GQ magazine put together a list of 50 beers from around the world all beer enthusiasts need to try before they die.
GQ's style editor, Adam Rapoport, narrowed down that list and, along with co-anchor Harry Smith, sampled Rapoport's top half-dozen. All six are readily available across the country, and inexpensive.
Rapoport's top six:
Allagash White
Ommegang Hennepin
Oskar Blues Dale Pale Ale
Redenbach Grand Cru
Anchor Steam
Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout
All descriptions seen here are from GQ
Allagash White - $9 (4-pack bottles)
The Portland, Maine-based Allagash makes a lot of excellent, wheat-heavy Belgian beers, and this is their flagship: light and bubbly with a beguiling spice mix no one has been able to guess. This is a wheat beer. Like most, it's a little cloudy and sweet, relatively low alcohol. Often drunk a lemon or orange wedge squeezed into it. I don't want to say it's a beer for girls, but it's a beer for girls. They love it-especially on a hot, summer afternoon.
Ommegang Hennepin - $7 (750ML)
Earthy yeast plus lemon and clove in a supremely drinkable amber body. This is the best American saison there is. It's a farmhouse ale, aka 'saison' (pronounced SIZE-ON). Similar to a wheat beer, but spicier (a lemony, clove zest). Goes great with ethnic, spicy foods such as Thai food. And it opens like a bottle of champagne, which is cool.
Saison (French, "season") is the name originally given to refreshing, low-alcohol pale ales brewed seasonally in farmhouses in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium, to refresh farm workers during harvest season.
Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale - $9 (6-pack cans)
Packed with tons of citrus from a heavy dose of American hops, this is the quintessential stateside IPA. Like most pale ales, it's on the hoppier side-which means its slightly bitter and sour. You know hops when you taste em. However, it's not as hoppy as a IPA (Indian Pale Ale). And we really like the can, which makes it easily transportable, great to bring to a picnic or barbecue or the beach. Technically speaking, beer lasts longer in a can because no light is allowed in.
Rodenbach Grand Cru - $9 (750ML)
The classic Flemish red: funky, vinegary, and dark. A blend of one part young and two parts barrel-aged beers makes it deliciously sour with notes of boozy fruit. A fruitier beer, but not fruity sweet, more fruity sour. The fruitiness cleanses your palate so it makes you hungrier. Slightly more expensive, more fancy. More like wine than the six pack you pick up at 7-11. You could bring it to a dinner party.
Anchor Steam - $9 (6-pack bottles)
The one and only true example of this unique style, Anchor's Steam Beer is a lager in name only. Fermented at higher temperatures than your typical lager, it keeps the style's crisp dryness but adds fruity esters and extra hops. The most accessible and biggest name of the bunch. But it deserves the hype. It's a lager (which most commercial beers are, such as Bud and Heinekin), but it delivers more flavor. It's a good first step into the world of more unique beers.
Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout - $3 (12 ounces)
The classic oatmeal stout: soft and creamy, with just a touch of roasted bitterness, like the soft poke of feathers in a down pillow. A meal in a bottle! Dark as root beer. Really rich and smooth. Goes down easier than you expect, kind of like Guinness. You don't need dinner when you've got a bottle of this in front of you.
Allagash White
The Portland, Maine-based Allagash makes a lot of excellent, wheat-heavy Belgian beers, and this is their flagship: light and bubbly with a beguiling spice mix no one has been able to guess.
Anchor Christmas Ale
Anchor has changed their Christmas Ale recipe every season since 1975 (along with their label design), but they hew pretty close to a classic, festive cold-weather brew: rich and fruity with subtle spice. Last year's had notes of vanilla and cinnamon.
Anchor Steam
The one and only true example of this unique style, Anchor's Steam Beer is a lager in name only. Fermented at higher temperatures than your typical lager, it keeps the style's crisp dryness but adds fruity esters and extra hops.
BrewDog Smokehead
The two Scots behind BrewDog look outside their homeland's long but languid beer traditions for the inspiration here, storing a pitch-black stout in smokey Scotch barrels to give it an outrageously salty, earthy tang.
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout
Dark stouts usually have hints of cocoa to them already, so the trick with chocolate beers is subtlety. Brooklyn nails it: Not too sweet, not too bitter, but chocolatey enough to make it special.
Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron
Drink this one for its story, as much as for its taste: Dogfish Head's Sam Caglione traveled to the wilds of Paraguay to find one of the hardest, heaviest woods on earth and used it in a tank built to age just this beer. The dark, extra-strong brown ale gets an added kick of vanilla from the wood's unique oils.
Fritz Briem 1809 Berliner Weisse
Fritz Briem's is Berlin's take on wheat beer: yeasty and super-carbonated but with a uniquely tart, bright finish, making it the perfect summer beer (with no need for a pansy-ass lemon slice).
Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold
Richer, hoppier, and maltier than standard American lagers-or even German ones-but crisp enough to be your new go-to session beer. (Note to non-beer nerds, a session beer is usually one that's light in alcohol, allowing you to drink several different ones during the course of an evening. Or day.) Dortmunders are tough to find even in the homeland, but thankfully craft breweries like Great Lakes are making them common fare around here.
Hitachino Lacto Stout
Skip Hitachino's more common lemonade-y wheat beer and seek out this harder-to-find stout, made with milk sugar for extra creaminess and a slightly sour, Hershey-bar-like kick.
Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout
One of the best examples of a notoriously tricky style, this one tastes more like the foam of a cappuccino than the espresso, which is to say light, smooth, and just sweet enough to balance the stout's natural bitterness.
Leelanau Whaleback White
Leelanau is the side project of Ron Jeffries, who also brews at Jolly Pumpkin. Their wheat beer is cidery, sour, fruity, and extra dry, thanks to aging with wild yeasts in French oak barrels.
Lion Stout
If you only have one Sri Lankan stout before you kick, make it this one. Creamy and bittersweet, with a rich tan head and notes of fruit. Plus, it comes in cans-perfect for spicing up your next barbecue.
Ommegang Hennepin
Earthy yeast plus lemon and clove in a supremely drinkable amber body. This is the best American saison there is.
Oskar Blues Dales Pale Ale
Packed with tons of citrus from a heavy dose of American hops, this is the quintessential stateside IPA.
Oskar Blues Old Chub
Thick, sweet, and insanely malty; ruby-red, light on the hops, and heavy on the toffee notes. Old Chub outdoes all other Scottish Ales, even though it's made 4,000 miles from Glasgow.
Picobrouwerij Alvinne Melchior
Melchior is a solid English-style barleywine-strong, sweet, and malty, with notes of rich, dark fruit-but the extra kick from an infusion of mustard seeds pushes it into mad-science territory. It's so crazy, it has to work.
Pretty Things Jack D'Or
They call this one a "Saison Americain" thanks to a heavy dose of citrusy, west-coast hops. Belgian yeasts give it a sour kick and a blend of oats and barley smooth it out.
Rodenbach Grand Cru
The classic Flemish red: funky, vinegary, and dark. A blend of one part young and two parts barrel-aged beers makes it deliciously sour with notes of boozy fruit.
Rogue Dead Guy Ale
Rogue's Dead Guy is a strong, German-style maibock-full of hearty malts with a bit of spice from Saaz hops.
Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout
The classic oatmeal stout: soft and creamy, with just a touch of roasted bitterness, like the soft poke of feathers in a down pillow.
Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale
Sierra's Harvest Ale marked a new trend for west-coast brewers when it debuted in 1996, and it's still the best of the (slightly-bigger-these-days) bunch: wet hopping, in which hops go straight from the vine to the brew kettle without being dried. They use cascade and centennial, grade-A west-coast citrus bombs, with extra earthy, grassy flavors unique to hops picked and brewed right at their prime.
Sixpoint Sweet Action
Sweet and very hoppy, with a little grass and citrus thrown in. It's mellowed a bit from the original recipe-their Double Sweet Action is closer to the roots, but harder to find.
Smuttynose Barleywine
This is one of the best barleywines around, but a bit challenging to get into. It's heavy on the caramel, and thick as syrup, like a sherry. Drink it like one, too: This is a perfect dessert beer.
Stone Imperial Russian Stout
Heavy, thick, and midnight black. Imperial is an understatement-this is a meal in a bottle. If you can find it, try it barrel-aged for an extra level of bourbony, syrupy goodness.
Stone Old Guardian
Old Guardian is a perfect entry-level barleywine. Not heavy and thick, like the more intense varieties, and with extra hops to balance the boozy, fruity malts.
Trumer Pils
Forget Pilsner Urquell-that watered-down swill has nothing on Trumer. Started in Salzburg 400 years ago but now made in the Berkeley hills, it's a radically flavorful pils, bitter and bubbly and extra dry with slight floral notes from heavy hopping.
Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
Cloudy, spicy, crisp, and tart, this might be the perfect wheat beer, and a summertime staple.
AleSmith Speedway Stout
This artisanal San Diego brewery boasts a line-up that is high in quality, and often in ABV. Speedway Stout just barely edges out their other offerings with its coffee infused richness that opens up more flavors as the beer warms.
Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye
This brewery's expansion may be built on the deserved growth of Racer 5 IPA, but you'll be greatly rewarded for tracking this down. Everything is on overdrive with huge hops, caramel malts ,and spicy rye, but the balance it maintains makes for an impressive brew.
The Bruery Saison Rue
The awards and accolades just keep coming for these young brewers. The line-up is always adventurous, but perfectly restrained rather than overt. Saison Rue is a farmhouse-style beer with hints of rye and wild yeast strains that make for a deliciously complex drink.
Cantillon Iris
The Iris is the flower of Brussels, and this annual brew is barrel-aged for two years. While it is spontaneously fermented like other Cantillon lambics, it differs in that it contains only pale malts and a portion of fresh hops (versus wheat and dried hops). It is tart but complex. Substitute this for sparkling wine and your guests will be glad you did.
De Struise Pannepot
A vintage-released Belgian Quadruple Ale that is sent forth into the world at least two years after it was brewed. The combination of flavors is compelling and rich while the carbonation keeps the heft of the beer from crushing the palate-which makes for a surprisingly easy drinking 10% ABV. An oak-aged 2008 batch is soon to be released.
Dieu du Ciel Route des Epices
This Montreal brewery is single-handedly raising the craft-brewing profile of Canada. This selection may not be their best known but it is probably their most intriguing, with its use of peppercorn. The flavoring is unmistakable, and pairs incredibly well with smoked meats.
Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA
What can we say? If the West Coast Style IPA (arguably) became the USA's contribution to the beer world and is itself an exaggerated version of the English IPA, what is the next level? How about a version boasting 18% alcohol and 120 International Bitterness Units? (Note to non-beer nerds: That's crazy bitter.) Be careful with that 12-oz. bottle.
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja
Visitors to this Dexter, Michigan, brewery could be forgiven for mistaking it for a winery. Ron Jeffries barrel-ages every release. Most batches are then blended to provide consistency, but all have wonderful tart elements that the used barrels help to impart. La Roja is a delicious sour brown ale in a line-up of excellent brews.
Marin Brewing Company IPA
In our minds, this is the quintessential interpretation of the West Coast Style IPA. The aroma, color, malt balance, and bittering are perfect and eminently drinkable. There isn't an element that overshadows another, and it's an excellent baseline by which to enjoy other IPAs.
Orval
Only one beer is made at this Trappist brewery, but that is more than enough. Orval is a worldwide classic Belgian Ale. Proprietary yeasts imparted during secondary fermentation give Orval its subtle and distinctive sourness.
Port Brewing Shark Attack Red
What started as (and still is) a small pizza chain is now a full-fledged and high-quality craft brewery. Port Brewing is also responsible for the Lost Abbey line; Shark Attack Red is their Imperial Red Ale. It's wonderfully rich and balanced by intense hopping.
Russian River Pliny the Elder
Perhaps the most well known and sought out double IPA on the planet. The reputation is well earned, as the brewers have found the magic spot between huge flavors and drinkability. This is a hop head's dream.
Saison Dupont
The style has been making a welcome comeback, and this one is probably the best known progenitor. Saisons are traditionally delicate but flavorful, complex but not overt. They are excellent beers for food pairing, and Saison Dupont is the perfect match for a huge range of flavors.
Schneider Aventinus
Consistently recognized as one of the top beers in the world, Aventinus is a wheat doppelbock with flavors of bread, caramel, and fruit, and a slightly bitter finish. And the carbonation level makes it a very drinkable 8%. A classic.
Westvleteren Abt 12
This Trappist beer is available only at the source and there are strict limits as to how much one can purchase. The monks only make enough to run the monastery. Its difficulty to obtain aside (but not discounted), "Westy" 12 is widely considered one of the best in the world, and is often aged for several years.
Harviestoun Old Engine Oil
Yep, it's the color of old engine oil. (Is there not a manlier name for a beer?) And, while we haven't actually tasted old engine oil, we're going to say that it tastes nothing like it. A perfect balance of roasted coffee flavor and chocolate, with a slightly bitter finish. For a heavy beer it's surprisingly drinkable.
Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout
This medium- to full-bodied brew first hits you with a huge toasty espresso taste and then with a bitter, hoppy finish. The Colorado-based Great Divide recommends drinking it for breakfast, but with a cloying high 9.5% ABV you'll need to take a nap for lunch.
Double Mountain Black Irish Stout
Why do we import Guinness when we have this right here? Brewed in Oregon, this has that creaminess you love in Guinness, but with real flavor-pleasantly roasty, with a hint of dark-chocolate bitterness.
Samuel Adams Utopias
It's hard to call this a beer because it has no carbonation, has the consistency of brandy, is best sipped from a nosing glass, and, oh yeah, it costs $150 for a 24-oz. bottle. But it's worth a taste if you come across it at a bar: complexly sweet, like a port.
Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier
We can't pronounce it either, but don't let that keep you from drinking it. Simply ask for it at your finer beer store or bar as "that German Smoke Beer," and they'll most likely bring you this: a beer made with malt toasted over an open fire that gives it a pleasantly smoky flavor-like liquid BBQ.
Russian River Valley Brewing Co. Beatification
Perhaps the wildest American Wild Ale out there. Mouth-puckeringly sour, funky like a barnyard, with a little bit of oak (it's aged in barrels). Beatification is a super-intense beer that you will either hate or become addicted to.
Monk's Café Flemish Sour Ale
This is like drinking a Sour Patch Kid. Light, with a pleasant, palate-cleansing sourness, it's the perfect partner to a pile of Belgian frites and mussels. Or anything you want to eat a whole bucket of.
All of this Toppling Goliath talk made me run by the local beer section at Hyvee and see what they had. This one seems to be their flagship IPA. Nice, nothing amazing compared to the other two I had on tap.
I don't have a crazy amount of patience to hunt down and wait for beer these days, but would definitely do something like that as long as the wait isn't so crazy that you're out of beer and still have a long time to wait in line.
Is the Triple Barrel 2018 or did they do that other years, too? At 19%, I'd like to try that one in another decade.
Yep its 2018. Which is a good reminder people need not go crazy over these as they make a bunch. Feel it pours at every one of their special events. Have to think those '13/'14 Prop kegs are dwindling though.
KBS has like a burnt/charred thing that I have a hard time getting past... the maple variety hides it for the most part.
There were a couple years in KC where I was done with the BCS hype... having to go out and shop for it on the one day you want to sit at home and avoid shopping, with limits of 1 bottle/person.
Then I moved here and bought an entire case of it and can generally get as much as I want. I'll show up at the beer store at 10am for the variants, but can also still find 2-3 year old variants for like $17 in Phoenix.
I think it's still one of the better stouts out there and will always appreciate it for setting the standard years ago.
Can't help to think the namesake of Toppling Goliath had at least a little bit to do with Goose Island and BCS, given their amazing stouts (the server said it was mostly business related and beer in general).
I dont think I've ever had any TG beers, will have to check to see if I can find any around here.
To backtrack on my previous post about BCS a bit...dont get me wrong, it was some tasty stout...I just didn't think it lived up to the "end all be all best imperial stout ever" hype it seems to get and for the price I would have rather spent my money on a lot of different beers.
One of my all time favorites is Ballast Point High West Victory at Sea...which surprisingly until I just now looked it up didnt realize is actually a porter as well. I haven't seen any Ballast Point beers in the Springfield area for a couple years now though.
I dont think I've ever had any TG beers, will have to check to see if I can find any around here.
To backtrack on my previous post about BCS a bit...dont get me wrong, it was some tasty stout...I just didn't think it lived up to the "end all be all best imperial stout ever" hype it seems to get and for the price I would have rather spent my money on a lot of different beers.
One of my all time favorites is Ballast Point High West Victory at Sea...which surprisingly until I just now looked it up didnt realize is actually a porter as well. I haven't seen any Ballast Point beers in the Springfield area for a couple years now though.
IMHO, TG has gone downhill over the years (and I'll probably get flak for that, lol), though that opinion could be predicated on a few other things, mostly that I'm now surrounded by incredible IPAs in SD. I was back in IA recently, and had Psuedo Sue on tap for the first time in a while, and was extremely underwhelmed - and I used to LOVE that beer. I've had a good number of their IPAs over the last few years, and many of them have become very vegetal to me. I know they've had a tumultuous relationship with their brewmaster for a number of years now, and the owner is a known asshole. All that said, definitely worth finding - you may love it (many do).
I used to chase BCBS every year for many years, and it was my favorite beer at the time. It's still extremely tasty (I just put a '14 in my fridge to cool), but it was a different time then - big, bold, BA beers just weren't that common. Now, they're everywhere, and with quite a few world class options, BCBS isn't nearly as special anymore.
If you love VAS, you should hit Ballast for their VAS day, if you ever get the chance - they have a crazy number of variants on tap.
IMHO, TG has gone downhill over the years (and I'll probably get flak for that, lol), though that opinion could be predicated on a few other things, mostly that I'm now surrounded by incredible IPAs in SD. I was back in IA recently, and had Psuedo Sue on tap for the first time in a while, and was extremely underwhelmed - and I used to LOVE that beer. I've had a good number of their IPAs over the last few years, and many of them have become very vegetal to me. I know they've had a tumultuous relationship with their brewmaster for a number of years now, and the owner is a known asshole. All that said, definitely worth finding - you may love it (many do).
I used to chase BCBS every year for many years, and it was my favorite beer at the time. It's still extremely tasty (I just put a '14 in my fridge to cool), but it was a different time then - big, bold, BA beers just weren't that common. Now, they're everywhere, and with quite a few world class options, BCBS isn't nearly as special anymore.
If you love VAS, you should hit Ballast for their VAS day, if you ever get the chance - they have a crazy number of variants on tap.
Interesting about TG. I could tell they put a lot into the details of their space in Decorah, so I could seem them being real sticklers for things. And just their namesake shows they have a pretty grand vision.
That's how I think of BCS... it was the end-all/be-all for a number of years partly because it was one of a kind. I thought Schlafly's Imperial Stout was pretty damn close in certain years, but was inconsistent (and never quite had the body as BCS). Sam Adams had a very tasty imperial stout, but again, not really the whole package. And there was Great Divide Yeti, which was a favorite.
I know the vintage stuff and Chicago-only variants are still very popular there, but no idea if it's just as hyped elsewhere... it's definitely not around here, I could still find a Cafe de Olla or regular BCS in Phoenix for $17.
Don't think I've had any Victory at Sea variants, but the regular stuff is a solid daily drinker.... I know they've fallen off the beer craft enthusiast wagon, but I really need to make it out there and do a San Diego craft beer weekend.
Interesting about TG. I could tell they put a lot into the details of their space in Decorah, so I could seem them being real sticklers for things. And just their namesake shows they have a pretty grand vision.
That's how I think of BCS... it was the end-all/be-all for a number of years partly because it was one of a kind. I thought Schlafly's Imperial Stout was pretty damn close in certain years, but was inconsistent (and never quite had the body as BCS). Sam Adams had a very tasty imperial stout, but again, not really the whole package. And there was Great Divide Yeti, which was a favorite.
I know the vintage stuff and Chicago-only variants are still very popular there, but no idea if it's just as hyped elsewhere... it's definitely not around here, I could still find a Cafe de Olla or regular BCS in Phoenix for $17.
Don't think I've had any Victory at Sea variants, but the regular stuff is a solid daily drinker.... I know they've fallen off the beer craft enthusiast wagon, but I really need to make it out there and do a San Diego craft beer weekend.
I'd be surprised if there was anywhere near the same hype for BCBS as there was in it's heyday. I can find it in SD very easily - I found a random shitty liquor store with boxes of BCBS and variants back to 2017, and I see it on shelves every year.
SD is definitely a beer destination, and IMHO, one of, if not the best beer cities in the world. If you make it out here, hit me up, and I'll meet up with you if possible. Otherwise, I can certainly give you some tips and must-visits.
I'd be surprised if there was anywhere near the same hype for BCBS as there was in it's heyday. I can find it in SD very easily - I found a random shitty liquor store with boxes of BCBS and variants back to 2017, and I see it on shelves every year.
SD is definitely a beer destination, and IMHO, one of, if not the best beer cities in the world. If you make it out here, hit me up, and I'll meet up with you if possible. Otherwise, I can certainly give you some tips and must-visits.
Thanks, will let you know if I make it out there.
What are your must-visits? I get Belching Beaver and Ale Smith out here, and of course Ballast Point, so those would all be on my list... plus, would have to stop at Modern Times. Sure I'm missing several that just don't get distributed here.
What are your must-visits? I get Belching Beaver and Ale Smith out here, and of course Ballast Point, so those would all be on my list... plus, would have to stop at Modern Times. Sure I'm missing several that just don't get distributed here.
Pure Project is my favorite in town, followed by Modern Times. A lot would depend on what part of town you're in, and I tend to prefer smaller breweries, but here are some more good options:
- North Park Brewing Co
- Fall
- Eppig
- Burgeon
- Pizza Port
- Societe
04-24-2010, 06:18 AM
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50 Beers to Try Before You Die
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