Best Brews of 2016

I'm gonna brush right past the disappointments and political divisiveness we lived through and jump right to good bits: there were a lot of amazing brews available, and here are a few of my favorites from the past year:

In the interests of my being an extremely lazy doofus, I'm going to list these brews in reverse order of when I checked them in on Untappd, because it's soo much easier to sort them on Untappd that way and it would be such an effort to toss these in a spreadsheet and resort. Yes, faithful readers, I am that lazy, though if it comes as a surprise at this point, one might be tempted to question the thoroughness of said faithful reading. But I would never disparage the intentions of either of my fans, so I can only hope this surprise discourages neither of you from further reading!

As in past years, the beers I'm listing here are those I gave a solid 5 rating on Untappd. This is not meant to diminish your opinion of any brews you might have enjoyed, this is just a short list of the ones I liked best.

Frambuesa I Chocolate from Brouwerij Hof Ten Dormaal was just an amazing beer...it's funky raspberry, dark chocolate and just a touch of wet leather funk just blew me away! Great dessert beer on it's own, or enjoy it with cheesecake.

Petite Sour Rose from Crooked Stave: Delicate and dusty, this brought to mind a long abandoned horse barn, with all the lovely scents and memories that might inspire.

Batch #200 from Crooked Stave is another wild ale that evoked strong memories of horse barns. Freshly chewed oak, horse sweat and horse slobber. If you've never worked at a stable, these aren't words to evoke fond memories, much less rank a beer highly if you notice any of these tastes in your beer. I got all that from this, and enjoyed it all immensely.

St. Benedict's Breakfast, a Belgian Dubbel from Haw River Farmhouse Ales is a delightful coffee-infused oatmeal stout. Outstanding and exceptionally delicious!

Bu Weisse by de Garde Brewing...had this one at the Shelton Brothers Festival, so my notes were a little thin. There were so many awesome beers at the Festival, that this one earned a solid 5 is something!

Bourbon Barrel Wood Burner by Jackie O's is another Shelton Fest brew. There were so many delicious brews there!

Hel & Verdoemenis Bruichladdich (peated) BA by de Molen was also a Shelton Brothers Festival offering.

Black Damnation XII - Nuptiale A2 from de Struisse. Yet another Shelton Bros Fest sampling.

70K from Against the Grain, was able to sample this one at my favorite bottle shop: Beer Trappe!

White Angel from Wicked Weed: had this one at the Funkatorium in Asheville while there for BrewGrass20. Parliament Funkadelicious!

Schlafly 2011 Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout Tried this one at the Beer Trappe. Outstanding!

Hemel & Aarde from de Molen "Heaven and Earth" Very earthy, smoked saddle leather, chocolate rutabagas

Raison D'Extra (2007) from Dogfish Head...Had this bottle from Beer Trappe's Cellar Reserve List. Wow! Just "rock your world" amazing! This is the kind of taste that can change how you think of beer!

London Balling from Against the Grain. OK, this Clash tribute may not have been the Only Beer That Matters, but it was still delicious!

Ojos Negros (2014) from Rivertown Brewing. Another Beer Trappe sampling. Don't they just have the best tap list you could hope for?!? Anywhose, this was one tasty, pucker up, sour. Love it!

Avery's Vanilla Bean Stout I thought this was just absolutely perfect. Now mebbe it was just perfect for that moment, or mebbe for all time. If that moment were all time, I'd never have to try another beer, and wouldn't that be boring!

Chrysopolis from Birrificio Del Ducato brought to mind The Man With No Name series. How do these Italian breweries peg that profile so well? Dusty, tart, a twinkling of sweet, ashy. As delicious to watch as it is to drink.

Miles Davis Bitches Brew (2012), from Dogfish Head. Another Beer Trappe Cellar Reserve List (and isn't that just an amazing list!) Jazz in a bottle here, as good as it ever gets.

Another Dogfish Head Cellar Reserve List brew World Wide Stout (2011). Just an amazing brew!

Cellar Reserve List entry 7:  Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout (2010)

Saint Lamvinus from Cantillon   Thanks Bryan! .Seriously delicious funk.

Samichlaus Classic from Eggenberg. Sweaty go lucky summer distilled to that perfect moment you jump off the railroad bridge into the river.

Nebiulin-A from LoverBeer. Soured to vinegar and back again. George Clinton funky.

Bachus from von Honsbrouck...balsamic dates and raisins. Delicious!

Rochefort 10 from Abbaye Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy. My notes say it tasted like quantum entanglement, and we should just sit back and enjoy it working out in the math. I may have been slightly tipsy or actually onto something i'll never recover. mebbe a few more of these are required in the interests of physics

New Holland's Dragons Milk Reserve (Triple Mashed Stout (2015) at the Beer Trappe: Wow!!!

Avery's Pum(KY)n...The BEST pumpkin beer ever???

Rogue/Voodoo Donut Mango Astronaut Ale  I do luv these rogue voodoo collabs

Echt Kriekenbier from Brouwerij Verhaeghe. tart cherry pie with a lovely shortbread crust. Yum

And that is the entire list of THE BEST BREWS of 2016. I made no attempt at all to narrow the list, as you should make all effort to drink each of these beers as soon as possible!

2016 held some amazing beers for me, and some wonderful brewfests...I'm sure 2017 has even more in store.

May the new year and all it brings simply amaze you! (Yes, both of you, faithful readers!)

Kentucky Kicks Ass Brewfest Recap and Random Babblings

When last I left you, faithful readers, I'd mentioned my growing anticipation for the 4th Annual Kentucky Kicks Ass Brewfest. Said brewfest has now come and gone (and by quite some time! thx, amzn!0 leaving us to impatiently await next year's shindig.

As always, this brewfest was held to benefit Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. They're well-intentioned folk, but there's no need to miss out on the tasty brews and good fun if you don't fully agree with their principles. The event is primarily about tasting and sharing some of the great beers being crafted by the growing number of talented breweries right here in Kentucky, and all the politicking is corralled onto a couple tiny little tables way off in the corner.

Tickets were only $25 ($20 if you caught the early bird special!) and you got a nice commemorative tasting glass and 20 tickets you can trade for beers. If your politics lean that way, you can use your admission ticket as your annual membership dues for Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, so you will get their newspaper and emails about issues that may interest you.

As in previous years, this year's event was held at the Grand Reserve near Manchester Music Hall (formerly Buster's.) The fest this year included additional room with many of the brewers moved to the Speakeasy. This made things look a little empty at first, but certainly eased crowding as the fest progressed.

As always, ALL the breweries were from right here in Kentucky, 22 total this year. One of the things that really impressed me about this year's fest was how many of the breweries brought newer brews or new variations on their more popular beers. With all the breweries being local, many attendees might have been disappointed by offerings of "the usual suspects," but there were many surprising new tastes available! (I just can't emphasize this enough: Absolutely fantastic job from all the breweries involved on bringing new and interesting offerings!!!)

All the brewers had some great beers available, but just a few shout outs are definitely called for:

I was really pleased to see Falls City stepping into more adventuresome styles and look forward to tasting more soon.

Country Boy Brewing brought a very nice variation on their Ghost Gose: the guava was a nice touch!

Both of Alltech's offerings were exceptional, with this year's Honey Barrel Brown Ale being surprisingly delightful.

What really surprised me was my favorite of the night: West Sixth's variations of their Pay It Forward Cocoa Porter aged on red chiles in Four Roses bourbon barrels. Tasty stuff indeed!

There were many, many other delightful beers at this fest, and I only had the opportunity to taste 20 and space and time here to only mention a few. Friend me on Untappd if ya'll feel the need for a more complete and timely update on every beer sampled. ;-)

It was peak season at Amzn when I started this post, so it's taken me a spell to get this post out. Hopefully, I'll get my "best brews of 2016" post up in a much more timely fashion...or not. LOL In addition to the annual best of post, I hope to get brewing a maple/bacon version of my Choctaw Bingo recipe using two pounds of Cascade Maple & Smoked Bacon Beer Candi Syrup from MoreBeer.com that recently arrived. If it turns into the bacony heaven I'm hoping for, you'll soon be hearing about Pork Soda!

Till we meet again, faithful readers, happy trails and a merry brew year!