Most Important American Craft Beers Ever Brewed

Apparently an additional link in the sequence. Koch gives to father, then father gives to daughter.

http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/the-brewers-daughter/Content?oid=3580873

 

Fascinating. Palm always seemed sweetened and dumbed down compared to other belgian amber ales to me. Now, I'd love to try fat tire, palm and something like De Koninck side by side.
Is De Koninck aviable to you? How would you compare it to palm and fat tire?

 

For what it's worth, I've only had Palm once before, and when I had it that time it struck me as being too sweet for me. Palm is not exploding with personality. I found it more palatable this time. De Koninck is rare in my parts, but I've had it in the past and I recall it being sweet as well. Personally, I find that the balance of hops to malt in Fat Tire changes considerably depending on the circumstances (like whatever I've eaten).

 

Hate to interrupt the discussion but it's a pity the panelists failed to give a nod to Pete Slosberg and Bert Grant.

 

Ballantine was the first hoppy american ale to market...real men drank Ballantine, not the pissy stuff sold today. They also made a barley wine which was quite drinkable.

 

If you mean Ballantine Burton Ale, it was resurrected 2 years ago. I like it. It's a November/December release. https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/447/201186/

 

Though recipes for the majority of them (including Ballantine) don't exist, there were many IPA, stock and other ales brewed in the US before Ballantine marketed their India Pale Ale in the late 1870s (Pabst claims "1878" but I've found ads from that year mentioning it but they don't read as if it is a new product - also on that page are IPA ads that pre-date Ballantine's).

Contemporary sources mention that using 3-6 pounds of hops per barrel was common in the US in the mid-19th century for some stock ales.

Ballantine never labeled a beer "Barley Wine" (nor did any other US brewer that I've ever found, with a few curious exceptions) but they did occasionally refer to their Old Burton Ale as "a barley wine" in pre-Prohibition era material-

The original Newark-brewed post-Repeal Ballantine Burton Ale which @Ranbot referred to above, was a promotional "not for commercial sale" item which was not labeled a "barley wine" nor was it advertised.

The new Pabst product's recipe doesn't seem to agree at all with the original post-Repeal product - for one, it is not solera-aged for 7 - 20 years before bottling - which was based on their IPA's recipe, longer aged with additional dry hopping.

Of course, then the question becomes:

"What is a barley wine, and is it actually a distinct "beer style" or just a strong, long-aged ale of several different types (IPA, Stock, Burton, Old Ale, etc)."