- Beer: Brian Boru

- Brewery: 3 Floyds Brewing Co. (Indiana)

- ABV: 6.5%

- Beer Advocate score: 91

- User score: 4.06

Many reviewers note that 3 Floyds Brewing Co.’s Brian Boru, an Irish red ale, is more hoppy than other brands of the style. Still, they overwhelmingly rate the beer highly, thanks to its color, fruity aroma, and approachability, which are standards in this style of craft beer.

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- Beer: First Call

- Brewery: Modist Brewing Co. (Minnesota)

- ABV: 6.5%

- Beer Advocate score: 89

- User score: 4.07

It wasn’t until WWII, when brewers replaced rationed grain with rice, that America crafted a lager to call its own. Typically lower in ABV and bitterness, the style’s primary focus is less on bringing together complex flavors and more on creating straw-colored, drinkable brew. Modist Brewing Co.’s take on an American lager has a strong coffee punch layered with sweet notes and a scant amount of carbonation.

- Beer: East Coast Common Lager

- Brewery: Smuttynose Brewing Company (New Hampshire)

- ABV: 7.4%

- Beer Advocate score: 90

- User score: 4.08

Brewed with lager yeast but fermented like an ale, the California Common is a pale orange-brown, hits right in the middle of the ABV and IBU scales, and was pioneered by San Francisco’s Anchor Steam Brewing. The East Coast Common pays tribute to its American heritage until right after the fermentation process when Smuttynose brewmasters shock the batch with dry hops.

- Beer: Cubano-Style Espresso Brown Ale

- Brewery: Cigar City Brewing (Florida)

- ABV: 5.5%

- Beer Advocate score: 92

- User score: 4.13

An iconic style, English brown ales should be toasty and robust, reddish in color, and medium-low on the IBU and ABV scales. Another Cigar City favorite, the 5.5% Espresso Brown Ale meets these requirements, but with its addition of Cuban-style espresso beans almost pushes this beer into the realm of stouts. Almost.

- Beer: Fatali Four

- Brewery: Upright Brewing Company (Oregon)

- ABV: 4.5%

- Beer Advocate score: 91

- User score: 4.15

A North American invention, chile beers are pale ales or lagers with precisely what they promise—a noticeable dose of chile peppers. Color, IBU, and ABV depend on the base beer, but most chile beers incorporate jalapeno peppers (or their juice or oils). The 4.5% ABV Fatali Four, courtesy of Oregon’s Upright Brewing, hurdles its jalapeno-using competitors by adding African Fatali peppers two months before bottling.

- Beer: Dark Island Reserve

- Brewery: Orkney Brewery (Scotland)

- ABV: 10%

- Beer Advocate score: 91

- User score: 4.16

Scottish ales are all about the malt flavor in the expense of hops, which breeds a crisp-red color and low IBU and ABV scores. Scotland’s Orkney Brewery, however, flips the script on the tradition with the Dark Island Reserve, an oily-black and 10% ABV that reviewers note is “like drinking scotch. Dark fruits and wood. Malt sweetness.”

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- Beer: Sprang

- Brewery: Trillium Brewing Company (Massachusetts)

- ABV: 4.9%

- Beer Advocate score: 94

- User score: 4.27

Invented in Cologne, Germany as an easy-drinking springtime beer, Kolsch comes in a golden-straw color, reaches medium-low on the IBU and ABV spectrums, and straddles the divide between lagers and ales. Trillium Brewing’s Sprang hews closely to this heritage with a low ABV of 4.9%, minimal bitterness, and a refreshing and fruity character. But a lower fermentation temperature leaves a hazy appearance, a unique quality in the world of ordinarily crisp and clear Kolsch beers.