One of the first things I thought I'd do when I got back into writing about beer was to talk about my top 10 favorite beers without repeating styles. Basically, even though I really enjoy barrel aged stouts and barleywines, only 1 of each can make the list. Also, as such, these beers are more likely to be on the harder to get/less session-able side.
These are the beers that made the cut:
1. (Barrel Aged Barleywine) Goose Island King Henry: basically Bourbon County Barleywine Rare (it spent 2 years in barrels that had previously held BCBS Rare, and before that Pappy Van Winkle 23 year bourbon), this beer was exceptional from the first sip (and I only got 4 ounces). Vanilla, bourbon, and caramel. One of the few beers where I literally said "holy shit" after the first sip; it really doesn't get much better than this.
2. (Barrel Aged Imperial Stout) Goose Island Bourbon County Coffee, 2013 Vintage: This will easily be a top 5 favorite beer of all time. Coffee and bourbon. Roasty and chocolately malt. Smooth as satin.
3. (Imperial IPA) Trillium Artaic: Pure juice. A true testament to what can, and is gradually more commonly being done, with hops.
4. (Porter) Funky Buddha's Maple Bacon Coffee, which tastes exactly light you think it would - the salty/savoriness of the bacon is perfect against the sweetness of the maple; the coffee's just a bonus here. I'd drink this for breakfast any day.
5. (Milk Stout - technically Imperial Milk Stout) Omnipollo Omniprairie: A salted caramel milk stout. And it tastes exactly like salted caramel chocolate milk. I can't think of any other way of describing this. And yes, it was as fantastic as it sounds. This collaboration between Denmark's Omnipollo and the US's Prairie definitely needs to be brewed again.
6. (Barrel Aged Old Ale) The Bruery Sucre: Every year The Bruery releases their anniversary Old Ale under the french name of that anniversary's symbol (Sucre = sugar, their 6th anniversary ale). Sucre has been by farm my favorite (the bourbon barrel and port barrel particularly stick out). Profound sweetness - dark fruit, caramel, and a fairly well hidden 17-ish% ABV. This is one of my go-to celebratory beers, and the one (well, I cracked more than one) I rang the new year in with in 2016.
7. (American Pale Wheat) Trillium Pier: The best of two worlds: juicy hoppiness that Trillium is known for in their pales and IPAs and a sweet wheat-y taste providing a backbone to it. One of my favorite Trillium offerings I've drank so far.
8. (Cream Ale) Carton Cafe y Churro: I had a hard time deciding between this and Regular Coffee, but this eventually won out. A regular coffee variant (basically, think coffee with cream and two sugars) with essentially a churro dunked into it (cinnamon + vanilla). And that's what this tastes like. Really. It's fantastic.
9. (American Imperial Stout) Grimm Double Negative: Black as night with tastes of dark malt, bitter chocolate, caramel, and dark fruits, I'd be happy sipping this any night of the week.
10. (Barrel Aged Imperial Red) Captain Lawrence Trans-Atlantic Red: Captain Lawrence and Jameson's collaboration, one of the smoothest beers I've ever tasted. Pure malty goodness: caramel, vanilla, whiskey. No burn. (Dangerously) Easy drinking for 7% too.
Honorable mentions; Firestone Walker Sucaba, Goose Island Bourbon County Regal Rye, JW Lees Harvest Ale (Calvados Casks), Grimm Tesseract, Stone Xocoveza, Kane Mexican Brunch, Tree House Dopplegnager, and Westbrook 4th Anniversary.
These are the beers that made the cut:
1. (Barrel Aged Barleywine) Goose Island King Henry: basically Bourbon County Barleywine Rare (it spent 2 years in barrels that had previously held BCBS Rare, and before that Pappy Van Winkle 23 year bourbon), this beer was exceptional from the first sip (and I only got 4 ounces). Vanilla, bourbon, and caramel. One of the few beers where I literally said "holy shit" after the first sip; it really doesn't get much better than this.
2. (Barrel Aged Imperial Stout) Goose Island Bourbon County Coffee, 2013 Vintage: This will easily be a top 5 favorite beer of all time. Coffee and bourbon. Roasty and chocolately malt. Smooth as satin.
3. (Imperial IPA) Trillium Artaic: Pure juice. A true testament to what can, and is gradually more commonly being done, with hops.
4. (Porter) Funky Buddha's Maple Bacon Coffee, which tastes exactly light you think it would - the salty/savoriness of the bacon is perfect against the sweetness of the maple; the coffee's just a bonus here. I'd drink this for breakfast any day.
5. (Milk Stout - technically Imperial Milk Stout) Omnipollo Omniprairie: A salted caramel milk stout. And it tastes exactly like salted caramel chocolate milk. I can't think of any other way of describing this. And yes, it was as fantastic as it sounds. This collaboration between Denmark's Omnipollo and the US's Prairie definitely needs to be brewed again.
6. (Barrel Aged Old Ale) The Bruery Sucre: Every year The Bruery releases their anniversary Old Ale under the french name of that anniversary's symbol (Sucre = sugar, their 6th anniversary ale). Sucre has been by farm my favorite (the bourbon barrel and port barrel particularly stick out). Profound sweetness - dark fruit, caramel, and a fairly well hidden 17-ish% ABV. This is one of my go-to celebratory beers, and the one (well, I cracked more than one) I rang the new year in with in 2016.
8. (Cream Ale) Carton Cafe y Churro: I had a hard time deciding between this and Regular Coffee, but this eventually won out. A regular coffee variant (basically, think coffee with cream and two sugars) with essentially a churro dunked into it (cinnamon + vanilla). And that's what this tastes like. Really. It's fantastic.
9. (American Imperial Stout) Grimm Double Negative: Black as night with tastes of dark malt, bitter chocolate, caramel, and dark fruits, I'd be happy sipping this any night of the week.
10. (Barrel Aged Imperial Red) Captain Lawrence Trans-Atlantic Red: Captain Lawrence and Jameson's collaboration, one of the smoothest beers I've ever tasted. Pure malty goodness: caramel, vanilla, whiskey. No burn. (Dangerously) Easy drinking for 7% too.
Honorable mentions; Firestone Walker Sucaba, Goose Island Bourbon County Regal Rye, JW Lees Harvest Ale (Calvados Casks), Grimm Tesseract, Stone Xocoveza, Kane Mexican Brunch, Tree House Dopplegnager, and Westbrook 4th Anniversary.
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