Your 3 highest & lowest rDev's

My top three highest are all stouts. I guess maybe because I, at this point, prefer stouts.
Left Hand Milk Stout -+19.6%
I will have to revisit this one. This was my first foray into Milk Stouts, and I thought it was delicious.

Bell's Special Double Cream Stout- +19.3%
Another Stout that I really liked the creamyness texture and flavor of.

Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout- +13.6%
This is just a go to stout for me.

My top lowest-
Dragonfly- IPA -49.1%
Sadly this beer was undrinkable to me, tasted like green grass water, very bitter.

Zombie Dust -13.6%
Gasp. I am not a huge IPA/APA guy. I thought this beer was very good, and very drinkable. The problem for me is that Zombie Dust, Gumball Head, and Jinx Proof all taste rather similar. I am assuming it is the same hops they use in them? Not sure. A great beer for sure. But didn't blow me away.

Gulden Draak -11.3%
The biggest thing that killed this beer for me was a constant aluminum aftertaste. Everything tasted good until I swallowed, then this metallic taste set in.
Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout

 

Highest:

1) Left Hand Milk Stout - +21.7%
2) Rogue Shakespeare Stout (nitro tap experience) - +19.9%...great beer and nitro fixed its one flaw (thin mouthfeel), but this rating is from a while ago and might be interesting to revisit and see how it stands up.
3) Deschutes Red Chair NWPA - +17.7%

Lowest

1. Short's Pandemonium Ale - -67.5%....tasted like liquified metal. I have not bothered with anything from Short's since.
2. Left Hand 400 LB Monkey - quite possibly the worst thing brewed and bottled in Colorado, IMO.
3. Dogfish Head/Stone/Victory - Saison du Buff.....not for me at all.

 

Are you kidding me? They taste nothing alike and are three completely different styles. Please change your avatar.

 

Obviously they have differences. I am saying I note similarities between them. So I suppose rather similar was poor wording. My bad.

I am still newer to craft brews, and working on my pallet to. So try not to stone me.

 

Haha, that would be an acceptable way to go. My above post was probably somewhat ignorant, maybe I am just crazy.

 

Thanks, I was looking at Southern Tier's Creme Brulee. I actually have a Narwhal in my cellar area. I really like Stouts in general. Although I absolutely loved Dogfish Head's 90 Minute. I like IPA's. It is just super bitter forward beers I have not cared for.

I have only been drinking craft beers for about six months. Just now getting to where I can pick out the different tastes and aromas.

 

Highest:
Oxbow Brewing Company (4.75) - +24.7%

Monk's Café Flemish Sour Ale (4.75) - +24%

Stone 12.12.12 Vertical Epic Ale (4.75) - +21.5%

Comments: I rated the two former beers on-tap, and don't even remember how they taste now. I just know that I thought they were excellent at the time. I do recall the Stone Vertical Epic 12, and I'm truly surprised that other BAs don't agree with its high quality.

Lowest (not counting adjunct lagers)
Shock Top Honeycrisp Apple Wheat (1.25) - -60.7%

Blue Moon Valencia Amber Ale (2.15) - -30.4%

Cantillon Gueuze 100% Lambic (3.25) - -27.5%

Comments: I know Shock Top and Blue Moon are both BMC, but my hate for them are based on a fair rating, not beer snobbiness. They were both so sickeningly sweet that it made me nauseous. I also remember thinking the Cantillon Gueuze was quite average on tap when I had it.

 

Top 3:
Bell's Stouts
Peekskill Brewing's Simple Sour
Half Acres' Daisy Cutter Pale Ale
Seasonal:
Southern Tier's 2013 Pumking

Low Tide:
The Light and numbered beers
Blue Moon
Shock Top

 

Cigar City Big Sound-Bourbon Barrel Aged (4.75) +8.9%
New Holland The Poet (4.25) +8.4%
Cigar City Jai Alai (4.5) +6.1%

Sierra Nevada Celebration (3.25) -22.1%
Shorts Captain Fantasy (2.75) -27.8%
Southern Tier Harvest Ale (2.50) -35.6%

 

High is Blue Moon and Two Hearted. I think Blue Moon gets a lot of hate because its a Miller-Coors product. Two Hearted is just underrated imo. Low is Heineken and Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale. I honestly think my bottles of Stone SSRA were bad in some way. I simply can't imagine it gets high ratings tasting like that. I haven't given it a second since its Stout season!

 

Highest :
1) Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest
One of the best Oktoberfest's
2) Uncle Jacob's Stout
This is almost tied with my favorite beer; which is Black Note (surprised?)!
3) North Coast Brother Thelonious

Lowest:
1) Greenbush Distorter
2) Weyerbacher Riserva
3) Russian River Supplication

 

Highest
1. Old Style Lager +23.7%
2. Pete's Wicked Ale +21.2%
3. Shiner Kosmos Reserve +21.2%

Lowest
1. Chameleon Hop On Top -60%
2. Leinenkugel's Berry Weiss -46.8%
3. Hub City Wheat -29.8%

 

Highest:
1. Oskar Blues G'Knight +21.7%
2. Newcastle +19.8% - first non-BMC beer years ago
3. He'brew Death of a Contract Brewer + 19.4% - first Black IPA I enjoyed

Lowest:
1. Infinium -53.6%
2. New Glarus Raspberry Tart -42.5%
3. New Glarus Totally Naked -38.4%
I fail to see why everyone loves New Glarus. I really think that people rate the beers higher because of the limited distribution.

 

I don't have exact numbers, or even three for each, but I was just thinking about this today so I wanted to contribute...

Underrated: Great Divide Hibernation Ale. It's not rated bad or anything, I just feel that it's often overlooked. Great value too.

Overrated: Rochefort 10 (ducks)

 

Highest (excluding macros):
Nimbus Oatmeal Stout (+38.1%) I love Oatmeal Stouts and thought this was one of the better ones.
Sprecher Oktoberfest (+31.2%) Another favorite style and great representation of the style.
Hook & Ladder Golden Ale (+27.8%) Blonde Ales rarely surprise me, but this one did.


Lowest: It was very hard for me to finish all 3 of these.
Yazoo Hop Project (-73%) Hops were all over the place. It was a mess. Good thing that Yazoo changes the recipe on this one.
Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan (-72.5%) I don't like nuts, but that shouldn't matter with beer.
Lost Coast Tangerine Wheat (-70%) Very, very tangerine-y. Not pleasant.

 

High
Rock Hard Red (+30.4%)
1888 Bock (22.7%)
Leinenkugels Oktoberfest (19.8%)

Low
Sam Adam's Cranberry Lambic (62.8%)
Mothership Wit (37.5%)
Kentucky Ale (32.2%)

 

I liked what someone else did above, splitting out their reviewed and rated beers. So I did the same. Sorry for the essay...

Highest

Reviews only:

• Yola's Artisan Ale (+29.7%) - It's listed as an "American Amber/Red Ale", but when I tried it the first time at a tasting event for the brewery (CIB), I was told that it was a sour ale--that it had souring bacteria. Now, I've heard from people that it was an infection that they ended up just releasing anyway, and while I don't know the truth one way or another, the bottle I tried was a delicious sour red ale. I have a second bottle that I may have to crack open to see if that first bottle was just a happy accident, or if the beer is consistently that good sour beer. However, I can't help but wonder if the super-low rAvg is due to the difference in whether people expected a sour beer or not when they drank it.
• Bitburger Premium Pils (+26%) - I've never understood why this one is rated so low on BA. 3.46 rAvg seems unconscionably low for a beer that seems--to me--to hit all the prototypical elements of a good German pils. Bready, bakery-like notes along with some light fruit and spiciness. I've only ever had it on tap, so maybe the bottles/cans are just not up to par.
• Elysian Avatar Jasmine IPA (+19.6%) - Though this one lacked the over-the-top hop profiles that you might expect from a solid American IPA, I thought the way in which they worked in the jasmine was brilliant. Aromatic, nectar and rich floral overtones. If it had been labeled "Jasmine Pale Ale" instead, my rDev might be smaller because maybe people wouldn't have docked it for the lack of hop explosion.

Ratings only:

• Green Flash Rayon Vert (+23.7%) - I barely feel the need to explain this rDev. Rayon Vert is a wonderfully Bretty Belgian Pale Ale that is incredibly unique. It's too bad they are killing the 12 oz bottle four-packs of this come 2014. I really need to get around to writing a full review based on how much I drink this.
  
• Boulevard ZÔN (+20.7%) - Another one I'm proud to have rated highly. Such an underrated take on the witbier style, this one is probably my favorite American-made wit. Another one I need to finally review.
  
• Perennial Black Walnut Dunkel (+15.7%) - A really interesting take on a style that doesn't seem to generate a lot of versions with adjuncts (like walnut). I think every dunkelweizen I've seen has been really straightforward.

Lowest

Reviews only:

• Midnight Sun Fallen Angel (-19.6%) - This one looked alright, but the smell and taste were just off-balanced, to the point of my wondering if I got a bad bottle somehow. It was all bitterness and esters, with none of the wonderful floral and fruit aromas that I tend to like from the Belgian Strong Pale Ale style.
• Goose Island Fleur (-15.9%) - I didn't have this 2011 brew until June 2013, so my review was influenced by the considerable age. By the time I had it, it had an overpoweringly sickly sweet smell like moldy graham crackers. The extra time had seemingly allowed the Kombucha aspect to really take over, leaving an unpleasant tea taste and not much else.
• Kiuchi Hitachino Nest Sweet Stout (-14.1%) - Lots of sediment and a watery, diluted taste with an artificial sweetness that was really off-putting.

Ratings only:

• Lakefront Brewery Wheat Monkey (-37.1%) - A tasteless, bland brew that had zero redeeming qualities outside the meager amount of alcohol contained within. I might seriously pick up a BMC over this one. Luckily, it doesn't distribute to my area, so it's not a dilemma I have to deal with.
• Weston Brewing SunRyes Ale (-20.4%) - Another one that lacks taste. I'm typically a big fan of rye beers--both dark and light versions. This one didn't give any of those wondeful spicy, sometimes sour rye characteristics. It might as well have been a macro lager.
• Baird Brewing Jubilation Ale (-18.5%) - I'll fully admit that my bottle might not have been terribly fresh, given the lack of dating, but it was surprisingly bland for a Winter Warmer. Was all the more disappointing because I was excited by the prospect of figs and cinnamon.

 

Highest:

Ska Brewing Vernal Minthe Stout (+26.5%)
-Awesome beer. Subtle mint and loads of vanilla. I think people rate it low because its pretty thin in the body, closer to a porter if anything. Shame such a good brew is so under-appreciated.

Goose Island Kisetsu (+22%)
-Very interesting and unique beer, that still somehow felt very familiar. 10% and fruity as any saison I've ever had made for a drink my gf and I both had a blast drinking.

Hoegaarden Original (+20.8%)
-What can I say? this is the beer that really turned me into a habitual beer drinker. Very well balanced, very approachable, and always hit the spot. Hooked a few other people onto beer with this one.


Lowest

Stone Crime (-58.3%)
-Absolutely un-drinkable. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. The real crime was they had the nerve to charge $18 for a bottle of drain cleaner.

Port Hop 15 (-23.7%)
-Just not my kind of hop profile. I prefer citrusy and fruity notes from my hops. Not to say I don't appreciate some earthy, piney etc, notes but this one tasted to me like licking a christmas tree. Felt the same about Hoptimum. I know I'm in the minority with these.

Founders Breakfast Stout (-0.4%)
-Funny, I have nothing but good things to say, but I guess I don't love it QUITE as much as most others, but I'm pretty close to average there.

Those are my only 3 negative dev scores. Typically only rate beer I'm floored by. Made an exception for Crime and Hop 15 because of how disappointing they were.