Zymurgy's 2011 Best Beers in America

General Homebrew Discussion
1

The results are in! Each of the past nine years, we’ve asked Zymurgy readers to give us a list of their 20 favorite beers. The only rule is that the beer has to be commercially available somewhere in the United States. A record number of votes were cast this year, with 1,306 different beers from 433 breweries represented in the poll.
Top-Ranked Beers

For 2011, we have a three-peat! Russian River’s Pliny the Elder, a double IPA, claimed the top spot for the third straight year. Finishing second for the second straight year was Bell’s Two Hearted Ale, an IPA. (T indicates tie)

  1. Russian River Pliny the Elder
  2. Bell’s Two Hearted Ale
    T3. Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
    T3. Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout
  3. Bell’s Hopslam
  4. Stone Arrogant Bastard
  5. Sierra Nevada Celebration
    T8. Sierra Nevada Torpedo
    T8. Stone Ruination
  6. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
  7. Stone Sublimely Self Righteous
  8. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine
  9. Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
    T14. Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
    T14. Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale
    T16. Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
    T16. New Glarus Belgian Red
  10. North Coast Old Rasputin
  11. Bell’s Expedition Stout
    T20. Deschutes The Abyss
    T20. Left Hand Milk Stout
    T20. Odell IPA
    T20. Samuel Adams Noble Pils
    T20. Surly Furious
    T20. Troegs Nugget Nectar
    T26. Rogue Dead Guy Ale
    T26. Samuel Adams Boston Lager
  12. Anchor Steam
    T29. Bear Republic Racer 5
    T29. Ommegang Three Philosophers
    T29. Oskar Blues Ten Fidy
    T29. Three Floyds Alpha King
    T29. Three Floyds Dark Lord
    T34. Avery Maharaja
    T34. Dogfish Head Indian Brown
    T34. Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron
    T34. Three Floyds Gumballhead
    T38. Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA
    T38. Lost Abbey Angel’s Share
    T38. New Belgium La Folie
    T38. New Belgium Ranger
    T38. Oskar Blues Old Chub
    T43. Ballast Point Sculpin IPA
    T43. Great Divide Yeti
    T43. New Belgium 1554
    T43. Russian River Blind Pig
    T43. Ska Modus Hoperandi
    T48. Alesmith Speedway Stout
    T48. Dark Horse Crooked Tree
    T48. Green Flash West Coast IPA
    T48. Summit EPA
    T48. Victory Prima Pils

Brewery Rankings

Brewery rankings are based on total votes received by each brewery’s beers. This year’s top brewery, by a landslide, is Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Del. Dogfish Head placed five beers in the top 50 in the poll.

  1. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, Del.
  2. Bell’s Brewery, Kalamazoo, Mich.
  3. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, Calif.
  4. Stone Brewing Co., Escondido, Calif.
  5. Russian River Brewing Co., Santa Rosa, Calif.
  6. Founders Brewing Co., Grand Rapids, Mich.
  7. New Belgium Brewing Co., Fort Collins, Colo.
  8. Boston Beer Co. (Samuel Adams), Boston, Mass.
  9. Three Floyds Brewing Co., Munster, Ind.
  10. Oskar Blues Brewing Co., Longmont, Colo.
  11. Goose Island Beer Co., Chicago, Ill.
    T12. Lagunitas Brewing Co., Petaluma, Calif.
    T12. New Glarus Brewing Co., New Glarus, Wis.
  12. Deschutes Brewery, Bend, Ore.
  13. Great Lakes Brewing Co., Cleveland, Ohio
  14. Odell Brewing Co., Fort Collins, Colo.
  15. Avery Brewing Co., Boulder, Colo.
  16. Great Divide Brewing Co., Denver, Colo.
  17. Victory Brewing Co., Downington, Pa.
  18. Surly Brewing Co., Minneapolis, Minn.
  19. Rogue Ales, Newport, Ore.
  20. Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, Calif.
    T23. Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, N.Y.
    T23. North Coast Brewing Co., Fort Bragg, Calif.
    T24. Bear Republic Brewing Co., Healdsburg, Calif.
    T24. Left Hand Brewing Co., Longmont, Colo.
    Best Portfolio

We also tabulated which breweries had the most brands in the voting. That honor also went to Dogfish Head with 28 of its brews getting votes.

  1. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, 28 beers
  2. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., 23 beers
    T3. Avery Brewing Co., 18 beers
    T3. Goose Island Beer Co., 18 beers
    T3. Lagunitas Brewing Co., 18 beers
    T3. Boston Beer Co./Samuel Adams, 18 beers
  3. Bell’s Brewery, 17 beers
    T8. Founders Brewing Co., 15 beers
    T8. Great Divide Brewing Co., 15 beers
    T8. Southern Tier Brewing Co., 15 beers
    T11. Brooklyn Brewery, 14 beers
    T11. Odell Brewing Co., 14 beers
    T11. Rogue Ales, 14 beers
    T14. New Belgium Brewing Co., 13 beers
    T14. Russian River Brewing Co., 13 beers
    T14. Stone Brewing Co., 13 beers
    T17. Deschutes Brewery, 12 beers
    T17. Three Floyds Brewing Co., 12 beers
    T19. Boulevard Brewing Co., 11 beers
    T19. Dark Horse Brewing Co., 11 beers
    T19. New Glarus Brewing Co., 11 beers
    T22. Alpine Beer Co., 10 beers
    T22. AleSmith Brewing Co., 10 beers
    T22. Great Lakes Brewing Co., 10 beers
    T25. Cigar City Brewing Co., 9 beers
    T25. Firestone Walker Brewing Co., 9 beers
    T25. Flying Dog Brewing Co., 9 beers
    T25. Harpoon Brewery, 9 beers
    T25. The Lost Abbey, 9 beers
    T25. Shorts Brewing Co., 9 beers
    T25. Ska Brewing Co., 9 beers
    T25. Sprecher Brewing Co., 9 beers
    T25. Summit Brewing Co., 9 beers
    T25. The Bruery, 9 beers

Top Imports

  1. Rodenbach Grand Cru, Belgium
    T2. Fullers ESB, England
    T2. Guinness, Ireland
    T2. Rochefort 10, Belgium
    T5. Duvel, Belgium
    T5. Saison Dupont, Belgium
    T5. St. Bernardus Abt 12, Belgium
    T8. Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock, Germany
    T8. Cantillon Gueuze, Belgium
    T8. Chimay Grande Reserve, Belgium
    T8. Orval, Belgium
    T8. Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown, England
    T8. Unibroue La Fin du Monde, Canada

Spirit of Homebrew

Once again, we raise a glass to those breweries that, though small in production, score high with beer lovers. We determine the Spirit of Homebrew Award by taking a brewery’s total number of votes and dividing it by the brewery’s annual production in number of barrels.

  1. Alpine Beer Co., Alpine, Calif
  2. Russian River Brewing Co., Santa Rosa, Calif.
  3. AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, Calif.
  4. The Bruery, Placentia, Calif.
  5. Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Dexter, Mich.
2

… no Yellowhammer brewing???  :-\

Seriously, reading that list just made me thirsty for a beer. Might have to go pull a tap.  :wink:

3

I was dissappointed that Schlaflys (St Louis) didn’t make the list.  They’re better than Boulevard IMHO, just not quite a big.

Next year!  We’ll mount a campaign.  And expect free samples afterwards.

4

Didn’t Rahr Brewing in Ft. Worth have a lot of beers in the top 50 last year? And this year not one…hmmm. They have pretty much the same line-up this year. Wonder what changed…definitely interesting. ::slight_smile:

5

Void of any Southern Breweries to speak of.  Some damn good beers being ignored down here.

6

Great list with soooo many wonderful beers on it! Makes me want to head to the 2 biggest liquor stores near me and buy some of everything mentioned

7

Next year!  We’ll mount a campaign.  And expect free samples afterwards.

[/quote]

Free samples are already available to everyone on the forum - 2 oz only. AHA membership card gets you a full pour!  :smiley:

8

Way to go DFH!  8)

Can you tell I voted for them. I live 30 min from the brewery and 1 hour from the Brewpub where we hold our club meetings. So I suppose I’m a little biased but I do love most of DFH’s offerings.

I was happy to Pliny take the #1 spot. Well deserved!

9

I keep telling myself that the beer scene in Utah isn’t so bad… Then I see a list like this, and I’ve only ever seen a dozen of these beers round these parts. Frowntown.

10

Sheesh, I guess IPAs are popular.  No wonder there’s a hop shortage!

11

Finally had a Pliny (Russian River Brewery is 1 1/2 hours away, which is close by in this neck of the woods). Loved it! What a great hop bomb!

12

I find it sad that my favorite beer, Pilsner Urquell, no longer makes the import top ten.

13

wow, great list of the best beers,
i was surprised not to find Pliny the Young there, in another web site was in second place and the Elder in third

cheers!

14

Its hard to get votes on a national level for something that is brewed rarely and draft only at that. I’ve never had it, but if its better than Pliny, well, I just don’t know what I would do.

15

Don’t feel too bad. I’ve never come across a PTE either.

That was essentially my reaction as well. It might be interesting to see the results with all the votes divided by production, instead of just the results for the breweries.