The List Post

In honor of all the great fall beers available this time of year, I've decided to make some lists of the best ones I've tried (and a few other lists):

Top 3 Autumn Beers (2008)

3. Dogfish Head Punkin
A nice touch of pumpkin and spice, but it doesn't overwhelm an otherwise very nice brown ale.

2. Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale
Perhaps not strictly an autumnal beer, but it's available this time of year. Fantastic IPA.

1. Avery "The Kaiser" Oktoberfest
Rich oktoberfest lager at 10% abv. Delicious and inebriating.


Top 4 Overrated Beers

4. Blue Moon
If you're going to drink a Belgian ale, it should be Belgian. (Or at least French Canadian, i.e. Unibroue)

3. Heineken
A pale lager is, after all, just a pale lager, even if it is from the Netherlands.

2. Fat Tire
Fat Tire. Fat Tire is SO hot right now. Fat Tire. Seriously, it's not that good, get over it.

1. Stella Artois
Just because it has a French name doesn't change the fact that it's boring.


Best Beer Bars in C-U

3. Radio Maria
20+ taps and a decent bottle selection, but they don't change the list as often as other places.

2. Crane Alley
Several taps which rotate a lot and a bottle list spanning several pages of a menu. Great burgers, to boot.

1. Blind Pig Co.
Over 20 taps which change many times per season, great wooden pub atmosphere, proper glassware, and fair prices. Occasionally cask-conditioned ales, too.


Best Cocktail Bars in C-U

3. Seven Saints
A very large selection of all types of spirits, which they tabulate nicely in a bar menu. My only gripe is the occasional inexperienced bartender.

2. Radio Maria
Again, great list of spirits, cool blue-lit bar top, and one of the best bartenders in town (Chris), although I can't say the same for some of their other bartenders.

1. Boltini
Awesome house music on the weekends, never any cover, great interior decor, and HUGE cocktails expertly made almost every night.

Unibroue Maudite (Belgian Dark Strong Ale)

I am not ashamed to admit that prior to trying this beer, I was under the impression that Unibroue's brewery was located in Belgium. Why should I be? Their Belgian-style ales (Fin du Monde, etc.) are so good that I would imagine it's a common mistake. In fact, the brewery is located in Quebec, which doesn't seem too out of place given the French-influenced culture native to Quebec.

I also admit I bought this bottle strictly based on the name, label, and familiarity with the brewery - the name literally means "Damned" and the bottle features a demon below what looks like a canoe rowing down to hell... how could I not try this? Regardless, it was a good choice. The beer is apparently "refermented on yeast in the bottle," which I'm guessing means they add extra yeasts during bottling to continue fermentation when you drink it. It is a strong, brown, and cloudy beer with a delicious spiced aroma, and wonderful citrus-spice flavors that are characteristic of this type of Belgian ale. I also noted that the finish left kind of a tart apple flavor, which was very enjoyable. I highly recommend this, and based on Unibroue's track record in my book, I'm looking forward to trying more of their beers.

Clipper City Brewing Co. Loose Cannon Hop^3 Ale

I expected this beer to be similar to an IPA, given its obviously heavy hop content, and in many ways it is. It has a slightly cloudy, golden-amber color, small head, and fair amount of carbonation. The aroma is bold and hoppy with traces of what I would call mango. This beer initially feels like an IPA with its bitter hop flavors, but as it settles in the mouth has more of a spicy punch and is slightly less smooth than many IPA's. It's very flavorful and strong - exactly how I like it. I give this one a thumbs up.

Boulder Brewing Co. Sweaty Betty (Blonde Ale)

This is a beer about which I could not make up my mind. I had this at the Iron Post in Urbana, which has a relatively small selection, but features rotating special/seasonal beers at very good prices ($3.75). I tried this one on a whim, and I kept changing my mind about it. At first taste it reminded me of a Belgian white beer, with light wheat, citrus, and spice flavors, but occasionally I'd take a drink and get hit with a kind of sour, salty bitterness that reminded me of, well, sweat. It grew on me after awhile, and the good flavors outweighed the bad. I didn't hate it, but I don't think I'd order this again.

Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout

After my failure at Three Floyds' Dark Lord Day, I wanted to try at least one imperial stout, if not Dark Lord. I bought this one at Piccadilly with a few other beers. This is an incredibly dark black beer - only a little bit of light leaks around the edges. It has a nice light brown head, too, making it look like it might taste like coffee or chocolate - which, in fact, it does.

The aroma is like bananas mixed with coffee, and the flavor is rich, creamy, and dark with chocolate, coffee, and light fruit. The finish is short, but satisfying. A good beer, sweet enough (for a beer) to drink for dessert.

One thing I really like about good stouts is that they have nice chocolate notes that aren't artificial. I once tried Young's Double Chocolate Stout, brewed with chocolate IN the beer, and I cannot recommend it. I don't think the flavors between the roasted malts and chocolate mixed well, and it was a bit too sweet for my tastes.

Belhaven Scottish Ale

I picked up this bottle at Piccadilly near the library in Champaign. They have a GREAT single-bottle policy that allows customers to purchase singles out of any package in the beer section. Unlike Friar Tuck and other liquor stores in the area, this means that all of the beers they carry can be purchased individually, not just selected ones.

Scottish ale is a variety I had not tried before, so I decided to pick up this one. The label says it is genuinely handcrafted in Scotland at the oldest surviving independent brewery in the country. The beer is a clear, light brown with moderate carbonation and a thick head. It's fairly tasty, with malt and nut flavors dominating and slight hop notes. I do think it's just a little bit weak though, perhaps owing to its incredibly short finish - the taste vanishes almost immediately. This is a good, but not great, beer that is very drinkable and satisfying, but could be a little more robust.

Three Floyds Alpha King (American Pale Ale) + Dark Lord Day (or not)

This year I attempted to attend Three Floyds Brewery's annual Dark Lord day, the only day of the year to buy their Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout, widely considered to be one of the best beers in the world. I guess I didn't do enough research beforehand. Apparently this is the kind of event that one must "camp out" at in order to have a chance of getting some of the beer without waiting in an enormous line (think Best Buy on a game console release day x 5). Needless to say, I didn't get a chance to get any. However, I did pick up some of their Alpha King American Pale ale.

This beer is a golden brown color with a small head and moderate amount of carbonation. It is heavy on the hop flavors, which shine through deliciously with notes of citrus fruit (I thought grapefruit) and florals, balanced by a malty finish. It's slightly sweet and goes down very smooth. Like all of Three Floyds' beers, this one is a definite winner. If you can find a bar or liquor store near you that carries Three Floyds, snatch it up because it won't last long.

Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball (American Strong Ale)

I tried this at dinner tonight at Crane Alley in Urbana, which has an extensive beer list. The waitress described it as "very dark and hoppy." I was sold. The first drink hit me like a pillowcase full of wet sand. It was utterly delicious. The waitress nailed it - dark and hoppy. The color was a very dark brown, similar to a dark porter, and the flavor was deliciously hopped. I tasted spiced fruits and a slight copper finish. They actually have it on tap there, so you get a full pint. Fantastic.

Breckenridge Avalanche Amber Style Ale

One word: disappointing. I figured the "original fine handcrafted amber ale" would have a bit more flavor than this. It certainly had the characteristics of an amber ale - malty, slightly bitter, very slight caramel flavor - but it tasted quite weak and watered down. Not very good.

Lagunitas Lumpy Gravy (American Brown Ale)

Seems like I've been reviewing a lot of beers lately. I guess I've been on kind of a beer kick, but I'm sure I'll get back around to cocktail recipes and such soon enough.

Being a huge Frank Zappa fan, I had to buy a bottle of this beer. According to the label, it was "released in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the release of [Lumpy Gravy]." The bottle is HUGE (1 pint + 6oz) and features the cover art from Zappa's "Lumpy Gravy" album. It pours dark reddish-brown with a thick, creamy head that is followed by an incredibly rich and creamy texture in the mouth. The flavor is very nice, with a good balance of malt and hop flavors and a slightly chocolatey finish. Very good beer, and a fitting tribute to Zappa and the Mothers of Invention.

Lost Coast Brewery 8-Ball Stout

This is one of the last beers from a mix-a-six I made at Friar Tuck's Beverage in Savoy (incredible selection there). It was originally a six pack to try to educate my roommate about various types of beers, but he didn't like the stout or the IPA I gave him, so he let me have the other stout and IPA in the pack. I'm drinking it as I write.

This is a very dark stout (almost black) with a unique sort of flavor. It poured with almost no head (but that might be my fault). It also seems slightly heavy on the carbonation and a bit biting in addition to the usual stout creaminess, which in my limited experience is not what I'd typically expect from a stout. The flavor is also unusual of most stouts I've tried. The chocolatey/roasted flavor from the dark malts is pretty far in the back, and the primary taste is an bitter and slightly acidic alcohol bite. Other reviewers say they taste notes of licorice and mint, but I'm not getting that. It's more of a very dark bitter chocolate, typical roasted malts, and a bit of hop flavor to me. Other reviewers also have given this beer a pretty high rating, but I don't really think it's that outstanding. Then again, the lack of head and extra acidity I tasted might indicate that the bottle is past its prime. I wouldn't be all that surprised if Friar Tuck simply put the last of any given batch of beers in the mix-a-six section, so it's possible that it had been sitting there a long time.

Anchor Steam Beer

Tried this at Seven Saints in Champaign. I've had the Anchor Porter before, and really liked it, so I thought I'd give this one a try. A great decision. It was reddish brown, with a good amount of carbonation and a small, creamy head. This beer is all malt, and the flavor is bold and not at all watery. Supposedly it is one of the few remaining "California Common" varieties, which historically was fermented without refrigeration. You can read about it here if you like.

O'Fallon Goat's Breath (Bock)

I tried this beer at Sun Singer in Champaign. It was kind of a reddish brown color, with not a lot of carbonation, and had kind of a creamy texture. Tasted like chocolate and toffee, with a good amount of roasted malt presence. A bit sweeter than I expected, but not bad.

Delirium Tremens (Belgian Ale)

Fantastic. A strong ale with a delicious citrus fruit aroma. Well carbonated, foamy head, and creamy in the mouth, with the taste of yeast, spice, and a fruity finish. Delicious, lots of flavor. I don't know what else to say about it. It's very, very good.

UPDATE: In Champaign, they have this on tap at Blind Pig Co. (not sure on the price) and half-pint bottles at Sun Singer for $3.70 (GREAT price).

Goose Island IPA

I'm a big fan of India Pale Ales. The more bitter and flavorful, the better. Goose Island is no disappointment. Widely available, the Goose Island line of beers out of Chicago has quite a few decent varieties. The IPA pours a slightly cloudy amber-gold with a nice head. Both the aroma and taste have a sublte fruitiness, and the beer is no slouch when it comes to flavor. Hoppy and bitter, but still enough malt to notice. Very satisfying.