s (owned by Asahi) – London, UK
Actual position: 32nd
Untappd rating: 3.49
Fuller’s, or, too give it its full name, Fuller, Smith & Turner plc, was established in 1845. Brewing has taken place at its historic south west London site since the late 1600s, with the Griffin Brewery itself acquiring both its name and emblem in 1816 when it was under the stewardship of brothers Douglas and Henry Thompson. Founding fathers John Bird Fuller, Henry Smith and John Turner gave their names to the business and descendants from the Fuller and Young families still work at the company, the Smith line having died out.
It was sold to Japanese drinks giant Asahi in January 2019 in a £250 million deal which included ownership of its flagship brand London Pride, the historic Griffin Brewery and Fuller’s entire brewing operation, in addition to its brands Cornish Orchards cider, Dark Star Brewing and Nectar Imports, wine wholesaling enterprise and drinks distribution network.
9. Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen – Beersel, Belgium
Actual position: 31st
Untappd rating: 4.28
Fans of dry, acidic fruit flavours will want to seek out this Belgian brewer, which specialises in classic styles of geuze and kriek.
The traditional lambic beer maker has been run for three generations by the same family.
8. Buxton Brewery – Derbyshire, UK
Actual position: 28th
Untappd rating: 3.87
Buxton Brewery, based in the Peak District, was founded in 2009 by Geoff Quinn, and produces some of the UK’s most respected beers, the most famous among them being Yellow Belly, an 11% stout brewed in partnership with Omnipollo from Sweden, intended to lampoon the Ku Klux Klan. However, the beer was discontinued at the tail end of 2018 over a trademark row with another brewery in Lincolnshire.
7. Verdant Brewing Co. – Cornwall, UK
Actual position: 25th
Untappd rating: 4.07
Another one for the hop heads, this Falmouth-based brewer is known for hazy, unfiltered pale ales and regularly receives acclaim on rating websites such as Untappd. The brewery first opened in 2014 by Adam Robertson, James Heffron and Rich White, and has since then expanded to produce 1.5 million litres of beer each year, and even has its own classy seafood bar.
6. De Struise Brouwers, Oostvlteren, Belgium
Actual position: 18th
Untappd rating: 4.03
This relatively young Belgian brewery was opened by Peter Braem, Philippe Driessens and Urbain Coutteau in 2001, focusing on local specialities. Coutteau and Driessens started out running an ostrich farm (yes, really) before turning their hand to beer with the help of local winemaker Braem. Many of their labels feature ostriches, too.
De Struise first entered RateBeer’s top 10 ranking in 2008, and although this year it came 16th, it is still widely regarded as one of the world’s top brewers.
5. Brasserie Dieu du Ciel!, Quebec, Canada
Actual position: 17th
Untappd rating: 3.9
Opened in 1998 by Jean-Francois Gravel, a microbiology graduate, and Stéphane Ostiguy, this is one of the oldest breweries on our list. The recipes are inspired by Gravel and Ostiguy’s soul-searching trips to Belgium, Germany and France, with spicy, treacly ales something of a speciality.
4. Mikkeller, Copenhagen, Denmark
Actual position: 16th
Untappd rating: 3.73
Starting out in Denmark, Mikkeller now has sites in countries including the US, Japan, Singapore, Spain and Germany, as well as two bars in London co-owned with 80s pop star Rick Astley.
3. Brouwerij De Molen (Swinkels Family Brewers) – Bodergraven, Netherlands
Actual position: 15th
Untappd rating: 3.76
Brouwerij De Molen, just 30 minutes from Amsterdam, was launched in 2004 by brewmaster Menno Olivier inside a 17th century windmill, and has since gone to win worldwide acclaim for its stout, porters, barley wine, bitters, pale ales, sour, lagers and saisons.
2. The Kernel Brewery – London, UK
Actual position: 11th
Untappd rating: 3.84
One of the cornerstones of South London’s beer culture, The Kernel is hugely popular both in its home city and across the UK. Founded by former cheesemonger Evin O’Riordain in September 2009, it opened its brewing facility up to the public with its own taproom in April 2010, and was one of the first brewers to establish itself in a city now home to well over 100.
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Cloudwater – Manchester, UK
Actual position: 8th
Untappd rating: 3.94
As the only brewer outside of the US to make it into the top 10 this year, Cloudwater makes it to number one. The Manchester business was the first UK brewery in history to enter the top 10 on the RateBeer Best awards, and was crowned second best in the world – making it the best in Europe – in 2017.
But Cloudwater isn’t the only brewer in this list to be branching away from beer. Last year Paul Jones debuted a line of non-alcoholic sodas in August last year. The sodas are made with spare hops from the brewing process, allowing Cloudwater to offer an alternative for designated drivers and non-drinkers without having to shell out for expensive de-alcoholisation equipment.
Buxton won’t even be in the top 100 next year let alone top 10 UK. Sad to see such a huge decline of a once fantastic brewery, unless they get a new head brewer with experience and imagination they will be living of reputation, and that will only last until you have a couple of there current beers.
No NZ breweries, shame on you all
Or canadian? Shame
This list is nonsense, the amount of breweries around the world making astonishingly good beer and 9 of the 10 best are American breweries, lazy journalism. I agree That there are some progressive brewers in the US making great beers but this is all a bit one sided and biased. I would like to see the percentage of ratebeers users by country that would tell a lot I feel
What about Scotland’s oldest working brewery … Belhaven. Found in Dunbar, right by the beautiful Belhaven bay #Belhavenbrews