5 Pickle Beers You Will Love
Pickle Beers
Pickle beer is equally quirky and polarizing. It may look a little weird at first glance, but the flavor combination isn’t all that strange. Its typical combination of tart acidity and crisp refreshing notes is not far removed from certain niche craft beer categories, like a gose or a Berliner weisse. This adjacency makes the notion of pickle beers daresay approachable in a way that may not have been possible a few years ago.
“Consumers today are much more adventurous than they were a decade ago,” explains Matt Potts, Founder and CEO for DESTHIL Holdings, a Normal, Illinois-based company which oversees DESTIHL Brewery and Beer Hall. “Craft beer helped foster that mindset by encouraging people to explore new styles and flavors. When people discover that a pickle beer can be refreshing, balanced, and surprisingly drinkable, they’re often pleasantly surprised.”
While the style has its fans, it hasn’t been fully embraced by the masses. Part of the issue is the concept itself, which some people struggle to grasp. Josh Jancewicz, co-founder of Donna’s Pickle Beer, witnesses this firsthand whenever he drives his logo-branded van through the streets of Los Angeles. “One of my favorite things to do is watch people’s lips as I drive by,” he says. “You can almost always tell they’re saying, ‘What the f**k is Donna’s Pickle Beer?’ It never gets old.”
After they figure out what the f**k a pickle beer is, it still may take some cajoling to get people to try one. Their reaction to that initial taste leaves little to no gray area. “Once people actually try a well-made pickle beer, the reaction is almost always either, ‘I’m obsessed’ or ‘this is disgusting.’ But, that’s what keeps us going,” says Jancewicz. “The truth is, pickle beer isn’t for everyone, and we’re okay with that. At the very least, Donna’s makes people smile. It makes them ask questions. It starts conversations.”
While pickle beer has detractors (as does every other style of beer, if we’re being honest), there are more than enough fans of the style to keep it strong enough to be more than just a novelty. Yet as Potts points out, landing such permanence in the beer world doesn’t just come from being unique. “Standing out helps, but the beer still has to deliver,” he says. “Today’s beer drinkers have more choices than ever, so simply being different isn’t enough. Our pickle beers get attention for their concept, but they earn repeat purchases because people genuinely enjoy drinking them. That’s what gives it staying power.”
If you’re new to pickle beer, you may be surprised to find several breweries across the country trying their hand at this unique style. To get you started, we’ve gathered a list of pickle beers worth seeking out.
Martin House Brewing Co. Best Maid Sour Pickle Beer
This Fort Worth, Texas brewery didn’t invent pickle beer, but it propelled the style into the beer-drinking mainstream when it launched in 2018. It also provides a terrific example of trusted local collaboration in action. As the name suggests, Martin House sources their pickles from Best Maid Pickles, whose headquarters stand less than three miles away from the brewery. Together, they produce a distinctively tangy gose-style brew packed with pronounced dill and garlic notes. It may not be for drinkers that typically avoid the sour beer category, but it’s an essential beer to try for those that like the tart stuff. In addition to the label that gave pickle beer a path to permanence, Martin House and BestMaid have occasionally produced a few limited-edition novelty items, like grape punch pickle beer and mustard relish pickle beer.
Destihl Spicy Pickle Sour Beer
It makes perfect sense that DESTIHL makes killer pickle beers. The brewery’s attached restaurant leans into using artisanal ingredients, and this chef-driven mindset naturally spills over to the brewery’s creative processes. Their pickle beer is a collaboration with the Austin, Texas-based gourmet pickle company SuckerPunch Gourmet, a brand known for producing bold, sassy pickles of various styles. Using a gose ale as a base brew, they create a label which builds a flavor profile in a manner that makes the former’s tart citrus tang and the latter’s garlicky characteristics distinguishable from each other. In other words, it’s pickles and beer, not pickle-flavored beer. It’s somewhat of a nuanced difference, but it’s that nuance that makes it a standout expression. They also make a spicy pickle version for a more piquant drinking experience.
PBR X Grillo’s Pickle Beer
There’s no better indicator of an alcohol trend going fully mainstream than a major brand getting involved. To that end, Pabst Blue Ribbon getting into the pickle beer game is a very good thing, because it helps spread the gospel of pickle beer to the masses in a way smaller craft brands may not be capable of doing. Their partnership with the immensely popular pickle company Grillo’s shows they aren’t treating this as a novelty, either. The balanced layers of crisp, unfussy lager and mildly sour, garlic-tinged pickle flavors reiterate this commitment to making a solid iteration of this style.
Word of warning: This limited-run expression is a summertime toe dip in the pickle beer pool, so don’t wait until the leaves turn brown to give it a try.
Donna’s Pickle Beer
The idea of creating Donna’s came to Jancewicz when he was hanging out in the California desert. The rollicking success of the pickle beer since its 2023 market debut proves it wasn’t a fever dream. Named after Jancewicz’s mother and made in conjunction with the Chicago-based brewing incubator Pilot Project Brewing, Donna’s takes a gentler, more accessible approach to the category. It drinks more like a lager than a gose, equipped with a flavor profile that’s sweeter and less astringent compared to other pickle beers. This makes Donna’s an ideal gateway beer to the category, particularly for consumers on the fence about jumping into the pickle world. It also remains a satisfying treat to return to once you go further down the pickle beer rabbit hole. Currently unavailable, we patiently await its return.
Urban Artifact Pickle Beer
In December 2015, Cincinnati brewery Urban Artifact crafted a pickle beer as a cheeky lark, designed to pay homage to the German-American yuletide practice of hiding a pickle in a Christmas tree. Simply called Pickle, the beer was a massive hit, and the pickle beer phenomenon was inadvertently born. This OG pickle beer, which is available year-round, makes their brew with 1,000 pounds of cucumber, sea salt, fresh dill, and coriander. The recipe yields a balanced beer equally rounded by touches of brine, herbaceousness, and citrus, making it worthwhile for pickle beer enthusiasts to go back and explore the style’s novel yet auspicious origin story. Currently unavailable, we await its return.