Your Favorite Beer from 2017

Trillium Dialed In all three variants for me

 

I would have to say that it was "Sip of Sunshine". I did 2 Vermont runs this year and we came home with over $800.00 worth of beers for various friends both times. The general consensus was that Sip almost always came out on top. I just drank my last one while grilling on Monday and cannot wait for spring and another road trip.

 

I gave one beer 5/5 on untapped this year: Voodoo Brewery's RBA Blackbeard's Delight, so I guess I'll go with that one

 

After years of drinking beers of various styles I've decided that maibocks are my favorite seasonal, and I'll go so far to say my favorite style overall. On a trip to Germany this year just before May 1st I looked for and tried every maibock I could find. The Klosterbrau version that I had in Bamberg is at the top of the list. https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/929/2969/

 

Just went through all my ratings...

de Garde / Tired Hands: Crab - I don't know what they put into it (it's a dry hopped sour saison), but it was the highlight of my Oregon trip. Just an extremely well made, and balanced beer.

 

Damn, that's a tough call. I really like this year's Black Gold, but VBT was unexpectedly amazing! By far the best vanilla BA I've had.

 

Filedworks Bean Machine.

 

Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest Wet IPA

 

A vintage 2014 Oo Xo from Pojhala Brewery in Estonia, an imperial Baltic porter aged in cognac barrels. It was literally one of the best beers I've ever had, regardless of style.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/37027/252378

Another one is Andechs dopplebock. It was recently distributed to western North Carolina earlier this year and I was blown away. I even drank it next to Celebrator, an all time favorite of mine, to compare, and I found I like Andechs better.

I had a few small one-offs at Zebulon in Weaverville, NC that really stood out. One was a classic 1910 English mild recipe and the other was an 1856 English porter recipe, both served on a 1950s English beer machine. Zebulon's owner, Mike, also made a Russian imperial stout from a 19th century recipe that was amazing too.

North Carolina also started getting beers from Revision Brewing in this year, and Dr. Lupulin 3x IPA was damn good, one of the best imperial IPA's I've ever had. It was super fresh too, about two and a half weeks old.

 

Other Half DDH Mylar Bags
Burley Oak Head Stash
Southern Grist Who Needs Passionfruit
Battery Steele Flume
Hoof Hearted Konkey Dong
Roughtail Mosaic DDH ERWO

 

It's a tie between REN and Ground State... Guess I'm a sucker for Coffee/Maple BBA Stouts.

 

Waldo's DIPA
SN's Torpedo

 

Two Roads Too Juicy. I know it was released in 2016, but I really fell in love with it this year. IMO as good as Tree House and Trillium when you take procurement effort into account.

 

Avery Brewing - Tweak

 

Supa' Suma double IPA from Toppling Goliath.

 

That beer is truly a force to be reckoned with. I hesitate to talk about it because I still want it to fly under the radar. I only got an individual bottle of the regular imperial stout and was so damn impressed, I started calling all around town for a 4 pack of it to no avail. Fortunately, I landed a 4 pack of the coffee stout which is even better.

I'll see how it ages, as I haven't touched the other 3 in the 4 pack.

 

Victory at Sea

 

My list isn't specific to beers that only came out in 2017, but simply what stood out to me this year that I drank (in no particular order):

Disco Ping 8.1 Barrel Aged Oud Brauin from Black Hog Brewing in Oxford, CT
Focal Banger IPA/ Heady Topper from The Alchemist
Maine Beer Company Lunch
Samichalus Classic (2011 vintage)
Nøgne Ø Sweet Horizon Imperial Stout
Stillwater Artisinal Cellar Door
Trillium Fort Point Pale Ale and Vicinity Double IPA
Peak Organic Fresh Cut Dry Hopped Pilsner

 

When it was warm out, Marble's Pilsner was my favorite.

When it was cool out, La Cumbre's Elevated IPA or Marble's (BA) Imperial Stout.

My favorite new beer was probably a tie between Baere's Saison and La Cumbre's Ryeot On.

Honestly, there wasn't that one beer that stood out above everything else for me this year.

 

I have had a lot of great beers this year including BCBS and a couple variants among many others. But the best new beer I have had is Boo Berry Muffin (not blueberry muffin) from Great Notion-a sour brewed with boo berry muffin cereal. It was entirely unique (I really got the cereal milk flavor) as well as incredibly balanced between sweet, sour, and salinity.