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.

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Don't think I've had Wiley Roots... I'd kind of love to move to Colorado though.

They're down the street from Weldwerks in Greeley CO, likely using the same distribution partner.

Really good beers if you see them around. Cool spot in Greeley too if you're ever there for a visit.

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Craft Beer Quick Stop on the north side of town.

Are you both planning on going to the Cards/Chiefs? I'm still monitoring ticket prices... not a fan of paying $200+/ticket for a non-playoff game (and one so early in the season), but would like to see the place.

We're 98% committed to going so I'm in the same boat of monitoring for tickets.

Kind of wondering what the gameday experience is like at...State Farm Stadium...wow that doesn't feel right saying. Like do people gather there prior to the game or just drive in and drive out?

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Craft Beer Quick Stop on the north side of town.

Are you both planning on going to the Cards/Chiefs? I'm still monitoring ticket prices... not a fan of paying $200+/ticket for a non-playoff game (and one so early in the season), but would like to see the place.

Ok that's great info. Our good friends live close to there so looks like I've got a beer stop place there now!

Yes still looking at going but paying $200 for upper deck seats feels weird to me too. But Chiefs haven't played here in many years (I went to that) so I should just go to this one too.

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

We're 98% committed to going so I'm in the same boat of monitoring for tickets.

Kind of wondering what the gameday experience is like at...State Farm Stadium...wow that doesn't feel right saying. Like do people gather there prior to the game or just drive in and drive out?

There's tailgating but in September it's usually still pretty toasty so plan accordingly.

Seats are all pretty good so it's a nice place to see a game. Wish it was later in the year so the roof could be open as that makes for a better experience.

[Bearcat]

Yeah, the initial false rumor was early November and it would have been perfect.

Hotels were ~$250-300/night a few months ago and that hasn't changed, and Airbnb isn't any better. I saw some upper level tickets for ~$160 (before the TM rape), which sadly looks like an okay deal at the moment.

I know I should just not look at the final prices and yolo... and we could all meet for ax throwing and drinks at State 48 on Saturday night (that order would be safer, but perhaps less fun).

[HonestChieffan]

So its fall....octoberfest beer time

My fav is KCBeir Fest. Scored 4 cases today before it sells out early like last year. Second is Bobs 47, will get 4 cases this week.

Any great ones I need to try? Tried the Martin City attempt last week and was not impressed, more like disappointed.

Sam Adams octoberfest is a good one as well

[Bearcat]

https://thewhiskeywash.com/lifestyle...tout-variants/

Goose Island Bourbon County Stout (14.4% ABV): Every year since its inception in 1992, Goose Island looks to honor the original Bourbon County Stout recipe. This year’s Imperial Stout is aged and blended from freshly emptied bourbon barrels from Heaven Hill, Four Roses, Wild Turkey, and Buffalo Trace distilleries. Expect flavors of vanilla, dark chocolate, toffee, molasses, almond, and dried fruit.

Goose Island Bourbon County Two-Year Barleywine Reserve (17% ABV): This reserve sees three sets of Old Fitzgerald barrels of varying ages from the distillery’s Old Fitzgerald’s Bottled-In-Bond Decanter Series. This Reserve highlights the distinct characteristics of the Barleywine aged in 14-year, 16-year and 17-year-old barrels of the whiskey. Bringing back the classic English-style Barleywine for the first time since 2018, the Two-Year Barleywine Reserve evokes the intricacies from Old Fitzgerald’s Bottled-In-Bond Series for a smooth taste of rich malt, entwined with notes of toffee, cherry, vanilla, fig, and almond.

Goose Island Bourbon County 30th Anniversary Reserve Stout (14.4% ABV): The special 30th Anniversary Stout pays homage to the union between Gregory Hall and Booker Noe that then led to subsequent years, variants, and traditions … from Black Friday lines to bottle shares and more. Going back to the inception of Bourbon County Stout, the 30th Anniversary Stout is aged from a blend of Jim Beam barrels from their Small Batch Bourbon Collection barrels including Basil Hayden, Booker’s, Baker’s and Knob Creek. Each of the bourbon barrels offer characteristics unique to each bourbon’s distinct nuances. They are then blended together for a complex and balanced expression that celebrates the heritage and legacy of both brands. And, as history would have it, Jim Beam launched their first-ever Small Batch Bourbon Collection 30 years ago. Expect notes of dark chocolate, vanilla, cherry, and almond.

Goose Island Bourbon County Biscotti Stout (TBD% ABV): The Biscotti Stout came from the brand’s HR team. Inspired by the Italian desserts of her childhood, Jill Cerone, people manager at Goose Island, dreamed up this variant after grabbing a box of chocolate-dipped biscotti from her cabinet. Working with the brewing team, Jill brought the flavor to life with notes of anise, marzipan, cocoa, and buttered toffee. The biscotti enhances flavors already found in the Bourbon County Stout and adds notes of pizzelle cookies, Easter Pane di Pasqua and, of course, almond biscotti.
Goose Island Bourbon County Coffee Stout (TBD% ABV): For the first time since 2017, a coffee variant is on the menu, this year in partnership with Goose Island neighbors Intelligentsia Coffee. Intelligentsia relies on Burundi coffee to complement the quality and tasting notes of Bourbon County Stout. The specific coffee blend combined with the Imperial Stout is called Turihamwe, which means “together,” and is a tribute to all the hands that go into making it … from the female coffee farmers in Burundi that produced the blend, to those at Intelligentsia, the first brand they worked with on a variant back in 2010. The result is a coffee variant featuring rich chocolate, coffee, and caramel flavors.

Goose Island Bourbon County Sir Isaac’s Stout (TBD% ABV): For years, brewers at Goose Island have brainstormed ways to incorporate figs in Bourbon County Stout, but faced a daunting task due to their subtle flavor. Members of the Goose Island E-commerce team, Melissa Alleguez and Ryan Hubona, came up with a recipe inspired by Melissa’s childhood memories of stealing fig cookies out of her grandma’s cookie jar during her summers on Lake Michigan. And thus, the fig cookie and graham cracker-inspired Sir Isaac’s Stout was created. Highlighting the dried fried profiles extracted from the bourbon in the barrels, brewers used Black Mission figs (10,000 pounds of them, to be specific) to create this variant resulting in characteristics of dried fruit, honey, molasses, and citrus, all reminiscent of the classic fig cookie sold on shelves today.

Goose Island Bourbon County Proprietor’s Stout (TBD% ABV): This stout is inspired by a love for cocktails and the vibrant hospitality industry in Chicago. This recipe was dreamed up after two Goose Island brewers, Jason Krasowski and Paul Cade, spent a night out on the town trying some of the best cocktails the city has to offer. The result is a brewer’s take on a jungle bird cocktail that combines banana, coconut, lime, and a new ingredient for the Bourbon County Stout family – pineapple. The flavors are innovative and fresh, but also share common expressions found in both bourbon and the Original Bourbon County Stout.

[SithCeNtZ]

Prop is an affront to humanity in general. I don't see a scenario where that is good. Barleywine is probably amazing. Coffee/biscotti/Isaac sound fine. 30 year is kind of bizarre with beam not exactly presenting as the highest class bourbon. You would have thought they would shoot for a big name barrel for that but I guess not.

[KCUnited]

Yeah Goose should probably drop all new flavored variants and just stick to the reserves or specialty barrels where they actually still have dominance over other barrel programs due their network and available resources.

There’s too many other less than barrel programs out there leveraging flavors in lieu of skill or barrel quality that are doing them much better.

[KCUnited]

Speaking of using premium barrels then flavoring with a bunch of stuff, this BL Motions of the Moon is pretty tasty. Nutella inspired, aged in ORVW barrels.

I also enjoy how BL provides suggested food pairing on their labels. This one has hazelnut cocoa grilled cheese as a suggestion. Hadn't heard of it before so Googled and found this

Imagine drinking this stout while eating that sandwich.

[Bearcat]

I've always really loved BCS Coffee... hopefully it's not impossible to find outside of Chicago.

And yeah, BL has some very interesting food pairing suggestions... I'd bet on average I'd have to Google 1/3 per bottle.

[lewdog]

Finally met up with the elusive Bearcat (Yes that's his real name!). Very nice lunch and he had me try a smoothie beer which was just insane. I think I found some beers worth hunting for on that Drekker line!

My parents are normally terrible gift givers. However, they did get me some nice glasses for my birthday. The cocktail glasses are very nice and probably too classy for me. These beer glasses are cool, but super thin, which surprised me. The description says they are real crystal, which means thinner glass than pub glasses. I feel like I could crush them in my hands, lol. They do have good reviews though and should make beer drinking that much more enjoyable.




https://www.amazon.com/Spiegelau-Eur...10&sr=8-1&th=1

[lewdog]

My friend is my Montana mule every summer and got me my beers last night when he arrived home. I think the only one you can get here is Summer Honey.

[Bearcat]

The glasses are a great gift!

And yeah, don't think I've ever heard of those.... 'Dump Truck' as a beer is interesting, heh.

[KCUnited]

My brother sent me a Dragons Breath once. Probably the only dark hefenweizen I’ve ever tried.