Now Beer This: My Top 5 All-Time Favorite Beers

Over the holidays I was discussing favorite beers with friends and I thought about if I was pressed to name my Top 5 beers what would make that list. That sounds like a pretty simple thing. But it ain’t.

I’ve had A LOT of beers in my time. TONS. I’ve gone out of my way to get to lots of places and try lots of beers. I’ll contradict this entire article and state that it’s really impossible for me to tell you my Top 5 beers of all time because I’m likely forgetting some and even if I’m not, what I’m really into might change from time to time. Still, it’s a fun exercise that really made me think about beer experiences and what it was that made them so memorable.

Without further ado, here is my Non-Binding List of Top 5 All-Time Favorite Beers:

 

Honorable Mention

Cultivator by Troegs. OK. This one didn’t quite make it into my Top 5, but I wanted to bring it up. Like Bitter Unicorn Tears below, this is one of the beers that really changed my relationship with lagers. Cultivator is a Maibock, which is essentially a Helles on steroids, so how could you go wrong? Intense noble hop character with almost graham-cracker-like malt body, and a relatively high ABV, this one is a winner, and would easily make its way into my Top 10. But I’m only doing 5, so I had to give the nod to the local boys on this one. Still, a worthwhile beer that should be sought out.

5) Bitter Unicorn Tears by Deep River

This seasonal offering is a collaboration between a brewery and a pub. Tyler Huntinton of the locally famous Tyler’s Taproom helped to develop this recipe with Deep River and I’m frankly surprised it didn’t result in a permanent relationship. This is one of the beers that helped to change my mind about lagers. It’s labeled as an “Imperial Pale Lager” which is just code for “we wanted an IPA that drank like a lager. And that’s just what they got. Hop aroma like no other beer is followed by a crackery body that makes drinking it WAY too easy for its 7% ABV load. Stark but pleasant bitterness at the end keeps you coming back for more. If I see this beer, I almost always buy at least one. You should too.

4) Damn Right Pineapple Milkshake IPA by Gizmo

This beer, y’all. It really does everything that I want in a beer right now. You’ve got intoxicating fruit and hop aroma, a blow-your-mind juicy body, and a counterbalance of hop bitterness that makes this the most satisfying, crushable, and enjoyable of this (maybe too trendy) beer sub-style. When/if this comes out this year I will be buying them by the case load. No question.

3) Orval

I’ve written about this beer before (click here for that super-informative article) so I don’t want to go too much into detail about it. Suffice it to say that it’s my favorite of all Trappist Ales. Golden and effervescent, barnyard notes from the Brett yeast found in the monastery’s proprietary yeast strain, and more hop character than you get out of any other Trappist Ale, this is what I imagine the best beers tasted like 200 years ago. To taste one is to time travel with a happy beverage, so I highly recommend you do so.

2) 120 Minute IPA by Dogfish Head

This one is more of a nostalgia choice than it is a quality choice. At the time it was one of the highest ABV beers in the world, so it was a lot to handle. But boy was it fun trying. I first tasted this when I went to the Great American Beer Festival with one of my all-time best beer buddies. It was poured straight from a keg, through a Randle the Enamel Animal (click that link to learn what that is…it’s worth the dive), by Sam Calagione himself! The beer itself, coming in at that point at around 20% ABV, is a special experience on its own, but under those circumstances it was kind of a transcendental beer experience that I really don’t think I’ll ever top. I’ve tried to distill the description of this beer to simply “love in a bottle” but I’m not sure that does it justice. Then again, that might have been the alcohol talking.

1) Mocha IPA by Stone

There’s a perfect explanation for this. I love IPAs. They are to me, hands down, the best, most versatile, most enjoyable, most exciting beer style around. I also like chocolate. And I’m a big fan of coffee. So when Stone put out a Mocha IPA – combining cacao and coffee with a double IPA – it was obvious that I was going to be a fan. Since then, there have been imitators, but no one has quite hit the mark like Stone did. Competing aromas of candy bar, coffee shop, and brewery (that’s a good smell), luscious malt body, powerful hop bitterness intertwined with corresponding chocolate and coffee bitterness, roast battling sweetness, there’s just SO much to enjoy with this one. IF I had to choose only one beer for the rest of my life, this would be it.

Should these be your Top 5? Nah. But should you try these? For. Sure. Give ‘em a whirl, let me know what you think, and I’d LOVE to get hear your Top 5 as well. You might remind me of some I’ve left out. Bring ‘em on!