Beer of the Weekend @ 17

Beer of the Weekend’s is now 17, and it’s 17th year was a good one. It was probably the best yet grade-wise: six A+s, four As, and seven A-s. I doubt I ever drunk so well in a year. Is it because I was picky, because I got lucky, or because the beer is getting better? What’s on the can or bottle is not necessarily indicative of the quality of what is inside (depending on the brewery), so it could be part luck and part better beer.

I have a list of all BotW beers and the grades I have given them, so I could dig into the data and check if year 17 had the best overall quality. However, it’s a Word file (I’m a writer, after all), and wringing meaningful data out of the list probably requires something I have been thinking about: transferring everything to an Excel spreadsheet. I could track all kinds of information I have posted over the years and keep count of styles, price, ABV, and grades. It would be a massive undertaking—and it could be worth my while.

Moving all the info to Excel, however, would make it harder to copy and paste the yearly list, like this one for 2024–2025:

#1,076: TG Pils (B+/A-)

#1,077: Mahalo Pineapple Radler (D)

#1,078: Munich Weiss (C+)

#1,079: Limaveza (C)

#1,080: Skål Til Steinen (A)

#1,081: Buds ’N Suds (B)

#1,082: John’s Grocery Next Generation White Ale (A-)

#1,083: Happy Place (A)

#1,084: Chaos Pattern (C)

#1,085: Pabst Blue Ribbon Extra (C)

#1,086: Wonderstuff (A-)

#1,087: Bear Hop (A-)

#1,088: Kolsch 45 (B-)

#1,089: Badass Warrior Goddess (A+)

#1,090: Galactic Face Slap (A+)

#1,091: Council's Kölsch (A-)

#1,092: Blueberry Lemon Tart (A+)

#1,093: Cloud Trippin' (C+)

#1,094: Exile Oktoberfest (B)

#1,095: Munsterfest (A+)

#1,096: Smokey the Bier (B+/A-)

#1,097: Salute Your Schwarz (B+)

#1,098: French Silk Pie (B-)

#1,099: Foggy Geezer (A)

#1,100: KBS (2019) (A)

#1,101: Flanders Red (B+)

#1,102: CTRL ALT bier (B+)

#1,103: Turbo Reaper (A-)

#1,104: Zach’s Mexican Donuts (B)

#1,105: Possible Spam (C)

#1,106: Cherry Bomb Blonde (C-)

#1,107: Crush Tangerine Wheat (C)

#1,108: Robert the Bruce (B)

#1,109: Czech Dark Lager (C-)

#1,110: Black Dog Lager (B-)

#1,111: Irish Ale (B-)

#1,112: Flogging Molly (A+)

#1,113: Paradise Light (C-)

#1,114: Richter’s Pilsner (A+)

#1,115: Total Clarity (C+)

The Primo Island Lager BotW@17 Worst Beer Award: Cherry Bomb Blonde. I hate to say it since it was a gift from my very nice neighbor, but it was not good. The label made it worse.

“It’s Just a Little Taste of Heaven” BotW@17 Best Beer Award: This year is a toss-up between Badass Warrior Goddess and Galactic Face Slap. Both were amazing. Obviously, Ursa Minor gets an honorary brewery of the year award.

The BotW@17 Ultimate Six-pack: Badass Warrior Goddess, Galactic Face Slap, Blueberry Lemon Tart, Munsterfest, Richter’s Pilsner, Flogging Molly.

(The post pic is from when I enjoyed a 2019 KBS while camping at Yellow River State Park in October.)