Billed as a "Smoothie Sour Ale," it tastes almost exactly like grape soda. So drink carefully.

Some of us are doing the Dry January thing. Some of us are not. For the latter group, here are 10 beers to try in the new year.

 

Ironically, I’m not actually in that latter group. I’m in the former. Which kinda makes sense, in a way. I imbibed quite a bit over the holiday season. That’s how I was able to come up with this list of 10 beers. And that’s why I’m taking a month off. I’m in my mid-40s now, and that beer belly is getting harder and harder to shed when it gets to a point where it’s uncomfortable and I need to shrink it down a bit.

 

So while I teetotal for the next 31 days or so, you can indulge. As we head into 2024, we continue to live in a beer drinker’s utopia. If you’re lucky enough to live in the Boston metro, you’re likely a stone’s throw from a craft brewery. And even if you’re in a pocket of New England where that brewery density is lower, distribution is at an all-time high of both craft an commercial beers. What a time to be alive.

 

10 Beers to Try If You’re Not Doing Dry January

Some thanks are in order, first of all. My pal Jon and my brother Nate gifted me a lot of the beer I tried over the holidays and that I’m sharing below. And my folks took me on my first-ever visit to Ebenezer’s Pub in Lovell, ME, which is a beer-lovers Mecca. So thanks to both of them. And thanks also to Mineral Spring Liquor in North Providence, RI for having a four-pack of beer on hand that I didn’t even know existed and was able to pick up back in November. That’s the first one you’ll find on my list below. Cheers!