Best Beer in America. MY TOP 10 LIST
Feb 17 '02
The Bottom Line Ten favorites? I could pick a hundred favorites! So many great all-American brews...where does one even begin...
I'd like to join Tom (4-1-1) in saluting the hard work of America's many, many fine craft brewers. There are so many great microbreweries, brewpubs, and contract specialty brewers in today's marketplace that there's really just no excuse for anyone to have to drink bland beer. I absolutely loved Tom's list of great American beers, and while all of them sound like fine brews, I like to think that my own Top 10 list is the real cream of the crop.
I don't want to constrain myself to beers that I've reviewed lately, or even those that I've tasted lately. Some of the best beers I've ever tasted are brands that just haven't crossed my palate in a while, but that I can't wait for another chance to try. I will add a constraint though: I don't really want to pick brewpub beers unless they also bottle for off-site distribution -- what's the sense of naming beers that nobody can get, no matter how great they may be.
Of course there's always the caveat that this list is a snapshot in time -- my favorite beers are always subject to change at any moment. After all, who knows when the next unknown brand will turn out to be the ambrosia of a lifetime! Fortunately, the only way to find out is to keep drinkin'.
Now on with the count-down!
The OFFICIAL Ten Best Beers in America
10. Anchor Steam (Anchor Brewing, San Francisco CA):
Not quite a lager, not quite an ale, Anchor Steam occupies a sort of middle ground all its own. With its distinctive earthy hop bite from Northern Brewer hops, it's firm malty base, and its delicate balance, this beer is one that all American beer drinkers should treasure as the piece of American heritage and history that it is.
More: http://www.epinions.com/fddk-review-CA5-82FE181-393FDA11-prod4
9. Hennepin (Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown NY):
I absolutely love beers that are outside the mainstream and that offer my taste buds the chance to really experience something new -- something different -- something wonderful. Belgian styles seem to offer that kind of experience more than styles with other heritages, and I love the quirky nature of the saison style and the way Ommegang interprets it with this very distinctive, very unique brew.
More: http://www.epinions.com/content_55454174852
8. Old Crustacean (Rogue Ales, Newport OR):
I like big beers. Really big beers. Any list of top brews that you see from me will probably have a ton of beers that will assault your palate with insanely huge hop bitterness or insanely huge syrupy thick malt. This beer does both. I love the huge hop bitterness of this beer with its sharp grapefruit citric signature, and I love the thick malt flavor with tons of caramel and esters and alcoholic warming.
7. DeGroen's Weizen (Baltimore Brewing, Baltimore MD):
At the beginning of the 20th century, people in Baltimore drank more German-style wheat beer than they did lager or ale. Theo DeGroen revives the old local favorite style with a rendition that's true to its Bavarian roots, with a wonderful bouquet of cloves and banana and a complex flavor of sweetness, spiciness, and a touch of tartness. Wheat beers just don't get better than this one!
More: http://www.epinions.com/fddk-review-3C9-E50E164-38ED40DF-prod4
6. Our Special Ale (Anchor Brewing, San Francisco CA):
I've tasted hundreds of spiced ales, some good, some, well...some not quite so good. By far and away the best I've ever had is Our Special Ale from Anchor. I like that the spices vary from year to year (last year's version seemed very light on the spice). I like that the flavors blend and meld and work together like musicians in a symphony to create a wonderous sensory experience. You can keep Santa, you can have the trees, but to me, Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without a glass of Our Special Ale!
5. Dominion Millenium (Old Dominion Brewing, Chantilly VA):
Every year throughout the late 1990s, I'd eagerly await the release of the current year's batch of Millenium, and then I'd snag at least two cases so that I'd have enough to drink, plus enough to sock away in the beer cellar so that I could age it and compare bottles from different years, same as I (and a gazillion other beer geeks) do with Bigfoot, Thomas Hardy, and other really big, huge barleywines. Every year was always a treat with a huge thick malt body that also included honey in the brew. Millenium was a treat for both the malt head and the hop head, brewed to a gravity of about 1100 with about 100 IBU of hops, Millenium was always a wonderously tasty trip to the land of brewing excess.
4. Third Coast Old Ale (Kalamazoo Brewing, Kalamazoo MI):
It was love at first sip -- the moment I felt the thick, heavy, almost cloyingly sweet body of Third Coast Old Ale as it oozed across my tongue, I knew I was hooked. I love the complex mileau of malt flavors that this beer brings to the table: some soft vanilla, lots of caramel, deep-seated fruity plum esters, a definite sherry-like flavor. It's big, it's rich, it's oh so beautiful!
3. Bigfoot Ale (Sierra Nevada Brewing, Chico CA):
Big and bold, that's Bigfoot. I love a thick, syrupy, bittersweet glass of heaven and that's just what I get from Bigfoot. I love keeping a few bottles of last year's six-pack on hand in the fridge until next year's shipment arrives, that way I can compare vintages and see which year I like best. The beer does improve with age (up to a point -- which I'd peg at about 4-5 years), and the only thing better than a fresh bottle of Bigfoot might be an old bottle of Bigfoot!
2. DeGroen's Pils (Baltimore Brewing, Baltimore MD):
There must be at least a hundred pilsner beers brewed in America and you would think that it might be tough to pick one as the best, but it's not. DeGroen's Pils is so wonderfully soft bodied but redolent with fresh spicy noble hops that it just cries out to hop lovers as a glass of pure gladness.
More: http://www.epinions.com/fddk-review-17D5-AAC7FD6-38E3EE0C-prod4
1. Storm King (Victory Brewing, Downingtown PA):
Imperial stouts have always been among my very, very favorite styles of beers. I love the rich bold mileau of flavors that comes in every bottle. I love the deep dark chocolate flavors, the coffee notes, the hints of sherry, the fruitiness of plums and raisins and currants and all things rich and decadent.
More: http://www.epinions.com/content_17939533444
What a Lineup!
As I look over that list of beers, I'm confident that they really do represent the pinnacle of American brewing craftsmanship. They're great beers one and all, and they're beers that can stand up proudly next to the greatest beers of any nation on this earth. To the brewers of this beers, I hoist a cool mug and say, "I'll have another, please."
Think you can do a better top 10 list than this one? Take a look at the review by 4-1-1 on this topic and see if you can top his list too...then post away! The more the tastier...
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