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Beer Advocate’s Top 100 Beers On Planet Earth Annotated, Part 2

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beer-advocate-blk
The latest list of the Top Beers on Planet Earth that Beer Advocate released yesterday was an experimental list, aimed at sparking a discussion so they could consider the best way to approach such lists in the future. After a day of constructive feedback, and some not so constructive I’m told, they’ve again redone the list introducing several new changes to the formula, based on feedback they received during the experiment. The biggest difference between the two lists is to be included on yesterday’s list required a minimum of 1,000 reviews. The current list requires only 105 reviews to be eligible. So since so many people seemed to enjoy yesterday’s analysis of the list, I’ve looked at the new list in the same way and again pulled out some interesting statistics about the Top 100 Beers.

In the Top 100, there are beers from 60 breweries, 16 more than yesterday’s list (the Experimental or E-List). Those breweries are from six countries, one less than the E-List. Two countries dropped off (the Czech Republic and Ireland) and one new one was added (Denmark).

The U.S. again has by far the most, with 72 (one more than yesterday’s). The American beers on the list are located in 19 states, 6 more than the E-List. California still has the most, by far, with two more than yesterday’s list, bringing their total to 25, meaning one in four beers on the list is from California. Seven new states had beers that made the list (Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Texas and Wisconsin) and one dropped off (Maryland). Here’s how the new list shakes out:

Countries in Top 100

  1. U.S. = 72
  2. Belgium = 17
  3. Canada = 4
  4. Germany = 3
  5. UK = 3
  6. Denmark = 1

U.S. States in Top 100

  1. California = 25
  2. Michigan = 9
  3. Colorado = 5
  4. Indiana = 5
  5. Minnesota = 4
  6. Illinois = 3
  7. New York = 3
  8. Ohio = 3
  9. Oregon = 3
  10. Pennsylvania = 2
  11. Wisconsin = 2
  12. Connecticut = 1
  13. Delaware = 1
  14. Florida = 1
  15. Maine = 1
  16. Massachusetts = 1
  17. Missouri = 1
  18. New Hampshire = 1
  19. Texas = 1

The diversity of styles represented by the list dropped to 24, losing a dozen but picking up five new ones, and again I simplified and combined a few from Beer Advocate’s list. Around 11 styles have only one beer on the list. The most popular, Imperial Stout, more than doubled over yesterday’s list, while the second most popular, Double IPAs, remained the same. The top 13 (the styles with more than 1) break down as follows.

Most Popular Beer Styles in Top 100

  1. Imperial Stout = 30
  2. Imperial IPA = 10
  3. India Pale Ale = 10
  4. American Strong Ale = 6
  5. American Wild Ale = 2
  6. Belgian Strong Dark Ale = 4
  7. Quadrupel = 4
  8. Stout = 4
  9. Tripel = 4
  10. Doppelbock = 3
  11. Fruit Beer = 2
  12. Saison/Farmhouse = 3
  13. Barley Wine = 2
  14. Hefeweizen = 2

Extreme beers (9% and above) took the lead, with 53, over half, whereas yesterday they numbered only 32. Beers below 5% also dropped in half, from 10 to 5. Beers of middle-strength (over 5% but below 9%) likewise fell from 58 to 42. In the new list extreme beers make up 53%, middle-strength 42% and session beers 5%. In the Top 25, things stayed more constant, with 16 (1 more than the E-List) being 9% or above. The Top 25 also represent less styles, 9 as opposed to 12 yesterday, from 16 different breweries in 4 countries, shaking out like so:

Countries in Top 25

  1. U.S. = 18
  2. Belgium = 4
  3. Canada = 2
  4. Germany = 1

U.S. States in Top 25

  1. California = 6
  2. Michigan = 4
  3. Illinois = 2
  4. Indiana = 2
  5. Minnesota = 1
  6. New Hampshire = 1
  7. Oregon = 1
  8. Pennsylvania = 1

Most Popular Beer Styles in the Top 25

  1. Imperial Stout = 11
  2. Imperial IPA = 4
  3. Quadrupel = 3
  4. American IPA = 2

The top 50 is no longer as middle of the road as it was. Yesterday, extreme and middle-strength beers were nearly equal. Today’s list has extreme beers at about 56%. Again, Oskar Blues was the highest ranked canned beer, but came in at #45 instead of #30.

The diversity of breweries also changed dramatically, with several having a great number on yesterday’s list being reduced to very few or even none, notably Anchor, Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada. Thirteen breweries, many of them world class, fell of the new list but 30 news ones made the cut, giving the whole list greater diversity. The breweries having the most beers on the Top 100 list is below.

Breweries in the Top 100

  1. Russian River = 7
  2. Stone Brewing = 7
  3. Founder’s Brewing = 5
  4. Three Floyds =5
  5. AleSmith = 4
  6. Bell’s Brewery = 3
  7. Great Divide Brewing = 3
  8. Surly Brewing = 2
  9. Bear Republic Brewing = 2
  10. Goose Island = 2
  11. De Struise = 2
  12. New Glarus = 2
  13. Rochefort = 2
  14. Rogue Ales = 2
  15. Samuel Smith = 2
  16. Unibroue = 2
  17. Westvleteren = 2

And here’s the new list:

top-100-gold

Beer Advocate’s Top 100 Beers On Planet Earth (as of 8.10.2010)

  1. Trappist Westvleteren 12, Brouwerij Westvleteren (Quadrupel; 10.2%)
  2. Pliny The Elder, Russian River Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 8%)
  3. Pliny The Younger, Russian River Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 11%)
  4. The Abyss, Deschutes Brewing (American Double/Imperial Stout; 11%)
  5. Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout, Founders Brewing (American Double/Imperial Stout; 11.2%)
  6. Trappistes Rochefort 10, Brasserie de Rochefort (Quadrupel; 11.3%)
  7. Trappist Westvleteren 8, Brouwerij Westvleteren (Dubbel; 8%)
  8. Founders Breakfast Stout, Founders Brewing (American Double/Imperial Stout; 8.3%)
  9. HopSlam Ale, Bell’s Brewery (American Double/Imperial IPA; 10%)
  10. Stone Imperial Russian Stout, Stone Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 10.5%)
  11. St. Bernardus Abt 12, Brouwerij St. Bernardus (Quadrupel; 10.5%)
  12. Dark Lord Imperial Stout, Three Floyds Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 15%)
  13. Supplication, Russian River Brewing (American Wild Ale; 7%)
  14. Speedway Stout, AleSmith Brewing (American Double/Imperial Stout; 12%)
  15. Péché Mortel (Imperial Stout Au Cafe), Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel (American Double/Imperial Stout; 9.5%)
  16. Kate The Great, Portsmouth Brewery (Russian Imperial Stout; 9.5%)
  17. Dreadnaught IPA, Three Floyds Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 9.5%)
  18. Sculpin IPA, Ballast Point Brewing (American IPA; 7%)
  19. Canadian Breakfast Stout, Founders Brewing (American Double/Imperial Stout; 9.4%)
  20. Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier, Brauerei Weihenstephan (Hefeweizen; 5.4%)
  21. Masala Mama IPA, Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery (American IPA; 5.9%)
  22. Bourbon County Stout, Goose Island (American Double/Imperial Stout: 13%)
  23. Nugget Nectar, Tröegs Brewing (American Amber/Red Ale; 7.5%)
  24. Bourbon County Coffee Stout, Goose Island (American Double/Imperial Stout; 13%)
  25. Celebrator Doppelbock, Brauerei Aying (Doppelbock; 6.7%)
  26. Darkness, Surly Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 10.3%)
  27. Temptation, Russian River Brewing (American Wild Ale; 7.25%)
  28. Furious, Surly Brewing (American IPA; 6.2%)
  29. Duvel, Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat (Belgian Strong Pale Ale; 8.5%)
  30. La Fin Du Monde, Unibroue (Tripel; 9%)
  31. Schneider Aventinus, Private Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn (Weizenbock; 8.2%)
  32. AleSmith IPA, AleSmith Brewing (American IPA; 7.25%)
  33. Consecration, Russian River Brewing (American Wild Ale; 10%)
  34. Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, North Coast Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 9%)
  35. Double Bastard Ale, Stone Brewing (American Strong Ale; 10.5%)
  36. Trappistes Rochefort 8, Brasserie de Rochefort (Belgian Strong Dark Ale; 9.2%)
  37. Hop Rod Rye, Bear Republic Brewing (American IPA; 8%)
  38. Ruination IPA, Stone Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 7.7%)
  39. Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, Great Lakes Brewing (American Porter; 5.8%)
  40. Two Hearted Ale, Bell’s Brewery (American IPA; 7.1%)
  41. Wisconsin Belgian Red, New Glarus Brewing (Fruit Beer; 4%)
  42. Chimay Grande Réserve (Blue), Bières de Chimay, a.k.a. Abbaye Notre Dame de Scourmont (Belgian Strong Dark Ale; 9%)
  43. YuleSmith (Summer), AleSmith Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 8.8%)
  44. Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout, Great Divide Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 9.5%)
  45. Ten FIDY, Oskar Blues Grill & Brewery (Russian Imperial Stout; 9.5%)
  46. Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout, Cigar City Brewing (American Double/Imperial Stout; 11.5%)
  47. Chocolate Stout, Rogue Ales (American Stout; 6%)
  48. 90 Minute IPA, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (American Double/Imperial IPA; 9%)
  49. Blind Pig IPA, Russian River Brewing (American IPA; 6.1%)
  50. Pannepot: Old Fisherman’s Ale, De Struise Brouwers (Quadrupel; 10%)
  51. Raspberry Tart, New Glarus Brewing (Fruit Beer; 4%)
  52. Fantôme Saison, Brasserie Fantôme (Saison/Farmhouse Ale; 8%)
  53. Yeti Imperial Stout, Great Divide Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 9.5%)
  54. Choklat, Southern Tier Brewing (American Double/Imperial Stout; 11%)
  55. Alpha King Pale Ale, Three Floyds Brewing (American Pale Ale; 6%)
  56. Stone IPA, Stone Brewing (American IPA; 6.9%)
  57. Westmalle Trappist Tripel, Brouwerij Westmalle (Tripel; 9.5%)
  58. J.W. Lees Vintage Harvest Ale, J.W. Lees & Co. (English Barleywine; 11.5%)
  59. Kuhnhenn Raspberry Eisbock, Kuhnhenn Brewing (Eisbock; 13.5%)
  60. Old Ruffian Barley Wine, Great Divide Brewing (American Barleywine; 10.2%)
  61. Black Tuesday, The Bruery (American Double/Imperial Stout; 19.5%)
  62. Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout, Rogue Ales (Oatmeal Stout; 6.1%)
  63. Arrogant Bastard Ale, Stone Brewing (American Strong Ale; 7.2%)
  64. Storm King Stout, Victory Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 9.1%)
  65. Live Oak HefeWeizen, Live Oak Brewing (Hefeweizen; 4.1%)
  66. Cuvée Van De Keizer Blauw (Blue), Brouwerij Het Anker (Belgian Strong Dark Ale; 11%)
  67. Vanilla Bean Aged Dark Lord, Three Floyds Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 13%)
  68. Founders Imperial Stout, Founders Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 10.5%)
  69. Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, Brooklyn Brewery (Russian Imperial Stout; 10.1%)
  70. St. Bernardus Tripel, Brouwerij St. Bernardus (Tripel; 8%)
  71. Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout, Samuel Smith Old Brewery at Tadcaster (Russian Imperial Stout; 7%)
  72. Bell’s Expedition Stout, Bell’s Brewery (Russian Imperial Stout; 10.5%)
  73. Andechser Doppelbock Dunkel, Klosterbrauerei Andechs (Doppelbock; 7.1%)
  74. Girardin Gueuze 1882 Black Label (unfiltered), Brouwerij Girardin (Gueuze; 5%)
  75. Pure Hoppiness, Alpine Beer Co. (American Double/Imperial IPA; 8%)
  76. Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale, Stone Brewing (American Strong Ale; 7.2%)
  77. Saint Lamvinus, Brasserie Cantillon (Lambic, Fruit; 6%)
  78. Thomas Hooker Liberator Doppelbock, Thomas Hooker Ales & Lagers (Doppelbock; 8%)
  79. Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel, Brasserie d’Achouffe (Belgian IPA; 9%)
  80. B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout, Hoppin’ Frog Brewery (Russian Imperial Stout; 9.4%)
  81. Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale, Stone Brewing (American Strong Ale; 8.7%)
  82. Hennepin (Farmhouse Saison), Brewery Ommegang (Saison/Farmhouse Ale; 7.7%)
  83. Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout, Samuel Smith Old Brewery at Tadcaster (Oatmeal Stout; 5%)
  84. Founders Red’s Rye PA, Founders Brewing (Rye Beer; 6.8%)
  85. Samuel Adams Utopias, Boston Beer Co. (American Strong Ale; 27%)
  86. Beatification, Russian River Brewing (American Wild Ale; 5.5%)
  87. AleSmith Speedway Stout, Barrel Aged, AleSmith Brewing (American Double/Imperial Stout; 12%)
  88. Abrasive Ale, Surly Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 9%)
  89. Trois Pistoles, Unibroue (Belgian Strong Dark Ale; 9%)
  90. Tripel Karmeliet, Brouwerij Bosteels (Tripel; 8.4%)
  91. Racer 5 India Pale Ale, Bear Republic Brewing (American IPA; 7%)
  92. Cadillac Mountain Stout, Bar Harbor Brewing (American Stout; 6.7%)
  93. Siberian Night Imperial Stout, Thirsty Dog Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 9%)
  94. Maharaja, Avery Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 10.3%)
  95. Oak Aged Dark Lord Imperial Stout, Three Floyds Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 13%)
  96. Ølfabrikken Porter, Ølfabrikken (Baltic Porter; 7.5%)
  97. The Angel’s Share, Bourbon Barrel-Aged, The Lost Abbey (American Strong Ale; 12%)
  98. Saison, Brett, Boulevard Brewing (Saison/Farmhouse Ale; 8.5%)
  99. Black Albert, De Struise Brouwers (Russian Imperial Stout; 13%)
  100. Night Stalker, Goose Island (American Double/Imperial Stout; 11.7%)

Beer Advocate’s Top 100 Beers On Planet Earth Annotated

By

beer-advocate-blk
Beer Advocate just released their latest list of the Top Beers on Planet Earth, at least according to their ratings. Just for fun, I’ve also looked through them and pulled out some interesting statistics about the list.

In the Top 100, there are beers from 44 breweries. Those breweries are from seven countries, with the U.S. having by far the most. In fact, 71 of the beers on the list are American, and are located in just 13 states. California, with 23 beers has the most. Here’s how they shake out:

Countries in Top 100

  1. U.S. = 71
  2. Belgium = 11
  3. Germany = 7
  4. UK = 5
  5. Canada = 4
  6. Czech = 1
  7. Ireland = 1

U.S. States in Top 100

  1. California = 23
  2. Delaware = 10
  3. Colorado = 6
  4. Michigan = 6
  5. Pennsylvania = 6
  6. Massachusetts = 5
  7. Oregon = 5
  8. New York = 4
  9. Indiana = 2
  10. Illinois = 1
  11. Maryland = 1
  12. New Hampshire = 1
  13. Ohio = 1

The styles represented by the list are around 30, though I simplified and combined a few from Beer Advocate’s list. Around 14 styles have only one beer on the list. The top 15 break down as follows.

Most Popular Beer Styles in Top 100

  1. Imperial Stout = 14
  2. Imperial IPA = 10
  3. India Pale Ale = 10
  4. Stout = 6
  5. Belgian Strong Dark Ale = 5
  6. Porter = 5
  7. American Strong Ale = 4
  8. Brown Ale = 4
  9. Pale Ale = 4
  10. Tripel = 4
  11. Belgian Strong Pale Ale = 3
  12. Doppelbock = 3
  13. Hefeweizen = 3
  14. Pilsener = 3
  15. Quadrupel = 3
  16. Herb/Spice Beer = 2

Nearly 60% (58) are above 5% a.b.v. but below 9%. 32 of the beers are 9% or above and ten of them are 5% and under. That’s far more middle of the road than I expected and it is quite different if you look at just the top 25. For the top 25 beers, 15 (or 60%) are extreme beers over 9% and the remaining 10 (0r 40%) are all over 5% but below 9%. The Top 25 also represent only 12 beer styles from 19 different breweries in 4 countries, shaking out like so:

Countries in Top 25

  1. U.S. = 15
  2. Belgium = 5
  3. Germany = 3
  4. Canada = 2

U.S. States in Top 25

  1. California = 8
  2. Michigan = 4
  3. Illinois = 1
  4. Indiana = 1
  5. Pennsylvania = 1

Most Popular Beer Styles in the Top 25

  1. Imperial Stout = 6
  2. Imperial IPA = 5
  3. American IPA = 3
  4. Belgian Strong Dark Ale = 2
  5. Quadrupel = 2

The top 50, naturally, is somewhat in the middle, with extreme beers and middle-strength beers nearly equally represented, with only 1 below 5%. At fifty, only one more nation is represented, bringing the total to five. The highest canned craft beer came in at #30, with only two canned beers making the list, both of them from Oskar Blues. I don’t know what any of this ultimately means, but I thought it would be fun and interesting to take apart the beers that Beer Advocate users rated the highest and see what patterns emerged.

Obviously, the high number of American beers is a product of having been founded here and I presume the greatest number of users are still either here or at least in English-speaking countries, which may limit access to some beers. That may also be a factor in certain breweries making the list multiple times as a quick scan of them shows that the majority have fairly wide distribution throughout the U.S. The breweries having the most beers on the Top 100 list is below.

Breweries in the Top 100

  1. Dogfish Head = 10
  2. Stone Brewing = 8
  3. Sierra Nevada Brewing = 7
  4. Rogue Ales = 5
  5. Samuel Adams = 5
  6. Victory Brewing = 5
  7. Bell’s Brewery = 4
  8. Anchor Brewing = 3
  9. Chimay = 3
  10. Great Divide Brewing = 3
  11. Ommegang = 3
  12. Samuel Smith = 3
  13. Unibroue = 3
  14. Bear Republic Brewing = 2
  15. Founder’s Brewing = 2
  16. Oskar Blues = 2
  17. Paulaner = 2
  18. Rochefort = 2
  19. Spaten = 2
  20. Three Floyds =2

And here’s the original list:

top-100-gold

Beer Advocate’s Top 100 Beers On Planet Earth

  1. Pliny The Elder, Russian River Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 8%)
  2. Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout, Founders Brewing (American Double/Imperial Stout; 11.2%)
  3. Trappistes Rochefort 10, Brasserie de Rochefort (Quadrupel; 11.3%)
  4. HopSlam Ale, Bell’s Brewery (American Double/Imperial IPA; 10%)
  5. Stone Imperial Russian Stout, Stone Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 10.5%)
  6. St. Bernardus Abt 12, Brouwerij St. Bernardus (Quadrupel; 10.50%)
  7. Founders Breakfast Stout, Founders Brewing (American Double/Imperial Stout; 8.3%)
  8. Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier, Brauerei Weihenstephan (Hefeweizen; 5.4%)
  9. Péché Mortel (Imperial Stout Au Cafe), Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel (American Double/Imperial Stout; 9.5%)
  10. Celebrator Doppelbock, Brauerei Aying (Doppelbock; 6.7%)
  11. Duvel, Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat (Belgian Strong Pale Ale; 8.5%)
  12. Dreadnaught IPA, Three Floyds Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 9.5%)
  13. Nugget Nectar, Tröegs Brewing (American Amber/Red Ale; 7.5%)
  14. La Fin Du Monde, Unibroue (Tripel; 9%)
  15. Bourbon County Stout, Goose Island (American Double/Imperial Stout: 13%)
  16. Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, North Coast Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 9%)
  17. Two Hearted Ale, Bell’s Brewery (American IPA / 7.1%)
  18. Ruination IPA, Stone Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 7.7%)
  19. Schneider Aventinus, Private Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn (Weizenbock / 8.2%)
  20. Double Bastard Ale, Stone Brewing (American Strong Ale / 10.5%)
  21. 90 Minute IPA, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (American Double/Imperial IPA; 9%)
  22. Hop Rod Rye, Bear Republic Brewing (American IPA; 8%)
  23. Trappistes Rochefort 8, Brasserie de Rochefort (Belgian Strong Dark Ale; 9.2%)
  24. Chimay Grande Réserve (Blue), Bières de Chimay, a.k.a. Abbaye Notre Dame de Scourmont (Belgian Strong Dark Ale; 9%)
  25. Stone IPA, Stone Brewing (American IPA; 6.9%)
  26. Arrogant Bastard Ale, Stone Brewing (American Strong Ale; 7.2%)
  27. Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, Great Lakes Brewing (American Porter; 5.8%)
  28. Chocolate Stout, Rogue Ales (American Stout; 6%)
  29. Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout, Great Divide Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 9.5%)
  30. Ten FIDY, Oskar Blues Grill & Brewery (Russian Imperial Stout; 9.5%)
  31. Storm King Stout, Victory Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 9.1%)
  32. Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout, Rogue Ales (Oatmeal Stout; 6.1%)
  33. Alpha King Pale Ale, Three Floyds Brewing (American Pale Ale; 6%)
  34. Westmalle Trappist Tripel, Brouwerij Westmalle (Tripel; 9.5%)
  35. Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout, Samuel Smith Old Brewery at Tadcaster (Russian Imperial Stout; 7%)
  36. Yeti Imperial Stout, Great Divide Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 9.5%)
  37. Hennepin (Farmhouse Saison), Brewery Ommegang (Saison/Farmhouse Ale; 7.7%)
  38. Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout, Samuel Smith Old Brewery at Tadcaster (Oatmeal Stout; 5%)
  39. Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, Brooklyn Brewery (Russian Imperial Stout; 10.1%)
  40. Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale, Stone Brewing (American Strong Ale; 7.2%)
  41. Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale, Stone Brewing (American Strong Ale; 8.7%)
  42. Trois Pistoles, Unibroue (Belgian Strong Dark Ale; 9%)
  43. Bell’s Expedition Stout, Bell’s Brewery (Russian Imperial Stout; 10.5%)
  44. Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, Sierra Nevada Brewing (American IPA; 6.8%)
  45. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale, Sierra Nevada Brewing (American Barleywine; 9.6%)
  46. Racer 5 India Pale Ale, Bear Republic Brewing (American IPA; 7%)
  47. Orval Trappist Ale, Brasserie d’Orval (Belgian Pale Ale; 6.9%)
  48. Hercules Double IPA, Great Divide Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 10%)
  49. Maharaja, Avery Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 10.3%)
  50. Maudite, Unibroue (Belgian Strong Dark Ale; 8%)
  51. Sierra Nevada Harvest Wet Hop Ale, Sierra Nevada Brewing (American IPA; 6.7%)
  52. Palo Santo Marron, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (American Brown Ale; 12%)
  53. Hop Stoopid, Lagunitas Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 8%)
  54. Ommegang (Abbey Ale), Brewery Ommegang (Dubbel; 8.5%)
  55. Anchor Porter, Anchor Brewing (American Porter; 5.6%)
  56. HopDevil Ale, Victory Brewing (American IPA; 6.7%)
  57. World Wide Stout, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (American Double/Imperial Stout; 18%)
  58. Three Philosophers Belgian Style Blend, Brewery Ommegang (Quadrupel; 9.8%)
  59. Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, Wells & Young’s Ltd (Milk/Sweet Stout; 5.2%)
  60. Smuttynose IPA “Finest Kind”, Smuttynose Brewing (American IPA; 6.9%)
  61. Stone Smoked Porter, Stone Brewing (American Porter; 5.9%)
  62. Chimay Première (Red), Bières de Chimay, a.k.a. Abbaye Notre Dame de Scourmont (Dubbel; 7%)
  63. Indian Brown Ale, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (American Brown Ale; 7.2%)
  64. Chimay Tripel (White), Bières de Chimay, a.k.a. Abbaye Notre Dame de Scourmont (Tripel; 8%)
  65. Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA, Sierra Nevada Brewing (American IPA; 7.2%)
  66. Prima Pils, Victory Brewing (German Pilsener; 5.3%)
  67. Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier Naturtrüb, Paulaner Salvator Thomasbraeu (Hefeweizen; 5.5%)
  68. Hazelnut Brown Nectar, Rogue Ales (American Brown Ale; 6.2%)
  69. Hop Wallop, Victory Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 8.5%)
  70. Gonzo Imperial Porter, Flying Dog Brewer (Baltic Porter; 7.80%)
  71. Fuller’s ESB, Fuller Smith & Turner (Extra Special/Strong Bitter (ESB); 5.9%)
  72. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Sierra Nevada Brewing (American Pale Ale; 5.6%)
  73. Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale, Samuel Smith Old Brewery at Tadcaster (English Brown Ale; 5%)
  74. Delirium Tremens, Brouwerij Huyghe (Belgian Strong Pale Ale; 8.5%)
  75. 60 Minute IPA, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (American IPA; 6%)
  76. Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse, Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu (Hefeweizen; 5%)
  77. Sierra Nevada Porter, Sierra Nevada Brewing (American Porter; 5.6%)
  78. Anchor Liberty Ale, Anchor Brewing (American Pale Ale; 6%)
  79. Samuel Adams Cream Stout, Boston Beer Company (Milk/Sweet Stout; 4.69%)
  80. Dale’s Pale Ale, Oskar Blues Grill & Brewery (American Pale Ale; 6.5%)
  81. Mocha Porter, Rogue Ales (American Porter; 5.3%)
  82. Dead Guy Ale, Rogue Ales (Maibock/Helles Bock; 6.5%)
  83. Salvator Doppel Bock, Paulaner Salvator Thomasbraeu (Doppelbock; 7.9%)
  84. Spaten Optimator, Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu (Doppelbock; 7.2%)
  85. 120 Minute IPA, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (American Double/Imperial IPA; 18%)
  86. Hoegaarden Original White Ale, Brouwerij van Hoegaarden (Witbier; 4.9%)
  87. Punkin Ale, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (Pumpkin Ale; 7%)
  88. Bell’s Oberon Ale, Bell’s Brewery (American Pale Wheat Ale; 5.8%)
  89. Anchor Steam Beer, Anchor Brewing (California Common/Steam Beer; 4.9%)
  90. Guinness Extra Stout (Original), Guinness/Diageo (Irish Dry Stout; 6%)
  91. Samuel Adams Black Lager, Boston Beer Company (Schwarzbier; 4.9%)
  92. Samuel Adams Boston Lager, Boston Beer Company (Vienna Lager; 4.75%)
  93. ApriHop, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (American IPA; 7%)
  94. Midas Touch Golden Elixir, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (Herb/Spice Beer; 9%)
  95. Golden Monkey, Victory Brewing (Tripel; 9.5%)
  96. Samuel Adams Winter Lager, Boston Beer Company (Bock; 5.8%)
  97. Raison D’etre, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (Belgian Strong Dark Ale; 8%)
  98. Pilsner Urquell, Plzensky Prazdroj (Czech Pilsener; 4.4%)
  99. Samuel Adams Octoberfest, Boston Beer Company (Märzen/Oktoberfest; 5.4%)
  100. Sierra Nevada Summerfest Lager, Sierra Nevada Brewing (Czech Pilsener; 5%)

Odonata Website Launched

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odonata
Sacramento’s newest brewery, Odonata Beer. Co. — recently founded by formed Sacramento Brewing’s Peter Hoey and former DRAFT magazine beer director Rick Sellers — has just launched their new website, which for months has been essentially wallpaper. For updates, there’s also the brewery blog, too. You can also get a look at the now-approved label for what they hope will become their flagship beer, Saison Ale. It’s great to see things moving forward. Hopefully there will be beer to fill the bottles with those label very soon.

odonata-saison

Pliny the Younger Takes Top Spot On Beer Advocate

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russian-river
For at least the last few years, Westvleteren 12 has been the highest rated beer on Beer Advocate. But it’s now been overtaken by an American beer, Russian River’s Pliny the Younger, Vinnie’s once-a-year triple IPA that was released this year on February 5.

Judy Ashworth, Stephen Beaumont, me & Peter Hoey at the Pliny the Younger release
Judy Ashworth, Stephen Beaumont, me & Peter Hoey at the Pliny the Younger release last Friday. Opening at 11:00 a.m., by 7:00 p.m., only 8 hours later, they’d gone through all the Younger they had, the equivalent of 40 kegs!

Other kegs set aside for accounts throughout SF Beer Week similarly ran out very quickly. I’ve heard reports of people actually getting pissed off about that and yelling at proprietors for running out, though its popularity can hardly be blamed on the bars selling it. In case you were one of those people who was rude to bar owners, disappointment is the proper response, not anger.

Congratulations to Vinnie and Natalie, and Russian River Brewing, makers of the world’s highest rated beer, at least according to Beer Advocate.

Beer Birthday: Pat Hagerman

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Today is the 46th birthday of Pat Hagerman, co-founder of ReelBeer.com, one of the first beer portals to establish a presence on the internet. I’ve known Pat for a lot of years in a variety of enterprises. Pat also has a son, Jack, who’s a little older than Porter so we’ve seen him at birthday parties from time to time, though it’s been a little while. These days, I usually run into Pat at beer events, though I suppose technically he’s also my boss since for a while I’d been filling in for Stan writing the Real Beer Blog, though happily now Stan’s back. Join me in wishing Pat a very Happy birthday.


Pat (at right) with Tom Dalldorf in New Orleans for the Craft Brewers Conference in 2003.


A self-portrait of me and Pat at Falling Rock in Denver at the 2005 Great American Beer Festival.

Photoshop Fun With Beer: A Time Suck

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tall-beer
The humor website Freaking News, whose tagline is “News Photoshop Contests,” apparently has held several contests involving beer, challenging people to create funny pictures using Photoshop. In some cases they offer an image to start with and manipulate and in others they just suggest a theme. Below are some of my favorites from the Cold Draft Beer contest.

FN-Boom-Beer
Boom!

FN-Beer-Lake
Beer Lake.

FN-Drunk-Bouguereau
Drunk Bouguereau. The original is La Petite Mendiante (The Little Beggar) painted by William-Adolphe Bouguereau in 1880.

You can see many more beer-altered photos in these contest galleries. Warning: it’s a time suck.

  • Beer Endorsement Pictures
  • Beer Mug Pictures
  • Beer Olympics
  • Cold Draft Beer
  • Pint of Beer Pictures

A Bender That Brews Beer

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Remember the television show Futurama? It was the Simpsons’ Matt Groening’s other animated series that ran on Fox for four seasons beginning in 1999.

There was a robot — or perhaps more accurately a “foul mouthed, cigar smoking, booze drinking, shiny metal arsed, bending robot” — in the show whose name was Bender. Besides his name and the character’s predilection for going on one, you may be asking yourself what that has to do with beer? Well, even though the show was canceled, like many such shows it has a pretty good cult following. There are fans, of course, and then there are fans.

One such uber-fan, Simon Jansen, in New Zealand, if not an engineer by trade then one of the most impressive hobby engineers I’ve encountered. He’s also a sci-fi fan generally and it appears he started his website with the extremely impressive Star Wars Asciimation, which is the entire Star Wars movie done in Java using nothing but ASCII art. For those of you new to the web, ASCII art is pictures created using nothing but the characters that can be found on an ordinary keyboard, which were used in early e-mails before graphics became ubiquitous throughout the internet.

Those emoticons, like 😉 for example, are a simple, though enduring, form of ASCII art. But they can get extremely complicated and detailed, too. Check out the Great ASCII Art Library for hundreds, if not thousands of these.

Okay, so as usual I’m veering off on a tangent, back to the Bender. Last summer (his winter) Jansen was challenged by a friend to make an actual Bender robot. Jansen also took as inspiration a third season episode, The Route of All Evil, in which while the main plot was going on, there was a subplot involving the two characters, Fry and Leela, along with Bender himself where they undertook to “brew beer inside Bender, treating the robot like an expectant mother.” Jansen reasoned that “just having a Bender that doesn’t do anything would be a waste of time so mine shall be used for a practical purpose. One Bender himself would be proud of. I’ll use him to make beer!”

The Bender Brewer Project, as it’s known, took over six months to complete and yielded its first brew last week. The website includes four pages of detailed information showing every step of the way with copious photographs of the various stages along with diagrams and source code. But for my purposes, it gets really interesting in mid-December on page four when the brewhouse went online, so to speak.

Basically, it’s only a rudimentary homebrewing kit but you have to admire the sheer amount of work and effort to take this project from drawing board to actual robot that produces beer. His initial specific gravity was 1.034. In early January, the beer was ready to bottle and he had his first taste f it, describing it like this.

By the way I did have a little taste of the beer before I bottled it. It wasn’t totally unpleasant. It tastes very green but it had a fair amount of body. Yeasty with maybe just a hint of Mom’s Old-Fashioned Robot Oil!

How odd and cool is that?

 

Bender with brewing system inside. Reminds me a bit of the Wizard of Oz’s Tinman, but this time he’s wishing for something different. “If I only had a beer!”

 

Bottled on January 2, the new robot-brewed Bendërbrau, with labels designed by Jen, one of Jansen’s friends.

 

Toasting the New Year

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All of us at the Brookston Beer Bulletin — okay me — would like to wish you and yours a very Happy New Year. 2007 was certainly an interesting year and never dull with plenty of ups and downs to keep us on our toes. Nobody knows with any certainty what 2008 will be like for the beer industry, but I’ll be here for my third straight year of ranting about it, er .. analyzing it, online. I hope you’ll join me on the adventure that 2008 will surely be.

Toasting you a Happy New Year with one of my favorites:

Here’s to the four hinges of Friendship—
Swearing, Lying, Stealing, and Drinking.
When you swear, swear by your country;
When you lie, lie for a pretty woman (or handsome man);
When you steal, steal away from bad company;
And when you drink, drink with me.

The Brookston kids, Alice and Porter, can’t help but getting in on the act of wishing everybody a Happy New Year.

Here’s to those who love us,
And here’s to those who don’t,
A smile for those who are willing to,
And a tear for those who won’t.

Here are more of my favorite toasts. Let me know your favorite ones.

 

D Is For Drunk

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Back in the early 1990s, I wrote a book on bars in the county where I was living at the time, The Bars of Santa Clara County, A Beer Drinker’s Guide to Silicon Valley. In addition to the reviews of over 500 bars, I included several appendices, one of which was a collection of slang terms for being drunk. It’s amazing just how many of these there are, especially when viewed historically as our language has changed and evolved. I finally got around to converting the original list and thought today the most appropriate time to publish it again online. I have nearly 3,000 colloquialisms listed alphabetically. Please have a look and let me know if there are any you know of that I’m missing. I’ll give credit to you for any I don’t have listed when I add new submissions. Please let me any and all information you have about it, such as if it’s local, regional, etc. and where geographically it’s used, it’s origin (if you know) and stuff like that. Just post a comment or send me an e-mail with any new drunk words you know. Thanks, and happy new year.

D is for Drunk

 

Winning Friends Resolution

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For regular Bulletin readers who recall How To Win Friends and Influence People from the beginning of the month, where a South Dakota A-B distributor’s “Contemporary Marketing Coordinator” responded to harsh criticism of one of their products — Rolling Rock — with a textbook example of poor customer relations, has apparently come to a resolution. I received word, not from E-Rokk (the original poster), but from one of his bandmates, Nick Fitt, that the issue had been resolved and he has written up the story of how and why at their Hey Stupid blog. It’s rambling and incoherent at times — Nick’s writing style is reminiscent of someone suffering from Tourette’s Syndrome and an obsessive preoccupation with pornographic imagery — yet pieces of an actual story do peek out from time to time. As far as I can tell, he called the distributor and spoke to Cassie Kimball’s boss, eventually having a conference call with both her boss and that person’s boss, too. Her fate remains vague, though he hints that they told him she “was now hauling skids in the mail room, suffering from many splinters of wood that had been treated with PCP,” whatever that means. In the end, the distributors apparently coughed up some free cases of beer to mollify the situation — Budweiser, not Rolling Rock — and the final paragraphs are spent slobberingly praising “Anheiser Bush” [sic] and their new favorite beer. I’m not sure why, but it all feels a little unsatisfying to me. Considering one of the original complaints was that A-B had sold out by altering E-Rokk’s beloved Rolling Rock, it sure feels like the hey stupid gang do likewise for a few measly cases of free Bud. C’est la vie.