Tag: listicle

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Memorable Beers of the First 1/2 of 2017

Damn, 2017 is flashing past like, well, Barry Allen. Since half the year is history, time to highlight beers that have struck a chord in the past six months.

Since the interwebs loves a Top 10, here (in no order) are the beers that made me want more…

Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Golden IPA
I have tasted five 1/2 of the beers in the Beer Camp Across the World, none have the zip and hop bite of this January release.

Firestone Walker / Beavertown West Side Beavo
This is a fun can design and a super satisfying lighter beer. A London-ized take on Pivo.

Oskar Blues Hotbox IPA
Not many black or coffee IPA’s get the balance right but the coffee and the hops really work here.

El Segundo / Highland Park L.A. Gold
A hop amped Kellerbier that doesn’t hold out on either side of it’s equation.

Russian River Scratching Post Pils
This beer edges out West Side Beavo as most refreshing on a hot day in Paso Robles. Just a simple, table beer that I wish I had a keg of at home.

Cellador Firegold # 6 with grapefruit
I had this on draft and on cask and both times the grapefruit really popped. Tasted like a fresh cut ruby red.

Arrow Lodge Pale to the King
First beer from this new outer L.A. brewery and a strong start to their hoppy game.

New Belgium Voodoo Ranger IPA
I haven’t had the latest fruited IPA’s from this Jack Skellington-esque series but the regular IPA is tasty and light.

El Segundo Unity 2017 IPA
Call me a homer, but this year’s LABW9 beer was excellent. Not as strong and Hammerlandly as the normal beers from ESBC.

Fonta Flora Carolina Custard
My favorite beer from the Firestone Invitiational. Weird. Silky. New flavors. It all worked.

Eagle Rock Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Bitter
No, not a hop bomb but it is my favorite of the year so far. Smooth and silky with a focus on malts that seems single minded but just works. If you see it on Nitro, get two pints.

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Influence Peddlers

Count me as a fan of the Beer Bloggers Conference. (Now if only I had a Bruce Wayne / Oliver Queen backer to get me to Asheville this year.)  One of the fun services they provide is a list of Influential Beer Websites that they base on:

Alexa Rating: While this is not a perfect indicator of a website’s popularity, it is easy to access and relatively accurate.
Facebook Likes: Given the influence of social media, we considered the number of Facebook likes.
Twitter Followers: The same goes for Twitter.

Considering the wildness of the web, those tools are fine if influence is measured by traffic alone.  What it doesn’t, and possibly can’t measure, is the cultural impact of a website.  You are going to see your local brewery or beer bar on this list but they may have an outsize impact on the community relative to size.  I would posit that the Brewers Association website may not have the Twitter following of Coors but they are a bigger player who affect and cause discussions around the country.  Same with home brewers and home brewing clubs. They generate talk.  Which is a different type of social minus the media.

So take this list with a grain of salt or a glass of Gose.
1    Heineken 63
2    Beer Advocate  57
3    Dogfish Head Craft Brewery  52
4    New Belgium Brewing  50
5    Stone Brewing Company 48
6    Bud Light   45
7 tie    Budweiser  42
7 tie    Coors Light  42
9    Miller Lite  41
10    Untapped   29
11    Sierra Nevada Brewing Company   28
12    Rogue Ales   26
13    Samuel Adams  25
14 tie    Drink Craft Beer 24
14 tie    BJ’s Brewhouse   24
14 tie    Dos Equis     24
14 tie    BrewDog    24
14 tie    RateBeer.com   24
19 tie    Guinness   22
19 tie    More Beer!   22