With all the debate lately on “best of” beer lists, thought I’d throw out the important list close to all our hearts. Forced to pick, what are the 3 best beers you ever brewed ? Not an easy choice, but I would say :
1. IPA (2010) - I’ve made so many it’s hard to pick, but this one was bittered with Chinook, finished with Amarillo/Cascade/Centennial/Columbus. 2 row, Munich, Biscuit, Crystal40. Awesome.
2. Tripel (2007) - I had a lot of batches in the mix then, which gave me the time to age it longer than I might have normally. 9%. I used WY3787 @ 65, then free rose from there. Smelled of peach, pear and Aromatic, and went down like silk.
3. “Bourbon Barrel” Oatmeal Stout (2009) - Used bourbon soaked oak chips in my 7% Oatmeal Stout, which I had been tweaking for years. The bourbon and chips didn’t dominate, just blended perfectly.
OTOH several others could have made my list, but it’s fun to think back on.
Rye IPA with Amarillo, Centennial, and Cascade. A beautiful citrus flavor with a nice rye spice.
Coconut Porter. The chocolate malt provided a nice balance to the sweetness of the toasted coconut.
Oatmeal Cookie Stout. Imperial Oatmeal Stout with molasses, cocoa powder, cinnamon, vanilla beans, and whiskey. Placed 3rd in the Christmas Beer Category early this year. My best yet
1. My Pale Ale w/ Magnum, Simcoe and Cascade. The three times I’ve entered this beer and won its category twice and 3rd once. I’m going to experiment with a “White” version of this beer this weekend and brew with half 2-row and half wheat. Also makes great beer batter for vidalia or sweet Maui onion rings!
2. Pumpkin Ale. You ask me this question in October and I’ll put this one #1! This is my wife’s favorite beer and the one that got her brewing with me. I make my own pumpkin spice mix and use fresh cinnamon and nutmeg along with powdered ginger and allspice. Gotta admit, I’m a little afraid to try fresh ginger. May experiment and try adding some vanilla beans this fall.
3. Coconut Milk Stout. I serve this one on nitro and it is really smooth. I took Left Hand’s Milk stout, backed off the roast malt and upped the chocolate malt and toasted unsweetened coconut flakes for two weeks. The spent grains for this brew makes killer peanut butter chocolate bars!
4. Winter Warmer. Based off Avery’s Jubilation with a few alterations. Plum, caramel, raisins and molasses help hide the 8.5%ABV. I may make an extra batch this year and throw in some bourbon soaked oak.
2010 American Barley Wine - This one just got better with age and the hops still stand out. I won a 1st place and 2nd Best Of Show.
2. Vanilla Porter - This is not Denny’s recipe, a porter recipe I’ve tweaked for about 3 years and I soak the beans in Bourbon for a week then add to the keg. My wife’s favorite.
3. Belgian IPA - I just made this for the first time about 4 months ago and it turned out to be a wonderful surprise. I got some Weyermann Abbey Malt from a friend in my brew club and I used Wyeast 3522 (Denny’s suggestion) along with Simcoe and Amarillo hops. I need to brew this again soon.
The beer coming out of my lambic solera is my favorite and best.
Following behind would be my rye imperial stout, doppelbock and a crazy belgian brown ale with brett that has developed from a so-so beer into a fantastic beer.
How about a worst beer list?
I’d say my chocolate weizen experiment (schokoweizen - i still think it could be done right - but this one wasn’t) and very likely the Belgian double I just bottled with too much star anise as a late boil addition (1/2 oz - should have tried 1/2 tsp)… ah well, that’s how we learn.
On the good side were the simple ones, like an APA with six row, 1# biscuit malt, and three cascade additions.
My last saison (wheat, pilsner, aromatic) hopped with Motueka was pretty OK, too.
I still haven’t settled on a proper name for it, but I brewed a smallish, hoppy dubbel this winter with every plummy ingredient I could think of (Special B, D-180 Candi Syrup, Caliente hops, Unibroue yeast). It didn’t really fit any particular style but the flavor and aroma were amazing.
I’m drinking a table-strength Saison brewed with 3711 right now that is the perfect summer beer. It is dry, spicy and finished a bit tart. The 3711 leaves a great juicy mouthfeel that makes this the beer equivalent of a dry white wine. I will be brewing this again all summer with various additives (hibiscus, currants/gooseberries, white wine must, etc)
I’ve been playing around with brewing hoppier versions of various beer styles lately. Some have been excellent (see #1 above), and others have been mediocre. I think I’ve gotten a lot of the experimenting out of my system, because I keep craving the last regular-old IPA I brewed with Simcoe-Amarillo-Citra and Chinook for bittering. Seems like I’ve done a lot of wandering only to find that my house IPA recipe is the one I enjoy the best of all.
That’s not a fun response! The fun is thinking back on beers that stood out the most in the time we’ve been brewing.
1 - None More Black IPA batch (2012) where I did a hopstand on last year was incredible. I’ve since started doing that every time. 5oz of simcoe/chinook blend at flame out, let sit for 30 minutes. Makes a huge difference.
2 - Espresso Monkey Coffee Porter (2013) I have tap right now is pretty stellar. Cold brewed decaf Espresso Monkey from Fair Trade coffee. I wanted to be able to drink a pint or 3 at night without the caffeine affecting me.
3 - Satan’s Little Helper IPA (2010) I think it was 2row for the base, then some crystal 55, and a little roasted barley for color, columbus bittering and cascade finishing. For some reason, that beer was awesome. Perhaps because it was the first beer I ever had on tap, since that was right when I got my new kegerator. I drank 4+ pints of that a night. I think that beer lasted a week, maybe 2…
I definitely feel that I’m always improving, in part due to the wealth of knowledge on this forum. I just felt that, after a couple decades of brewing, it’s fun to look back on some of the really memorable ones. Sometimes, even though I brew and hit numbers pretty consistently, there’s that batch sometimes that just freaking nails it head on.
my McLaggan’s Scottish 80/- that I brewed in late 2011. We served it at club night at NHC in Seattle and I received a lot of really good compliments. It was definitely one of, if not, my best beer ever.
IPA - Bitter with Columbus, FWH with Amarillo, use Simcoe/Amarillo/Willamette for late and dry hopping. I don’t like super bitter IPA’s, so I shoot for around 70 IBU. Its placed 1st in the IPA category all three times I have entered it in our county fair.
Belgian Tripel i brewed earlier this year. Tapped the keg last month and it already tastes amazing!! Several of my friends think it is the best one they have tasted. Can’t wait to brew more of it.
Waiting in the wings is a Sour Blonde that my brew club did last September. It’s been aging in a Cab Sav barrel from a local winery ever since. We plan to do a first tasting this weekend. I’m hoping it jumps into the top 3!
Belgian Pale based off JZ’s “Antwerp Afternoon” but w/ Belgian Pale Malt instead of the pils and Wy 3522
Belgian Blond w/ Wy 3522
American “Reprobate Stout” ala JZ
34 batches in 1 1/2 years and the top three were based off JZ’s “Classic Styles” but I’ve brewed some good ones from the AHA Homebrewpedia too which isn’t surprising as they’re award-winning. Close behind the stout is a Pumpkin Ale from Charlie Papazian (Cucurbito Pepo) but I made a compromise on the spices between his and Jamil’s spice regimen which was a little more conservative in the amounts of spices but kept the vanilla bean.
