RateBeer’s Best 2014

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Message GT P beers 10001 º places 672 º 22:17 Wed 1/28/2015 Originally posted by beastiefan2k Originally posted by GT2 Even if 51 breweries opened in Washington State last year, which sounds extremely high and exaggerated I can understand why you are incredulous but Washington indeed is blowing up with breweries Here is the report from a year ago http://www.washingtonbeer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/wa-beer_2013-annual-report_PROOF-v4.pdf It was another fantastic year of growth for Washington Beer. The count of state craft breweries climbed from 162 to 204, a 26% increase Washington had 44 new breweries in 2013. at the moment, our db says there are 278 http://www.ratebeer.com/breweries/washington/47/213/ some of those are cideries or mead makers. Wow, well that is completely insane.
Message AdamChandler P beers 6124 º places 278 º 09:04 Fri 1/30/2015 http://www.ratebeer.com/RateBeerBest/BestBrewers-World2015.asp World’s Top Brewers. Thoughts? 1. Hill Farmstead Brewery Greensboro, Vermont, USA 2. Toppling Goliath Decorah, Iowa USA 3. Mikkeller Copenhagen DENMARK 4. Three Floyds Brewing Company Munster, Indiana USA 5. Dieu du Ciel Montreal, Quebec CANADA 6. Bells Brewery Galesburg, Michigan USA 7. Evil Twin Brewing Brooklyn, New York USA 8. AleSmith Brewing Company San Diego, California USA 9. To Øl Copenhagen, DENMARK 10. Russian River Brewing Santa Rosa, California USA
Message Clownoisseur beers 531 º places 1 º 09:30 Fri 1/30/2015 Wasn’t Alesmith #1 last year? Kind of surprised to see them drop to #8 Also a tad surprised that Cigar City did not make the top 10, considering Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout-Double Barrel Aged was the top beer in the USA. Other than that, seems about right.

Message AdamChandler P beers 6124 º places 278 º 09:34 Fri 1/30/2015 I’m only guessing but I remember a lot of changes were made to Speedway stout variants. I can only assume that had something to do with it.
Message Leighton P beers 33712 º places 1204 º 09:42 Fri 1/30/2015 Originally posted by AdamJackson http://www.ratebeer.com/RateBeerBest/BestBrewers-World2015.asp World’s Top Brewers. Thoughts? 1. Hill Farmstead Brewery Greensboro, Vermont, USA 2. Toppling Goliath Decorah, Iowa USA 3. Mikkeller Copenhagen DENMARK 4. Three Floyds Brewing Company Munster, Indiana USA 5. Dieu du Ciel Montreal, Quebec CANADA 6. Bells Brewery Galesburg, Michigan USA 7. Evil Twin Brewing Brooklyn, New York USA 8. AleSmith Brewing Company San Diego, California USA 9. To Øl Copenhagen, DENMARK 10. Russian River Brewing Santa Rosa, California USA It’s not my own personal top 10, but it is a pretty good top 10. 1. HF - it’s my favourite overall brewery, so agree there. Very few other breweries in the world have shown such mastery over such a range of styles. 2. TG - have had under 10 beers from TG but all have been excellent, so can’t argue here. 3. Mikkeller - I like Mikkeller, but #3 is high for me. They make some great beers, but also some fairly average stuff. 4. Three Floyds - solid. I wouldn’t rank them that high but they are deserving top 10. 5. DDC - solid brewery across styles, they’re inventive and collaborative. Not sure if they would make my personal top 10 but they’re world-class. 6. Bells - classic. They make some benchmark beers. Deserving top 10. 7. Evil Twin - great brewery doing lots of interesting stuff. No qualms seeing them in the top 10. 8. AleSmith - as with Bells, it’s great to see another old guard brewery on the list. AleSmith also produces some absolutely classic beers - IPA, Speedway...these are defining beers. 9. To Ol - good overall brewery. Maybe top 20 for me personally, but likely not top 10. 10. Russian River - they make some of the best beers in the world, though perhaps not across as broad a range of styles as some of the other breweries on the list. But when you make Pliney, Blind Pig and the sours they do, you deserve a spot on the list.
Message Clownoisseur beers 531 º places 1 º 09:45 Fri 1/30/2015 I could easily put New Glarus in my top 5. Curious to where they fell on the overall list...guessing it wasn’t too far outside of the top 10.
Message AdamChandler P beers 6124 º places 278 º 10:09 Fri 1/30/2015 Echoing Leighton on Mikkeller. I was talking to friends on the subject of Mikkel’s top 5 finish and maybe Europeans can step in here but my opinion is he’s rated highly for a few reasons: 1. Diversity. Almost everyone has a Mikkeller beer that they love. 600 unique brews and he’s going to hit more than a few aces. 2. He is the most well known american-style craft brewer in Europe. If I’m in Europe and I want an APA or DIPA with lots of piney resin and crystal malt, I’ll grab a Mikkeller beer. More american style breweries are popping up but none with the distro he has. 3. It’s hip to drink Mikkel beers and maybe that doesn’t weigh much here on RateBeer but hipsters think they’re cool drinking his beer and they flock to his bars and webshop to acquire his brews. The cool factor may skew ratings slightly. ---- In Mikkel’s defense, I like most of his beers. Not all but most and the brews I’ve had @ the source in Copenhagen are easily .5-.7 rating higher than when I had them in a bottle. If he can start sending more fresh kegs to bars in USA, more people would latch on to it. Westerbro Wit is one of my favorite wit beers then I had it in a bottle last month and almost drain-poured it. I’ve only rated 99 of 633 his beers and there were a lot of winners but most of the highest ratings are beers bought @ his webshop or had on tap @ his bars. Lots of Shelton bottles from him sit on shelves. People see top 3 brewer in the world, grab a bunch of his beers @ the local store and are disappointed. I’d love to see less of his beer coming stateside but moving faster and being consumed fresher.

Message Iznogud P beers 13183 º places 1282 º 10:15 Fri 1/30/2015 Was surprised to see Samuel Smith in top 100 and not Thornbridge, Nogne or Cantillon.
Message Weezel beers 280 º places 7 º 10:24 Fri 1/30/2015 Gotta second Clownoisseur with Cigar City being left out of the top 10, especially with the highest rated US beer of last year. Can’t argue with most of it, but would have liked to see Funky Buddha stay in the top 100. Personally, I really enjoy Mikkeller beers but there are also some that have been way off for me. I like what they do as a company and how they offer a fresh and international take on craft beer. Also, would have liked to see Firestone Walker and New Glarus in the top 10. Never had anything bad from either and they are world class top to bottom.
Message Clownoisseur beers 531 º places 1 º 10:34 Fri 1/30/2015 Wait, I just looked again....and I am not even seeing New Glarus on the Top 100 Brewers list, at all. That is shocking to me....