And the winner is...

Beginning what I hope will become an annual tradition here at WFB, I will answer a question I’m sometimes asked: “What are your favorite beers?” Having made 45 posts over the course of six months, I’ve demonstrated that I like a lot of different beers. Although my position on this question is bound to change as I sample new brews and rediscover old ones, at this particular moment my overall Top Ten Beers are as follows.

10. Troegs Troegenator- a late winter/early spring seasonal, this criminally smooth double bock is my favorite offering off the formidable Troegs line.

9. Bass pale ale – a true classic. Drinkable, dependable, timeless.

8. Bell’s Hopslam – I’m not the world’s biggest IPA fan, but when I’m in the mood for an IPA this is the best I’ve ever had. I’m currently cellaring a few of this year’s crop to enjoy at a later date. Extraordinarily delicious.

7. Samuel Adams Boston Lager – often the only craft beer you can get at a restaurant. Because it’s so popular, beer snobs tend to forget what an exceptional beer this amber lager really is. Robust, balanced, and tasty, this is the beer that started microbrewing.

6. Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout – the tastiest Russian imperial stout I’ve ever had. The thought of drinking one of these again almost makes me wish it were winter!

5. Warsteiner Premium Dunkel – smoothest lager ever!

4. Founders Dirty Bastard – I know, I should have ranked it higher.

3. Bell’s Porter – not an “extreme” version of the porter style, but easy to drink and truly one of my all-time go-to beers.

2. Victory Baltic Thunder – Baltic porter is basically English porter on steroids. Smuttynose makes a great version as well, but Victory’s is still tops. A “big” beer in every respect, but crazy drinkable nonetheless.

1. Founders Breakfast Stout – This may never relinquish the #1 spot. EVER.

Warsteiner Premium Dunkel

Warsteiner Premium Dunkel is one of those classic international beers that’s predictably underappreciated by aficionados. Its Beer Advocate score is B-minus. Rate Beer gives it a 48. But me, I give it an A for sure. No, it’s not obscure or hip or ultra-rare or hopped with the ashes of a dead poet from the 16th Century. What it is, though, is a damn fine beer with a taste so smooth that it brings tears of joy to my eyes. Like Bass Ale, another marginally maligned import, it’s in my personal beer top ten ahead of countless “critically acclaimed” micro brews. Dunkels, dark lagers that originated in 16th Century Bavaria, are one of my favorite beer styles because they tend to be rich and flavorful but not at all bitter. Typically they’re gently-hopped beers that get their malty taste from triple decoction and their dark color from liberal amounts of Munich malts. Warsteiner’s version of the dunkel may not be the best in the world, but it’s up there! Perhaps it suffers in the eyes of beer geeks because it’s not a “big” beer. Its flavor, while delicious, is very mild and subtle. It won’t blow you away. But I don’t necessarily want to be blown away by a beer. I want a smooth, tasty beer that hits all the right notes. And Warsteiner Premium Dunkel is precisely that. It’s sweet and malty (but not overly sweet!), and the notes are some of my favorites: toffee, caramel, toasted grain. Man, it’s just so smooth! Sometimes advertising catch phrases like “smooth and drinkable” just mean that a beer tastes like nothing, but in this case it’s God’s honest truth. If I had to select for myself a “last meal”, it would be either A) two Tony Packo’s MOAD hot dogs with paprikas dumplings and a bowl of chili or B) a German sausage buffet of bratwurst, rostbratwurst, bockwurst, knackwurst, and leberkase (with a side of kraut). In both cases, I’d wash it all down with a 48-ounce boot mug of Warsteiner. Mmmm- what a way to go out!

Victory Headwaters Pale Ale

Given that beer is only made from four ingredients, it seems that all four ought to be pretty important. We beer geeks talk all the time about hops and malted barley, and when the subject of Belgian ales comes up, who doesn’t mention the yeast? But rarely does water get any love. I’m not the biggest fan of Coors, but give that brewery credit for emphasizing its greatest asset. Water can make or break a beer. Remember how Rolling Rock used to be a solid macro lager when its water source was the “glass lined tanks of old Latrobe”? Now it’s made from the swamps of Jersey, and boy does it taste like it.

Typically, good water makes the biggest difference in a simpler beer, which was the logic behind Victory’s Headwaters. Victory has been in business for 15 years plus, but had never made an American pale ale until now. Headwaters Pale Ale is Victory’s 15th anniversary celebration beer - a crisp, refreshing ale designed to showcase the headwaters of the east branch of Brandywine Creek. These waters are the source for Victory’s beers. Having such great water a mere 14 miles from the brewery has certainly been a large part of Victory’s success. Headwaters is Citra and Centennial hopped and made from all-German malt. And although it’s got a watery, thirst-quenching quality to it, it’s super hoppy with strong grassy and citrus notes. A bready pale malt backbone adds balance, and the finish is dry and clean like it should be. All in all, this beer is as delicious as it is simple. The always dependable Victory has done a great job of creating a “lighter” beer that still brings the flavor in abundance. And while it’s nice that this beer does allow the water quality to shine, it’s probably an even better showcase for those Citra and Centennial hops. Who knew that a session beer would end up a special treat for hop heads?! This is one you can drink all night. Just because a beer is made from great water doesn’t mean it should taste like water.

Photo courtesy of DailyBeerReview.com. Read the review here: http://www.dailybeerreview.com/2011/03/headwaters-pale-ale.html

Smuttynose Summer Weizen

There are quite a few common beer drinking practices I morally oppose, and one of them is putting fruit in a beer. I will not, under any circumstances, soil a beer glass with a slice of lime or orange. If I am served a beer with fruit in it, I will remove the fruit immediately and demand to see the manager. Seriously, if you need to put a piece of fruit in your beer, it probably means the beer sucks. It’s not that I don’t get the point of the fruit - it generally cuts an excessively wheaty or otherwise offensive flavor profile (or in the case of Corona, it gives the beer all of its flavor!). But a really good wheat beer doesn’t need the fruit. It’s balanced to begin with. Smuttynose’s Summer Weizen is a case in point. It’s by category an American pale wheat ale - an Americanized version of the German Hefeweizen. Made with domestic and continental wheat and barley malts, light hops, and a Belgian wit yeast, it compares favorably to outstanding American craft summer ales like Samuel Adams Summer Ale and Bell’s Oberon. But unlike, say, a Blue Moon, it balances its high proportion of wheat malts with mildly sharp hops and a zesty lemony finish. Ahhh! It’s refreshing and as wicked smooth as a summer beer should be, but rarely does one encounter a wheat ale with such tremendous complexity. Of course the wheat taste is front and center, but biscuity malts and an herbal, grainy finish add a lot. And the bottom line is that great brewing is about getting all the little things right - this is a Weizen that’s perfectly in balance. There are lots of beers that are generally of this style - and to tell you the truth I’m not a huge fan of wheat beers overall. Most of them are just a little “off” in some small way. But this one is so spot-on in every respect, and it may be my #1 favorite warm weather brew. There’s nothing like sitting out on the deck on a warm summer night, firing up the grill, listening to the Phillies game on the radio, and knocking back pints of Summer Weizen. Okay, actually I don’t have a deck. Or a grill. But if I did, you know which beer I’d have loaded in the cooler.

Troegs Sunshine Pils

If I were to ever join a class action lawsuit, it would be false advertising complaint against Miller Light’s “great pilsner taste” advertising campaign. Come on, man! Great pilsner taste? Are you fucking KIDDING me?! It’s light beer - it’s neither pilsner nor great-tasting! A pilsner, by definition, is golden-colored, heavily hopped, and spiced with floral and citrus notes. Miller light, well, they got the color right. Troegs Sunshine Pils, on the other hand, has got the classic pilsner taste. Available April through August only, Sunshine Pils is a staple of my warm weather beer diet. It’s crisp and thirst-quenching yet aggressively hoppy. Like any good pilsner it’s made from noble hops (in this case Saaz, Mitt, and Hallertau) and adds balance with biscuit-like malts. Although quite light, it’s by no means a mere “lawnmower beer”. It brings a surprising amount of flavor for such a clean, summery beverage. Sure, you could guzzle it down after you mowed the lawn on a hot day, and it would do the trick. But you could also enjoy it with a nice meal or as an ideal session brew in the company of friends. Notes of grass, citrus, pine, and bread come together to create a crisp, enjoyably hoppy taste that would do even the Germans and Czechs proud! Without a doubt, this is one of the best summer beers on the East Coast. I'd laud it for its "great pilsner taste", but legally I'm probably not allowed to. Drink up!

Stoudt's Brewing Company Karnival Kolsch

Adamstown, Pennsylvania’s Stoudt’s Brewing Company is one of America’s most venerable micro breweries. In business since 1987, Stoudt’s just keeps on making great beer without much hype. Although the brewery is just 40 minutes from my house, I actually bought my bottles of Karnival Kolsch in Toledo, Ohio. No matter - I’d go to Japan, Mars, or Middle Earth to get more if I had to! If you’re craving the perfect spring seasonal, this is IT! Kolsch beer was originally exclusive to Cologne, Germany. Known for its straw color and prominent hoppiness, the style eventually made its way outside of Cologne and into the American craft brewery market. Stoudt’s specialty is German style beers, and the Karnival Kolsch is expectedly outstanding. Although not at all bitter (just 22 IBUs!), it’s distinctively hoppy in the German tradition. The smell and the taste just scream “GERMAN!” A slight fruitiness and a really nice red wheat malt/biscuit like flavor balance out the noble Hallertau hops beautifully. All in all, it’s a clean, crisp, and incredibly refreshing beer that even your Coor’s Light loving pals will enjoy. Yet it’s got enough hop power and complexity of taste to satisfy hardcore beer geeks. The warm weather is coming, and this is the kind of beer you can drink all night as you kick back outdoors with your friends and enjoy the splendor of the season. It’s light in every way (color, taste, alcoholic content), yet in terms of taste it’s SO much more flavorful than your typical macro blonde. This is what a “light” beer is supposed to taste like. It quenches the thirst and goes great with a meal, but it doesn’t taste like corn-flavored water. I’d recommend buying in bulk. Cookouts, pool parties, and weekends at the beach are just a few weeks away. Don’t ruin these fine events with crap beer.

Dogfish Head Aprihop

So I’m drinking less these days. My doctor has advised me to lose weight, cut carbs, and bring down my blood sugar. I’m doing my best to heed this advice, and as a consequence I’ve cut my beer intake in half. So what does a beer blogger do when he’s forced to drink a smaller quantity of beer? Make better choices when it comes to the quality of beer! If I can only drink five or six beers all week, I gotta make ‘em count. That means loading up on the primo stuff. And it doesn’t get much more primo than Dogfish Head. If the Dogfish 60 Minute IPA is just about the finest beer to ever cross a human’s lips, then a seasonal variant of said beer is bound to be great as well. Right? Right! I generally don’t freak out for spring seasonals the way I do for fall’s Oktoberfests or winter’s stouts. But the Aprihop is a notable exception. Basically it’s an American IPA with apricots added in. Massively packed with Amarillo hops, this is not your father’s spring beer. Perhaps your first impression will be, “Damn, this is the best-tasting Magic Hat #9 I’ve ever had!” Or maybe it will be, “This is a Belgian ale, right?” Either way, you’re definitely going back for more and stocking up for the summer. The packaging quotes a blurb from Playboy (apparently some people buy it for the beer articles) saying Aprihop has “over the top smoothness.” I certainly won’t argue. The hops are powerful and chock full of the grapefruit and pine notes you expect from a top-notch IPA. There are just enough malts for balance. The apricots do not go unnoticed, but the added sweetness is not at all overdone. Overall this beer is quite refreshing, but far too potent to suck down like it’s water. At the end of the day, it probably doesn’t beat your basic 60 Minute IPA. But since baseball season has started, we can call this Dogfish’s change-up. It’s something a little different, and it hits all the right notes this time of the year. You’ll rarely see me touting a fruit beer. Enjoy the moment.