Best Beer of the Month Clubs

These are the shipments of beer I received from the Craft Beer Club

My take: Personally, I loved the variety of breweries I’d never have been able to try without Craft Beer Club. Some people complained that the beer wasn’t fresh, but that seems to be an old issue that they’ve resolved. They used to have better freebies like those tasting glasses. They still send out that beer opener (which I still use and is my favorite ever). The first shipment of any membership or gift includes the bottle opener and branded coasters.

About their beer: The brews shipped by Craft Beer Club are produced by small breweries around the country, often aren’t distributed outside of their local area. At Craft Beer Club, the focus is really on discovery so they offer a wide range of styles and breweries to try. I’ve tried a number of shipments from The Craft Beer Club over the years.

About the subscription: 12-bottle shipments (4 each of three different styles and breweries) are $54 each. They don’t offer ongoing 24-bottle memberships anymore (but you can still give 24-bottle memberships). You can choose to receive shipments monthly, every other month or quarterly. The Craft Beer Club ships free so there are no surprise charges. Each shipment includes a monthly newsletter called “Micro Brew News” which provides details about the brews and the breweries featured, including tasting notes. Three times a year the shipments feature cans instead of bottles so you can take the beer to parks and concerts.

Giving a gift? The Craft Beer Club makes giving suds easy and fun with so many extras. Choose three, six, or twelve months, all just $54 per shipment. You can upgrade to 24-bottle shipments, but you don't save anything by doing so. They still offer freebies as incentive to give longer gift memberships, but they’ve scaled it back to a bottle opener and coasters... so pick the length that suits your budget. 12-bottle 3-month gifts start at $162.

These are the shipments of beer I received from the Rare Beer Club

My take: I could not get over the uniqueness and quality of the beers – I still think about those sours and stouts that were as rich and complex as the wine I normally drink. I wish I had some of these in my fridge right now!

About their beer: This is a premium-level club (the only one, really) and it focuses on small-lot batches of unusual beers in large-format bottles (usually 750 mL). We’ve received a number of excellent selections over the years (pictured above).

About the subscription: The perfect customer for this beer subscription is a craft geek. It’s a curated subscription (as opposed to one where the member picks their own beer). This means the experts are picking the very best among hundreds of beers that regular brewski-loving consumers couldn’t get their hands on.

The Rare Beer Club offers a few key choices to make: how often do you want the suds and how many bottles do you want in each box. You can choose monthly shipments, every other month, or quarterly. They offer three options for how many bottles are in each box (these prices include shipping): 2 bottles (one each of two different beers) are $56.95 per shipment; 4 bottles (two of each) are $82.95 per shipment; and 6 bottles (three of each) are $108.95 per shipment. A monthly newsletter includes detailed tasting notes, profiles on the breweries and the brews, and suggested food pairings.

New! They’ve introduced a new program called Personalized Shipping Program which lets you customize your shipments (because anyone who’s a member of the Rare Beer Club is serious about their beer preferences. Each month you’ll get a chance to add more bottles of either or both of the upcoming featured beers, add more of your favorite past selections, replace one or both of the featured beers with your favorite past selections, choose not to receive one of the featured beers, or skip the entire shipment altogether (but who would do that?)

Giving a gift? The Rare Beer Club is one of several clubs offered by a service called Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club. They are experts at the gift experience, both for the giver and the recipient. Some of the highlights include: choose which month shipments begin, choose any number of shipments from two to 12, schedule a gift announcement for a future date or print one out the day you buy the gift, and all shipments of three or more include a bartender’s bottle opener.

Take advantage of their “buy more save more” promo codes good on prepaid memberships: code SAVE10 to save $10 on 4+ shipments; code SAVE15 to save $15 on 6+ shipments; code SAVE30 to save $30 on 12 shipments.

My take: As much as I love someone curating beers for me, the reality is I don’t care for IPAs or any hoppy-tasting beers for that matter. So... a club like Beer Drop is PERFECt for a beer drinker like me. My ideal membership from Beer Drop? A mix of Sour Beers, Light Beers, Belgian Beers, and Fruity Beers. Yummmm.

About their beer: In addition to being a subscription service, Beer Drop is also an online store, so you can easily peruse the types of brews they ship. Featured craft brewers include 105 West Brewing, Hogshead Brewery, Resolute Brewing, and WestFax Brewing Co among 16 breweries, all based in Colorado where microbrew culture is strong.

About the subscription: Beer Drop is a customized beer membership. You pick which styles you want in your box (and how much of each) — Top Picks, Hoppy, Sour, Dark, Light, Belgian, Malty, and Fruity. The basic Beer Drop box is 10 Craft Beers for $45 + $10 for shipping. You can also upgrade your beer of the month box. No swaps allowed (spend the extra $5 to get what you want).

10 Better Craft Beers is an upgraded selection of beers for $50 a month + $10 for shipping. Two of the 5 categories you selected for your box get upgraded to special release or taproom only offerings. You can also swap any of their picks with your own choices. Note: You have to join before you can see your first box’s beer picks and make swaps.

10 Best Craft Beers is also an upgraded selection of beers for $60 a month + $10 for shipping. All 5 categories you selected for your box get upgraded to special release or taproom only offerings. You can still swap any of their picks with your own choices. Note: You have to join before you can see your first box's beer picks and make swaps.

Giving a gift? You can get an ongoing membership and add a gift message to it (perfect for beer lovers you live with), but Beer Drop also offers an electronic gift card so they can go hog wild.

About the subscription: Each shipment is $42.95, including shipping, which makes among the cheapest options available for beer club gifts. There are 3 bottles each of 4 different brews in a variety of styles including Ales, Lagers, Bocks, IPAs, Stouts, Porters, and more. Choose two to twelve shipments and have them delivered monthly, every other month, or quarterly.

Each shipment contains their newsletter called “Beer Expeditions.” Up to three times a year, they’ll feature beer in cans as opposed to bottles. We’ve never received a shipment and they don’t list recently shipped selections, so we can’t be sure what to expect. They are customer service oriented, so they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee.