just give me a cold, crisp Czech Pilsner

[El Presidente]

way too fancy for me.........just give me a cold, crisp Czech Pilsner 

 

thedrinksbusiness.com/2023/09/10-of-the-highest-rated-beers-in-america/

10 of the ‘highest-rated’ beers in America

04 SEPTEMBER 2023By Jessica Mason

 

The ’10 highest-rated beers in America’ have been identified in a new list that outlines which US beers are most admired.

Starting at number 10 and counting down, the analysts at the investment advisors Insider Monkey drew from their deeper dive report of the ‘60 highest-rated beers in America’. Here are the results of the top 10, counting down to the number one highest-rated beer of all, which may surprise you.

10. Modern Times: Monster Tones

The beer Monster Tones is made by California-based brewery Modern Times and is the result of a 50/50 blend of its popular Monsters’ Park and Modem Tones brews which are both aged for seven months in Bourbon barrels which have also previously housed Maple syrup.

9. Side Project Brewing: Oude Fermier

To create Oude Fermier, Side Project Brewing used barrels of Saison du Fermier for extended ageing to produce a limited saison with layers of complexity and soft, rounded nuances for the oak.

8. Cigar City Brewing: Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout (double barrel-aged)

Once a year, Cigar City Brewing creates Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout and releases it only at the brewery on the second weekend in March. The brew purportedly has notes of espresso, chocolate and plum muddled with cinnamon, toffee, and an earthy hop quality. According to Insider Monkey, Cigar City Brewing also boasted sales volumes of 110,000 barrels in 2022.

 

7. Revolution Brewing: Double Barrel V.S.O.J. (Very Special Old Jacket)

Produced by Revolution Brewing, Double Barrel V.S.O.J. is a cuvée of barrel-aged English barley wines that has been aged between one and three years and then blending and rebarreling in Templeton Rye barrels for an extra 18 months.

6. Perennial Artisan Ales: Abraxas (barrel-aged)

This highly distinctive 11% ABV imperial stout by Perennial Artisan Ales has been aged for 12 months in Rittenhouse Rye barrels with cacao nibs, vanilla beans, ancho chillies, and cinnamon sticks.

5. 3 Floyds Brewing Co: Marshmallow Handjee

The 3 Floyds Brewing Co is reportedly known for making some of the best beers in the Midwest as well as commissioning artists to design the labels for its beers. Marshmallow Handjee is the brewery’s Russian imperial stout and has been aged in a variety of Bourbon barrels with vanilla beans.

4. Anchorage Brewing Company: Blessed

This American imperial stout has been aged for 19 months in a blend of Woodford Reserve double oaked Bourbon barrels, Heaven Hill barrels, and Willet Bourbon barrels. The beer is produced by the Alaska-based Anchorage Brewing Company and has been finished on Madagascar vanilla beans and raw and toasted coconut to give it some gentle softer nuances.

3. Anchorage Brewing Company: A Deal with the Devil (triple oak-aged)

An American barley wine also from Anchorage that has been aged for a total of 27 months (10 months in Cognac barrels before going into freshly-emptied Woodford Reserve double-oaked barrels for 12 months and then to freshly-emptied Buffalo Trace barrels for a final five months).

2. Toppling Goliath Brewing Co: Vanilla Bean Assassin

This 12.8% ABV American imperial stout by Toppling Goliath has been aged in American whiskey barrels and conditioned on vanilla beans. Founded in 2009, the Toppling Goliath Brewing Co. has been revered for being a runaway success and is renowned for its IPA and barrel-aged beers.

1. Toppling Goliath Brewing Co: Kentucky Brunch Brand Stout

Advisors outline how this beer has not only been rated as the ‘No.1 Craft Beer in America’, but it has also been named as the ‘best beer in the world’ by BeerAdvocate and RateBeer. Toppling Goliath’s Kentucky Brunch Brand Stout offers up flavours of chocolate chip pancakes drenched with Maple syrup, served with espresso and a shot of Bourbon all in one sip.

[MagicalBikeRide]

A pint of plain is yer only man

[LLC]

[BoliDan]

Pilsner Urquell straight from the tap is beautiful. I tried to make a clone, but my lagering abilities aren't up to par due to lack of refrigeration storage. Most of the styles i make that are good are simple. Cream Ales, Pale Ales and Stouts. I don't understand some of these craft beer trends, I don't need a chocolate mole cherry vanillia oyster porter, just make a good beer.  

[dominattorney]

1 hour ago, LLC said:

My favorite pilsner as well. 

[Corylax18]

7 minutes ago, BoliDan said:

Pilsner Urquell straight from the tap is beautiful. I tried to make a clone, but my lagering abilities aren't up to par due to lack of refrigeration storage. Most of the styles i make that are good are simple. Cream Ales, Pale Ales and Stouts. I don't understand some of these craft beer trends, I don't need a chocolate mole cherry vanillia oyster porter, just make a good beer.  

A lot of people don't actually like beer. The list above seems to have been made by one of those people. Or someone who likes their beer flat. I've never understood the whole barrel aged beer thing.  While I've heard of several of the breweries on the list, I hadn't heard of a single one of the actual beers. I agree with Rob, Give me a nice crisp, cold pilsner and I'm a happy camper. 

[dominattorney]

On 9/5/2023 at 11:40 AM, Corylax18 said:

A lot of people don't actually like beer. The list above seems to have been made by one of those people. Or someone who likes their beer flat. I've never understood the whole barrel aged beer thing.  While I've heard of several of the breweries on the list, I hadn't heard of a single one of the actual beers. I agree with Rob, Give me a nice crisp, cold pilsner and I'm a happy camper. 

Look, I see where you're coming from, and I love European pilsners and lagers of all kinds. However, I'm not a Hater on the right kind of barrel aging, though admittedly this trend has gotten out of control. Stouts in a barrel taste like candy, and one that isn't trying too hard, can be a nice after dinner drink. I think the old world sour beers are also really good. Love a solid geuze with oysters or cheese, and an oude kriek is my after dinner drink of choice, bar none. It's depressing that no lager made it on this list but these lists, like cigar lists, are hype generated. There are some excellent craft lagers out there and those brewers deserve a lot of praise. There's no hiding a mistake in a lager. You're putting your skill all the way out there. 

[Corylax18]

16 hours ago, dominattorney said:

Look, I see where you're coming from, and I love European pilsners and lagers of all kinds. However, I'm not a Hater on the right kind of barrel aging, though admittedly this trend has gotten out of control. Stouts in a barrel taste like candy, and one that isn't trying too hard, can be a nice after dinner drink. I think the old world sour beers are also really good. Love a solid geuze with oysters or cheese, and an oude kriek is my after dinner drink of choice, bar none. It's depressing that no lager made it on this list but these lists, like cigar lists, are hype generated. There are some excellent craft lagers out there and those brewers deserve a lot of praise. There's no hiding a mistake in a lager. You're putting your skill all the way out there. 

It just seems like people are going WAY overboard with it, especially recently. 3 or 4 years ago it was hops. These lists then where full of "double hopped", "triple hopped", quadruple extra special hopped, etc. Hops in beer is like Cilantro/Coriander in food. If used right, they can contribute to a dish/beer. But I feel like both are more often used as crutches to mask poor recipe/technique. Making a crappy taco and covering it in a handful of Cilantro doesn't make you a good chef. Making a crappy beer and dumping 10 bags of hops in it doesn't make you a brew master.  We're super lucky here in CO in that there is more good beer than we can drink. Lots of small breweries making great stuff, I love to try new beers and ne styles I'm not familiar with. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of imitators. 

[JohnnyO]

I drink a lot of Imperial Stouts and as Cory said never heard of any of these beers. No Founders, Schmaltz, Southern Tier, Oskar Blues, Hoppin Frog on the list. Too many 11-12% brews on that list that are not going to appeal to the average drinker, you'd probably have to get it closer to 6% just to get someone to try it. The trend now on Imperial stouts is chocolate overkill, very hard to drink that all night. John

[helix]

When you are up over 10% alcohol, it's more of a barley wine than beer.

[ha_banos]

Regarding beer. A doctor said to my friend, 1 is good, 2 is better. 3 is not necessarily better again!

[dominattorney]

8 hours ago, JohnnyO said:

I drink a lot of Imperial Stouts and as Cory said never heard of any of these beers. No Founders, Schmaltz, Southern Tier, Oskar Blues, Hoppin Frog on the list. Too many 11-12% brews on that list that are not going to appeal to the average drinker, you'd probably have to get it closer to 6% just to get someone to try it. The trend now on Imperial stouts is chocolate overkill, very hard to drink that all night. John

I don't hate on a high abv stout. There are some wonderful polish and Russian ones out there. But they're 500ml bottles and you drink one and move on. 

The average beer drinker just switched from bud light to Coors light and thinks there's a huge difference. So appealing to the average is not something I think the list needs to do. I'd settle for it expanding the horizons of the curious without putting them off to the idea that the world of beer is big and beautiful.