Ten Beers Most Excellent.
1. Chimay Grande Reserve (Bleue): My favorite beer of all -- a Belgian abbey ale, brown, thick, creamy, with a bitter yeast and a good mouth of hops, but supremely well balanced with malts. -- I like at room temperature. 9% abv
2. Gulden Draak: a lovely, lovely spiced triple ale, rich amber or copper, very rich, full malts, very light hoppiness. The edge is more spice than yeast, and the beer is full of caramel and is sweet like honey. -- I like cold. 10.5% abv
3. Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout: opaqe, black, full, but not bitter. Deep roasted malts are more coffee than chocolate. Excellent rich beer that even a beginner can enjoy. -- Cold or room temperature. 9% abv
4. Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout: a great example of a stout that could be an Irish stout if it had come from the green Isle. Rich, fruity, hoppy, complex, with a lot of burnt malt flavor. The beer has a small head that is dense and sweet. -- I like this one room temperature. 10.6% abv.
5. Old Peculiar Theakston Ale: A rich, malty, sweet beer that is light on both yeast and hops, giving it a honey-like taste that is broadly masked by the powerful black chocolate of the malt. -- Room temperature. 5.6% abv.
6. Samuel Smith Brewery Taddy Porter: this really should be called a stout, since it can stand up to almost any stout out there. The malt is so dark and burnt that the coffee flavors ferment to a wickedly bitter finish that is only for the ambitious beer-lover. Only a touch of hops blend with the yeasty mouth. Not a complex beer, but certainly a rich one. -- Cooler temperatures help even out the dense coffee flavor. 5% abv.
7. Sam Adams Pale Ale: A light, golden, almost orange beer that is one of the tastiest hop-heavy beers I've ever had. It's fruit, citrus, and herbs all pop out of the creamy beer without souring the tongue, and the malt -- almost undetectable -- just barely smooths the edges. The perfect pale ale. -- Nice and cold. 5.25% abv.
8. Fat Tire: A Belgian-style amber ale that has a brilliant balance of malt and hops, with no sourness from the ale yeast. The mouth is dry and has flavors of toast and biscuit from the malt, with plenty of herbs from the hops. A great evening beer. -- slightly chilled. 5.2% abv.
9. Sam Adams Black Lager: another success from Sam Adams -- deep mahogany, with a rich and creamy flavor that lacks any serious bitterness, but is rich in dark fruits, roasted nuts, and fresh bread. Figs, toast, and spices are especially prominant. -- slightly chilled. 4.9% abv.
10. Rolling Rock: a delightful, inexpensive, and traditional pilsner-style pale lager, tasty enough for the veteran, mild enough for the newbie. Some drinkers say it tastes like nothing, but it does have a very mild but complex hoppy edge. The perfect "cool-down" beer -- easy to drink and fun. -- Ice cold. 4.6% abv.
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2 comments:
rolling rock made the list and guinness didn't. what's wrong with you? I think you're just making this stuff up.
Oh hush. I didn't say they were the top ten beers, or the best beers of all time. Guinness is a superb beer -- glorious. And it is a much finer beer than Rolling Rock.
I just wanted a list that represented the spectrum of what I like to drink, be it morning, noon, or night; be it winter, summer, spring, or fall; whether I want to spend $1.25 or $14. You Philistine.
Incidentally, I do make stuff up.
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