Thursday, June 9, 2016

#SAVOR2016's Top Fifteen Beers That Blew Me Away

I attended SAVOR 2016 on Friday June 3rd and this Brewers Association sponsored event was splendid.  76 breweries poured two beers each and represented a mix of styles from IPAs, Stouts, Porters, Saisons, and sours. Many sours in fact and that's how I started off the evening. Out of the two dozen or so, there were a few that clearly stood out above the noise. Same for the many excellent barrel aged stouts and porters.  And in both categories top honors goes to Crux Fermentation Project. One caveat, I didn't sample many IPAs - just ran out of time trying to sample 152 beers. Cheers.
  1. Crux Fermentation Project [Banished] Bretted Farmhouse 
  2. D9 Brewing Company Systema Naturae Sour Ale fermented with wild lactobacillus & yeast, naturally conditioned.
  3. Crux Fermentation Project [Banished] Tough Love Barrel Aged Imperial Stout banished to used bourbon barrels
  4. The Lost Abbey Track #8  Barrel Aged Quad Judgement Day aged 9 months in new bourbon barrels and spiked with cinnamon sticks and dried chili peppers
  5. Oskar Blues Ten Fidy Imperial Stout combines hefty amounts of various dark malts with 98 IBUs of hops
  6. Urban Chestnut Brewing Company Schnickelfritz Weissbier
  7. Center of the Universe Brewing Company IV Quadrupel aged in red wine barrels
  8. Southern Tier Brewing Company Salted Caramel Imperial Stout based on a milt stout with Himalayan sea salt and caramelized sugar
  9. Right Proper Brewing Company Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne Berliner Weisse brewed with Meyer lemon zest, elderberries, and dry hopped with Sauvin
  10. New Belgium Brewing Company Tart Lychee Sour Ale barrel aged with lychee puree and cinnamon sticks
  11. Perennial Artisanal Ales Savant Blanc Sour Ale Barrel Aged Belgium Blond Ale (aged in Chardonnay barrels) with Chardonnel wine grapes
  12. Deschutes Brewery The Abyss Rye Barrel Aged Imperial Stout brewed with black strap molasses, licorice, cherry bark, augmented with vanilla, then aged 12 months in rye whiskey barrels.
  13. Strange Craft Beer Company Cherry Kriek Lambic with loads of cherries
  14. Bell's Brewery Bourbon Barrel Aged Expedition Stout
  15. Lewis and Clark Brewing Company  Prickly Pear Pale Ale

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)

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