It’s been a while since our last top list and it was a doozy. We can’t seem to land with a Top 10 or 20. Last time, it was a Top 19 x 2 + Honorable Mentions. Well, we think this list is an interesting one. None of our previous offerings (now numbering around 75+) have gone away. These are just some we’ve had of late that we think are above-the-mean in being distinctive, tasty, interesting…bad ass!
The order is, as always, alphabetical, NOT in ranking. Every one has been written about on this site or our facebook page, so not only do we offer the location of the brewer and the ABV this time around, but also the link should you want to read about our experience in enjoying it. There are a couple exceptions where we simply can’t find the posts in the archives and have linked to our friends at the Beer Advocate for some salient notes. If our post was on facebook, we include the date so you can simply scroll down to the entry.
Interestingly, probably the only one we’d call a REAL summer brew is the Citra Dog from Akron’s Thirsty Dog (though we’ll gladly drink it year round if we can), so many of these could be seen as great brews to go into the colder months with based on, if nothing else, the level of warming alcohol in most of them.
Cheers!
| Da Beer | Da Brewer | Da Kick | Da Home | Da 411 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fracas Red American Amber (Red as Hell) Ale | Black Diamond Brewing | 8% | Concord CA | Read About It |
| 25th Anniversary Lager | Brooklyn Brewing | 9% | Brooklyn NY | Read About It |
| Maduro Brown Ale | Cigar City Brewing | 5.5% | Tampa FL | Read About It |
| BAG Barrel Aged Gonzo Imperial Porter | Flying Dog | 9.5% | Frederick MD | Read About It |
| 25th Anniversary Ale | Goose Island | 6.4% | Chicago IL | Read About It |
| Christmas Ale (2011) | Great Lakes Brewing | 7.5% | Cleveland OH | Read About It |
| Palate Wrecker Double Imperial IPA | Green Flash | 9.5% | San Diego CA | Read About It posted 1/27/13) |
| Old Chub Scottish Ale | Oskar Blues Brewery | 8% | Longmont CO | Read About It |
| Trappist Rochefortes 10 | Brasserie de Rochefort | 11.3% | Belgium | Read About It |
| 30th Anniversary Stout | Sierra Nevada Beer Camp | 9.2% | Chico CA | Read About It |
| Bengali Tiger IPA | Sixpoint Brewing | 6.4% | Brooklyn NY | Read About It |
| Warlock Double Imperial Stout | Southern Tier | 8.6% | Lakewood NY | Read About It (posted 10/4/13) |
| Rabbid Rabbit Saison (Belgian Farmhouse Ale) | Three Floyds | 7.4% | Munster IN | Read About It |
| Citra Dawg IPA | Thirsty Dog | 6.5% | Akron OH | Read About It |
| Rail Dog Black Smoked Lager | Thirsty Dog | 6.7% | Akron OH | Read About It |
| Wulver BB Wee Heavy | Thirsty Dog | 12% | Akron OH | Read About It |
| Siberian Night Imperial Stout BB | Thirsty Dog | 10.9% | Akron OH | Read About It |
P.S. From YBN pal, Rick Armon, keeper of The Beer Blog at ohio.com and author of Ohio Breweries:
Hmmm. These are fall beers? Really? Do you mean fall off your bar stool, based on some of the ABVs? Thus ends my stand-up routine. It’s a nice list — not that I’ve tasted them all. The bourbon-barrel aged Siberian Night Imperial Stout was one of my favorites this past year. Wulver was waaay too bourbon for my taste. The Southern Tier Warlock absolutely blew away Pumking in my book. The Goose Island 25th Anniversary, for some reason, tasted like Samuel Adams Boston Lager to me. That’s not a knock. I love fresh Boston Lager.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Nice list Harvey! It’s no surprise that the tastiest beers are higher in alcohol, since high gravity beers require more malt, which then requires more hops to balance. You have included my all time favorite, the wonderful Belgian beer Trappiste Rochefortes 10.