Most Important American Craft Beers Ever Brewed

That beer was Garrett Oliver's audition to become the head brewer for Brooklyn. He got the gig . But more than that, it was a transformative relationship for both brewer and brewery; prior to Garrett, Brooklyn was all about their pre-pro Lager, contract brewed at Matt, and he expanded their scope and footprint dramatically.

 

They changed the recipe 4 or 5my ears ago. In my opinion not for the better. Went from one of my favorites to unimpressive. I saw some fresh this summer so I picked up a six pack for the first time in years. I drank 2 and dumped the other 4 in some ones cooler at softball.

 

These lists are fun to look at. We will all find fault with some of the chosen ones, so what. The 3 breweries that stand out in my mind are, and not in order necessarily are Sam Adams, Anchor and Sierra Nevada. There have been many advances in craft beer since these folks got in the business and that's OK. Just enjoy what is coming next.

 

I didn't know that was his audition beer. It's odd that 2 flavored Imperial Stouts,Dark Lord and BCBS made the list but no unflavored one did. I don't know who brewed the first "plain jane" craft Imperial Stout but think it should be on the list.

 

Very nice list.

Cheers!

 

Part of what got Oliver the job was that there is no chocolate added into the beer, just malt, hops, yeast and water.

 

Agreed!

 

True, but was that enough to say there was an effect on American Craft beer and brewing?

 

I get your reasoning and logic. Putting aside my personal preference for "plain" stouts, if only three porters could be on the list, I'd go with Anchor, a bourbon barrel one, and one with other stuff in it... just like how they did it.

 

The first was previously mentioned in this thread (by me )- Grant's in the 80s.

 

I'm just offering up why it would be worthy of consideration, and haven't decided myself one way or the other.

 

I'd be very surprised/shocked if none of that panel actually nominated it. So I suspect the concensus wasn't there.

 

Yeah, but they not only included Alagash White (seriously?) but placed it higher than Celis, which was actually significant and a much better beer.

 

I dunno, I actually feel kind of dumb for arguing for the inclusion of a brewery on a most important beers list.

You know what? Let's just put Hill Farmstead Citra Single Hop Pale Ale on the list. It's a fantastic beer, as much a prototype for modern American hoppy beers as anything, I don't know of anyone who was doing it before them, and it had a tremendous impact on me personally when I first had it, which is what really counts here, right?

Come to think of it, Jolly Pumpkin should probably be on here as well, for being waaaaaay out in front of a huge wave of American mixed ferm, wood aged, farmhouse-y beers. Oro De Calabaza, maybe.

 

I think it's more than that, myself, but just wanted to point out that getting dark chocolate and/or coffee flavors in a beer using just those ingredients isn't really that tough, and it makes for a much better beer when you do.

 

There's no arguing the importance of Pierre Celis (people should be talking about him more), but without diminishing his work, I like the inclusion of Allagash White on the list.

Allagash stands on the achievement of White. I'll try to make a case for it, but I'm also gonna make up some stuff that people should correct (). Maybe I'm crazy, or maybe it's fair to claim that in some ways Allagash White is the closest we have to a SNPA-equivalent in a Belgian style. At number 1 on their list, SNPA wasn't the first hoppy US pale ale either. Is Allagash the largest US brewery with a Belgian style beer as their genuine flagship? (I'm considering those under Duvel as separate US breweries here.) White is over half of Allagash's production and they are a "top 50 craft brewery" by volume. In a land that embraces the newest and latest (and mainly follows an English/American or German/Czech template), it's an ubiquitous holdout and it's been around for over two decades. It impresses folks who just want an enjoyable beer with their meal, and the finicky beer enthusiast/judge/writer/brewer as well. It's the most reviewed "craft" witbier here and still manages to be the highest rated American witbier here. It's hard to think of many (or any?) Belgian-style American beers that have had that level of critical, commercial, and cultural success.

 

It's not exactly an apples to apples comparison, but I would have liked to have seen Flower Power taken off the list and maybe something like Sculpin (or Malsama Mama for the first "#1" IPA I can ever remember, that was also difficult to obtain).

But Sculpin was one of the first "it" IPAs that I remember, and also one of the first to suffer from falling off a cliff after a short period of time.

Maybe Old Rasputin or Stone's Russian Imperial Stout?

I've never had Celis, now I'm intrigued.

Because I consider Allagash White a benchmark Witbier. The only one that I like as much (maybe better, but they both offer different things to my palate) is St. Bernardus's Wit.

Hill Farmstead is a tough one. I can't think of any single beer they brew that truly had an impact.

 

Chris, FWIW I personally agree with your characterization here: Allagash and Belgian beer as their flagship.

Some folks might be interested in knowing that New Belgium Fat Tire beer was allegedly inspired by the Belgian beer of Palm: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/889/2823/?ba=GeoffFromSJ

A BA posted within his review of Palm:

“This is a really nice session beer. As I was told on New Belgium's tour, this beer was the inspiration for Fat Tire. And like Fat Tire, people need to appreciate this beer for what it is trying to be.”

I have had Palm once (a draft pint) and I do recall thinking that the beer did not taste too ‘Belgiany’ for me.

I have never had Palm and Fat Tire side-by-side so I am uncertain how similar they are i their flavor profile.

Cheers!

 

SN Pale Ale should 1 and Pliny should be 2 hahaha just my opinion Cheers