Beer of the year...

This is easier for beer that it is for wine!

My favorite “new to me” beer of the year was Brouwerij Het Anker - Gouden Carolus Van De Keizer Blauw.

Trappist style Belgian.

11% ABV is a bit high, but lots of complex flavors and a great finish!

Had it at out local keg bar, 8.75 for 8 ounces, so it may inflame some based on price, but a worthy experience!

Yup, very good choice, very underrated. I mentioned this one in the Westy 12 thread. Had it a few years back, very very tasty. Definitely worth checking out. Also another very tasty Belgian Strong Dark Ale was the Christmas Ale from St. Banardus, want to say 2006 or so. If you want to checkout some really tasty brews, see if you can find some early 2000s Newport Storms.

Cheers!

I’m a stout, Porter and IPA guy. That being said these are my new for me BOTY:

Double Barrel Hunahpu
'13 BCBS Proprietors
Rue d’Floyd
HF Everett
TG King Sue
Abrasive

If I had to pick one out of that list…DB Huna lives up to the hype. King Sue and Prop tied for photo finish second.

My beer of the year is the same as last year- Cascade Sang Noir.

Thanks to a trade with Joe K back in Januaty, my beer of the year is a no-brainer: Pliny the Elder. Honorable mentions go to Stone Collaboration Unapologetic IPA and Rush River Minion. I can’t count Surly Abrasive or Darkness because they are not new to me in 2014.

I bet that was what planted the seed for me to check it out!

Thanks!

Could have been the aged Dogfish 120 Minute IPA we has last SF Beer Fest or the 10 Barrel S.A.M. IPA we had at Kaleidoscope Pizza. Then again almost any named Upright or Rare Barrel contends, and that Hair of the Dog Rooie Dop we had at Horse Brass was really memorable. Hacker-Pschoor Seasonal Oktoberfest at Suppenkuche recently was also outstanding.

Beers we had plenty of times though - Oskar Blues Ten Fidy.

Almanac - Valley of the Heart’s Delight. For me, primarily a Belgian gueuze fan, one of the few American sours that I’ve tasted that was really well balanced and it just hit all the marks for me.

Cool.

New Glarus. Serendipity. Fruited sour ale. Delicious.

On a visit to Santa Fe earlier this year, I was able to visit one of my very favorite breweries:

MARBLE BREWING COMPANY - Albuquerque, New Mexico

They make the best red ale I have ever tasted, and their imperial Red Ale was even better, not too shabby of an IPA either.

So my beer(s) of the year are -

MARBLE BREWING COMPANY: Imperial Red Ale
MARBLE BREWING COMPANY: Red Ale
MARBLE BREWING COMPANY: India Pale Ale

+1 on Marble. They make my trips to ABQ a little less unpleasant.

Lagunitas Born Yesterday Fresh Hopped Pale.
Probably helped that I had it on the same day it was kegged.

Its hard not include super fresh Alpine Beer Co. Nelson, its just such an iconic beer.

Cheers,

Bud

Boulevard Love Child #4

My BOTY is one I’ve never tried - Heater Allen Sandy Paws 2014. A no-brainer as my dog is on the label. Can’t wait to pick up my cases in March and down a few.

Other favorites (that I actually drank):

• Logsdon Fresh Hop Seizoen & Seizoen Bretta

• Fremont Kentucky Dark Star Oatmeal Stout & Cowiche Canyon Fresh Hop Pale Ale (always a fav)

• Heater Allen Pils

• Boneyard Hop Venom DIPA

• NZ beers - quite a few as I was really impressed with the Kiwi craft brew scene. The Pale Ales & IPAs were the highlight and on par or better than many I’ve had in the US. I can still taste the Liberty Brewing C!tra DIPA and Yakima Monster PA. Garage Project makes so many different beers, all the ones I tried were great, but the Umami Monster was hands down the most unique beer I’ve ever tried.

Cool!

I think my favorite beer this year would be either Alpine Exponential Hoppiness, or Bear Republic Apex. The Apex showed up Pliny the Elder in a blind side by side tasting.

Good stuff, either way.

I really liked the Apex as well. I’ll buy that one again. I also loved the last batch of Expo too, glad they used brown paper tickets for the last release.

Cheers,

Bud

Easy one for me this year - Fremont Kentucky Dark Star (Coffee). Just blew me away. Looking forward to doing a horizontal in April with the regular, Coffee and Spice Wars side-by-side.

And yes, I feel dirty that my favorite beer wasn’t an IPA/DIPA