Trends and graphs and charts and statistics--yeah, of course these things are important when it comes to understanding the drinks biz. Preferences change, new categories and styles emerge, innovation happens--bring it all on! It’s especially crucial for us to have a finger on the pulse of all this stuff, because, well, ya know…we curate and offer the best the beverage alcohol (and non-alcoholic!) world has to offer! And we do it on the cutting edge, staying ahead of the curve by introducing some of the most exciting brands out there while simultaneously keeping buzz strong for long-running, well-established favorites.
But there’s one unit of measurement we think is maybe the most important and fascinating of all: what y’all love and snatch up! What you’re “adding to cart” and enjoying and Instagramming and reordering and telling your friends about, that tells us so much of what we need to know when it comes to trends, what the people want, what we want to give the people, and what to be extra, extra excited about. We had a feeling you might feel the same, that one of the most interesting factors to consider when looking for drink-fridge inspiration is what other craft beverage fans are buying. What’s hot? What’s popular? Hmm, doesn’t it all sound pretty good? Do you maybe need to get on that?
We think sharing our best sellers is serious #shoppinginspo--you yourselves are all being drink shopping influencers! We’d also like to give the brands behind these best-selling beverages a big ol’ round of applause. So to celebrate them and give you some fresh ideas, let’s look at the best sellers from last year--we can’t wait to see how these drinks do in 2023, and what other drinks they welcome into their hall-of-fame crew.
Sunday Beer Company Light & Tight Lager
The folks at Sunday Beer Company made this beer with the mission to capture everything good about a light lager--its easy-drinking, thirst-quenching sessionability, so you can sip all day with friends without feeling weighed down or in a bad way the next day--and make it extra high-quality with the methods, ingredients, and attention to detail of craft. So, it’s no wonder that the Light & Tight Lager is literally a crowd-pleaser. At 3.8% ABV, this is a beer to stock up on and always have on hand, ready for any occasion, any meal, any craving.
Gay Beer Golden Lager
The people have spoken and the people want delicious beer that’s sessionable! Similar to the Light & Tight Lager, Gay Beer’s Golden Lager was brewed with an extreme emphasis on flavor and quality, but also on the ability for it to be enjoyed whenever, wherever, however. It’s versatile and refreshing and so easy-drinking. Pour it a champagne flute at a dinner party, mix it into a cocktail, crush cans at an outdoor hang. It’s 5% ABV, gluten-reduced, 138 calories, and it’s classic and tasty.
TapRm Exclusive Variety 18-Pack
Look, we don’t want to brag--but fine, we will. We knew we were onto something special with this variety pack. And we also knew craft beverage fans would jump at the variety pack option. Any variety pack with any theme is a chance to really lean into discovery. It’s accessing a whole group of unique, high-quality, delicious drinks from buzz-worthy brands, in one convenient fell swoop, and you can trust the curation. One pack can contain longtime favorites alongside new favorites to be. Mix-packs are equally clutch for parties, so you can share and multiple friends with different palates are happy, as well as for gifts. And it’s no surprise that our variety pack of exclusives was a hit best-seller. It rounds up the brands that TapRm proudly partners with as an exclusive online provider--we know you love a lil’ velvet-rope exclusivity, right? It’s a bit of IYKYK, inside-scoop goodness when it comes to enjoyable beverages, and we can’t think of anything better.
TrimTab Brewing Co. Leave No Trace IPA
TrimTab approached the milkshake IPA trend, giving the people what they want with a lush mouthfeel and just enough sweetness to balance the complex, bitter-leaning notes of bold hop character. But they didn’t stop there, raising the bar with oats, coconut milk, and vanilla, for a finish that’s nutty, bready, sweet, ever so slightly tangy-bright, and meant to make you think about granola, which makes you think about hiking, which makes you think about the beauty of nature, which makes you think about working to preserve it. We see what ya did there, TrimTab, and we appreciate it! This Alabama brewery is currently demonstrating its flavor chops with an imperial sour ale, a sour with plum, hibiscus, and black currant, and a Berliner weisse.
Japas Cervejaria Matsurika Pilsner
So, we’re seeing a trend here, right? In 2022, people were really appreciating the value of a good craft lager, how easy-drinking and light it is and how it can be enjoyed for so many occasions, yet how flavorful and well-balanced and interesting it can be. The Matsurika Pilsner from Japas Cervejaria takes that innovation on a simply perfect, understated beer style one step further. This women-owned, Brazil-based brewery celebrates its founders’ culture by incorporating and celebrating Japanese ingredients and their gorgeous flavors and aromas, flavors and aromas that open up the possibilities on even the most tried and true beer styles. Matsurika is named for a Japanese tea using jasmine petals, and jasmine petals enhance this crisp pilsner with floral notes that make a go-to special.
Japas Cervejaria Yuzu Nama Biiru Lager
Japas won crowd favor with yet another lager elevated by tradition, storytelling, and a painstaking dedication to craft processes and the best ingredients. Yuzu Nama Biiru celebrates a beloved beer ritual in Japan, introduces people here in the States to the beauty of this particular beer, and also serves as a refreshing, versatile staple all at once. “Nama Biiru” means “raw/live beer,” unpasteurized for full flavor and ultra, super fresh, and it’s the popular request at Japanese Izakayas, or pubs. It’s incredibly refreshing, and this version shines extra bright with yuzu.
Japas Cervejaria Oishii Wheat Beer
And Japas with a hat trick! If you haven’t tried Japas Cervejaria yet, surely the fact they took three of ten 2022 best-seller spots is the final convincing you need. This brewery masterfully creates time-honored styles, but gives them new life with inspired flavors, and the result--clearly!--is a roster of beers that people can’t wait to try and then can’t wait to enjoy over and over again. Oishii is named for the word it translates to, “yummy,” which tracks: it’s a witbier with traditional notes of bready-sweet wheat and bright-tart-sweet-bitter orange peels, but with the unique spicy kick of ginger.
KCBC Superhero Sidekicks IPA
Believe it or not, even with the vast sea of options, it can be hard out there for a hop-lover. Because of the ubiquity of IPAs, some of them can start to taste a little same-y and uninspired. We work hard to find the special ones of the bunch, and gosh, did you all grasp onto the standout perfection of KCBC’s Superhero Sidekicks. We knew this brewery knew how to preserve all the hop-bitter, malt-sweet, tropical-fruity, piney, luscious-with-a-crisp-finish goodness of a hallmark New England IPA, but apparently, they did such a good job, with so much flavor, you couldn’t get enough. Cheers to this best seller that had tons of stiff competition.
My Favorite Thing Enfant Terrible Stout
Are you sitting down? You may need to in order to fully process the creativity and absolute dreaminess of this decadent, indulgent, irresistible pastry stout from My Favorite Thing. Enfant Terrible is inspired by baklava, brewed with honey, dates, rose, pistachio, chocolate, and vanilla. Every sip is a whole silky, velvety journey through sweetness; dark, dried, jammy, wine-y fruit; nuttiness; bittersweet chocolatey-ness; and delicate florals. It’s complex yet harmonious, and embraces the dessert factor you want when you crave a pastry stout yet does so with the twist of new, intriguing notes. Perhaps that’s why in a year that seemed to be about crisp pilsners and hoppy IPAs, this was the stout that cracked the best-seller list.
Mayflower Brewing Company Love and Wrestling DDH NEIPA
It’s no surprise that Mayflower Brewing’s Love and Wrestling joined Superhero Sidekicks as a gotta-have-it choice when our customers wanted a transcendent hop experience. Balanced by the creaminess and subtle sweetness of wheat and oats, this New England IPA was double dry-hopped with Citra and Amarillo for notes of orange, lime, pineapple, honeydew, cantaloupe, and pine. It’s all you want from an IPA and then some, the kind of beer you look forward to savoring.