Top 25 Beers of the Year

Well, I've covered wine and spirits already, so I suppose it's time to bring in the beer! At Draft Magazine's website, they currently are featuring their compiled list of the "Top 25 Beers of the Year." And boy what a list it is! Be sure to give it a read here.

With an expansive range, the 25 craft brews selected cover a plethora of beer genres, from the more predictable American IPA and Oatmeal Stout to the lesser known fruit and spice/herbal/vegetable beer. (Oh yes friends, you read that right. Vegetable!)

I'm sad to report that I have not had the great privilege of getting to sample any of these beers myself throughout the year, as it seems that most Connecticut bars' ideas of craft beer is the inclusion of both Samuel Adams Boston Lager and a Sam seasonal on tap. Sigh... However, I sure can offer up which choice brews whetted my appetite upon reading the list.

First is the award-winning Experimental brew from Short's Brewing Company called Key Lime Pie. Described by Draft as being made "with fresh limes, milk sugar, graham cracker and marshmallow fluff", Shorts' beer took Gold in the Experimental Beer category at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) 2010. If the beer can hold its own in the flavor department as compared to its dessert counterpart, it would be too good to be true!

Secondly, I'd love to get my hands on the Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary series of ales. However, the Sierra Nevada website is all built in flash, is difficult to load, and the "Where to Find" feature doesn't seem to want to locate the beer anywhere in this fine country of ours, even when I typed in the Chico brewery's own zip code. Hmmm...wishful thinking now, I suppose.

There's only three weeks left to 2010, so I better get my drink on if I want to try and sample some (read: all. hehe.) of the Top 25 Beers of the year. Wish me luck!

Cheers!
SJ

(photo from tapthatny.com)