Best Beers in Kitchen 2014

Once again, it's that time of year where we take a look back at all the fantastic brews we had out in the Kitchen last year. This is not a comprehensive list, and lord knows y'all are quite likely to disagree with my selections. Feel free to comment and add any that I might have missed! This was going to be a list of every beer I gave a 5 to on Untappd over the last year, but that turned out to be a ridiculous number: Holy Cow!!! I rated 57 different beers a full 5 stars in 2014. Either I've gotten much better at finding beers I really like or I've gotten much easier-going in my rankings. (Or I just drank a boatload of beers? Correlation is not causation, but let's not get carried away lookin' for root causes!)

So, rather than subject both my loyal readers to the entire list of Fives, I'll just babble till I hit a baker's dozen. And just so y'all don't get confused, we'll start off with a baker's choice:

1) Voodoo Doughnut Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Banana Ale from Rogue Ales. This brew did NOT rate a 5 first time I tried it in 2013. There was no PB flavor at all and the banana seemed to leave a nasty chemical aftertaste. However, I'd bought two bombers when I first came across this and since the first tasting didn't exactly hit the spot for me, I left the second in the back of the fridge for 14 months. The time in the fridge did wonders: it had become ever so delicious! Cooking with gas on all 6 burners, second time out!





2) Shake Chocolate Porter from Boulder Beer Company. Y'all know I just love a chocolate stout, and this porter was plenty close enough to flip my switches! Chocolate-covered cherries and lots of malty goodness. Just a hint of dry chalkiness towards the finish, but not at all detracting from the flavor.

3) Pearl Necklace from Flying Dog Brewery. Absolutely fantastic! Who couldn't love  this one? ;-P

4) Wake Up Dead Imperial Stout Nitro from Left Hand Brewing. If you're a fan of Russian Imperials, you're gonna love this one! Opens up with a lovely taste of chocolate-covered dates, with mebbe a hint of licorice. And that silky smooth Nitro feel! Just can't go wrong with this one!

5) Crabbie's Spice Orange Ginger Beer. It's like boozy Mtn Dew with a spicy little kick at the finish. I gotta figure out how to brew this stuff!

6) Goat Boy from Southern Tier Brewing. And not Goat Boy vs. Cow Man, this is some seriously good freakin' beer! Southern Tier nailed this Imperial Weizenbock.

 7) Chateau Jiahu from Dogfish Head. When the brewers consult with a molecular archeologist and the results would rock any academic library down to it's cornerstone, you just gotta luv it. How many times does a beer this tasty get an "All Things Considered" episode? Did I mention how tasty it is?!?!?

 8) Huge Arker Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout from Anderson Valley Brewing Company.
Wow! This is one big ass brew, and having been stored in Wild Turkey Bourbon barrels didn't exactly shorten its stature. Bourbon-soaked bread, smoky sorghum and molasses. Just a truly outstanding Imperial stout!

9) Stovepipe Crow from J.Lee's Brewhouse and BBQ Emporium (the Infamous Kitchen! lol) I was shooting for a Mole flavored stout, akin to New Holland's Mole Ocho. Big chocolate stout base, with 5 oz. of dried smoke Serrano peppers and several cinnamon sticks added to the secondary. Came out just hotter than a hell and tasty as all get out, if you can stand the heat! (As y'all know, ALL the beers coming outta the kitchen get their name from Ray Wylie Hubbard songs. This death and devil brew got it's name from a line in Ray's song "Tornado Ripe" ... "And if you was to see a crow on a chimney
Meant someody's fixin' to die." If you aren't up to the heat, then yeah, this brew'll kill ya! ;-)

"Find what you love, and let it kill you!" CB

 10) Voodoo Doughnut Pretzel, Raspberry & Chocolate Ale by Rogue Ales. The Rogue Ales/Voodoo Donut collaboration makes a second appearance in this list. This bottle wasn't aged, just chilled and popped. The magic is in the Hole! Lovely fresh pretzel up front with chocolate-covered raspberries followed by by a dry "clean" tasting finish.

 11) Warlock from Southern Tier Brewing Company. Wow! I'm a big fan of pumpkin ales, but I'd never encountered a pumpkin Stout before! Fantastic! Melted and slightly scorched pumpkin pie, absolutely unbeatable!

12) Marionberry Braggot from Rogue Ales. Yet another entry from Rogue Ales, unlinked at posting due to their server being down? Anywhos, tasted like blackberries dipped in honey, set to age for a spell. Barleywine with honey sorta taste?

 13) Envious (Vintage 2011) from New Holland. New Holland threw my definition of beer for a loop with this one! Way too much going on for my knockabout palate, but truly delicious, nonetheless! Very complicated, in a "lemme take another sip" sorta way that starts with sweet malt/tart raspberry and finishes almost like pear brandy. If you see it, grab a bottle and let me know what you think!










And there ya have it folks, the absolute best beers found in the Kitchen during 2014! Y'all may not find these as fantastic as I did, but I guarantee you will find them interesting! Thanks to both my dedicated readers, and I'll be back with more babbling next week! :-)