It took two and-a-half hours, every day of Bombshells shoot, for Charlize Theron to transform into Megyn Kelly; but deciding to take on the role in the first place took much longer. I loved this script so much, and I didnt want to fuck the movie up, she says. The project came to her Denver and Delilah company for her to produce, and she was concerned she might exert her influence unduly and claim the role over an actor that deserved it more. I was trying to talk myself out it. I tend to second-guess myself. I didnt want to stand in the way of this story.

There was an ideological distance, too, giving her pause. Kellys views are far removed from Therons own. Even after Kellys tenure at the conservative Fox News, during the period she was on NBC, she caused controversy by defending blackface, and succeeded in offending gay people, fat people and Jane Fondathe latter with questions about plastic surgery, sparking a running feud. She also committed a segment of her news magazine show Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly to Alex Jones, the supplement salesman and hawker of poisonous Sandy Hook conspiracy theories.

For Theron, though, the story Bombshell was telling ultimately won out. I had to realize that, even through all this stuff, this was a person that did something really incredible, and I couldnt throw the baby out with the bathwater. It took a while, and its a really scary thing as an actor, because I know that my capability lives and breathes in removing myself from these preconceived notions. She was part of a moment in history that will always be remembered. It doesnt negate other things for me, but I had to remove that from the conversation of what this was.

By comparison, her time spent in the makeup chair was a breeze, especially considering the uncannily accurate end result. It should have taken four hours plus to pull off, but the production couldnt spare that kind of time, especially since the makeup team was also engaged in transforming Nicole Kidman into Gretchen Carlson, John Lithgow into Roger Ailes, and a sweeping ensemble into frighteningly realistic versions of the Fox News players circa 2016.

Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly (left) and Kelly herself.

Hilary Bronwyn Gale SMPSP / Gregory Pace/Shutterstock

Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson (left) and Carlson herself.

Hilary Bronwyn Gale SMPSP / Matt Baron/Shutterstock

John Lithgow as Roger Ailes (left) and Ailes himself.

Hilary Bronwyn Gale SMPSP / Mediapunch/Shutterstock

Malcolm McDowell as Rupert Murdoch (left) and Murdoch himself.

Hilary Bronwyn Gale SMPSP / Mary Altaffer/AP/Shutterstock

Kellys eyes were the hardest part. They were also the key. As much as actors recoil at even the suggestion of concealing their eyes with contact lensesand there would be contact lensesthere was no way for Theron to become Kelly without adjusting the shape of her eyelids. Whenever we applied everything but the eyelids, says Theron, it never, ever felt right. I looked like a young Glenn Close. It was bizarre.

In the end, Kazu Hiro, the Oscar-winning makeup designer behind Gary Oldmans transformation into Winston Churchill, crafted eight facial prosthetics that would completely transform Therons appearance. There was very little left to do after the fact. Some color correction on skin tone. A touch of digital softening around the edges of the prosthetics. You cant do that if you need to do it a lot, Theron notes. Its impossible, because the face becomes so soft that you can tell immediately. The quality of Kazus work was just so phenomenal.

When Charlize Theron looked in the mirror after Hiro had done his job, the face she saw staring back at her was Megyn Kellys.

It is a choking evening in Los Angeles. As wildfires in the hills blanket the city in smoke, 400 people are gathered inside a vintage movie house on Wilshire Blvd. to screen Bombshell. Many more cant even make it through the door. While the movie tells its fast-paced, incendiary narrative about the sexual harassment allegations levelled against the former Fox News chief Roger Ailes, its principal cast, Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie, are collected backstage ahead of their Q&A. Theres a buzz of anticipation in the air. In a small, Lynchian holding room behind the screen, fitted with a red velvet curtain and checkerboard flooring, Kidman flinches at the harshness of the halogen strip light in the ceiling. She has Robbie switch it off as she locates a smaller, warmer, desktop lamp. Thats better, she says. Now were at home.

Its a take-charge moment that is appropriately reflective of her role in Bombshell. In the Jay Roach film, based on a script by Charles Randolph, Kidman plays Gretchen Carlson, the Fox News anchor who ignited the touch-paper on a litany of sexual harassment allegations that would lead to the explosive ousting of Ailes from the Fox newsroom.

Carlson was not the first to allege wrongdoing by Ailesearlier, isolated stories had been swept awaybut her profile helped ensure that her breaking of ranks became the catalyst for a movement that would, in less than a month, send two men marching from the building.

As more than a dozen women joined the public chorus against Ailes, star anchor Bill OReilly defended his boss for being a target as a famous, powerful or wealthy person. Still more women accused OReilly of a range of inappropriate behavior, including sexual harassment. OReilly denies the allegations against him, though investigations by The New York Times uncovered a total of six settlements with his accusers.

Kidmans turn as Carlson is only one part of an ensemble film that is led by Therons dramatic transformation into Kelly, whose career at Fox News was ascending when Carlsons allegations broke. Kelly made her own allegation against Ailes less than two weeks later; Ailes limped on for two more days before resigning.

When he finally did, 21st Century Fox Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch issued a statement that made no mention of the allegations against him, and instead praised Ailes for his remarkable contribution to our company and our country. Ailes went on to advise Donald Trumps presidential campaignas well as Murdoch and 21st Century Foxbefore his death in May 2017. According to end cards on Bombshell, the remuneration paid to the women at the center of these accusations against Ailes and OReilly stands at $50m. The mens own settlement packages with Fox totaled $65m.

Bombshell also follows Margot Robbie, who plays Kayla, a fictional new hire at Fox News that catches Ailes eye. Her story is based on countless hours of research by Randolph and reflects an amalgam of several Ailes accusers. The movie, Robbie says, is a political thriller, but its not so much about politics. Its ultimately about people, coming together to take down a very powerful person who is abusing that power. Thats a very satisfying thing to watch.

Lithgow delivers a terrifying turn as Ailes, and the films cast is rounded out by Jennifer Morrison, Alice Eve, Kate McKinnon, Allison Janney, Connie Britton and many more recognizable names. We didnt have to convince a lot of people, notes Theron. The material and the subject really spoke to them. It was really easy; people wanted to do it. Ive never had that kind of good will. You felt like, Shit, lets figure this out.

When Charlize says, Babe, youve got to be in this; show up or Ill kill you, you go, OK, Im there, Kidman laughs.

I have read a Charles Randolph script before, says Robbie, who had a scene-stealing cameo in Adam McKays The Big Short, which Randolph wrote. When I got this, I knew it would be good. He and Jay research every aspect of the subject, but at the same time, they are still purely focused on human interaction and behavior. I started reading the script as an actor, knowing I was probably going to do it because it would be a fantastic role. But I finished the script wanting to do it just as a person. As a human being living right now, I had to do this, because it was important.

So much of what were doing now is about joining forces and working together, Kidman says. If we do that as women, were so much stronger. Standing there, talking to all these crazy-talented actresses, it was like, Lets mark the moment in history, because thats what this is.

The downfall of Ailes occurred more than a year before the explosive allegations in The Times and The New Yorker against Harvey Weinstein in October 2017, which kickstarted the Times Up and #MeToo movements. And though Theron hadnt necessarily been looking to tell stories about sexual harassment, it was ground she had walked before. In 2005, she starred in Niki Caros North Country, which tracked a sexual harassment lawsuit in a mining community in 1988. These issues have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, she says. But I was nave in thinking that struggle wasnt there anymore. I figured, after those landmark cases, that people in power were taking more responsibility. That there was a law behind it. It was legislated. I think that is the thing we still all have to reconcile with, because its very much there, and if anything, you could argue its the same, or worse.

Randolphs untitled draft (he had toyed with the title The End of the Leg Man) came to Theron through Annapurna, who were initially onboard to finance and release Bombshell. For all of us at Denver and Delilah, it was a no-brainer that we wanted to make the film, she says. But even the act of bringing Theron aboard to produce felt like something impossible a decade earlier, the cast agrees. The streaming services voracious appetite for content has brought forth more stories about women, and their success, they say, on streaming and in cinema, is more undeniable than ever. People cant hide behind misinformation, Theron insists. The facts are out there. We know that 2017 was a way more lucrative year for female stories than it was for male stories. Being a part of that time right now in telling stories, its fucking great.

All three of Bombshells principal cast now produce as well as act, helping to deliver award-winning film and television, like I, Tonya (Robbie) and Big Little Lies (Kidman). When I started, those were called vanity deals, Theron notes. It was a crazy concept. I get my name on a movie, I get the check, and I dont do anything? Yes, because youre an actor and you have no other abilities. Thats definitely changed now. People like Margot Robbie can step in and start actually producing, because a lot of that groundwork has been laid. When I was starting out, that wasnt possible.

How great is that? Kidman smiles. When Margot produced I, Tonya, she didnt know anything other than, Oh, I can do that. It wasnt even a part of the conversation when I was starting out. There was no possibility of it. So, to have the strength to come out of the gate like that You just go, Yes! Take the baton and run! Its so exciting, because thats what youre passing it on for. You go, And pass it on to the next! Create your destinies, take some power back, have some control, and by God, lets see what you can do.

Therons name, as well as the subject matter, were the magnets that attracted the ensemble, but there were still roadblocks to come on Bombshells path to the screen. Though it had come to Denver and Delilah as a project ready to shoot at Annapurna, the ground shook two months out from production. We were asked to bring in a financial partner to alleviate some of the budget for them, Theron recalls. She went to Aaron Gilbert and BRON Studios, who she says told her, Well come in. We really like this. And then, with two weeks until cameras rolled, Annapurna fell out completely. Aaron was willing to pick everything up within 24 hours, adds Theron.

By that point, Theron had committed to playing Kelly. Roach was aboard, and it was her conversations with him that tipped her over the edge of playing the part. That was the first moment where, because of what he was saying about how he saw the project, it excited me as an actor. I knew, for Jay I would go there. They had begun talking while Theron was developing the project and bringing him on as Bombshells director was kismet, Theron says. I felt safe with him. I felt like I got excited about making this movie.

When she made Tully with Jason Reitman, she had heard the complaints of some critics about a male director helming a film about a mothers bond with her night nanny. Everybody was like, Its quintessentially a womans story, why would you make it with a guy? she recalls. Its hard to explain to people how Jason feels about that topic. To me, it proves something that I want the world not to forget: men are just as invested in wanting a safe world for us. We need to get rid of the few bad apples, but in general, I feel like men dont want this for their daughters, or for their wives. Theres an empathy there.

Shes committed, she says, to providing more opportunities to female directors. But as a producer, sometimes you have to trust that little voice inside, and something inside me said that Jay was the person to make this film with. I knew that we would, behind the camera, have more female producers, and our head of departments would be more female. The overall balance was definitely more female than it was male.

Randolphs script simply resonated when she read it. To me, as a woman, that is already really touching, because I want to believe men are interested in this stuff, just as much as we are. This concept that only women would want to tell these stories is really disproved by Charles taking this on, which wasnt an easy task. The amount of research that he had to put into this was phenomenal. I really believe that you cant isolate this in trying to find the answers; in trying to actually create the change that we all need and want. So, it started with Charles, which I had no power over, and Im just grateful that he had the balls to do it. No pun intended.

I think its an important film for men, notes Robbie. This is not a female movie; its for men and women. The most important thing, perhaps, is that men for a moment might be in that office with Kayla and might understand a slice of what it feels like to be sexually harassed at work, if they havent experienced it in their own lives.

That the first major motion picture dealing with the fallout from high-profile cases of sexual harassment in the media would come to tell the story of the women at Fox News is also significant. The cast is aware that people will bring to the theater their own baggagein many cases, those ideological disagreements with the stances Kelly, Carlson and others have taken in their careers in conservative media. And theyre aware of the journey the film has to travel for that baggage to be divorced from what the women say happened to them when they worked in the Fox newsroom. If it doesnt do that, then whats the point of the film? Kidman asks, rhetorically. Because this really is a bipartisan issue. It has to be. Hopefully the movie makes that clear.

This crime doesnt discriminate, insists Robbie. There are very powerful people abusing that power on every side.

Bombshells uncanny valley-skirting illusionthe actor playing Bill OReilly is so convincing it feels as though it might be OReilly himself (it isnt)is made ever more convincing when its cast is cut against real footage from the Fox News archive. This includes Megyn Kellys run-in with Donald Trump at a Republican primary debate, after which the future President told CNN, There was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever. Theres footage, too, of misogynist comments made by Gretchen Carlsons fellow Fox & Friends anchors, with Kidman spliced effortlessly onto the sofa. A supercut on YouTube of the original footage captures the regularity of such comments when Carlson served on the show.

Theron hasnt met Kellyout of choice, though I am assuming that she would even want to speak to me, Theron laughsand neither has Kidman met Carlson. In the latter case, thats because Carlson signed a $20m settlement agreement with Fox News, which came with a non-disclosure agreement barring her from speaking about her time at the channel. These agreements are common when accusations of workplace malfeasance are mediateda condition of many employment contractsand the financial payments that come with them are often the subject of disparaging comments against accusers. But they also serve to silence victims from sharing their experiences publicly. At the start of this month, Carlson told AP she wanted to be released from her gag order. It would be nice to be able to tell my full story, she said.

Research for the film involved speaking to people who were at Fox News as the allegations were breaking. I felt like I had access to a lot of sourcesthat we cant talk aboutwhich told me we were on the right path, Theron says. We realized we had a lot of stuff wrong initially, based on the editorial pieces that were written as more information was coming in. It was important because the narrative changed. Things became a lot clearer to us. There was a lot out there that, I think, people wanted the narrative to be. And you would believe it, until you heard women say, Thats not who did it; this is what happened

It did mean those conversations included Ailes victims. Roach mentioned the breaking of NDAs in an earlier Q&A, Theron says, and there was panic. Everybody got this email, like, Dont do that, its dangerous ground. Then, two weeks later, the NBC NDA story was breaking, and everybody, including Megyn Kelly, was saying, Were going to have to remove these gag orders on women if we want to get to the bottom of these stories. Gretchen, she keeps fighting. It is so in the zeitgeist right now, and its what people are talking about.

These things happen in waves in our culture, Kidman notes. The waves rise, and you start getting stories and films made on the subject. I worked for almost two decades for UN Women, which was all about eradicating violence against women. When we started, you would talk and youd only sort of be heard; not really. But suddenly, theres this tide and people are willing to listen and to change.

It was part of Roger Ailes toolkit to isolate women, says Robbie. To pit them against each other. I think that, ultimately, what took him down was the women unifying.

When Kelly finally came forward, the die was cast. Bombshell deals with the journey it took to get her there. She was in negotiation for a lot of money, and she was a superstar there, Theron reflects. On top of that, there was a moral dilemma she had, because she liked [Ailes]. There wasnt a part of her that felt like she could not be truthful about that. That makes for a very conflicting story, and one that people are not necessarily ready to hear. We want to believe that theyre villains, and the fact that she was de-villainizing him in the way she talked about him, I think, was so important to getting to the real crux of what this is all about. Because until we fully understand it, we wont be able to resolve it.

For Kidman, tapping into why Carlson took her first steps to right this wrong required understanding her life. She started with footage of her on-air appearances, and there was a lot of it. But equally, shes got to have had her shield up, Kidman says. And when you try to break it down behind that shield, what is this persona that says, Bring it on, Im going to fight them all?

Her answer was to find a common ground with Carlson through family. Carlson said, of watching her kids as their mother was being dragged in the press for the allegations she had made, They got it. Both my son and my daughter have become more courageous in their lives, and the impact that me coming forward has [had] on them has probably been the most important thing Ive done in my life so far.

You cant portray a woman who has done this as a mother if the children arent there, Kidman says. She would have been so frightened for their future, for how this would have affected them. You cant define this woman without that.

There was a bittersweet tinge to Carlsons story that Kidman also needed to show. As she stacks her dishwasher and checks her phone, the question for Carlson becomes, What now? Says Kidman, of how she imagined the immediate aftermath for Gretchen Carlson: Theres not really much going on, and the future isnt bright. Thats frightening, and its sad and real. But she survived. Indeed, Carlsons activism in support of victims of sexual harassment, regardless of any other views she may hold, has never ceased, and she has published books and documentaries in support of victims. She became the chairwoman of the Miss America pageantshe herself is a former winnerand spearheaded a contentious abolition of the pageants swimsuit competition.

Kidman thought of her own kids as she read the scene in which Robbies Kayla is called into Ailes office. Kayla is excited, with lofty ambitions toward becoming an on-screen anchor, only to have Ailes demand her loyalty through euphemistic, and increasingly more direct, sexual advances. You go, I dont ever want this to happen to my daughter, Kidman says. I dont want it to happen to my wife, to my sister, to me. I dont want this to happen. That response definitely comes through Kaylas character.

It is one of the movies most uncompromising, uncomfortable scenes, as the realization slowly dawns on Kayla that she is being asked to give something she should never have to sacrifice. As the rest of the film maintains a heady pace, and at times a surprisingly upbeat tone, this sequence descends like an icy silence, stopping the audience dead in its tracks.

In some cases, sexual harassment happens in a gray area, notes Robbie. Indeed, the movie details Carlsons struggle, with her legal team, to class much of the inappropriate behavior she had witnessed as evidence of legally challengeable sexual harassment. Someone may not immediately feel like Kayla in that situation. He didnt touch me. What do I call this thing that just happened to me? Someone as smart as Roger Ailes could manipulate the position of power to force a victim to start rationalizing, to start explaining, to start excusing. Thats, I think, the reason it goes on as long as it does in some cases.

Robbie says that the character, a conservative Christian who believes deeply in the values espoused by the network, comes from Randolphs own upbringing. His family watched Fox News religiously, and the lines about them having the logo burned into their TV screens come from that, she says. He very much understood Kayla, and I could talk to him about her a lot. I also had to wrap my head around this young, millennial, but extremely conservative point of view. Twitter was a great source for that, because there are a number of young, Christian conservative women who are very vocal on social media. It was fascinating, and it was frightening.

As with Theron, the issue of sexual harassment has never been far away for Robbie, she says. This story takes place at Fox News, but its a backdrop for something that happens in so many places, in so many industries, all over the world. Ive had these conversations all my life, about things like this happening to women, and I know Ive had those conversations even more in the past two years since the #MeToo movement started. So, theres a lot of research that has gone into the film, but also, I guess, interactions in my life, where I can absolutely understand.

She hopes the movie will continue a conversation that gets louder by the day. That conversation, she says, has helped us start defining, and pointing to situations and saying, That was not OK. Something like this is a powerful thing.

And just being believed, adds Kidman. Not being made to question, Was this my fault? No, theres protocol, and the protocol is, dont abuse your position of power, youre not allowed to touch someone physically, or sabotage them because they wouldnt do something that you wanted sexually or emotionally. Those things are not OK.

Everybody has a different impression of the world Bombshell leaves to pick up the pieces at the end of its story. Carlsons settlement agreement impelled 21st Century Fox to issue a statement of apology, expressing regret for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve. Yet, as Ailes and OReillys settlements outpaced that of their accusers by $15m, Fox News itself continues make profits in the billions annually. How impactful can any of these settlement figures have been on making real, systemic change when they would barely dent a balance sheet?

The question mark was important for Theron, who says they were many arguments about how to wrap up the movies narrative. People are brave enough to tell these stories if they feel, at the end, victorious; that there has been a moment of victory, she says. But its not that easy with this story. I really fought very hardalong with Jay and Charlesto have an ending that felt authentic to how things are today. Yes, what these women did was heroic. But at the same time, they didnt change everything overnight. That systemic problem is there and its going to take years for us to undo that power struggle. But that doesnt mean its impossible.

Another end card on the movie notes that the women that accused Ailes were among the first to bring down a such a powerful public figure, but they have not been the lasta statement that seems especially self-reflective for a movie industry that has dealt with its own rotting bushel of bad apples. Kidman sees the optimism of that card, just as she sees the optimism of Carlsons response to her legal team when they tell her, You will be muzzled, Gretchen. She replies: Maybe.

Maybe shell be muzzled, repeats Kidman. Nothings changed, but at the same time things are changing. Women arent as muzzled as they once were.

A responsible company, says Theron, would want to be transparent. Any therapist will tell you silence is the most dangerous thing. Here we are, legally implementing it on women. Im so impressed by women coming forward who are openly breaking their NDAs and saying, Come after me, I have nothing. One woman was literally like, I dont even have a TV. This is how much Ive lost. Its heartbreaking to even fathom that women have to get pushed that far.

But, adds Robbie, Women always find a way. It may take a while, but we find a way.

Theres hope in that, Kidman says. The fires are still being fought.

Continued here:

Why Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman & Margot Robbie Fought For Bombshell As The Women Of Fox News Battle NDAs - Deadline

What does it mean, in the beer world, to be called one of the best breweries of the decade? The 2010s have been a period of such rapid change; of such tumultuous growth and then turmoil, that the beginning of the decade hardly seems connected at all in some respects to where we are today. When the 2010s began, craft gose in the U.S. wasnt a thing. Sour styles in general were still on the niche side of the equation. IPA implied a bone dry, massively bitter style, a far cry from todays saccharine juice bombs. And your average brewery was still aspiring, more or less, to grow as fast as possible into a regional powerhouse.

Suffice to say, things have changed, and changed quite a bit. So how, then, can we choose the breweries that best represented the spirit of the decade? How can we suss out those ones that made major contributions to the field, rolled with the punches, innovated and improved the scene around them? Because its those breweries who truly deserve the title most.

To this end, Paste writers and editors sat down to discuss various nominees for inclusion, and settled on the basic criteria below as the driving force behind our selections:

How strong is the brewerys beer game today, and how strong has it been throughout the decade? To truly be an assessment of the best breweries of the entire decade, we have to attempt to weight contribution made at the beginning of the 2010s the same as we would contributions made toward the end of the decade.

How consistent was the brewery during the decade?

In what areas did the brewery innovate during the decade? What kind of role did they place in the emergence of new styles, or the evolution of old ones?

How important was the brewery to its local beer community, or to the larger craft beer sphere? What X factors might come into play with this particular brewery that increases or decreases our esteem for them?

Ultimately, we decided that in order to qualify for this list, a brewery had to (in almost every case) have been around for at least half the decade, in order to truly make its impact. And if a brewery was founded in 2015, it had to make that much more impact in a shorter period, in order to truly distinguish itself.

And so, with that in mind, allow us to present Pastes 50 best breweries of the 2010s, a direct follow-up to a piece we first published 10 years ago, which ranked the best breweries of 2000-2009. But first: a whole bunch of honorable mentions. Obviously, there are even more breweries we wish we could include, and Im certain there are likely some we forgot, but a tip of the cap to all of the breweries below.

Honorable mentions: American Solera, Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co., Avery Brewing Co., Bale Breaker Brewing Co., Bissell Brothers Brewing Co., Boneyard Beer Co., Boulevard Brewing Co., Brew Gentlemen, Brooklyn Brewery, Casey Brewing and Blending, Epic Brewing Co., Fieldwork Brewing Co., Hi-Wire Brewing, Jackie Os Pub & Brewery, Lawsons Finest Liquids, The Lost Abbey, Metropolitan Brewing, Monkish Brewing Co., New Belgium Brewing Co., New Glarus Brewing Co., Night Shift Brewing, Odell Brewing Co., Parish Brewing Co., Prison City Pub & Brewrey, Proof Brewing Co., Sixpoint Brewery, Stone Brewing Co., Surly Brewing Co., Threes Brewing, Upslope Brewing Co., The Veil Brewing Co., Victory Brewing Co.

50. Ballast Point Brewing Co. (Constellation Brands) Original location: San Diego, CA On 2009 list?: No Our favorite beers: Sculpin IPA, Grunion Pale Ale, Victory at Sea

Did any American craft brewery have more of a violently up-and-down decade than Ballast Point? They entered the decade as one of San Diegos most beloved IPA producers, with a flagship in the form of Sculpin IPA that was one of the industrys most purely sought-after examples of the style, and an array of other well-regarded beers such as the Victory at Sea imperial porter. The brewerys fame then exponentially increased after the first release of Grapefruit Sculpin in 2014, kicking off the industrys brief obsession with fruited IPAs, some of the characteristics of which eventually merged into the profiles of modern hazy/juicy IPAs. Its easy to look back right now and scoff at this particular moment in craft beer industry history, but Grapefruit Sculpin was ultimately a very important, catalyzing event that occurred at the same time as earlier examples of NE-IPA were beginning to emerge. The beer might not have ultimately retained its staying power in many craft circles, but the thought process that produced it was arguably ahead of its time, presaging many aspects of current IPA, for better or worse. We will freely admit it: When we tried Grapefruit Sculpin for the first time in 2014, we were in love as much as anyone.

Of course, it wasnt all sunshine. The companys 2015 sale to Constellation Brands, for the gaudy total of $1 billion, seems all but assured to go down in history as the single most overvalued acquisition of the craft beer boom erathe ultimate example of investment into the field by a company that seemed certain that growth wasnt about to stall anytime soon. Only four years later, it seems impossible to think that signs of the segments slowdown wouldnt have been more apparent at the time, but you know what they say about the clarity of hindsight. In the years that have followed, multiple Ballast Point taproom locations have closed and the company has contracted, even as it introduced a ceaseless wave of new Sculpin variants, to less and less effect. These are no doubt hard times for Ballast Point, but at the same time, it would be wrong to not recognize the company as among the best breweries of the decade, considering the way its influence is still being felt.

49. Rhinegeist Brewery Original location: Cincinnati, OH On 2009 list?: No Our favorite beers: Cheetah Lager, Dad Holiday Ale, Calf

It has become very difficultalmost impossible, reallyto turn breweries founded in the 2010s into the sort of regional/national powerhouses that were built much more easily in the generations that came before. The crowded marketplace, slowing growth rate and successful push to instill preference for small and local in many consumers has limited the possibilities for breweries to expand past a certain size, which made the seemingly unstoppable trajectory of Cincinnatis Rhinegeist that much more impressive. Here is a brewery that really captured the attention of average Midwestern craft beer drinkers in the 2010s, and they rode that wave all the way from a 2013 opening, well past the 100,000 barrel mark.

At its core, Rhinegeist has a lot of things going for it. They have a fabulous brewery in a gorgeous, expansive setting in one of Cincys most popular neighborhoods, complete with a lovely roof deck. They have a solid stable of core beers (their lager Cheetah was just outside the top 10 of our last blind tasting), less on the flashy side and more of the dependable, people-pleasing variety. And they have an almost unprecedented level of local support, which only the likes of Wisconsins New Glarus Brewing Co. can really match. By the time we do this post again in another 10 years, they could well be one of the biggest craft breweries in the country.

48. Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project Original location: Denver, CO On 2009 list?: No Our favorite beers: Von Pilsner, Vielle, Nightmare on Brett

Crooked Stave is one of those breweries that might not get a lot of play in the modern hype cycle, when wild ales of all description can be found on seemingly every street corner, but considering these guys first started selling beer in 2010, they really were quite far ahead of most of their competitionfounded the same year as contemporaries Jester King, in fact. The complications of contract brewing arguably slowed down the brewery from reaching the size that it might have, but it would be a mistake to overlook the lasting effect their saisons and sours had on Colorados Front Range beer scene, a decade later.

If anything, the Crooked Stave lineup might be better balanced today than ever, with a solid array of IPAs, an underrated pilsner (top 10, the last time we blind tasted pilsners ), and dependable workhorses like the Surette saison, fruited petite sours or the decadently barrel-aged Nightmare on Brett, which has come in a few delicious variations over the years. Its a brewery whose best beerslike the wonderfully balanced Vielle saisonsometimes escape conversation, but we havent forgotten them.

47. Deschutes Brewery Original location: Bend, OR On 2009 list?: Yes Our favorite beers: Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Obsidian Stout, The Dissident

Hanging onto a top 10 spot within the Brewers Association production rankings for craft breweries is Deschutes, another major regional player whose 2010s experience mirrors what was experienced by so many of their peersseemingly boundless growth, followed by a pullback and subsequent struggles. For Deschutes, that resulted in job cuts and the postponement of construction of an East Coast brewing facility in 2019, but the brewery seems confident that theres light at the end of this particular tunnel.

In terms of a portfolio, there are certainly few national breweries who have had such a well-rounded slate of beers for such a long time as Deschutes. Several are among the consistent answers youd receive when looking for stylistic benchmarks, whether its Black Butte as an archetypal robust porter, or Mirror Ponda beer we wrote an essay of admiration about last year, in factas a classic American pale ale. Their IPA game has gone through more evolution during this period, understandably, with a varying degree of success, but who doesnt appreciate a pint of Fresh Squeezed IPA? So too are many of the brewerys yearly releases still beloved, whether its Jubelale (one of the only essential American Christmas ales) or The Abyss, one of the earliest buzz-worthy imperial stouts. In fact, the company even released a particularly eye-catching whiskey version of Black Butte in 2019, opening up an exciting new avenue of exploration.

46. SweetWater Brewing Co. Original location: Atlanta, GA On 2009 list?: No Our favorite beers: SweetWater IPA, 420 Pale Ale, The Pit and the Pendulum

The Southeasts largest craft brewery seems to have weathered the industrys slowdown better than most, rolling with the punches even as it has continuously modernized in the face of changing consumer tastes. Although there have been some sad losses along the way (we still miss Exodus Porter as a year-rounder), SweetWaters growth into a regional powerhouse never undermined the quality of core offerings like SweetWater IPA and 420. And with their placement into all Delta flights nationwide, the brewery was exposed to a bigger audience than ever.

On the innovation side, SweetWater constructed its sour and wood-focused Woodlands facility this decade, transforming a brewery primarily known for pale ale and IPA into one equally well-liked for brettanomyces beers and a variety of increasingly ambitious wild ales. It was an evolution of the brands most basic ethos that seemed to happen in an organic, unforced way, and has produced some excellent beers, such as the peachy Pit and the Pendulum. So too has SweetWater more recently managed to tap into the growing national fervor for cannabis with its very successful series of 420 Strain beers, led by G13 IPA, which have explored the conjunction between dank flavors and IPA in a way much more literal than what can be done with hops alone. All of these factors have helped keep SweetWater more relevant in national beer geek conversations than many of their similarly sized competitors.

45. Great Notion Brewing Co. Original location: Portland, OR On 2009 list?: No Our favorite beers: Ripe, Space Invader, Double Stack

In order to truly be one of the best and most relevant breweries of the decade, you really need to have existed for at least the majority of the decade but of course, theres always an exception to the rule. In creating this list, we originally planned to require that the breweries on it exist by at least 2015, but upon realizing that would exclude Great Notion (they opened in 2016) we reconsidered. After all, when you win the largest blind tasting weve ever conducted, as Great Notion did when Ripe reigned #1 out of 324 IPAs, youve earned some of the most elite esteem were able to convey. After all, is there any plaudit more genuinely impressive than finishing #1 when you completely remove preconceptions and hype from the equation?

All the more important, because Great Notion most certainly possesses a lot of hype status within its Portland, OR beer community, which has been rocked by a turbulent wave of closures of older breweries in 2019just look at this piece from Jeff Alworth, which makes the devastation clear. Its not hard to see some of the similaritiesthe breweries to close have been of the older variety, making safer beer styles than the likes of Great Notion, which focuses with particular intensity on hazy IPA, fruited and big stouts, with the occasional lager for balance. This makes them a very modern brewery indeed, which begs the obvious question of whether changing tastes could one day lead to a reversal of fortunes. At the end of the day, though, even though they havent been around long, Great Notion is executing several of these modern stylesand especially hazy IPAas well as any other brewery in the world today. We would like to assume that quality will be applicable toward whatever style happens to be hot by the time 2030 rolls around.

44. Funky Buddha Brewery (Constellation Brands) Original location: Oakland Park, FL On 2009 list?: No Our favorite beers: Maple Bacon Coffee Porter, Last Snow, Floridian Hefeweizen

When we call 2010 a decade in which beer gimmicks tended to run amok, we usually dont mean it as a compliment. Funky Buddha, however, is one of the few breweries that has ever managed to take a gimmick-heavy portfolio and make something transcendent from it. For years, weve been referring to these guys as the masters of flavored beer, and its honestly been the brewerys biggest contribution over the last decade to the overall scene. Theyre not without the inevitable misfires, but no brewery does kooky flavor concepts more deftly than these guys.

Take, for instance, the now classic Maple Bacon Coffee Porter (or the barrel-aged version, Morning Wood), a concept that could go so wrong in the hands of so many other breweries, but which Funky Buddha handles with immaculate balance. Is it smoky? A touch. Roasty? Just enough. Rich? Certainly, without being cloying. Its the best case example for what maple bacon coffee porter could reasonably be expected to be, and the fact that they regularly pull off these kinds of combinations is remarkable. Not to be lost, of course, is a solid complement of core beers, especially the year-round hefeweizen Floridian, which finished at #5 in one of our wheat beer blind tastings. But when we think of Funky Buddha, we think of fearless experimentation and improbable successes, as with this years cocktail-inspired Manhattan Double Rye Ale. You can always count on them to push the envelope.

43. Tired Hands Brewing Co. Original location: Ardmore, PA On 2009 list?: No Our favorite beers: HopHands, SaisonHands, Various milkshakes

Milkshake IPA is a beer style were unlikely to ever list among our favorites, but if the entire beer industry handled the style with the skill and creativity of the progenitors at Tired Hands, thats a sentiment wed probably reconsider. Although the Pennsylvania stalwarts have brewed a wide variety of styles (including some lovely saisons) right from the start, its difficult to separate them from their most famous creation, and if theres a beer style that sums up the zeitgeist of the 2010s more than milkshake IPA, we havent seen it. The thought to use lactose in a style where it was practically a foreign substance was a clever one, allowing the Tired Hands brewers to boost the creamy texture and subtle sweetness of their IPAs in a way that worked beautifully with an array of fresh fruit purees. In comparison with the imitation that followed from so many other breweries, Tired Hands milkshake IPAs always seem to strike the ideal balance between fruity vivaciousness and at least a modicum of balance, avoiding the tooth-stripping sweetness that bogged down so many others in our increasingly saccharine beer world. It will never be a style for everyone, but Tired Hands has always illustrated what something like milkshake IPA looks like at its best. Sadly, theyre a brewery weve had a chance to sample at Paste far less than some of the others on this list, but hopefully that will one day change.

42. Wicked Weed (AB-InBev) Original location: Asheville, NC On 2009 list?: No Our favorite beers: Golden Angel, Pernicious IPA, Milk & Cookies

We have never been shy at Paste about expressing our disdain for Anheuser-Busch InBev, or trying to codify why formerly craft breweries selling out to the worlds biggest beer conglomerate is a bad thing for the rest of the industry. At the same time, we also believe in recognizing beer quality in as objective a way as possibleits why we conduct blind tastings, where brands owned by AB-InBev have routinely placed near the very top in certain styles. In short, we believe in giving credit where credit it due, and it would be a lie to argue that Wicked Weed belongs outside of the best breweries of the 2010s. Their contributions to American wild ales alone put them in some pretty exclusive company, regardless of current ownership.

Since its genesis in 2012, Wicked Weed has done a remarkable job of evangelizing the novel flavor avenues that the average consumer can explore via wild and sour ales. They may be the brewery that had the single highest degree of influence in converting wide swaths of non-sour drinkers into people with a passion for wild ales in the last 8 years or so, whether it was done via more approachable fruited sours like Medora or the over-the-top decadence of the entire Angel series. At the same time, they also took a novel approach to more desserty sours in the form of beers like Silencio, and crafted one of the better flagship IPAs in the game with Pernicious. Suffice to say, it wasnt a GABF medal winner for nothing. Although Wicked Weeds esteem in its native Asheville is understandably lower these days than it once was, when viewing the decade as a whole, they loom large as one of the most important players. Certainly, of all the AB-InBev acquisitions, this was the one that stung the most.

41. Founders Brewing Co. (Mahou San Miguel) Original location: Grand Rapids, MI On 2009 list?: Yes Our favorite beers: Founders Breakfast Stout, Porter, Mosaic Promise

The relationship between beer geeks and Founders has become more complicated in the last few years, especially in the light of the (now settled) racial discrimination lawsuit brought against the company by a former employee. That unpleasant ordeal arguably knocks them down a little bit on this sort of list, but we also dont want to overlook the contributions made by Founders to the industry in terms of their beer. Few breweries had such a hand in shaping multiple styles, as they exist today.

Not to gloss over the brewerys all-time classics (Founders Porter, Breakfast Stout), but barrel-aged beers were one of the arenas in which Founders helped change the game. Kentucky Breakfast Stout is, along with Goose Islands Bourbon County Brand Stout, one of the two most important barrel-aged beers of all time, and was instrumental in starting the American barrel-aging renaissance. In the last few years, KBS production has ramped up, ending the artificial scarcity once created by its limited release. Predictably, beer geeks have responded by claiming that the product is now lesser than it was, but in our eyes its the rest of the industry that has continued to evolve, rather than KBS itself being somehow diminished.

Also not to be overlooked: All Day IPA, a beer that both presaged the bloom of session IPA and low-calorie IPA all at once, as well as providing a template for how craft breweries could use economies of scale to sell in larger packaging, such as 15-packs of cans.

40. Jacks Abby Original location: Framingham, MA On 2009 list?: No Our favorite beers: House Lager, Post Shift Pilsner, Copper Legend

Sure, in our current craft beer scene, the lager is life and crispy boi crowds have steadily pushed for the establishment of a thriving undercurrent of lager, helles and pilsner in the majority of brewery lineups, but this was by no means the truth at the beginning of the decade, when breweries like Jacks Abby (and Chicagos Metropolitan) were just getting started. These guys faced a completely different beer market, so often hungry for bitter-as-hell IPA and bruising imperial stouts, and the thought of trying to market any style of lager frightened away the vast majority of craft brewers at the time. Many were the instances when I begged for pilsner from _____ brewery, only to be told that craft breweries cant make lager profitable, thanks to the longer turnaround on tank time. The likes of Jacks Abby? They showed exactly what was possible within the humble world of lager.

And truly, Jacks Abby did it with a passion and verve that was infectious. They never allowed the traditional concepts of lager styles to hold them back from making whatever kind of beers they wanted to make. You still want American hops? Theyve got an IPL to suit that desire. Prefer imperial stout? Theyll come up with a big, black, bruising lager that will make you question what you thought you knew about yeast. Whether creating perfect versions of classic styles like rauchbier or maibock within their ongoing kellerbier series, or venturing off the beaten path with cranberry Berliner lager or the like, Jacks Abby has never been short of fearless. Their tireless larger advocacy has helped increase the diversity of the average brewery lineup, and theres few accomplishments better than that.

39. Westbrook Brewing Co. Original location: Mt. Pleasant, SC On 2009 list?: No Our favorite beers: Westbrook Gose, One Claw, Mexican Cake

Truly, in the craft beer world, it can pay to get in on a trend early and become one of the most visible progenitors for an emerging style. Its always a gamble, of coursean investment of time and resources into an emerging style that just as likely as not will end up going nowhere. But in certain instances, it turns out like it did for Westbrook and gose.

Gose, of course, had been around in Germany for centuries before a South Carolinabrewery helped popularize it in the U.S., but combined with the influx of kettle sours that arrived in the middle of this decade, gose perfectly matched the climate of the moment. And indeed, Westbrooks gose ultimately went a long way in setting the mold as to what made American goses different from their Continental forebearsthey were more pronouncedly tart, with a burst of lemon juice-like acidity, a whiff of coriander and a healthy degree of salinity. As in so many other American styles that came before, we took a European beer style and upped its intensity and assertiveness. Truly, when it comes to craft beer, this is the American way. But to circle back: Westbrook Gose was a smash, and for many it was the first beer labeled gose they ever sampled; impressive for a style that is now completely ubiquitous only a handful of years later.

There is more to Westbrook as well, of course. Theyre a well-balanced brewery, trading in hops (all of the excellent Claw variants), lagers (try the schwarzbier, if you can) and sought-after stouts (Mexican Cake, another major trendsetter) in equal measure. Certainly, theyve done their part in promoting South Carolina/Charlestons brewery community.

38. Bells Brewery Original location: Kalamazoo, MI On 2009 list?: Yes Our favorite beers: Two Hearted Ale, Black Note, Arabicadabra

Bells feels like the sort of brewery where sheer consistency is both an asset and a criticism lobbed against them by a certain segment of the beer geek blogosphere. To be certain: Bells has been a little bit less adventurous and out there over the years compared to local Michigan competitors such as Founders, but they also had the benefit of lots of great recipes that quite frankly needed little tweaking to begin with. Is there a more generally beloved IPA in the U.S. than Two Hearted, even in 2019? Even in an era when drinkers are constantly chasing sweet, juicy, hazy sugar bombs, the dry, floral and lightly citrusy Two Hearted retains an absolutely rabid fanbase, and deservedly so. Cracking open a Two Hearted after not having one for a long time is one of the Midwests great beer pleasures.

At the same time, its not as if Bells didnt find time to innovate this decade. They did well when it came to themed releases, such as their much-loved series of planet beers themed after the composed works of Gustav Holst, or their more recent series inspired by the poems of Walt Whitman. And they even managed to keep growing, despite the slowdown of the market and the difficulties inherent in selling older beer styles such as amber ale, once the brewerys flagship. All in all, Bells just feels like one of those breweries that is built to last forever.

37. Dogfish Head (Boston Beer Co.) Original location: Milton, DE On 2009 list?: Yes Our favorite beers: 90 Minute IPA, World Wide Stout, Raison DExtra

Dogfish Head might very well be the opposite of how we described Bells above. Where a brewery like Bells could be said to have stayed the course and maintained its excellence in this decade, Dogfish Headwas constantly evolving and changing. They proved particularly adept in the 2010s in identifying emerging trends and pouncing on them, while exploring new avenues for the company at the same time. As ever, they know their way around an ingredient gimmick or a marketing gimmick, doing it better than almost anyone else in the business.

As the decade began, Dogfish Headwas still the company built around 60 Minute IPA and venerable brands like Indian Brown Ale. As time went on, though, Dogfish Head ran up against many of the same challenges as other major, regional breweries, but consistently displayed more ingenuity than most in evolving with the times. In particular, the 2016 development of session sour SeaQuench Ale put a shot of vitality into the companys lineup and quickly became its de facto secondary flagship. It also clearly put thoughts of health and wellness into the brewerys braintrust, and has powered its reinvention into what Sam Calagione now refers to as the number-one active, lifestyle-oriented craft beer brand, on the back of low-calories IPAs like Slightly Mighty and SuperEIGHT, a beer based around the concept of superfoods. And if those beers arent your cup of tea? We can happily report that the likes of 90 Minute IPA are as good as ever, and arguably even more relevant in an IPA market that has swung so far in the direction of hazy.

36. Sante Adairius Rustic Ales Original location: Capitola, CA On 2009 list?: No Our favorite beers: Family Whistle, Bright Sea Blonde, Loves Armor

Some breweries focus on making approachable beer. Others focus on challenging or intense beer. Sante Adairius, on the other hand, seems to focus on beautiful beer. As they put it in their own words, we focus our attention on producing well-constructed beers with an eye toward simplicity and character. Theres an earnestness in that phrasing that really sums up Sante Adairius as a brewerythey are absolutely world class in their Belgian beers and farmhouse ales, but theyre not the kind of brewery that would ever revel in the praise directed their way. Their beers are like immaculate, but non-flashy, works of art, as exemplified by the clarity and precision in something like Sante Adairius Bright Sea Blonde. When I first tasted it in 2017, I was immediately taken aback by how perfectly balanced it was, for something so seemingly simple as Belgian-style blonde ale. When talking about this brewery, one quickly comes to realize that youre almost always being under-sold.

A yearly staple of the Firestone WalkerInvitational, a love for Sante Adairius almost feels like something of a beer geek secret handshake among those who are passionate about saisons and wild ales. Many are the conversations Ive had with other beer writers about Sante Adairius, particularly at that California festival, and never are they held in anything but the highest esteem.

35. WeldWerks Brewing Co. Original location: Greeley, CO On 2009 list?: No Our favorite beers: Hefeweizen, Juicy Bits, Medianoche

WeldWerks is the rare occasion when I have actually felt like Ive followed the rise of a hyped brewery from almost the very beginningnot because Ive ever physically set foot in the Greeley, CO taproom (I havent), but because I first sampled their beer at GABF less than a year after the brewerys opening, and lets just say the lines were a lot shorter back then. But from the very beginning, I walked away from the WeldWerks booth feeling like this was an uncommonly delicious brewery, whether they were dealing with humble styles (a killer, medal-winning hefeweizen) or completely over-the-top stouts.

The rest is essentially historyas the hazy IPA revolution arrived in the back half of the decade, WeldWerks was one of the first major players in Colorado to attract critical acclaim for their hop-forward lineup, especially the flagship Juicy Bits, which is every bit as juicy as the name would suggest. That attention likewise led to even more hype for the brewerys barrel-aged stout releases, especially those in the Medianoche line, which we appreciate for their focus on barrel-derived flavors over more ostentatious pastry stout elements. Today, one might criticize the brewery for prioritizing hazy IPA and imperial stouts a bit too strongly, but when theyre taking home the #1 spot in Pastes milkshake IPA blind tasting, you can hardly blame them too much. When youre really, really good at something, you earn a certain degree of leeway. WeldWerks is still one of the younger breweries on this list, but theyve absolutely earned their acclaim as one of Colorados top brewers.

34. Revolution Brewing Co. Original location: Chicago, IL On 2009 list?: No Our favorite beers: Straight Jacket Barleywine, Rev Pils, Eugene

If I was present for almost all of the ascendency of WeldWerks in the entry previous, I was here for every bit of the rise of Revolution over the course of the last decade, as they became the largest brewery in Illinois not named Goose Island. Living in Illinois, I visited the original Revolution brewpub as often as possible, watching as a handful of late 2000s upstarts (especially the compatriots at Half Acre) built the modern Chicago craft beer scene around them. Its now easy to forget that compared with early adopters such as San Diego or Portland, the craft beer movement was a little slow in arriving in Chicago. But when it came, it came in force.

From the beginning, Revolution excelled in classic styles. Their Eugene porter became the citys most dependable, session-strength dark beer. From day one, Anti-Hero IPA was one of the citys best overall (and now most balanced) hoppy beers. But Revolution also grew and morphed, albeit subtly, to fit the mold of changing tastes. They never abandoned the mold of Anti-Hero, now retro in its own way, but instead continuously expanded the Hero lineup until it had something for almost any taste. At the same time, they launched an expansive barrel-aging program that went on to challenge and eventually dethrone Goose Island for the title of the citys barrel-aged beer kingpin. The results were confirmed by Pastes own blind tastings, where Revolutions Straight Jacket barleywine crushed the competition en route to a #1 showing. They may have started as a brewpub getting press for bacon fat popcorn, but Revolution used its running start to become one of the most dependably great breweries in the midwest.

33. Other Half Brewing Co. Original location: Brooklyn, NY On 2009 list?: No Our favorite beers: All Green Everything, Broccoli Special Reserve, Double Mosaic Dream

This is another case where ranking is a little bit more difficult on account of the fact that weve sampled comparatively fewer of Other Halfs beers than most of the other breweries on this list. In putting them here, were taking into consideration both the beers weve had a chance to sample, and the effect theyve had in generating enthusiasm for the New York City beer scene.

Because make no mistake, the craft beer scene of NYC was considered oddly underwhelming, not all that long ago. Both New York and L.A. resisted the 2000s boom on some level, establishing far fewer breweries than much smaller cities that embraced the ethos of craft beer in a more enthusiastic way. The New York scene was anchored by a handful of stalwarts such as Brooklyn Brewery and Sixpoint, but it wasnt until the early 2010s that a younger generation began to emerge who would shape the future. And among those breweries, none were capable of generating excitement quite like Other Half.

Today, they are rightly considered one of the East Coasts finest producers of hazy IPA, with a singular focus on the style that is perhaps slightly limiting, but common in this day and age. Theres no denying that they make immaculate hazies, if thats what youre in the market for, but the brewerys greatest accomplishment is likely the way it pushed so many of the other NYC brewers to up their games in the process.

32. pFriem Family Brewers Original location: Hood River, OR On 2009 list?: No Our favorite beers: Pilsner, Helles Lager, Oud Bruin

pFriem, like a few of the other breweries on this list who consistently performed far above average in Paste blind tastings, feels like the kind of brewery that is maybe a bit too easy to take for granted. Since establishing themselves in 2012, their beer has spread far throughout the Pacific Northwest, with entries like IPA and Pilsner becoming staples throughout the region. This of course leads on some level to beer geeks lowering their esteem for the average pFriem year-rounder: The old maxim of anything widely available must be inferior to something limited. But put pFriems beer into a blind tasting setting, and thats where it truly shines. Divorced from hype, its easy to see that this was one of the best and most consistent breweries of the decade.

Their dominance is especially impressive within lager beer styles, where they regularly cleaned up in our blind tastings. You dont finish at #2 in a blind tasting of 102 non-pilsner lagers, and then #6 in a blind tasting of 134 pilsners by accident. The only way you repeat those kinds of numbers is with technical mastery, and pFriem has it in spades. We also appreciate their interest in brewing classy versions of classic Belgian styles that have fallen out of vogue in the modern hype cycle, such as oud bruin, kriek or Belgian Christmas ales, giving the brewery a versatility that many of their peers now tend to lack. In general, there are few breweries where were more confident that every release will be well above average for the style.

31. Live Oak Brewing Co. Original location: De Valle, TX On 2009 list?: No Our favorite beers: Hefeweizen, Pilz, Oaktoberfest

Theres not a lot of call for simplicity or subtlety in the craft beer world these days. Nor has Texas always been a market where traditional craft beer styles have received quite as much admiration as they perhaps deserved. In short, Live Oak Brewing Co. was pretty much always fighting an uphill battle since they slapped caps on their first bottles more than 20 years ago. They sought to bring truly balanced, authentic German beer styles into a scene that was mostly filled with cheap, mass-produced imitation, and along the way they played a major part in educating southwestern craft beer drinkers on what theyd been missing out on for decades. You want influential beers? Look no further than Live Oak Hefe, or Pilz. God only knows how many others in their own mold theyve inspired over the years.

Live Oak is, more than anything, an uncompromising brewery. They dont tweak their releases to suit changing styles and preferencesthey do what theyre good at, what they have a passion for, and they rarely deviate from the classics. German lagers, German ales, executed with a deference to history and technical acumen that rivals anyone else in the gamethats the Live Oak way. Although finding an outstanding, authentic pilsner isnt such a difficult task in the craft beer world these days, it might very well be without the guiding light of breweries like Live Oak. The last decade has shown the fruits of their labor in how eagerly their passions have been adopted by so many other breweries and drinkers, and in the end, thats the greatest victory Live Oak could ask for. That, and a #1 finish in Pastes blind hefeweizen tasting.

30. Perennial Artisan Ales Original location: St. Louis, MO On 2009 list?: No Our favorite beers: Abraxas, Vermillion, Maman

Without a doubt, this was a great decade for the St. Louis beer scene. The 2010s began with only a handful of reliable, workhorse breweries (Schlafly, etc.) calling the city home, and quickly grew to encompass a wide array out outstanding brewers, from Perennial and Side Project to Urban Chestnut, Civil Life, 4 Hands, Narrow Gauge and 2nd Shift. They quickly turned the city from a beer scene associated with foreign-owned Anheuser-Busch and the legacy of the Busch family into one teeming with promising young breweries making beers in a bevy of different styles.

Of that class of this decade, Perennial just might be the most balanced and consistent of the bunch. Theres almost no style that Perennial isnt willing to tackle, even if our favorite selections from these guys over the years have often fallen into the realms of imperial stout, Belgian ales and barrel-aged saisons. That isnt to say they dont know their way around IPA, or even lager styles as wellPerennial is one of those breweries you can expect to do most everything well. With that said, they rightfully are well respected in the beer community for now-classic beers like the Abraxas imperial stout, which made a heavy impression in the wave of Mexican hot chocolate stouts that followed throughout the 2010s, along with barrel-aged bruisers like Maman, which are among the most purely flavorful in their class. Perennial is just one of those breweries were always happy to see submit something for a blind tasting, as the result invariably elevates the field.

29. Creature Comforts Brewing Co. Original location: Athens, GA On 2009 list?: No Our favorite beers: Tropicalia, Tritonia /w Cucumber & Lime, Duende

Another influencer, this time on the Georgia beer scene (which Paste knows pretty well, being based in Atlanta), Creature Comforts attained it brewery status very quickly after opening and has pretty much never let up, always finding new ways to put themselves into the national conversation despite limited distribution. The Athens location ultimately served the brewery very well, making sought-after beers like the flagship Tropicalia IPA that much more difficult for Atlanta residents to attain, and driving visitors to make the trip to bring some home with them, much as a Chicagoan might drive across the Wisconsin border to score some culty brews from New Glarus. And that is ultimately how a rabid fandom is built.

Hoppy styles were Creature Comforts earliest strength, with the mildly juicy and super approachable Tropicalia leading the way, and ultimately leading to the development of killer DIPAs like Duende and Cosmik Debris. Over time, though, the brewery ventured out in new directions to supplement their IPA game, beginning a series of dynamite wild ale releases and eventually finding a great appreciation for lager as well. Visiting Creature Comforts today, a drinker is likely to find a bevy of great IPAs, along with a few intriguing mixed fermentation beers, some way above average kettle sours, a few cool, pils-adjacent beers, and (if youre lucky) a grandiose imperial stout. As I so often observed while living in Athens, GA in 2018/2019, if they just added an outstanding, standard-strength, year-round dark beer to the portfolio, it would essentially be the perfect lineup. Not that were complaining, mind you.

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The 50 Best American Breweries of the 2010s - Paste Magazine