Goddamn do I love me a good list! And since it is List Season, here are my top ten beers of 2014. Half of them are from Ohio (apologies non-Ohioans, you should wish you were here.) This is a list of beers that I found myself picking up again and again or beers that make me drool a little bit when I think of them.
Formerly Alchemy Hour, presently delicious
10. Great Lakes’ Chillwave. This summer seasonal from Great Lakes Brewing actually made the list last year under the name Alchemy Hour. They changed the name after a copyright issue with another brewery, but the recipe for this strong but mellow double IPA remained the same. It is singularly responsible for me making it through every day in the summer, counting the minutes till I could sit on my porch with one of these.
9. Lagunitas’ Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ Ale. Another beer I crave come 5:30, and also one I’m uncomfortable ordering at bars, for obvious reasons. This was my year-round go-to of 2014. It is pale-ish, but Lagunitas refrains from categorization, so it is what it is. Bright and smart and irresistible. If you ever wanted to make a Llalan trap, bait it with this.
Don’t mess with Texas beers
8. Southern Star’s Buried Hatchet Stout. I wouldn’t have guessed a stout this hearty would come out of Texas, being so warm and all. But everything is big in Texas and so is this beer. I recently ordered one during a meeting (what, your meetings don’t happen in bars?) and had to admit to everyone that it was more beer than I had signed up for; I sat there for quite a while after everyone else had left, collecting myself.
7. Thirsty Dog’s Siberian Night. Same bar, different beer. Thirsty Dog’s imperial stout kept me warm many a night last winter. One of my favorite parts of the season is sitting in the window of Martini’s on Main, sipping this black warmth, watching bundled people hurry by.
What? You don’t want to try that? Oh ok, hand it here…
6. Brew Kettle’s Black Rajah. Speaking of black, this black IPA is really, really dark and really, really IPA-y. I discovered that some people just can’t deal with it. At a Christmas party recently, which featured an unofficial beer swap, I watched more than one beer-searcher take a look at the bottle and opt for something more familiar. Feeling adventurous? You won’t regret trying it.
5. Seventh Son’s Humulus Nimbus. I was introduced to Seventh Son Brewing at a wedding I attended this summer. I was embarrassed to not have known this Columbus brewery, two kegs of which accompanied the rehearsal dinner. So good and so close to me! Humulus, categorized as a “super pale ale,” is a summer seasonal that I really wish was year-round.
Pucker up!
4. Jolly Pumpkin’s Bam Biere. One of the Jolly Pumpkin’s family of farmhouse ales and sour beers that I was fortunate enough to try in Ann Arbor, Michigan last summer. These spicy and puckeringly delicious beers aren’t for everyone, to be sure, but I love them. Ann Arbor is a super cool town, and having a brewery of farmhouse ales is just one reason why. When you come visit me in Ohio we can make a detour north.
Liquid Mansfield
3. Stone Brewing’s Coffee Milk Stout. This is warming me up right now. It’s one outside.
2. Phoenix Brewing’s Ferryman Stout. This creamy stout (bear with me, I still get such a kick out of saying this) made by the brewery in my town (never gets old!), is one of the reasons I’m so proud of my hometown. I will forever feel that their beers taste like Mansfield; if you want something, make it your own damn self.
The Rockmill Family–a fine looking group
1. Rockmill Brewery’s Tripel. I know before I’ve said I don’t like Belgians. Perhaps I was exaggerating just a wee bit, because I love anything this brewery puts out. They are located on an old horse farm in The Middle of Nowhere, Ohio. My husband and I visited them this summer as part of our first anniversary celebration. We sat on a picnic cloth under a willow tree by a pond, eating olive tapenade on baguette, sipping their tripel for hours on a lazy afternoon. It was pretty magical.
What’s on your top ten beer list this year?