Top 10 Classics

Fixed that for ya.

Seriously, to give the opposite point of view:
Drink 25-year-old recipes and century-old breweries.
Learn your history.
Don't get an American-made version of an old European style until you try one from the home country, assuming a good example is available: e.g. Prima Pils is a tasty German-style Pilsner, but is way too hoppy to be a German Pilsner. Try something from Munich first.
Realize that you will have to travel and drink some beers fresh, on cask, at the source, in context, to truly understand them.
Then, when you have the knowledge, go local.

 

Agreed. That's the best list yet in my mind.

 

True, but many of us haven't had enough opportunity to try the classic European beers to know which are the top ones.

On another topic, it seems to me many who are posting are missing the key word in this thread: classic. Just because it's your favorite, just because it's got a rep doesn't make it a "classic." Seems to be a classic would be one that's been around a long time, one that helped define beer and/or craft beer, one that is well known and readily available, etc. With those concepts in mind, I'd label the following as "classic" (and they're not necessarily my favorites either.)

Anchor Steam
Yuengling Lager
Sam Adams Boston Lager
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Budweiser
Dogfish Head 90 Minute
Coors Banquet
New Belgium Fat Tire
Miller High Life

The 10th would probably be something out of CA, but I'm just not sure which brand and style is well known across most of the US. Any thoughts on that?

 

I advocate NOT drinking the beers made in my local market.

 

You forgot BKC...budweiser king cobra

 

I'm all for drinking local, but the fact remains that some local breweries just aren't that good. I'm not going to support sub-par product in the hope that they'll eventually get better. For instance, New Glarus and Central Waters are obviously phenomenal, Ale Asylum and Lakefront are solid, but there are a bunch of less than quality local breweries that I just don't care to patronize; in lieu of drinking them, I drink the good stuff: Founders, Bells, Three Floyds, Sierra Nevada, Bruery, etc. There's something to be said for the importance of fostering a climate conducive to craft, but I only support the breweries I deem worthy of support.

 

Ohhhhhhh, I thought this was the Pacific Northwest Forum.... Whelp gotttta go.

 

I had that honkers ale on tap and hated it. Not my kind of beer. almost tasted medicinal.

 

As I'm sure others have said, I'd look more to experiencing the major styles instead of specific beers.Like, Westy 12 is great but I think you can be familiar with the Quad style from Rochefort 10 and/or St. Bernardus Abt 12. That being said, I support the guy who said just go out and drink everything local and go from there. Thats what advocating for craft beer is all about.

 

Isn't that the truth? Found that out on the very first thread I started here.
Snarks amongst us...

 

I included it because I sort of consider it a 'reference point' for the bitter style that is readily available in the US. I certainly enjoy it, but I agree it is not stellar. I also agree that it is middle of the road, but I find it'll separate those who get what beer should taste like from BMC devotees without the violent backlash an IPA can generate.

 

^This. I've learned not to get caught up chasing whales because very often something very comparable, or even better is being made in your 'backyard'. I got to try PtE for the first time the other week on tap, and while very good, for whatever reason (tap lines, age, who knows) it was not the experience I had built it up to be. It was easily surpassed by a 90 Minute from a bottle later than evening.

 

Tough to pick 10, but I went with a mix of craft classics and some old world faves. IMO, there are probably 10 more staples everyone should try, but these are a start.

Fat Tire
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Sam Adams Boston Lager
Chimay Blue
Ayinger Celebrator
Cantillon Gueuze (or Kriek)
Hofbrau Helles
Pilsner Urquell
DFH 90 Minute IPA
Stone Russian Imperial Stout

 

Decent enough local scene over here but im not about to limit myself to just local brew plus I love having Fancy Beer Delivered to my doorstep. plus the German selection in Theses Parts is pitiful.

 

Drinking local very much depends on what your local scene is producing. It's probably a good idea in most places, but it's an awful idea in some. I suppose it also depends on your definition of "local," too. Back in the beer dark ages I considered Sweetwater, Red Brick, and Abita to be local beers for Alabama even if they were brewed in other states.

 

I switched Fuller’s ESB with any random UK cask bitter because bitter is still a bit king craft-wise in UK & I felt that one might be not representative enough given that it is an upped version technically. Distinction between ESB & regular bitter seems to be vague.

SNPA is an unquestionable classic but I felt like the USA craft scene has moved away from it a bit with most examples being way more hoppy than that beer is.

Not sure what I would pick for stout/porter, maybe Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast it was the first popular beer with coffee if I am not mistaken. It is pretty representative for the many USA-inspired European breweries.

 

Solid reason, most classic’s from Belgium & Germany are pretty widespread I believe.
The ones I mentioned are not hard to obtain I believe.
Indeed for UK, Scandinavia & Czech Republic this is not the case.
For the UK, Samuel Smith is often mentioned but I don’t agree with that pick.
They are far removed from what is going on in the UK right now.
They are not representative of the past.
They are a mediocre brewery using marketing & their past to push their stuff.
A lot of what they did in the past destroyed a lot of the craft scene that used to exist in the UK.

 

Because certain beers are hard to find in certain areas, I think this list is best done with a regional mindset, with the inclusion of widely distributed beers.

As far as entry level beers go, being from New Jersey, I think I'd say that you can't really be a BA here until you've had

DFH 60-minute
DFH 90-minute
Saison DuPont
Victory Hopdevil (edit* originally had Dirtwolf here, but it's not a classic)
SN PA
SN Torpedo
St. Bernardus 12
Chimay Red
Chimay Blue
Chimay Yellow

Noticeably, I left off stouts, because I can't decide what stouts I really like that are also easy to get around here (for instance, is Stone IRS easy to find? Does Narwhal sell out too fast to count?). This list also does not include some of the amazing beers that I think you can occasionally find around here, but not without some work (Pliny, Heady, Cantillon)

 

Well, everything local, plus some widely distributed imports. I think it's important to have at least tried a number of the more popular/ well-rated Belgians.

For instance, I'd include the Chimays on this list, although Chimay is more baseline than my favorite example of any particular style.

 

It has always been "As you like it" forever thus and forevermore.

I understand the question...
"Lets pretend there was a "Top 10 Beers you need to try to become a Beer Advocate" list. What would it look like?"

Ask 100 people, get 100 answers.