Best Beer of 2014

In terms of trying for the first time, Kentucky Brunch takes the cake, but some other highlights of the year, in no particular order, include:

Double Barrel Hunahpu
Framboos
Stenciled Pages
King Sue
As You Wish...
Panzer Grenadier

 

My #2 want behind Double Sunshine

Hop JuJu takes the honor for me. Since they tweaked the recipe for this year's batch, it was incredible.

 

Far and above all of the other beers I've tasted this year.

 

Best wow moment came from Lawson's Triple Sunshine, but there were a lot of great ones. Was fortunate enough to enjoy Focal Banger, Abner, Square Grouper, Beyond Good and Evil, King Sue and plenty of other great beers this year. Here's hoping 2015 can live up to this year.

 

I just began my beer journey this year. Highlights were Cycle's & Plus and Rarer Dos Hazelnut that I had a few days ago, Huna, Heady and Vanilla Rye all stood out and made glad I started drinking beer.

 

Limiting it to new beers, The Shape of Hops to Come

 

Best beer? Westbrook Mexican Wedding Cake
Best Beer Store? Piggly Wiggly in Beaufort SC

 

Hard to choose when I was in San Diego then San Francisco during SF Beer week. In three days I had:
Vietnamese Coffee Speedway Stout

Pliny the Younger

Societe The Pupil

Bourbon Barrel Victory at Sea

Nitro Sculpin

Kinda like choosing your favorite child. Can't do it.

 

2014 was an amazing beer year for me, went from drinking Firestone Walker's core lineup to sours and everything in between. Personally I don't know if I could pick a top 10 of best beers I had this year, but I'll give it a shot...

In no particular order:
BCBS
BCBCS
Parabola
Fyodor's Classic
Citra
Pliny
Heady
Consecration
Maltose Falcons
Xocoveza

 

18th St. Brewing
Deal with the Devil
Grapefruit Dead
or anything else they did.

 

Since it hasn't been mentioned and is one of my top for 2014: Lagunitas Born Yesterday.....so fresh!

 

All beer I had for first time this year.

Other Half All Green Everything
Other Half Green Diamonds
GI Rare
Hill Farmstead Arthur
Stone Xocoveza
DB Huna
Trillium Double Dry Hopped Fort Point Pale Ale
Boneyard Notorious
Lagunitas Born Yesterday

 

Toppling Goliath Light Speed! Could've said King Sue or Golden Nugget.

 

My top 3 beers for 2014 were:
Heady Topper
BCBS 2014
Ghost in the Machine - Parish Brewing

 

For new releases, Xocoveza blew me away and I couldn't get enough of it while I could find it.

Born Yesterday was also a highlight for me.

My best beers for 2014 were:
Alpine Nelson
2012 Chocolate Rain
Batch #100 Wild Wild Brett
HF Nelson Sauvin Single Hop Pale Ale

Edit:

Probably the best beer I had was Bruery's Tart of Darkness with Cacao and Vanilla. Dear lord it was awesome!

 

AARON.

 

In no order, and moreso in terms of what beers were memorably good:

New Glarus Strawberry Rhubarb
Dirt Wolf
Allagash Tiarna
Coolship Resurgem
Allagash Nancy
LoverBeer Beer Brugna
Jacks Abby Vanilla Framinghammer
Jacks Abby Smoke & Dagger (nitro draft)
Tree House (everything...Eurka w/ Galaxy, Julius, Double Shot, TWSS)
Barrel Aged Ten Fidy (draft)
De La Senne Taras Boulba
Anderson Valley Gose
Bruery Rueze
Love Child #4
Two Roads Philsalmic
Two Roads Lil Heaven
Half Acre Daisy Cutter

...and more!

 

Barley Brown's Tank Slapper

 

It's tough to chose just one, there were so many great releases in 2014! But if I had to pick one, it's…

 

Best beer year of my life for me. My favorites:

- Sante Adairius - Saison Bernice
- Cantillon Iris 2004
- De Garde - Beaucoup Desay
- Alpine - Nelson
- 3 Fonteinen - Oude Kriek

 

TG PseudoSue, followed closely by 2013 GI BCBS Proprieter's

 

This one.

 

2013 black tuesday

 

During a trip to Milwaukee over the summer, I picked up New Glarus Raspberry Tart, Serendipity, Strawberry Rhubarb, and Wisconsin Belgian Red....simply awesome!

 

Jesus, i think I drank close to 300+ different beers this year. I started tracking beers on Untappd some where during the year and it says 277 for the partial year I've tracked stuff. I've been working hard. So many fantastic beers. Many met the hype, some didn't. But Firestone Parabola exceeded expectations and this came super hyped. After years of trying to get this beer it was a true pleasure to finally drink it.

 

Wow! You knocked it out the park with that dick swing.

Seriously though, solid list

I'll go with Kentucky Brunch for best of '14

 

BCBCS or the Vanilla

 

This iS Tough. This year I got heavily into beer and had many firsts. In my list are Founders Backwood Bastard, Stone Xovoceza, Big Bad Baptist, ZD, BCBS '13, and Bells Mars

 

Tree House SAP and Tree House Good Morning

 

This is a tough question because I drank a lot of great beer this year. However, if I had to choose one that really stood out, all-in-all, I'd say Avery's Tweak. It has everything I look for in a big coffee stout...robust flavor, big, fat mouthfeel, and a killer ABV.

Honorable Mentions:
Sierra Nevada's Barrel Aged Narwhal
Dry Dock's Bligh's English Barleywine

 

Barrel Aged Sierra Nevada Narwhal on draft... best beer I enjoyed this year. A 1993 Bigfoot in Celebration of my Son's 21st birthday was #2!

 

Best beer: Parabola

Best beer you can actually obtain and drink regularly: FIS

 

Tough to narrow it down to one, I think the highlights of the year would be...

Hop JuJu
El Lupulo Libre
Heady Topper
Backwoods Bastard
Biscotti Break
Xocovesa

 

This year I hadn't really gone out of my way to try anything new ... stuck with brands and styles I like the best. Rediscovered Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout and for the first time tried Hoppin Frog's Christmas Ale (their King Gose Home Imperial Gose and Vanilla Bean Gangster Frog are honorable mentions).

 

Fort George/ boneyard/ block 15- 3 way ipa

 

In no particular order :

Chillwave by Great Lakes

Cheers!!

 

Definitely goes to KBBS '14 for me. Just had my first one last weekend, and it was fantastic - so much flavor. Before that, it was the latest DDG release, which is really a solid beer as well. Cheers!

 

I think we are all laying our opinion down but we have to put the Heady Topper aside.. Based on it being easily the best beer around.. That being said,
1. Dinner *The next #1 rated beer*
2. Focal Banger *Right behind The Heady*
3. Julius *The Massachusetts Alchemist*
4. Kiwi Risi *Very Underrated*

 

Stone Xocoveza

 

Under the wire. Bottled the 28th. Spectacular.