I have about 30 or so beers that are perfect 5 scores (out of over 4500 beer reviews). They are my “Knights of the Round Table Beers”. I move beers in and out of the inner sanctum. Most recent was a promotion of CBS. I’ve had in rated around 4.8-4.9ish initially if I recall. I’ve had it so many times, aged at different timpeoints and it’s always one of the best. I gave it a “knighting” and bumped it up to a 5. I felt it was worthy. I’ve done many more demotions over the years than promotions. To me, there is no single best beer I’ve ever had. It’s a group of the best beers I’ve ever had, across many styles. If I could ever get to do a blind taste test of several of my Knighted beers of same style and 1 were to come out better than the other, then I would demote one downward a little in the ratings perhaps. It’s way too hard to acquire beers at this level to do a blind taste test however.
There’s not many to pick from, sadly. I haven’t had raincloud in ages but used to really love it. If they haven’t messed with the recipe, I’d pick that one. I’m sure titled barn puts out something solid though, just can’t think of one off the top of my head.
Beer Advocate says Titled Barn had a porter (Winter Sol) but thats all I saw listed amongst a sea of hop forward IPAs as you would expect. As you know Titled Barn beers are sold in liquor stores here but I dont expect to ever see that porter if its even still being made.
I see their coffee stout in liquor stores pretty regularly, so perhaps there could be space for the porter some day? I'll hold out hope.
Interesting premise, @Providence. Love it. I feel like I have mostly been drinking regular beers. Beers I have because I need a beer and to fit my mood (lately, IPA or lager). I would say for me, I don't know how many "best" beers I have. I mean, there are some - Notch Polotmavy for Polotmavy, Allagash for Witbier, Weihenstephaner for Hefe. There's also "in the mix for best" too but nothing in my head that would be the best. Like on its day, maybe it's the best but not distinguished enough to me to always be the best. It can be dissimilar beers in the same category too. Like Heady has always been my favorite IPA. But I had some of the Double Sunshine drop in distro earlier this year. OK, maybe I had a lot of that. Well, Double Sunshine definitely knocked Heady off the pedestal but neither is the best to me. They're in the mix for the best now. Interestingly enough for me, there are beers that can knock themselves off the list. Like you have to stay consistently good and one subpar experience isn't necessarily going to knock you off on its own, but if there are multiple bad experiences, you certainly can. An example of this would be Fort Point from Trillium, a beer I absolutely adored back in their hey day. I have no idea what to expect these days if I order a Fort Point. That's kind of the way I think about this.
Now lemme preface this by saying that I'm still new to the beer tasting game, and have only been a part of it for a few months now (and aside from still trying to get that "acquired taste" my taste buds are also naturally bitch-made regardless, so bear with me here) Anyways, for most of my journey, my favorite beer (or beers) were Stiegl Radlers, but I recently tried Lindeman's Framboise, and that's easily my new favorite. Sour, crisp, flavorful, and I love the taste of raspberries, so it takes the throne (That said though, I know that fruited Lambics are neither the most commonly found beers, nor are they the most socially acceptable for men in my age group, so I'm trying to bride the gap between fruit beers like my beloved Framboise, and more traditional lagers like Heineken, Modelo and Sapporo, so if anyone wants to recommend me some stuff, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Also I should mention that I do like Hefeweizens, especially when a slice of orange is added to them)
For me, the beer "dethroned" itself. Avery Tweak was my favorite beer of any style since Batch 1 came out and I enjoyed a bottle of it. In 2023, Avery put out its last batch of Tweak (to my knowledge). It was ok, but substandard compared with previous batches. The richness and heft were missing. Also gone was the solid, but never overwhelming barrel presence. I could not in good faith permit that beer to remain my all-time #1, so I re-scored it accordingly. It's stil respectably ranked by me. But, it is more appropriate now at about #50ish.
Your tasting experience so far is similar to mine when I started learning about beers. You said in a post in another thread that you don't like the bitterness from hops. IPAs were my least favorite style after I first tried a couple but are my second favorite style now. Porters were my first favorite style and remain near the top. That style is getting harder to find, and it tends to be seasonal during the cold season, so try looking for it.
Helles lagers ... when they're malt-heavy, they can have a wonderful light peachy/fruity flavor. They're far from as sweet as the fruited lambics, but they're equally as far from as bitter as the average IPA. Also if you can find any, English milds are a possible bridge for you. Hefes are great bridges, and you might try more of the wheat beer family, including the dunkelweizens and weizenbocks.
Double Stack. Had the OG version one time. Managed to get it again a year or two later and they updated it to contain "natural flavors". It was no where near the original. Sad day
I think I do have some porters on my ever-growing list of beer brands to try, so yeah, once winter rolls around, I'll probably start looking for those more specifically. Thanks lol
Thanks for those recommendations, I think I'll probably do a bit more research on those styles specifically and look for whatever I can find amongst them
You bet. There's loads of beer styles that feature malt over hops or sweetness over bitterness. My favorites are probably the Belgian quads/strong dark ales, and there are others like doppelbocks. Take your time and enjoy the journey.
I was grocery shopping a few days ago and I saw they had the 2025 version of Weihenstephaner Festbier on the shelves with a price tag of $15.99. I think I actually said the word "whoa!" out loud. I am a fan of these beers but... Time to bring out the hammer and open up the piggy bank!?! Cheers! P.S. Maybe time to set my timer for when @Bavarican posts he can buy the metric equivalent of this six-pack (72 ounces) for 5 bucks?!?!
Same price where I've seen it here in Houston. I would've splurged on a sixer last Friday, but I didn't feel confident reading the bottling code, so I passed and bought the Benediktiner 4-pack of tall boys instead.
Have you ever noticed as soon as you buy a different car you start to notice that model of car on the streets around you. Your taste buds look for what they know.
