Favorite Beers of the year

For my final entry of 2010, I thought I'd look back over the year at a few beers that I tried and really enjoyed.  Overall, I reviewed 43 beers this year, not bad considering there are 52 weeks in a year.  However, unless you're like me and keep an excel spreadsheet list of what you've been drinking, it can be pretty hard to keep track of them.  Unfortunately, many of the double porters and imperial stouts I tried were one offs and limited editions at bars and festivals, so I neither smart enough nor sober enough to write down reviews.  But here's a brief stroll my favorites that I was lucky enough to have a bottle of and review this year.

Snake River, Zonker Stout

HUB, Organic IPA

Brasserie d'Orval, Orval

Mikkeller, It's Alive!

Stone/Brew Dog, Bashah

Port Brewing, Hot Rocks Lager

Allagash, 2009 Fluxus

Mikkeller, Nelson-Sauvin Single Hop IPA

Rogue, John John Ale

Sierra Nevada, 30th Anniversary Charlie, Fred, and Ken's Bock

And that's it.  Not a bad list all things considered.  All these beers are four stars and above with the exception of the Fluxus, which I believe I was a little harsh on with three and a half.  The John John should get a special mention just for the creativity of using Gin barrels to age the beer, very unique and a great ale.  Of these, I'd have to say that Mikkeller's Nelson-Sauvin is my pick of the year.  This was just such an awesome beer and worked perfectly with his single hop series.  It's the only beer I gave five stars to all year.

That's it for this year of Brews Clues, hopefully you've enjoyed my thoughts, info, and reviews.  Have a great New Years party, drink lots of good beer, and look for more posts in 2011!

cheers,
Dave

Allagash 2009 Fluxus

Sitting on the shelf at Beverage Warehouse with a pricetag of $17, I had a pretty huge eyebrow raise when I saw Allagash's 2009 Fluxus.  However, it was too late, having noticed the inclusion of sweet potatoes and black pepper in the brewing process had picqued my curiosity enough to cause me to toss it in with my basket of goodies.

I tend to be a little fickle when it comes to Saisons.  Most of the standards that have been ranked as classics throughout the years don't do much for me.  I appreciate the history and the craft, yada yada yada... and thus I tip my hat.  However, when it comes to my own personal drinking preferences, I need a little more spice, bitter, or flavor than your standard bread and malt fare.

If you didn't have the bottle to tell you otherwise, from all appearances this looks like a standard Saison.  A nice golden color with tons of head and beautiful lacing.  The aroma is like many other Saisons I've tried, raisin like sweetness and nondescript malt.  Yet the taste of this beer is very different.

Surprisingly light bodied, but full flavored, it hardly opens up to your taste buds until the end of the sip, but then opens with full force on your palate, like someone sneaking up behind you and walloping you at the last second.  That wallop is what carries this beer above and beyond for me.  It's a complex mix of an earthy sweetness and a sharp bite, which I can only assume comes from the pepper.  It's an interesting evolution that leaves ricochets of the spicey bite in your mouth long after your sip is finished.

I assume that this is what Allagash was after when they called this the fluxus, doing us the courtesy of defining it right on the bottle as 1. a flowing or flow, 2. continuous change, passage or movement.  It definitely changes and incredibly so, but I dont' think I'd go so far as to call it continuous or even.  Surreptitiously strong at 8.3%

2009 Fluxus: ****