Top NE beers of 2017

I figured I should pick ones I had for the first time this year, in no particular order:

Ephraim - Hill Farmstead
TrillBOMB! - Trillium
Eraserhead - Foam
Luscious - The Alchemist
Nothing Gold - Bissell Brothers

Honorable mentions: Pavement from Foam, The Streets from Trillium, "The Doubles" from Hill Farmstead, The Charlton version of Sap from Tree House

 

Allagash - Coolship Red
Cantilon - Classic Gueuze
Other Half - Mylar Bags

 

And everything I tried at Austin Street

 

- DDH Mylar Bags - Other Half
- The Other One - Tilted Barn
- Hold On To Sunshine - Tree House
- Libby w/ Nelson Sauvin - Tilted Barn
- Double Shot Costa Rica Santa Rosa - Tree House
- Post Ride Snack - MBC

All crack

 

Top of 2017:
Green - Tree House (my #1 of all)
Affogato - Trillium
Very Green - Tree House

Top new to me in 2017:
The Chosen One - Tilted Barn
Pompadour - Resiliance Brewing (Schilling)
Reciprocal - Bissel Bros

 

Exhibit A - goody two shoes & Sunday paper
Trillium - pompom & Farnsworth
Castle island - high def
Notch - zwickel
Foam - two states Halo bender

 

Proclamation derivative galaxy
Tilted barn the other one
Proclamation PP8 (hopefully it comes back as a regular)
Love the Rhode island breweries but ill add the best new brewery for me this year is fox farm in Salem Ct

 

HotS & Aaron are my favorites. Affogato, Coolship Red, and BA GoM were pretty damn good as well.

As far as IPAs go ... meh ... It's all the same.

 

Top new for me:

1. Tree House - Hold On To Sunshine
2. Hudson Valley - Multichorus
3. Tilted Barn - The Other One
4. Allagash - Coolship Red
5. Trillium - El Dorado Cutting Tiles

Was never able to make a trip up to HF, but if I did, I suspect at least one from them would've crept into that list.

 

My favorite first tastes this year:

Bissell Brothers - Here's to Feeling Good all the Time
Proclamation - Nomenclature
Long Live Beerworks - DDH Bandwagonesque
Idle Hands - Four Seam
Barreled Souls - Hillrock BBA Deep Space

Honorable Mentions:
Castle Island Hi Def - an "everyday" DIPA if you know what I mean. Can't pound those DDH's all the time!
Sub 4% sessions Rally by Austin St and Sprout by Proclamation.

 

New to me (going through the Uniques):
A lot of Jack's German lagers like PSP, Marzen Keller, Franconian...etc
Idle Hands 34
Idle Hands Six Seam
Idle Hands Kill Your Idles: Tropical
Brewery Silvaticus Baron Von Smoke
CBC Cor Cordium
CBC All Helles Breaks Loose
CBC Jedi Mind Trick
Honest Weight National Salary Cap
Honest Weight Overly Dedicated
Honest Weight Untitled Unmastered
Tree House Doppelganger (non-Toothpaste edition)
The Alchemist Skadoosh #5 (Citra)
Oxbow Schweinshaxe
Exhibit A The Cat's Meow
Exhibit A Hair Raiser

 

TH Doppelganger is my #1 of 2017
LL Bunnies
LL Birds of a Feather
LL Rabbit Rabbit
(Lamplighter has been awesome this year!)
Trill DDH Farnsworth

 

Let's see, in terms of which new beers have found their way to my fridge most often:

Fort Hill: Jiggsaw Jazz
Jack's Abby: Post Shift
Castle Island: High Def
Notch: Zwickelbier (this is pretty new, but I'll be buying it as long as they keep making it)

In terms of a new beer that I remember just absolutely loving:

Treehouse: Bright w/ Citra

 

Best new beers this year for me:

JA Post Shift
The Tap Invisible Creatures
Great North Tie-Dyed

 

In no particular order (new to me this year)

Trillium Affogato
Lamplighter Major Tom
Night Shift Fluffy
Tree House HOTS

 

I loved Fluffy the first or second go around, but the latest batch from October had an off-putting buttery taste.

 

Huh. Gotta think of what stands out.

Lost Nation/Bunker Smoked Helles. Finally an American smoke that holds up to the beauty of Schlenkerla.

Foam Stranger Things. Exactly what I'd hoped it would be, and it updated my flavor memory of smoke and apple to the quality level of presently exciting beer.

Great Rhythm Resonation. A pitch perfect classic pale ale that I could drink by the case.

A very old growler of Hill Farmstead (Beyond Good and Evil maybe?) that was absolute perfection and proof you can age some growlers without fear.

Upper Pass Hip 2 The Hop. Best 12 oz bottle IPA I've ever had.

 

Focusing on new beers I tried this year, so no HF Double Galaxy or Skimpy Sparrow. Also, gonna be a lot of recency bias here. Trying to keep it 5 beers:

Mystic Table Beer
Fort Hill Fresh Pick
TH Double Shot - Kenya Karimikui
Lamplighter Lucid Nonsense
Foundation Epiphany
Foley Brothers Prospect

That's six. Oh well.

Honorable mentions:
TH Super Sap (2016 canning, but it peaked ~4-5 weeks out in 2017 imo)
Berkley Padelford Pale Ale (only had one pour, Berkley embracing the new age finally)
HF Harlan (only one pour at Armsby)
HF Double Nelson (ditto)

 

River roost-Mo’rilla
Lamplighter-birds of a feather
Hill farmstead-M&C 10

Not in particular order

 

Beers from this year that stand out in my mind:

1. Hill Farmstead - Arthur Puncheon
2. Hill Farmstead - E.
3. Hill Farmstead - Birth of Tragedy (Akmel Nuri)
4. The Alchemist - Broken Spoke
5. Jack’s Abby - Marzen Keller

Honorable mentions:

Jack’s Abby - Barrel Aged Coffee Framinghammer (2013) straight from the barrel at Springdale. That was something special.
Hill Farmstead - Barrel Aged Dorothy
Trillium - Big Bird
Trillium - DDH Stillings Street
Trillium - Affogato
Tree House - Sssappp
Tree House - Hold On To Sunshine
Jack’s Abby - Franconian Keller