Previous top 250 beers

Seeing that page from 2003 makes me miss the 'mug club' karma system.

Also funny that Pliny the Elder had 5 total reviews.

 

December 2001
October 2002
October 2003
August 2004
August 2005
February 2007
August 2010

 

Oh man, I forgot all about the letter grades. I miss those!

Dope

 

That's still a damn fine list.

 

It was pretty sweet when at least 50% of the top 100 were easily attainable. BAs seem to have picked up a taste for rarity and hype.

I hope it swings back.

 

Many of them weren't as attainable when they were in the top 100 then when they became more widely available they dropped out.

 

there goes my input. there's more than a few factors that blend in to how beers rise and fall on the BA rankings...one of the big ones is of course scarcity. say what you will, but if HT was at every gas station across America it wouldn't be ranked #1 (though i'd be living in nirvana). look at how fast Westy dropped once it hit the US distro last year. i remember seeing ratings where the preface was "i'm not really into quads but i had to try the #1 beer in the world..."

 

It is funny when I still see letter grades in bottle shops.

 

This is fantastic, definitely enjoyable to see how things have changed for better or worse. The vintage lists are awesome to look back on for sure. Thanks for the post!

 

That 2010 list brings me back. Good list.

 

Me too. That list was when I put my hunting gear on.

 

No, they weren't. Both floated near the top in the past decade, much of it due to rarity, not taste.

 

Note in the right-hand column how Speedway is about to burst onto the scene as the new number 1...

 

You might have 7 years ago when it was one of the biggest, baddest stouts out there. It's like comparing LeBron James to Dr J. Three Floyds makes better stouts than Dark Lord now.

 

I remember Stone RIS number 1 for a while

 

The first time I loaded that list (2004-2005ish?), Celebrator Doppelbock was #1. And deservingly so.

Edit: Just looked at the screen captures, guess it was early 2000's.

 

I had no idea Storm King was such a big deal early on! I've never tried it, but have one waiting in my fridge as we speak. Its not even in the top 250 today.

 

That's definitely a fair point. I do remember a time when I had tried probably 40 of the top 100 when I lived in AZ. This was probably 2007 or 2008.

 

I'll just assume it's gotten worse since it was first introduced. Big/bad notwithstanding, the bottle I had (2010 or 2011) was a foul, nearly undrinkable mess of a beer. There aren't too many beers on the top 250 that I can't understand why they're rated so highly, even if I personally don't like them very much. But Dark Lord is definitely one of them.

 

Before that, it was Victory Hop Devil.