Fuck I’ve had a few tonight but honestly this is something special. If you love hazy juicy IPAs you’re gonna love this, it is exemplary. Northern Monk (and I guess Wylam too) are one of my fave breweries in the UK so I generally pick up their stuff regardless of how well received it is. But I really cannot recommend this enough. For me this is the perfect balance between beer and fruit juice. It’s so easy drinking and flavourful like a fruit juice, yet you know damn well it’s an IPA at heart. It is full on fruity, pineapple is the standout fruit here, grapefruit, citrus, tropical, stone fruits, a nice blend of all these. Some malt in the background but these fruity hops really shine through.
I really hope you enjoy this as much as I did. If not then I apologise for getting your hopes up
I’d add that the most special and memorable beers I had this year were all the great beers I had in Japan. To see how the beer scene has grown since I moved from there was amazing. Also, having a great imperial stout New Heights’ Navel Gazer. Damn good.
Lots of great beer this year for me so far as well. The biggest surprises have been my two new local breweries here in Nashville: Bearded Iris and Southern Grist. Both have become weekly rituals for me. Bearded Iris’ Chief of Chiefs was my favorite Double IPA this year and from Southern Grist I really enjoy their fruited sours and stouts. Lots of good beer flowing in Nashville now. I also will second New Heights’ Navel Gazer as a very underrated imperial stout…that really shocked me at the quality from yet another Nashville brewery.
Other non-local first timers I enjoyed this year was Evil Twin Michigan Maple Jesus, Struise Cuvee Delphine (2012 bottle), Aslin Double Orange Starfish…I miss having access to great Belgian beer though that I had in Tokyo though…and miss the ratebeer crew in Japan as well. Nashville doesn’t seem to have much representation outside of myself and atleast 1 (maybe 2) other active member(s).
If anyone happens to find themselves in Copenhagen this weekend, then Abnormal Maple Mornings has just come on tap 29 at Mikkeller & Friend, what a brew!
If I go purely by rating I will join @anstei, @SinH4 and @Stuu666 by saying: Superstition Marion. It just blew me away. The interplay of sweet honey, sour fruit and an overall extremely appealing smelling sensation was really something to behold.
Not necessarily by rating but definitely by stand-out character was Blackwell Poetry Slambic 2012! I was very fortunate in 2017 to be able to taste many great Lambics (thanks @SinH4 & @anstei) including Oud Beersel Vandervelden 135, 3F Armand & Gaston, 3F Armand & Tommy, 3F 50th. Blackwell - a tiny Swiss two-man outfit - was able to brew a beer far away from the Pjottenland which for all intents and purposes was able to compete with those lambics.
Well, first thing this thread accomplished was getting me to order a can of Moob It. Northern Monk has been solid but not super-chaseable for me so glad to have that hit my radar.
I suck at picking one beer but here are some things that stand out without looking at numbers (some backlogged anyway).
Experience: Finally having Pliny the Elder (it was solid but not life changing, and Toronado is not so fun solo)
Best full serving: 3F Armand and Tommy (getting brushed off the first time we ordered it made getting it even tastier!)
Best taster/festival beers:
Angry Chair - BA Imperial German Chocolate Cupcake (even in the MBCC stout lineup, this was amazing)
Bokkereyder - Oscar One (best passionfruit beer I’ve had was a lambic?!)
Bokkereyder - Framboos Noyaux (my fucking god)
Omnipollo/Siren/Dave Strachan - Lorelai BA Extra Maple (absolutely massive flavours, not cloying at all, how?!)
Voodoo - ManBearPig (I thought this would be massively underwhelming, it was anything but)
Best surprise:
Cellador - In Principio (I had no expectations at all when this was suggested to me at Bottlecraft as a SoCal saison to take home, but it was just beautiful, one of my favourite mixed ferm saisons ever)
There were also some standout meads from Superstition, and my girlfriend arriving from Canada bearing a bottle of La Face Cachee de la Pomme Neige Recolte d’Hiver was pretty fucking ace. Here’s to a strong end of 2017 that will somehow upend at least one of the sections above!
Yesterday, I was in Franconia with @jonas and MoritzF. We visited Lieberth, and nobody seemed to be there (despite a poster on the wall saying that you can at least buy bottles on Saturdays).
Turns out they were closed, but the brewer was home and after a couple of sentences, let us in to get a beer.
Once we sit there, the keg kicks after the first half litre. He goes downstairs, taps a fresh keg, drainpours the half litre he just poured and serves us 3 Seidlas of the fresh keg. And the beer was in unspeakably good condition. This was one of the best beer experiences of my life, and I cannot imagine beer being any better than this particular Seidla of Lieberth Kellerbier. This is definitely a memory I will never forget - beers that totally blow me away despite extremely high expectations have become rarer.
Boon Oude Geuze VAT 110 – 4.5
Dieu du Ciel Symbiose No.7 – 4.4
Dieu du Ciel Péché Mortel Édition Spéciale 2016 -2017 – 4.4
Bellwoods Roman Candle IPA – 4.4
Nowhere close to tight at the bottom though:
Baltika Razlivnoe Myagkoe – 0.9 (Carlsberg style production cost cutting horror)
Cartwright Springs Winter Bock – 0.9 (nice brewer, but this beer was infected)
J. Wakefield / Omnipollo Brush – 0.7 (Rarely had something this disgusting, how people manage to drink it is beyond me)
One month to go, Alesmith Boxcar Speedway still holding on to the top spot, with two other SoCal brews hot on its heels…Bottle Logic Reaction State and Monkish Same Tree. SoCal reasserted their dominance this year for me (even though Trillium is my favorite brewery).
I had 13 beers with a score of 44-45-46; the ones more people may know are Dunham Oro Zuur (Mosaic), Cigar City Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout - Double Barrel Aged, Epic Big Bad Baptista, but I’d recommend everybody to trade for some fresh IPA/IIPA from our locals Superflux and Twin Sails.
- level jealousy
