The Best of 2010

One of my favorite things to do every new year is go back and rethink everything I've had in the last year. It gives me an opportunity to decide what beers really stood out from the crowd, and what was truly (for me) a world class beer. As last year, I'm not even going to try to rank them, mostly because the beers are different styles with different perspectives, and every single one of them is worth trying if you can. Unfortunately, almost all the beers on my list this year are either limited releases or have limited distribution (especially to my area), so they could vary wildly in difficulty to obtain. There were some very hard choices this year as well, and some very good beers that didn't make the list. I've been pretty fortunate to have had a lot of amazing beer in 2010. Now on to the list.

1. Dogfish Head/Sierra Nevada's Life and Limb - This collaboration between two of the most popular craft breweries in the US was absolutely outstanding. If you didn't manage to get a bottle yet, good luck to you. Hopefully there's a re-brew of this beer somewhere in our future.

2. Stone 14th Anniversary Emperical IPA - This beer was an English style take on the standard American Imperial IPA, going back to the origin of the drink. I was very impressed with how they took a style that's done to death, and put a unique and delicious new spin on it. It's still around at a few places at least, so you can try to get your hands on a bottle.

3. Mikkeller Rauch Geek Breakfast (Beer Geek Bacon) & Beer Geek Brunch (Weasel) - I'm listing these beers together as they are both variations on the Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast, a smooth stout brewed with coffee. The first was made with rauch malt to add a meaty smoked flavor, and the latter was brewed with Kopi Luwak, the world's most expensive coffee (and made from the excrement of a civet). Both beers were excellent and worth mentioning, and it's hard to choose a favorite. I will say that of the two, the Rauch Geek Breakfast was the more obvious choice to me, but lost some points as I didn't feel like the rauch malt came through as much as it could have.

4. Russian River Supplication - A sour beer from Russian River, and if you're into that sort of thing it's fantastic. It's kind of along the lines of drinking a warhead or sour patch kids (although not as sweet). It is produced fairly regularly, but their distribution doesn't really come out to the east coast much so it can be a challenge to get.

5. Dogfish Head Zeno - This is sort of the wild card of the bunch. As a limited release from the Dogfish Brewpub, it was available only on tap at the pub over a few weeks in the summer. Strangely though, it's been one of the best things I think Dogfish has produced in the last year, beating out Bitches Brew and My Antonia for me. It was a saison, one of my favorite styles, although this version was more heavily focused on the fruity aspects of the drink and less on the funk. I actually made 2 trips down for this beer since it was so good, and I hope that Dogfish puts it into production.

6. Founder's Kentucky Breakfast Stout - Another breakfast stout brewed with coffee, this beer is aged in oak bourbon barrels for a year before being released. It's one of the best coffee stouts out there, so definitely try it out.

7. Russian River Pliny the Elder - This beer from Russian River is one of the top rated beers in the world, and one of the most sought after. For good reason too, this beer is sort of the official drink of the hardcore hop-head. We made a clone of this recipe a while back and it used 17 ounces of hops in a 5 gallon batch, where a normal beer would use 2-5 ounces. When I finally had the real thing, I was surprised at how close our clone actually was. Despite the huge hop presence in the beer, it's actually not overly bitter, but has a smooth blend of hop quality all the way through.

8. Stillwater Existent - I wasn't planning on adding this beer at all, I had already put the list together when I had it, but it was absolutely fantastic. As a black saison it's a bit of an anomaly, but has some very unique flavors that come out in the beer. There's a ton of earthy/funky flavors and aromas in this beer, which I absolutely love.

9. Spring House Planet Bean - Wow, another coffee stout. It's been that kind of year. This made the list as one of the most well thought out and flavorful beers I've had all year, and on tap at that. The Spring House brewery is up in Pennsylvania near Lancaster, and we've gone up there a few times now. If you can manage to get your hands on a bottle, it falls under their B-Sides series. You may be in luck though, since they have stepped up their bottling line recently and seem to be growing. Maybe it will be getting some wider distribution soon.

10. Fantome Saision - This beer is the top rated saison on Beer Advocate, and was sublimely delicious. I know I'm a little biased with this beer as I love the style so much, but it really is worth trying if you can get a bottle. It's a shame I couldn't do a side-by-side comparison, because I still felt as if I might prefer the Avec Les Bons Voeux from DuPont for it's infinite funkiness, but it's hard to compare a memory from a year ago with a glass in front of you.

- Adam