Top 10 Beers of the Year
Enegren/Bierstadt American Reinheitsgebot Pilsner (Moorpark, California) A regular old pilsner celebrating the 504th anniversary of the Reinheitsgebot doesn’t seem that salacious on paper. However, when it is made by two of the most celebrated pilsner masters in America, the result is a crisp crusher: matzo meets raked fescue clippings and a soft honey-biscuit finish. It is a master course in simplicity.
Phase Three Eunoia (Lake Zurich, Illinois) The Chicago populace waited with bated breath to see what their golden boy Shaun Berns would turn out for Phase Three’s first barrel-aged beer, and it is a peanut-butter tour de force. There is no subtlety to it, and the masses who clamor for Smucker’s Uncrustables and spent Reese’s Peanut Butter Puffs Cereal milk found an idol in this salty gem. Despite the allergens and Butterfinger goodness, the barrel profile is expertly massaged to temper the Peter Pan excesses without cutting off the crusts.
Southern Grist/DSSOLVR Wooden Teeth (Nashville, Tennessee) Nashville came in spicy hot with this malty stunner. This beer delivers on every barleywine promise and exceeds expectation in every way: Riesling candy, SKOR bar, and bar mitzvah caramel fondue fountain. The custard-and-bananas- Foster sweetness is tempered with a lightly bitter aspect from the grain bill, combining to form a waffle-cone-and-Werther’s Original Voltron: No dental insurance needed.