50 Beers to Try Before You Die

[NewChief]

Thought the beer snobs here might like this article (and probably critique the hell out of it).

http://www.wisdeo.com/articles/view_post/2984
(CBS) You've heard of "100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall"?

How about 50 to try before you die?!

Spoiler!

Call it the bucket list of beer.

GQ magazine put together a list of 50 beers from around the world all beer enthusiasts need to try before they die.

GQ's style editor, Adam Rapoport, narrowed down that list and, along with co-anchor Harry Smith, sampled Rapoport's top half-dozen. All six are readily available across the country, and inexpensive.

Rapoport's top six:

Allagash White
Ommegang Hennepin
Oskar Blues Dale Pale Ale
Redenbach Grand Cru
Anchor Steam
Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout

All descriptions seen here are from GQ

Allagash White - $9 (4-pack bottles)
The Portland, Maine-based Allagash makes a lot of excellent, wheat-heavy Belgian beers, and this is their flagship: light and bubbly with a beguiling spice mix no one has been able to guess. This is a wheat beer. Like most, it's a little cloudy and sweet, relatively low alcohol. Often drunk a lemon or orange wedge squeezed into it. I don't want to say it's a beer for girls, but it's a beer for girls. They love it-especially on a hot, summer afternoon.

Ommegang Hennepin - $7 (750ML)
Earthy yeast plus lemon and clove in a supremely drinkable amber body. This is the best American saison there is. It's a farmhouse ale, aka 'saison' (pronounced SIZE-ON). Similar to a wheat beer, but spicier (a lemony, clove zest). Goes great with ethnic, spicy foods such as Thai food. And it opens like a bottle of champagne, which is cool.
Saison (French, "season") is the name originally given to refreshing, low-alcohol pale ales brewed seasonally in farmhouses in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium, to refresh farm workers during harvest season.

Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale - $9 (6-pack cans)
Packed with tons of citrus from a heavy dose of American hops, this is the quintessential stateside IPA. Like most pale ales, it's on the hoppier side-which means its slightly bitter and sour. You know hops when you taste em. However, it's not as hoppy as a IPA (Indian Pale Ale). And we really like the can, which makes it easily transportable, great to bring to a picnic or barbecue or the beach. Technically speaking, beer lasts longer in a can because no light is allowed in.

Rodenbach Grand Cru - $9 (750ML)
The classic Flemish red: funky, vinegary, and dark. A blend of one part young and two parts barrel-aged beers makes it deliciously sour with notes of boozy fruit. A fruitier beer, but not fruity sweet, more fruity sour. The fruitiness cleanses your palate so it makes you hungrier. Slightly more expensive, more fancy. More like wine than the six pack you pick up at 7-11. You could bring it to a dinner party.

Anchor Steam - $9 (6-pack bottles)
The one and only true example of this unique style, Anchor's Steam Beer is a lager in name only. Fermented at higher temperatures than your typical lager, it keeps the style's crisp dryness but adds fruity esters and extra hops. The most accessible and biggest name of the bunch. But it deserves the hype. It's a lager (which most commercial beers are, such as Bud and Heinekin), but it delivers more flavor. It's a good first step into the world of more unique beers.

Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout - $3 (12 ounces)
The classic oatmeal stout: soft and creamy, with just a touch of roasted bitterness, like the soft poke of feathers in a down pillow. A meal in a bottle! Dark as root beer. Really rich and smooth. Goes down easier than you expect, kind of like Guinness. You don't need dinner when you've got a bottle of this in front of you.
Allagash White
The Portland, Maine-based Allagash makes a lot of excellent, wheat-heavy Belgian beers, and this is their flagship: light and bubbly with a beguiling spice mix no one has been able to guess.

Anchor Christmas Ale
Anchor has changed their Christmas Ale recipe every season since 1975 (along with their label design), but they hew pretty close to a classic, festive cold-weather brew: rich and fruity with subtle spice. Last year's had notes of vanilla and cinnamon.

Anchor Steam
The one and only true example of this unique style, Anchor's Steam Beer is a lager in name only. Fermented at higher temperatures than your typical lager, it keeps the style's crisp dryness but adds fruity esters and extra hops.

BrewDog Smokehead
The two Scots behind BrewDog look outside their homeland's long but languid beer traditions for the inspiration here, storing a pitch-black stout in smokey Scotch barrels to give it an outrageously salty, earthy tang.

Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout
Dark stouts usually have hints of cocoa to them already, so the trick with chocolate beers is subtlety. Brooklyn nails it: Not too sweet, not too bitter, but chocolatey enough to make it special.

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron
Drink this one for its story, as much as for its taste: Dogfish Head's Sam Caglione traveled to the wilds of Paraguay to find one of the hardest, heaviest woods on earth and used it in a tank built to age just this beer. The dark, extra-strong brown ale gets an added kick of vanilla from the wood's unique oils.

Fritz Briem 1809 Berliner Weisse
Fritz Briem's is Berlin's take on wheat beer: yeasty and super-carbonated but with a uniquely tart, bright finish, making it the perfect summer beer (with no need for a pansy-ass lemon slice).

Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold
Richer, hoppier, and maltier than standard American lagers-or even German ones-but crisp enough to be your new go-to session beer. (Note to non-beer nerds, a session beer is usually one that's light in alcohol, allowing you to drink several different ones during the course of an evening. Or day.) Dortmunders are tough to find even in the homeland, but thankfully craft breweries like Great Lakes are making them common fare around here.

Hitachino Lacto Stout
Skip Hitachino's more common lemonade-y wheat beer and seek out this harder-to-find stout, made with milk sugar for extra creaminess and a slightly sour, Hershey-bar-like kick.

Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout
One of the best examples of a notoriously tricky style, this one tastes more like the foam of a cappuccino than the espresso, which is to say light, smooth, and just sweet enough to balance the stout's natural bitterness.

Leelanau Whaleback White
Leelanau is the side project of Ron Jeffries, who also brews at Jolly Pumpkin. Their wheat beer is cidery, sour, fruity, and extra dry, thanks to aging with wild yeasts in French oak barrels.

Lion Stout
If you only have one Sri Lankan stout before you kick, make it this one. Creamy and bittersweet, with a rich tan head and notes of fruit. Plus, it comes in cans-perfect for spicing up your next barbecue.

Ommegang Hennepin
Earthy yeast plus lemon and clove in a supremely drinkable amber body. This is the best American saison there is.

Oskar Blues Dales Pale Ale
Packed with tons of citrus from a heavy dose of American hops, this is the quintessential stateside IPA.

Oskar Blues Old Chub
Thick, sweet, and insanely malty; ruby-red, light on the hops, and heavy on the toffee notes. Old Chub outdoes all other Scottish Ales, even though it's made 4,000 miles from Glasgow.

Picobrouwerij Alvinne Melchior
Melchior is a solid English-style barleywine-strong, sweet, and malty, with notes of rich, dark fruit-but the extra kick from an infusion of mustard seeds pushes it into mad-science territory. It's so crazy, it has to work.

Pretty Things Jack D'Or
They call this one a "Saison Americain" thanks to a heavy dose of citrusy, west-coast hops. Belgian yeasts give it a sour kick and a blend of oats and barley smooth it out.

Rodenbach Grand Cru
The classic Flemish red: funky, vinegary, and dark. A blend of one part young and two parts barrel-aged beers makes it deliciously sour with notes of boozy fruit.

Rogue Dead Guy Ale
Rogue's Dead Guy is a strong, German-style maibock-full of hearty malts with a bit of spice from Saaz hops.

Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout
The classic oatmeal stout: soft and creamy, with just a touch of roasted bitterness, like the soft poke of feathers in a down pillow.

Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale
Sierra's Harvest Ale marked a new trend for west-coast brewers when it debuted in 1996, and it's still the best of the (slightly-bigger-these-days) bunch: wet hopping, in which hops go straight from the vine to the brew kettle without being dried. They use cascade and centennial, grade-A west-coast citrus bombs, with extra earthy, grassy flavors unique to hops picked and brewed right at their prime.

Sixpoint Sweet Action
Sweet and very hoppy, with a little grass and citrus thrown in. It's mellowed a bit from the original recipe-their Double Sweet Action is closer to the roots, but harder to find.

Smuttynose Barleywine
This is one of the best barleywines around, but a bit challenging to get into. It's heavy on the caramel, and thick as syrup, like a sherry. Drink it like one, too: This is a perfect dessert beer.

Stone Imperial Russian Stout
Heavy, thick, and midnight black. Imperial is an understatement-this is a meal in a bottle. If you can find it, try it barrel-aged for an extra level of bourbony, syrupy goodness.

Stone Old Guardian
Old Guardian is a perfect entry-level barleywine. Not heavy and thick, like the more intense varieties, and with extra hops to balance the boozy, fruity malts.

Trumer Pils
Forget Pilsner Urquell-that watered-down swill has nothing on Trumer. Started in Salzburg 400 years ago but now made in the Berkeley hills, it's a radically flavorful pils, bitter and bubbly and extra dry with slight floral notes from heavy hopping.

Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
Cloudy, spicy, crisp, and tart, this might be the perfect wheat beer, and a summertime staple.



AleSmith Speedway Stout
This artisanal San Diego brewery boasts a line-up that is high in quality, and often in ABV. Speedway Stout just barely edges out their other offerings with its coffee infused richness that opens up more flavors as the beer warms.

Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye
This brewery's expansion may be built on the deserved growth of Racer 5 IPA, but you'll be greatly rewarded for tracking this down. Everything is on overdrive with huge hops, caramel malts ,and spicy rye, but the balance it maintains makes for an impressive brew.

The Bruery Saison Rue
The awards and accolades just keep coming for these young brewers. The line-up is always adventurous, but perfectly restrained rather than overt. Saison Rue is a farmhouse-style beer with hints of rye and wild yeast strains that make for a deliciously complex drink.

Cantillon Iris
The Iris is the flower of Brussels, and this annual brew is barrel-aged for two years. While it is spontaneously fermented like other Cantillon lambics, it differs in that it contains only pale malts and a portion of fresh hops (versus wheat and dried hops). It is tart but complex. Substitute this for sparkling wine and your guests will be glad you did.

De Struise Pannepot
A vintage-released Belgian Quadruple Ale that is sent forth into the world at least two years after it was brewed. The combination of flavors is compelling and rich while the carbonation keeps the heft of the beer from crushing the palate-which makes for a surprisingly easy drinking 10% ABV. An oak-aged 2008 batch is soon to be released.

Dieu du Ciel Route des Epices
This Montreal brewery is single-handedly raising the craft-brewing profile of Canada. This selection may not be their best known but it is probably their most intriguing, with its use of peppercorn. The flavoring is unmistakable, and pairs incredibly well with smoked meats.

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA
What can we say? If the West Coast Style IPA (arguably) became the USA's contribution to the beer world and is itself an exaggerated version of the English IPA, what is the next level? How about a version boasting 18% alcohol and 120 International Bitterness Units? (Note to non-beer nerds: That's crazy bitter.) Be careful with that 12-oz. bottle.

Jolly Pumpkin La Roja
Visitors to this Dexter, Michigan, brewery could be forgiven for mistaking it for a winery. Ron Jeffries barrel-ages every release. Most batches are then blended to provide consistency, but all have wonderful tart elements that the used barrels help to impart. La Roja is a delicious sour brown ale in a line-up of excellent brews.

Marin Brewing Company IPA
In our minds, this is the quintessential interpretation of the West Coast Style IPA. The aroma, color, malt balance, and bittering are perfect and eminently drinkable. There isn't an element that overshadows another, and it's an excellent baseline by which to enjoy other IPAs.

Orval
Only one beer is made at this Trappist brewery, but that is more than enough. Orval is a worldwide classic Belgian Ale. Proprietary yeasts imparted during secondary fermentation give Orval its subtle and distinctive sourness.

Port Brewing Shark Attack Red
What started as (and still is) a small pizza chain is now a full-fledged and high-quality craft brewery. Port Brewing is also responsible for the Lost Abbey line; Shark Attack Red is their Imperial Red Ale. It's wonderfully rich and balanced by intense hopping.

Russian River Pliny the Elder
Perhaps the most well known and sought out double IPA on the planet. The reputation is well earned, as the brewers have found the magic spot between huge flavors and drinkability. This is a hop head's dream.

Saison Dupont
The style has been making a welcome comeback, and this one is probably the best known progenitor. Saisons are traditionally delicate but flavorful, complex but not overt. They are excellent beers for food pairing, and Saison Dupont is the perfect match for a huge range of flavors.

Schneider Aventinus
Consistently recognized as one of the top beers in the world, Aventinus is a wheat doppelbock with flavors of bread, caramel, and fruit, and a slightly bitter finish. And the carbonation level makes it a very drinkable 8%. A classic.

Westvleteren Abt 12
This Trappist beer is available only at the source and there are strict limits as to how much one can purchase. The monks only make enough to run the monastery. Its difficulty to obtain aside (but not discounted), "Westy" 12 is widely considered one of the best in the world, and is often aged for several years.

Harviestoun Old Engine Oil
Yep, it's the color of old engine oil. (Is there not a manlier name for a beer?) And, while we haven't actually tasted old engine oil, we're going to say that it tastes nothing like it. A perfect balance of roasted coffee flavor and chocolate, with a slightly bitter finish. For a heavy beer it's surprisingly drinkable.

Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout
This medium- to full-bodied brew first hits you with a huge toasty espresso taste and then with a bitter, hoppy finish. The Colorado-based Great Divide recommends drinking it for breakfast, but with a cloying high 9.5% ABV you'll need to take a nap for lunch.

Double Mountain Black Irish Stout
Why do we import Guinness when we have this right here? Brewed in Oregon, this has that creaminess you love in Guinness, but with real flavor-pleasantly roasty, with a hint of dark-chocolate bitterness.

Samuel Adams Utopias
It's hard to call this a beer because it has no carbonation, has the consistency of brandy, is best sipped from a nosing glass, and, oh yeah, it costs $150 for a 24-oz. bottle. But it's worth a taste if you come across it at a bar: complexly sweet, like a port.

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier
We can't pronounce it either, but don't let that keep you from drinking it. Simply ask for it at your finer beer store or bar as "that German Smoke Beer," and they'll most likely bring you this: a beer made with malt toasted over an open fire that gives it a pleasantly smoky flavor-like liquid BBQ.

Russian River Valley Brewing Co. Beatification
Perhaps the wildest American Wild Ale out there. Mouth-puckeringly sour, funky like a barnyard, with a little bit of oak (it's aged in barrels). Beatification is a super-intense beer that you will either hate or become addicted to.

Monk's Café Flemish Sour Ale
This is like drinking a Sour Patch Kid. Light, with a pleasant, palate-cleansing sourness, it's the perfect partner to a pile of Belgian frites and mussels. Or anything you want to eat a whole bucket of.

[Dartgod]

Just got home from Martin City Brewing Company, where we met friends for dinner. It seems that they have all local micro brews on special for 3 dollars a draw on Saturdays. Boulevard, Free State, Tallgrass included.

And get this, they include all of their Smoke Stack series from Boulevard. That's right, Tank 7 for $3 a draw.

[Shag]

Originally Posted by Mr. Kotter

If you have NOT tried this....well, you suck. Just sayin'....

I had that on nitro yesterday. Quite tasty...

[Bearcat]

Someone gave me a bunch of random beer, and this has easily been my favorite so far... great caramel malt flavor...

[Mr. Kotter]

Originally Posted by Dartgod

Just got home from Martin City Brewing Company, where we met friends for dinner. It seems that they have all local micro brews on special for 3 dollars a draw on Saturdays. Boulevard, Free State, Tallgrass included.

And get this, they include all of their Smoke Stack series from Boulevard. That's right, Tank 7 for $3 a draw.

Martin City Brewing Company...top of my NEXT visit to K.C., suddenly. Heh.

[KCUnited]

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Dartgod

Just got home from Martin City Brewing Company, where we met friends for dinner. It seems that they have all local micro brews on special for 3 dollars a draw on Saturdays. Boulevard, Free State, Tallgrass included.

And get this, they include all of their Smoke Stack series from Boulevard. That's right, Tank 7 for $3 a draw.

Because of the alcohol content, Tank 7 is never ever on special. You lucky bastard....

[mdchiefsfan]

About to try to knock this list off (Please give your thoughts on these if you've tried them [Expand, if you feel so inclined]):

Top Ten IPA's found in USA:

Russian River Pliny the Elder, 8% ABV

Three Floyds Dreadnaught IPA, 9.5% ABV

Ballast Point Sculpin IPA, 7% ABV

Cigar City Jai Alai IPA, 7.5% ABV

Green Flash West Coast IPA, 7% ABV

Bell’s The Oracle, 10.4% ABV

Port Brewing Wipeout IPA, 7% ABV

Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA, 9% ABV

Alpine Nelson, 7% ABV

Bear Republic Racer 5, 7.5% ABV

I am currently hooked on Sierra Nevada Torpedo and Dogfish Head 90 min Imperial IPA.

[Reaper16]

Originally Posted by mdchiefsfan

About to try to knock this list off (Please give your thoughts on these if you've tried them [Expand, if you feel so inclined]):

Top Ten IPA's found in USA:

Russian River Pliny the Elder, 8% ABV

Three Floyds Dreadnaught IPA, 9.5% ABV

Ballast Point Sculpin IPA, 7% ABV

Cigar City Jai Alai IPA, 7.5% ABV

Green Flash West Coast IPA, 7% ABV

Bell’s The Oracle, 10.4% ABV

Port Brewing Wipeout IPA, 7% ABV

Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA, 9% ABV

Alpine Nelson, 7% ABV

Bear Republic Racer 5, 7.5% ABV

I am currently hooked on Sierra Nevada Torpedo and Dogfish Head 90 min Imperial IPA.

That's weird that they put IPAs and Double/Imperial IPAs on the same list. I've had all of those but Bell's Oracle. I'd rank them like this:

IPAs:
1.) Sculpin
2.) Nelson
3.) West Coast IPA
4.) Wipeout IPA
5.) Jai Alai
6.) Racer 5

Double/Imperial IPAs:
1.) Pliny the Elder
2.) Dreadnaught
3.) Double Simcoe

[mdchiefsfan]

Originally Posted by Reaper16

That's weird that they put IPAs and Double/Imperial IPAs on the same list. I've had all of those but Bell's Oracle. I'd rank them like this:

IPAs:
1.) Sculpin
2.) Nelson
3.) West Coast IPA
4.) Wipeout IPA
5.) Jai Alai
6.) Racer 5

Double/Imperial IPAs:
1.) Pliny the Elder
2.) Dreadnaught
3.) Double Simcoe

Thanks, just getting into IPAs. At risk of sounding dumb, what is the difference between and IPA and Imperial/ Double?

[Reaper16]

Originally Posted by mdchiefsfan

Thanks, just getting into IPAs. At risk of sounding dumb, what is the difference between and IPA and Imperial/ Double?

Imperial/Double IPAs are hopped to an extreme amount. The amount of hops used are significantly higher than even in an IPA (which is already, as you know, a hop-forward beer style). Oftentimes this also means that the beer has a greatly increased malt bill to balance all the extra hops, which means more alcohol. Basically, 7% ABV is the tops for IPAs. Typically.

What's remarkable about Pliny the Elder is that it is hopped like a Double IPA, but doesn't bombard the beer with a bunch of caramel malts to balance it. It achieves tremendous hop flavor without much malt flavor. Compare that to Three Floyds Dreadnaught, though, and the experience is much different. Dreadnaught is incredibly hoppy, but it's also boozy and sweet.

Shitty double IPAs, usually from the East Coast or Midwest, will use too much malt, so the beer loses that juicy hop character.

[mdchiefsfan]

Originally Posted by Reaper16

Imperial/Double IPAs are hopped to an extreme amount. The amount of hops used are significantly higher than even in an IPA (which is already, as you know, a hop-forward beer style). Oftentimes this also means that the beer has a greatly increased malt bill to balance all the extra hops, which means more alcohol. Basically, 7% ABV is the tops for IPAs. Typically.

What's remarkable about Pliny the Elder is that it is hopped like a Double IPA, but doesn't bombard the beer with a bunch of caramel malts to balance it. It achieves tremendous hop flavor without much malt flavor. Compare that to Three Floyds Dreadnaught, though, and the experience is much different. Dreadnaught is incredibly hoppy, but it's also boozy and sweet.

Shitty double IPAs, usually from the East Coast or Midwest, will use too much malt, so the beer loses that juicy hop character.

Sounds good. I think I am going to go with Pliny the Elder and Ballast Point Sculpin to start and see which style I prefer more IPA or Double. Thanks, rep.

[Reaper16]

Originally Posted by mdchiefsfan

Sounds good. I think I am going to go with Pliny the Elder and Ballast Point Sculpin to start and see which style I prefer more IPA or Double. Thanks, rep.

Another thing: freshness is paramount with these styles of beer, as hop flavor dies off very quickly. Check the bottling dates. Pliny the Elder is a beer that literally gets less good by the week. Ideally you'd drink a double IPA within a month of bottling. You can get a bit more mileage about of regular IPAs.

[mdchiefsfan]

Originally Posted by Reaper16

Another thing: freshness is paramount with these styles of beer, as hop flavor dies off very quickly. Check the bottling dates. Pliny the Elder is a beer that literally gets less good by the week. Ideally you'd drink a double IPA within a month of bottling. You can get a bit more mileage about of regular IPAs.

Now I just need to find a liquor store in MD that sells it. It looks like the nearest distributor is located in PA, all the rest are on the West Coast. With the comment quoted above, I worry if it will be available here. I just need to find a liquor store that has an extended selection, but that's like finding a needle in a haystack.

[Reaper16]

Originally Posted by mdchiefsfan

Now I just need to find a liquor store in MD that sells it. It looks like the nearest distributor is located in PA, all the rest are on the West Coast. With the comment quoted above, I worry if it will be available here. I just need to find a liquor store that has an extended selection, but that's like finding a needle in a haystack.

Yeah... most of the beers on that list aren't distributed to Maryland. You're gonna' have to trade for beers like Pliny, Sculpin, Dreadnaught, Nelson. The forums on BeerAdvocate.com and RateBeer.com are good for setting up beer trades.

Alternatively, you can try to find a beer tasting/homebrew club in your local community. People that are into beer trading often find others like them and set up big tasting events.

[Raiderhater]

Originally Posted by Dartgod

Just got home from Martin City Brewing Company, where we met friends for dinner. It seems that they have all local micro brews on special for 3 dollars a draw on Saturdays. Boulevard, Free State, Tallgrass included.

And get this, they include all of their Smoke Stack series from Boulevard. That's right, Tank 7 for $3 a draw.

Those bastards. They had to have stolen that from us (though we do Thursday nights). Our owner goes over there all the time. What size on the Tank? Ours is a pint size draw.

I actually almost went over there for a bite and a brew when I got off work last night.