Flagship beers by style

AAL Budweiser
Light Beer Coors light
Dirt cheap beer PBR

 

I agree with so many of these!

 

Amber/red Ale: Cigar City Tocobaga Red

 

I don't understand

 

Liefman's Goudenband - Oud Bruin

 

He said flagship, not midwest hype train.

 

I might change one or two things, but this list is damn near spot-on IMHO

 

IPA- DFH 90 Minute
Porter-Anchor Porter (although Deschutes makes a very compelling argument for new standard)
California Steam- Anchor Steam
Witber-Hoegaarden
Pilsner-Pilsner Urquell
Doppleboch-Ayinger Celebrator
Belgian Dark- Roquefort 8

 

Thanks man. Just curious, what would you change?

 

And anyway, FIS is a better imp stout than FBS

 

Maybe for the non-American styles have an national flagship and an American flagship - like for doppelbock Celebrator and Troegenator or for tripel Westmalle or La Fin du Monde. Also, I think St. B. 12 deserves a spot on the quad list. Finally, being on the east coast my exposure to Left Hand is somewhat limited; Duck Rabbit Milk Stout has always been the vanguard of that style over here.

 

As long as we're getting nitpicky -

Celebrator is an outlier in the doppelbocks, flavor and aroma-wise. I'd go with something more in line with the bulk of them like Andechs, myself. Schneider is the same way in Weizenbocks, which I may as well throw in here too, so I'd suggest Ayinger for that one.

I'd also break the Marzens into at least two categories: Pale (modern) and Amber (traditional), using Hofbrau and Spaten, respectively.

Vienna is another can o'worms, but the ones you listed seem to be descended from the pre-prohibition 'Wiener' style of Vienna rather than the European version, so maybe make that distinction or call them American Vienna.

Great job, though, and thanks for taking the time to do it.

 

Great selections. I particularly enjoy that Roquefort on a nice bison burger .

( just pulling your leg...)

 

I really like DFH 90 minute, but I don't consider it to be a flagship for the style. It's a great beer, but to me, it's really too different from most American IPAs/DIPAs.

Two hearted or Jai-Alai is more of a classic/standard for an IPA.

 

Trying to stick to stuff that is widely distributed

IPA - Stone IPA
DIPAS - Stone Enjoy By
Black IPA - FW Wookey Jack
APA - SNPA
Amber/Red Ale - Lagunitas Imp Red
Belgian - Duvel
Stout – Founders BS (imperial); BCBS (BA); Left Hand (milk)
Wheat - Bells Oberon (pale wheat)
Fruits - DFH Punkin (Pumpkin)

 

Not likely that this will be a popular response but, I think BBA Imperial Biscotti Break is a better barrel aged stout than BCBS

 

If you do this right, it will end up as much as history lesson as a tasting exercise:

Certain ones are easy -
Westmalle was the first brewery to use the term "Tripel" in 1956, and until recently all the Tripels that followed were direct imitations of that one, so it's indisputably the paragon of the style (even if some people think Karmeliet is tastier.)

Others are far more complicated -
Pilsners need to break out into Czech (hoppier) and German (maltier) and within German, should break out into Northern and Bavarian.
Northern German Pilsners tend to be flinty and more hop forward - Jever is one of these.
Bavarian are softer and less bitter.
(Prima Pils is none of the above - awesome, but far too hoppy for anything German.)

It's a fun journey learning; good luck!

 

I nominate old chub for scotch ale.

 

I knew it'd probably be you that would correct me on German styles, and I totally appreciate that. I love lagers (probably more than most on the site), but I'm not as knowledgable about them as other, more American styles. Thanks a lot for your $0.02 and the compliment. Praise from you is high praise indeed.

 

While I don't agree, I also don't think BCBS is the best-in-style either. That said, whenever I have a BA stout, I compare it to BCBS due to it's stalwart quality, pioneering nature, and relative availability. I don't think it's really about "best" here, since a flagship beer for a brewery (think Spotted Cow from New Glarus or Fat Tire from New Belgium) is usually not the best beer but the one that is most identifiable and quintessential for the brewery. OP wants the same thing for style, and I don't think there is any argument to be made for anything but BCBS in the BA stout category.