Beer of the Weekend @ 6

Ugh! I almost forgot about my annual BotW retrospective. It is, I guess, not as important as it once was. Or I have been way too busy for it to even cross my mind. (It obviously did at some point, though.) I think it is a bit of both, with a little apathy mixed in.

Writing about beer has become a chore for me. Though I often enjoy it, sometimes it feels like a burdensome responsibility, one that I have trapped myself into doing. That was not what I intended when I started BotW. I love writing and I love beer, and I should try again to love writing about beer.

The last year in beer was very good. I drank a lot more good beer than bad, despite my yearly resolution to try more “bad” beer. The problem with that, though, is twofold: (1) Why spend my money on bad beer, and (2) how do I know what beer is bad before I drink it? Plus, what exactly is “bad” beer. To me, it is beer that is offensive and hard to drink. Tasteless is one thing (and usually drinkable), but bad is completely different. Off the top of my head, I can only think of one beer that has fit that definition of bad. (I would, though, give it another shot since I did not review it.) Honestly, I should probably put to rest the perception of there being a class of “bad” beers. It’s childish and unfair. Though I do avoid certain breweries from experience, I should give every beer and brewery a chance and not worry about what I think will be good and bad. I have ignorantly avoided certain beers because of unfounded perception.

ANYWAY, here’s the list of beers reviewed over BotW’s last year:

#451: Rampant IPA (B)
#452: Steelhead Double India Pale Ale (B+/A-)
#453: Summit 100% Organic Ale (B+)
#454: Lindemans Framboise (B+)
#455: Stiegl Radler (Grapefruit) (A-)
#456: Overrated (B+)
#457: Schweinsbräu Weisse (B)
#458: Summit Meridian Session Ale (B)
#459: Summit India Pale Ale (B)
#460: Stone Ruination IPA (A-)
#461: Edel-Pils (A-)
#462: Goose Island 25th Anniversary Ale (B+)
#463: Sidekick Kölsch (C-)
#464: Sünner Kölsch (B+)
#465: Rebel (C+)
#466: Dos Pistolas (C)
#467: Martens Witte (B-)
#468: River Falls Red Ale (B+)
#469: Bad Penny Brown Ale (C-*)
#470: Loose Cannon (B+)
#471: Buckshot Amber Ale (B-)
#472: Shotgun Betty Hefeweizen (C-)
#473: Dark Cloud (B+)
#474: Hop Happy (B+)
#475: Rebel Kent The First (B)
#476: Dale’s Pale Ale (A-)
#477: Louie’s Demise (B+)
#478: Alaskan Freeride APA (B)
#479: Old Chub (B-)
#480: Booyah (B-)
#481: Baaad Boy Black Wheat (B+)
#482: Ethos IPA (A-)
#483: La Crosse Amber Lager (C+)
#484: Chainbreaker White IPA (B)
#485: Boddingtons Pub Ale (C+)
#486: Twilight Summer Ale (B)
#487: Pennant Ale ’55 (B+)
#488: Mirror Pond Pale Ale (B+)
#489: Golden Ale (C)
#490: Yuengling Traditional Lager (C)
#491: Jackpine Savage (A-)
#492: Midnight Ryder (B+)
#493: Bitter Neighbor (A-)
#494: Bad Axe (B+)
#495: Rocky Mountain IPA (A-)
#496: Shenanigans Summer Ale (C+/B-)
#497: Classique (B)
#498: Day Tripper (A-)
#499: Breckenridge ESB (B+)
#500: Don de Dieu (B+)
#501: Pumpkick (B-)
#502: Out of Your Gourd Pumpkin Porter (C+)
#503: Ace Hard Pumpkin Cider (A-)
#504: O’Fallon Pumpkin Beer (B)
#505: Flipside Red IPA (A-)
#506: Shiner Oktoberfest (B)
#507: Warsteiner Edition Okotberfest (C+/B-)
#508: Goose Island Oktoberfest (C)
#509: Point Oktoberfest (B-)
#510: Southampton Burton IPA (B)
#511: Tallgrass Pub Ale (C)
#512: Fluffy White Rabbits (B)
#513: Westmalle Tripel (B+)
#514: Chimay Tripel (A-)
#515: Thomas Beck Black IPA (B+)
#516: Bitch Creek ESB (B+)
#517: Glacier Ale (B)
#518: Bent Nail IPA (A)
#519: Zombie Monkie (A-)
#520: Wasatch Pumpkin Ale (C+)
#521: Ould Sod (B)
#522: Okto Festival Ale (B-)
#523: Pumpkinhead Ale (C)
#524: Busch Light (D+/C-)
#525: BigLeaf Maple Autumn Red (B)
#526: Organic Real Ale (B-)
#527: Never Summer Ale (C+/B-)
#528: Sixth Day (B)
#529: Accumulation (B)
#530: Snowstorm 2013 (A-)
#531: Bark Bite (A-)
#532: Blitzen Baltic Porter (A-)
#533: Gray’s Lake Nessie Scottish Ale (B)
#534: Vanilla Bean Buffalo Sweat (B)
#535: Morning Wood (B-)
#536: New Glarus Apple Ale (A-)
#537: Jingle Java Holiday Stout (A-)
#538: Chimney Sweep (B-)
#539: Burly Brown (B)
#540: From To Via (A)
#541: Anchor Christmas Ale 2013 (B)
#542: Southampton Imperial Porter (B+)
#543: Double Whammy (B)
#544: Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout (B+)
#545: Thomas Creek Coffee Oatmeal Stout (B+)
#546: Rare Vos (A-)
#547: Summit Extra Pale Ale (B)
#548: Alamo Golden Ale (C+)
#549: Harpoon IPA (B-)
#550: Full Moon Pale Rye Ale (B+)
#551: Blanche de Bruxelles (B+)
#552: Flashback India-Style Brown Ale (B)
#553: Indio (C)
#554: Lucky Buddha (C-)
#555: La Crosse Lager (C+)
#556: Smithwick’s (B-)
#557: Leffe Blonde (B-)
#558: Frost Line Rye (B+/A-)
#559: Green Flash Black IPA (B+)
#560: Saku Porter (B+/A-)
#561: Dorothy’s New World Lager (B+)
#562: Baltika #7 Export (C+)
#563: Baltika #6 Porter (B-)
#564: pseudoSue (A)
#565: Baltika #4 Dark Lager (B-)
#566: Mudpuppy Porter (B)
#567: Zipline India Red Ale (B)
#568: Busch Signature Copper Lager (B+)
#569: Zipline Oatmeal Porter (A)
#570: Irish Twin (B+)
#571: RAYGUN IPA (B+/A-)
#572: Zipline New Zealand IPA (B-)
#573: BLAKKR (A)

The Primo Island Lager BotW@6 Worst Beer Award: Busch Light received a D+/C- and Bad Penny Brown Ale got a C- with an asterisk because it was way past its prime. However, I think I am going to give the BotW@6 Worst Beer Award to Lucky Buddha. Not only was it totally lackluster, the 11.16-ounce Buddha-shaped bottle gave me the impression that the brewery cares more about the packaging than the beer.

BotW@6 Best Beer Award: From To Via. I thought about giving the award to Bent Nail IPA and pseudoSue, but, having just read the review, I think From To Via is more worthy given its complexity. Yes, it probably sat in a container in multiple ports, but Goddamn it was good!

BotW@6 Ultimate Six-pack: Bent Nail IPA, Zombie Monkie, From To Via, pseudoSue, Zipline Oatmeal Porter, and BLAKKR. (Interestingly, this is the second year in a row that the last beer I reviewed for the BotW year was a black IPA that made it on the Ultimate Sixer list. Last year it was Mendocino Black IPA and this year it was BLAKKR.)

(The picture at the top of the post is of the former Pabst brewery in Milwaukee. I paid a visit when I was there last June.)