The end of the year is fraught with countdowns. It's a cliché. About a year ago, I emailed myself a list of the 25 most important craft beers ever brewed. If you've followed this blog for even a minute, I suck at posting consistent material and I blame it on not being paid to do this. So, fancying myself an educated, well-traveled drinker, I looked over the list. Also, if you know me, I've had a lot of different beers, so this also should not come as a surprise.
Beers 25-20: Ithaca Flower Power (x), Victory Brewery HopDevil (x), 90 Minute IPA from Dogfish (x), Geary's Pale Ale, Anchor Steam Porter (x), Ich Bin Ein Berliner Weisse from Nodding Head.
Out of the gate, I'm 3 for 5. If I were to document where I first acquired a taste for hop-forward beers, it was Ithaca Flower Power. My Untappd app says I first had this brew on 8/14/14 but it was available on tap before that. I remember pouring Flower Power for Beerology at Buffalo's Science Museum. I don't remember a whole hell of a lot of science that night, it was just pouring sample size brews and striking up small talk to people wearing pretzel necklaces. That's always a good look, the pretzel necklace. Nothing screams suburban, pedestrian fashion like crudely made necklaces made with a bag of fucking pretzels. Since moving to Portland, I still fondly look back at having a bottle of Flower Power and sneezing because of the hops on my porch. HopDevil could be found on tap from time to time in Buffalo and it was a good, hoppy East Coast beer. 90 Minute IPA and Anchor Steam Porter was either from Consumer's Beverage or Village Beer Merchant - both in Buffalo, NY.
Beers 19-11: Widmer Hefeweizen (x), PizzaPort/Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomme, Anchor Steam Christmas Ale (x), Allagash Coolship Resurgan, Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale(x), Celis White, New Belgium La Folie, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, Anchor Steam(x).
4 out of 9. Again, not a bad showing if you ask me. First on the list, but not chronologically drank, Widmer Hefeweizen. This was a beer that I didn't see on the East Coast. In terms of beers from Oregon, especially from 2010 until 2015, you'd see Rogue Dead Guy and Ninkasi Total Domination in specialty beer stores. Tangentially speaking, Dead Guy was a great beer to have at a Halloween party. Anyway, back to Widmer... I had this beer after an interview with a bank doing customer service. I really needed a job after moving to Portland with just a couple of hundred dollars to my name. I was not supposed to drink up that money but secure an apartment and some furniture. I was sleeping on my friend's couch, so I was motivated to A - find a job and B - stay out a little bit so I wasn't in the apartment driving everyone crazy. So, I did as any good new arrival to Portland does, got a pint of Widmer Hefeweizen. Not going to lie, but I'm not a hefeweizen person. But being in a townie bar, Malone's, it was just the right thing to do.
Then there's Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale. I've probably started seeing this beer around 2012 or 2013 when I was living in Western New York. I remember doing a WNY Beer Club beer exchange at Avezzano's Ristorante, which is probably closed. Confirmed, it's closed. The real memory was when I was at Més Que on Hertel Avenue in Buffalo. Top 3 of my favorite bars that I've ever had the privilege to visit. Matt, the bartender at the time ordered Sierra Nevada's winter warmer a little heavy. I would frequent that bar weekly to watch European soccer games, so I would be there from 8 AM onwards. When I checked in this beer, it was in May. In fact, it was during the Kentucky Derby. At that time, I was just a single scumbag working a regular 9-5 job for slightly above minimum wage. Morning turned into afternoon and I had to make my money last. Matt, the bartender, said he'd sell 2 for 1 Celebration Ales. Deal. Sitting at the bar, smelling like the drunk night previous with a new kind of beer on my breath, got a text message from a friend. He and another friend is bringing some girls to the bar I was at to watch the Kentucky Derby. Good-looking women in nice dresses and giant fucking hats started pouring into the bar and I'm sitting in a hoodie with jeans that smell like farts. My friends roll in and I flat out tell them, "I can't afford this kind of pussy." Not misogynist, just a statement of fact. I stood no chance with them because I was guarding my last $20 like a hungry dog guards his bone.
Beers 10 - 6: Anchor Steam (x), New Albion Ale, Victory Prima Pils (x), 3 Floyd's Dark Lord, Russian River Pliny the Elder (x), Anchor Steam Liberty Ale.
Man, Anchor Steam is on this list a lot. It's a good brewery but they have 4 on the list. Anyway, the real beer of mention is Pliny the Elder. There's a certain amount of marketing that goes into a successful beer. One aspect to consider is its availability. When I checked in Pliny the Elder, back in May 2014, that beer was not readily available in the Buffalo market. It wasn't until I was on a wine tasting vacation when I had it. I was a donkey at a horse race when I had that beer. The check-in was at Bouchon, a restaurant owned by Michelin star chef, Thomas Keller. The same purveyor of French Laundry, that was visited by California governor Gavin Newsome during COVID quarantine. Luckily, I wasn't footing the bill, but I still ordered a sensible burger and a couple of Plinys. I felt like a king, on someone else's dime. I was a beer guy on a wine tour, but I still had fun despite the relationship falling to pieces. We're all here for the story.
Beers 5 -1: Heady Topper from The Alchemist (x), Allagash White (x), Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, Sam Adams Boston Lager (x), Siera Nevada Pale Ale (x).
4 out of 5. As a seasoned beer drinker, I'm kind of cheesed off that I missed out on the Goose Island Bourbon County. I'm sure I've had it at some point, but according to Untappd, I did not. So, if it isn't written down it doesn't count. Bourbon County is one of those hype beers that the salespeople push off on beer merchants. It gets into the beer influencer channels as a must drink but it's an aged stout. I get it and dozens of other breweries are doing the same.
I checked in Heady Topper a few times. The first time was at Blackbird Barbeque on a trip to Vermont and Montreal. This was another hype beer that was only available at the brewery and a few locations in the surrounding area. So, unless you were a schlep who waited in line for a couple of cases or traded your firstborn, you were not getting this hazy IPA. And to be honest, Heady Topper was probably THE beer that kicked off the real hazy beer crazy. I had mine in 2014 and that fad still exists 6 years later. Although, West Coast brewers are returning to clear, hop-forward IPAs.
Sam Adams was ubiquitous to my early craft beer drinking. I turned 21 whilst living in Batavia, New York. Angotti Beverage was my one-stop-shop for all things craft beer. Not only could you find Boston Lager, but all of the seasonal brews they pushed out. Everything culminated when I visited Sam Adam's brewery in Jamacia Plain. Up until that point, I have had a majority of offerings from Sam Adams. Seasonal and special release, even an aged Utopia beer. Sam Adams always has a place in my heart, despite what people say about them. Plenty of good times were had under the influence of Sam Adams.
Number one is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. The Food & Wine article says, "Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is a remarkable beer: Groundbreaking upon its release and still is a critical and commercial darling all of these years later, the beer's focus on American hops has established it as the country's signature pale ale." Sentiment aside, I can agree with that. No matter where you go, top-notch bars, dive bars, airports, or the grocery store, the quality of the product will remain the same. I was at a bar in Boston and saw an Irishman drinking a Budweiser. Curiously I asked why, and he said it was the consistency.
