Taken together, the Beverage Testing Institute’s World Beer Championships top 2025 Gold medalists read like a snapshot of where modern beer is heading. These beers don’t just span styles; they bridge audiences—barrel-aged aficionados, hazy IPA fans, stout chasers, and gluten-sensitive drinkers. What unites them is a shared emphasis on precision, texture, and memorable flavor, each one showing a different way brewers are stretching familiar categories without losing balance.
Jackalope Brewing Mice & Men Blueberry Baltic Porter Aged in Brandy Barrels, 8.5% ABV, 750 ml.
Jackalope Brewing Company is a Nashville, Tennessee craft brewery founded in 2011, known for being one of the city’s early taproom pioneers and for its women-led ownership. Their lineup often leans into story-driven, slightly whimsical beers such as Bearwalker Maple Brown and Thunder Ann, with occasional barrel-aged and fruited one-offs.
Mice & Men is a Baltic porter base amped up with blueberries and then aged in brandy barrels. Baltic porter is already a bigger, smoother, lager-fermented or “clean” ale-fermented dark beer; the fruit and brandy wood push it into pastry-leaning territory. This is a seasonal offering and not always available.
The Blueberry addition, likely puree or juice, to a dark, lager-style porter, is unusual in a porter. Moreover, brandy barrel aging rather than bourbon brings a grape-based spirit character of dried fruit, grape skin, and rancio, rather than the usual bourbon vanilla/caramel focus. Finally, the Baltic porter base, with its typically cooler fermentation and extended lagering, produces a smoother, less estery profile than many big stouts.
The beer features a pronounced aroma of dark chocolate, cocoa powder, and toasted brown bread, wrapped in a noticeable blueberry note, more like blueberry compote than fresh fruit. Brandy-like dried fruits of raisin, fig, prune, vanilla, and a touch of toasted oak and baking spices accompany it.
It’s full-bodied and smooth on the palate, showcasing flavors of bittersweet chocolate and roasted grain along with sweet-tart blueberry jam. The brandy barrels add layers of caramelized sugar, stewed stone fruit, and soft oak tannin. The bitterness is moderate; the perceived sweetness comes from fruit and residual malt more than hops.
The finish is long, with lingering notes of cocoa, blueberry, and a gentle spirit heat along with subtle notes of vanilla, cinnamon, and oak char, leaving a slightly tannic, berry-and-brandy aftertaste.
Fremont Brewing Head Full of Dynomite Hazy IPA v.59, 6.8% ABV, 12 oz cans.
Fremont Brewing, in Seattle, Washington, is one of the Pacific Northwest’s flagship craft breweries, founded in 2009. They’re known for hop-driven beers such as Universe and Lush, world-class barrel-aged strong ales like the B-Bomb and Brew 3000 series, and a heavy focus on sustainability.
Head Full of Dynomite is Fremont’s rotating hazy IPA series. Each numbered version, from version v.1 to v.59, tweaks the hop bill, often highlighting new varieties, experimental lots, or different dry-hopping strategies.
The beer is unusual for frequently changing its hop bill and possibly hop formats. It also uses very heavy, late, and dry hopping to emphasize aroma over bitterness and oats and/or wheat for a pillowy, opaque body. The beer is bottled unfiltered and often packaged relatively fresh, with a short optimal drinking window.
The beer features an explosive hop nose, featuring aromas of ripe mango, pineapple, and passionfruit layered with orange peel and peach. Underneath, there’s a herbaceous touch of fresh-cut grass or light dankness, plus soft grain character from the oats and wheat.
It’s smooth, juicy, and medium-full bodied on the palate, showcasing flavors of orange juice, tropical fruit salad, and stone fruit—backed by a low but present green hop bite. The bitterness is restrained and smooth; it cleans up the sweetness without ever feeling sharp.
The finish is medium in length, with lingering citrus pith and tropical fruit, a faint resin note, and a gentle dryness. The mouthfeel stays plush and slightly creamy, inviting another sip.
Fremont Brewing 2024 15th Anniversary Barrel-Aged Barleywine Ale, 15.4% ABV, 22 oz.
For their significant anniversaries, Fremont Brewing is famous for releasing big, barrel-aged barley wines and strong ales, often highly rated and carefully blended from multiple barrels and vintages. The 2024 15th Anniversary barley wine continues that tradition, marking the brewery’s 15th anniversary.
It’s likely an English-leaning or American-English hybrid barley wine aged in a mix of bourbon (and possibly other whiskey) barrels, then blended for balance, depth, and oxidative complexity. The extended barrel aging, often 1–2 years, in premium whiskey barrels is unusual; among beer producers, as is the blend of multiple barrels and sometimes multiple brew dates to balance sweetness, oak, oxidation, and alcohol. The very high original gravity and ABV impart a viscous, dessert-wine-like body.
The beer features intense toffee and caramelized sugar aromas, with layers of fig, date, and raisin along with bourbon barrel accents of vanilla, coconut, and toasted oak—hints of marmalade, pipe tobacco, and a touch of oxidized sherry-like nuttiness.
It’s big, rich, and mouth-coating on the palate, showcasing flavors of caramel, toffee, and burnt sugar, followed by dark dried fruits of fig, prune, and cherry, and a streak of candied orange peel. Oak contributes vanilla, toasted coconut, and spices of clove and cinnamon. The hop bitterness is moderate but overshadowed by malt and barrel richness; alcohol warmth is present but well integrated.
The finish is very long with lingering notes of caramel, dried fruit, and bourbon vanilla alongside subtle oak tannins and a faint tobacco and cocoa element. The aftertaste is sweet but not cloying, with a slow fade of oak spice and dark sugar.
Toppling Goliath 2024 Mornin’ Delight Stout Brewed with Maple Syrup & Coffee, 11.6% ABV, 16 oz cans and 12 oz bottles.
Toppling Goliath Brewing Co. in Decorah, Iowa, founded in 2009, has a global reputation for both hop bombs like PseudoSue and King Sue and ultra-rich imperial stouts such as Kentucky Brunch Brand Stout, Assassin, and Mornin’ Delight. Their pastry-leaning stouts routinely sell out on release and attract international beer tourism.
Mornin’ Delight is one of their signature imperial stouts, brewed with maple syrup and coffee. Each vintage, including the 2024 release, is a limited offering, typically around or above 11% ABV, positioned as a decadent breakfast-themed dessert stout.
Among this beer’s unusual features is the heavy use of real maple syrup, often both in the boil/ferment and possibly conditioning, contributing fermentable sugars and residual maple character. Additionally, there are significant coffee additions, either cold-steeped or added late, to emphasize espresso-like aromatics without harsh astringency. Finally, the exceptionally high gravity yields an almost syrupy body and dessert-like sweetness.
The beer features powerful aromas of maple syrup nose right out of the glass—pancake stack vibes—backed by fresh espresso, dark chocolate fudge, and roasted malt. Underneath, hints of vanilla, brown sugar, and a faint smokiness.
It’s thick, chewy, and intensely flavorful on the palate, showcasing flavors of coffee and dark chocolate, maple sweetness, and molasses. Notes of brownie batter, maple-candied nuts, and a touch of dark fruit, primarily dates and figs, emerge as it warms. The bitterness comes from roasted malt and coffee rather than hops, nicely balancing, but not eliminating, the sweetness.
The finish is exceptionally long, with lingering notes of maple syrup, espresso, cocoa, and a warming alcohol presence.
Damm Brewery Daura Damm Gluten-Free Lager, 5.4% ABV, 11.2 oz bottles.
Damm is a historic Spanish brewery based in Barcelona, best known for Estrella Damm and other European-style lagers. Daura Damm was introduced in the 2000s as one of the first widely distributed gluten-free or gluten-removed lagers aimed at people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.
Unlike many early gluten-free beers brewed with sorghum or rice, Daura starts as a conventional barley-malt lager, then uses a Prolyl Endopeptidase enzyme to break down gluten into smaller fragments so that the beer tests below the threshold for “gluten-free” labeling in many markets.
Each batch is typically lab-tested for gluten content, marketed as having “the taste of regular beer” with gluten removed. Otherwise, it follows a fairly conventional Euro-lager production profile of cool fermentation, cold lagering, and traditional filtration.
The beer features a clean, mild aroma showcasing light malt sweetness reminiscent of white bread or crackers, a touch of honey, and subtle floral or spicy noble-type hop notes. It has a very low fruitiness and no obvious off-aromas when fresh.
It has a light-to-medium body with a crisp lager snap on the palate, showcasing pale malt flavors of biscuit and cooked grain, with a hint of honey or corn-like sweetness in the mid-palate. Hop bitterness is gentle but present, giving a faint herbal or grassy edge.
The finish is clean and relatively dry, with a soft, grainy character and a slight hop bitterness that keeps it from feeling sweet. Easy-drinking and refreshing, designed more for everyday, “have another” drinkability than for intense character.
Also winning Gold medals with 94/100 points were Tighthead Brewing Company, Scarlet Fire Red Ale, Chang Espresso Lager, Toppling Goliath Pseudo Sue New England Style IPA, Wallenpaupack Brewing Company Paupack Cream Ale, Wallenpaupack Brewing Company For the Love of Lager Rauch Doppelbock, Damm Brewery Voll-Damm Doble Malta Marzen, Fireforge Crafted Beer Baltic Porter, Fremont Brewing 2024 Bourbon Barrel-Aged Dark Star Imperial Oatmeal Stout, Narragansett Bing Crosby White Christmas Winter Warmer, Ike & Oak Brewing Co. Kodiak’s Revenge Black Walnut Brownie Barrel-Aged Ale, and Cape May Brewing Co Cape May Light
In the glass, these winners demonstrate that there’s no single path to excellence. Jackalope’s Mice & Men pushes Baltic, porter into dessert territory with blueberries and brandy barrels. Fremont explores both ends of its range, from a fresh, hop-soaked Head Full of Dynomite hazy IPA to a 15th Anniversary barleywine built for slow contemplation. Toppling Goliath’s Mornin’ Delight doubles down on the pastry-stout arms race with maple syrup and coffee. At the same time, Daura Damm proves that gluten-free drinkers no longer have to compromise on classic lager character.
For drinkers, they offer a curated tour through the leading edges of contemporary brewing—barrel-aging, adjuncts, rotating hop bills, and technical innovations in gluten reduction. For brewers, they’re a reminder that the most compelling beers marry creativity with control. Whether you’re chasing the next rare release or simply looking for benchmarks in each style, this group of 2024 standouts marks where the conversation about great beer is headed next.