Best Finds 2017

For me its Drekker Ectogasm, i find this IPA to be hazy juicy and highly drinkable, comes to the Twin cities about every 2 weeks, and usually buy some

 

^^^^ what that guy said..... also agreed on the schells cave aged

 

Here is a one off 4U. Was very impressed with this one so very good.
Prairie Bourbon Paradise

 

My favorite beer of 2017 has been Junkyard's Uncrushable. A delicious imperial stout at 12.3% abv & $10 for a 750ml crowler. Thick and chewy, loaded with roasty goodness.


Cheers!

 

Bourbon Paradise is one of the best beers I have had.

Earlier this year BA Bible Belt was outstanding as well.

Spirit Foul was great too.

 

My favorite new beers I had this year were:

Blood Orange Berliner Weiss - Birch's on the Lake
Blood Orange Alter Hops #4 IPA - LTD Brewing
(I am a fan of blood oranges)
Magnus BA Stout- Forager Brewing

 

Basically everything from Barrel Theory.

I live near Lupulin and they've always impressed me. Batch 100 was great and glad they canned it as Hooey. I knew it would be a hit. Some of the others such as Straight Hash Homey were mind blowing and I know they will continue to impress (and evolve).

 

Six Hour Tour is the most impressive MN beer I have had in 2017.

 

I absolutely loved Schell's Stag Series #11- Bananas Foster Weizenbock.

Keller Pils is another one. I missed the initial release in 2016.

 

Six Hour Tour is definitely in my Top 3, I was blown away how good that was. DDH Rain Drops, Espresso/Vanilla Bean Rum King, and Regal Hops were my other favorites.

Overall, I continue to be impressed with everything from Forager. I could fill half of my MN 2017 Top 10 list with their beers.

 

The following are my top ten Minnesotan beers that I first tried in 2017, based on my ratings at the other site. Most aren't distributed, and all to my knowledge debuted this year. I know this doesn't quite fit the model of the original post.

1. Sisyphus Big Wet Baby (Double IPA): Complex and flavorful. Compares favorably to Toppling Goliath Double IPAs.
   
2. Surly BOB (Strong Lager): A ton going on. Not for the weak of palate. The best new Surly beer of the post-Haug era and as good as almost anything from the Haug era.
   
3. Sisyphus Isaac The Saxman (IPA): A funky version of the great Faxman.
   
4. Wild Mind Raspberry Hibiscus (Fruited Sour/Wild Ale): Truly rises to the level of a New Glarus fruit beer and R&D Sour.
   
5. HammerHeart Bog Burial (Batch #200) (Smoked): The only beer I’ve encountered that successfully evokes an Islay Scotch. Best smoked beer I tried in 2017.
   
6. Sisyphus Hades - The River (Cinnamon) Styx (Imperial Stout): Best imperial stout I tried in 2017 and in the running for the best imperial stout with this sort of flavorings that I’ve ever had.
   
7. 12welve Eyes He Likes It Cold (Smoked Porter): The second best smoked beer I tried in 2017. Schlenkerla would be proud.
   
8. Sisyphus Semi-Imperial Peanut Butter Stout (Imperial Stout): The best of Minnesota’s many peanut butter stouts/porters.
9. Wild Mind Feelin Lucky (Sour Red/Brown): Delicious, barrel-fermented, dark sour.
10. Surly Hop Shifters 8, 9, 10, and 11 (IPAs): Complex and layered. Modern without following fads. I gave all four the same rating.

Honorable mentions (in alphabetical order): 12welve Eyes Dry-Hopped Citra Sour, 12welve Eyes Simcoe SMaSH IPA, Fair State 4HOP Sour, Sisyphus Clickbait IPA, Sisyphus Land of 10,000 Rakes, Surly Thanks, Obama!, Wicked Wort Motueka Keller Pilsner, Wild Mind Kiwi Pils

 

I was going to do something similar, anyone know if you can sort in Untappd by year/state/etc?

 

Magic Man from Barrel Theory might be my favorite IPA of 2017, but I have a Galaxy hop fetish.

 

You can select a date range and sort by rating, but you can’t narrow the location further than country. It is still helpful.

 

Last time I checked, if you become a supporter ($5 for a month) you can use their tool to export.

I haven't looked at their API, but there should be a way to get that data out using that. Worst case, there is probably a way scrape the actual web pages to get that data.

 

Fun exercise. Just going through my highest ratings of the year on Untappd. Black Magic Rye Whiskey BA was, perhaps, my beer of the year. I was blown away by that one. Other notables: Aurelian Lure, FB Morning Wood, aged Starkeller Peach, VR, 2015 Black Gold.

As said above, Six Hour Tour was easily the best beer I had from MN this year. A total knockout of a brew.

 

Atwater Bockefeller, not a new beer but new to me. I final found some in WI recently. Kinda taste like Capital Autumnal Fire.

Peanut Butter porters/stouts. Have had some good ones from Montgomery, Waconia, Dangerous Man. Haven't had any Junkyard yet.

 

^ All of this ... especially Six Hour, the Rum King variant and all of Forager.

I was also impressed with some of the Wild Minds offerings like Livid Dreams and Silla. Curious to see how their Spontanés age.

 

Minnesota brewed favorites for 2017:

• Town Hall 'Six Hour Tour'
• Forager 'Pudding Goggles' and its Berliner Weiss selections
• Lupulin 'Straight Hash Homie'
• Wild Mind 'Feeling Lucky'
• Schell's 'Cave-Aged Barrel-Aged #4' and its Berliner Weiss selections

Also enjoyed various beers from Junkyard, Disgruntled, and Sisyphus.

Another highlight was the 'Darkness' vertical private event.