The Best Beer Rankings
Beer is perhaps the world's oldest beverage, and today it is the third most popular drink in the world after water and tea. There are dozens of different styles of beer, ranging from light lagers that have a delicate mouthfeel and low alcohol content to imperial stouts that have a heavy mouthfeel, are dark in color and higher in alcohol content. The Beer Advocate and Rate Beer websites (see Resources) serve as starting points to discover the best beers and decide what you like and what you don't. Does this Spark an idea?
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The Best Stouts
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Stouts are the darkest of all beers and are generally heavy on malt flavors, have low hop characteristics and are high in alcohol content. Some of the best rated stouts are Portsmouth Brewery's Kate the Great and Three Floyds Brewing Company's Vanilla Bean Aged Dark Lord. Although top ranking, these brews are not widely distributed and are very difficult to get. More common, yet equally top ranking stouts are Rogue Brewery's Chocolate Stout, Stone Brewing Company's Imperial Russian Stout and Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout.
The Best Wheat Beers
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Wheat beers come in a variety of styles such as Hefeweizen (unfiltered wheat beer), Kristalweizen (filtered wheat beer) and Weizenbock (wheat beer that is similar to the Bock style). The benchmark for the Hefeweizen style is Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier, which is brewed by the oldest operating brewery in the world. Weihenstephaner also produces one of the top ranking Kristalweizen beers as well. G. Schneider & Sohn's Aventinus is a superb example of a Weizenbock that is darker and higher in alcohol than most wheat beers.
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The Best American IPAs
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Although India Pale Ales trace their roots to England, American IPAs tend to be more flavorful and heavier on the hops than their English counterparts. Breweries specializing in IPAs are pushing the boundaries in regards to packing in more and more hop flavor into their beers. Russian River Brewing Company's Pliny The Younger and Pliny the Elder are two of the best American IPAs. Victory Brewing Company's HopDevil Ale, Smuttynose "Finest Kind" IPA and Stone Brewing Company's Stone IPA are other fine examples of the American IPA style and are easier to find.
The Best Lagers
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The lager style of beer is one of the most popular and well-known. They can range from light in color with little malt and hop characteristics like American Adjunct Lagers to the dark, more malty flavored German Bock style. Top examples of lagers are Victory's Prima Pils, Samuel Smith's Organic Lager and Brooklyn Brewery's Brooklyn Lager.
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References
Resources
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