Here’s the complete list of the 107 flagship beers sorted by their overall BA grades. The breweries all come from my earlier “Expanded GPA” post which ranked 107 of the best breweries in the US based on the overall averages of their brews (an earlier post explains in more detail):
Commercial brewing is, first and foremost, a business. It’s something that members of Alehead Nation (myself included) tend to forget. We bristle at the thought of another boring pale ale or one-note brown ale being released onto the shelves of our local package stores. Why can’t breweries just focus on aggressively hopped double IPAs or […]
As there is already plenty of information on this site about the Allagash Brewery in Portland, ME, I don’t think any further detail is necessary. Just to refresh the memories of our devoted folower(s) though, this tasting is in response to the heated debate between myself and Brother Barley over the merits of the Men from Maine. […]
When the Baron threw down the gauntlet to name some prestige beers, I added the name of a beer I knew very little about, the Schorschbraeu Schorschbock 40. This ridiculous brew was created by the tiny Schorschbraeu brewery in southern Germany and all I really knew about it was that it was an 80-proof beer. […]
In case you ever needed to whip out some quick Danish, Rugbrod means Rye Bread in the native tongue. Is that useful knowledge? Probably not. Would it be better if you learned about a delicious offering from Orange County CA? I would think so. I don’t generally go on and on about a particular brewery […]
A heated debate recently arose amongst the Aleheads. Insults were hurled. Bodily harm was threatened. Gwen Ifill was called in to moderate… As usual, this debate revolved around that most highly controversial of beers…the Harpoon Winter Warmer. The Winter Warmer is NOT a good beer. I accept this. It is a poorly balanced, one-note offering, […]
Great piece in the Times on the best of the Belgian-style brews: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/dining/reviews/24wine.html?hp The Times tasting crew selected Oro de Calabaza from Jolly Pumpkin as creme de creme of the lot, which I know will draw the ire of at least one Alehead among us… So have at it: did the Times get it right, […]
To be blunt, Scotland isn’t known for its beer. The Scottish drink a shit-ton of brew and have some phenomenal breweries. But the truth is, the land of St. Andrew simply isn’t seen as a contender in the “Which Country Produces the Best Beer” debate. To me, that’s unfair. Edinburgh was once one of the […]
A fellow attorney recently lamented: “I just want to know which is the most expensive and prestigious beer I can purchase so that I may imbibe it in the half hour between getting off work and collapsing in bed.” Fun question. What are the rarest, most coveted, and/or most outrageously priced beers available (or, as […]
Nice piece in the Times Travel section this week on Vietnamese brews: http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/travel/21explorer.html?ref=travel When I visited Vietnam in 2008, I quaffed my fair share of bia hoi and sat on many a tiny plastic chair with the locals. One of my favorite Vietnam memories, though, was walking through Hoi An, a small, ancient town in central Vietnam, after dark. […]
We don’t have much on the site yet under the “Beer 101” category, so I figure I’ll throw in some info to wet your whistles. At Aleheads, we spend a great deal of time discussing the more robust end of the beer spectrum, whether it’s talking about the principles of Double IPA’s or the cellaring […]
Smuttynose Brewery, out of Portsmouth, NH, produces some of the finest Ales in all of New England. Founded by the same guys that started Portsmouth Brewery (Yup, the same Portsmouth that makes Kate the Great), Smutty is the quintessential ale house for year-round comfort in my area. Their standards are, well, pretty standard. A very well done […]
I’ll be doing a follow up post on the wonderful concept of “Session Beers” later on, but figured a tasting note was in order first. For those that don’t know, a session beer is one of those brews that can keep you going for a few hours at a bar or in front of a […]
Brother Barley reviews the Good People American Brown.
The greatly expanded, Aleheads GPA list:
I’ll admit that determining a cumulative GPA for a brewery isn’t a particularly informative statistic. First, the overall number is based on the highly subjective beer ratings on BeerAdvocate. Second, different breweries tend to focus on different styles, so if you like the aggressive hop offerings of one brewery more than the sour, subtle Belgian-style […]
There’s snow on the ground down here…not too surprising for a February evening in New England or Colorado, or for folks in my former home of DC (which apparently has 72 feet of snow right now). But it’s fairly rare for my sleepy corner of the Deep South. People have forgotten how to drive, schools […]
It’s Valentine’s Day, so on this holiest of holy days, we commemorate the day that Jesus invented chocolate, flowers, and greeting cards. While I certainly ate my fair share of chocolate today, I don’t think anyone wants to hear me describe the heavenly bitterness of dark Mexican chocolate or the unparalleled creaminess of an Icelandic […]
I selected North Coast Brewing as my top brewery in the Southwest bracket (aka: The California Bracket), so it’s no surprise that I tend to enjoy all of their offerings. While the Brother Thelonius would be my hands-down favorite from the brewery, I also love their “Old” triumvirate (Old Rasputin, Old #38, and Old Stock […]
I’ve always been a fan of Long Trail, although I feel that they play second/third fiddle to Magic Hat and Otter Creek when it comes to Vermont’s best. I was excited to finally find a bottle from their Brewmaster Series and I certainly wasn’t disappointed with the results. Very dark pour from a 22, nice carbonation and […]
ALEHEADS 