Worst Beers!

[jeremyg]

Rickards Red for sure.

[AugustusRex]

Opened my bottle of BOYD 2014 about a month ago. Maybe not the worst beer, but one of my biggest disappointments. Here're my notes:



Looks syrupy and black. Reminds me of pu-erh tea mixed with a bit of engine oil. Looks like poison.

Smells like cognac and strong roast, notes of peat.

Tastes like ashes soaked in alcohol. Surprisingly very dry.

Almost undrinkable.

I drank the whole bottle, I can't drain pour a Bellwoods. Bad Idea. It left the taste of ashes on my tongue the next day. I think I have an idea of what the Mikkeller Black would have tasted like.

[Craig]

Opened my bottle of BOYD 2014 about a month ago. Maybe not the worst beer, but one of my biggest disappointments. Here're my notes:



Looks syrupy and black. Reminds me of pu-erh tea mixed with a bit of engine oil. Looks like poison.

Smells like cognac and strong roast, notes of peat.

Tastes like ashes soaked in alcohol. Surprisingly very dry.

Almost undrinkable.

I drank the whole bottle, I can't drain pour a Bellwoods. Bad Idea. It left the taste of ashes on my tongue the next day. I think I have an idea of what the Mikkeller Black would have tasted like.

You really don't. I don't care how ashy that Bellwoods was, it's no Black.

[Belgian]

That's the Mikkeller.

[Dennis]

Opened my bottle of BOYD 2014 about a month ago. Maybe not the worst beer, but one of my biggest disappointments.

I really liked the 2014 BOYD - still have one left, not sure how long I should hang on to it.

Skeleton Key on the other hand was an absolute struggle to get through. Have one sitting in my cellar if anyone missed out on it and wants to make a trade.

[AugustusRex]

I liked both BOYD 2014 and Skeleton Key when they were on tap in the winter... I don't know what happened.


If the Mikkeller Black is even worse, I don't know what to think.

[Kish84]

Opened my bottle of BOYD 2014 about a month ago. Maybe not the worst beer, but one of my biggest disappointments.

I really liked the 2014 BOYD - still have one left, not sure how long I should hang on to it.

Skeleton Key on the other hand was an absolute struggle to get through. Have one sitting in my cellar if anyone missed out on it and wants to make a trade.

Had a Skeleton Key a few weeks ago, the rum has really mellowed out and I liked it a lot more than when it was fresh, mind you I liked it when fresh too.

[boney]

Ha. Maybe I'm a sucker for punishment, but I liked Mikkeller Black and opening a Mill St. Barley Wine with between 5 and 7 years on it is one of the beers I enjoy most around Christmas.

[darmokandjalad]

I skimmed my reviews to see which beers I've given the lowest ratings. There were plenty of macro/ice/malt liquor-type beers in here too, but listing those seemed redundant.

1. Boxer Watermelon - Minhas... 'nuff said. This is quite possibly the worst malt beverage they have ever produced, which is really saying something. Something terrible. (1.84/5.00)

2. Okocim Premium Pils - Possibly the worst imported lager I've ever had, excluding rocket fuel like Crest, Faxe 10, etc.. Tasted like boiled corn and cabbage. I'd drink a Canadian or a Blue over this any day of the week. Oddly enough, I don't mind this brewery's strong lager (Mocne). (2.04/5.00)

3. Trafalgar Cherry Ale - thankfully retired. One of the only beers I have had that reminded me of that lingering taste in the back of your throat you get after vomiting. (2.14/5.00)

4. Wernesgruner Radler - Ugh. Maybe I'm just really sensitive to artificial sweeteners, but for me, this was ten times worse than drinking Fresca. (2.20/5.00)

5. Bavaria Red - I'm pretty sure this is just Bavaria 8.6 with red food colouring and sugar added to it. (2.21/5.00)

[Dennis]

Opened my bottle of BOYD 2014 about a month ago. Maybe not the worst beer, but one of my biggest disappointments.

I really liked the 2014 BOYD - still have one left, not sure how long I should hang on to it.

Skeleton Key on the other hand was an absolute struggle to get through. Have one sitting in my cellar if anyone missed out on it and wants to make a trade.

Had a Skeleton Key a few weeks ago, the rum has really mellowed out and I liked it a lot more than when it was fresh, mind you I liked it when fresh too.

Now I'm curious to try the one I still have - but just thinking about it gives me heartburn!

[Charchuk]

BOYD 2014 was a huge disappointment to me as well - mostly because the 2013 is one of my favorite beers ever and the 2014 just didn't measure up. I wish they hadn't tinkered with it. In my opinion the extra time in barrels did not help this beer.

[Tapsucker]

The Flying Monkeys/BNL collaboration stout a few years back stands out in my mind. I was dumb enough to get two bottles. The second one has been left in plain sight at the family cottage for two years in the hope that someone might get desperate enough to drink it after running out of other choices on a long weekend. I'm proud to say no family member or their guests have been stupid enough to open it.

This kind of brings up an interesting point for me. One thing is to slag lousy brewers (beverage producers?) for lousy beer, but I find it interesting that most of the worst beers I have ever had come from my favourite brewers. I think for great beer to come about risks have to be taken. Big risks, that often end in horrible beer. Some brewers avoid releasing these disasters to the public, others, I guess take a flyer and see what their customers might say. Hmm...

I'll also cast my vote for that Rogue bacon maple crap thing they did. They totally jumped the shark and lost my will to try anything from them again.

Hey while I'm at it, let me go out on a limb and slag entire categories of beer.

- Anything with maple syrup in it
- Pumpkin beers. Not so much against pumpkin as a fermentable, but this awful fad of beers that are spiced like pumpkin pie. Yuck
- Sours and rotten beers. Dude, your beer has gone bad, you might have an inferiority complex coming from the lowlands, but stop pretending this swill is a good thing. Just pour it out and get yourself some healthy yeast.
- Smoke. Kilns have evolved since before the industrial revolution. Try one of the newfangled ones!

So there, I'm sure I've picked a few fights.

[S. St. Jeb]

So there, I'm sure I've picked a few fights.

No, not "fighting", but I am on the "like" side for pumpkin beers, although the spicing has to be subtle and it's easy to get too much.

Interesting comments about risk taking.

[Belgian]

let me go out on a limb and slag entire categories of beer.

- Anything with maple syrup in it
- Pumpkin beers. Not so much against pumpkin as a fermentable, but this awful fad of beers that are spiced like pumpkin pie. Yuck
- Sours and rotten beers. Dude, your beer has gone bad, you might have an inferiority complex coming from the lowlands, but stop pretending this swill is a good thing. Just pour it out and get yourself some healthy yeast.
- Smoke. Kilns have evolved since before the industrial revolution. Try one of the newfangled ones!

Awesomely honest comments, and I grinned reading some of them. As I have enjoyed beers of those categories, it occurs to me there are plenty of delicious food products (meats, cheeses, baked/grain goods) that exist particularly because of wood-smoking, souring, festive spicing, or the addition of random flavors like the maple in Caribou stew and baked beans. It's interesting they are applied to beer which is essentially another 'food.'

Different schmokes for different blokes. I clearly don't have to justify anything I or a billion people like and neither do you, haha. Cheers!

[Tapsucker]

let me go out on a limb and slag entire categories of beer.

- Anything with maple syrup in it
- Pumpkin beers. Not so much against pumpkin as a fermentable, but this awful fad of beers that are spiced like pumpkin pie. Yuck
- Sours and rotten beers. Dude, your beer has gone bad, you might have an inferiority complex coming from the lowlands, but stop pretending this swill is a good thing. Just pour it out and get yourself some healthy yeast.
- Smoke. Kilns have evolved since before the industrial revolution. Try one of the newfangled ones!

Awesomely honest comments, and I grinned reading some of them. As I have enjoyed beers of those categories, it occurs to me there are plenty of delicious food products (meats, cheeses, baked/grain goods) that exist particularly because of wood-smoking, souring, festive spicing, or the addition of random flavors like the maple in Caribou stew and baked beans. It's interesting they are applied to beer which is essentially another 'food.'

Different schmokes for different blokes. I clearly don't have to justify anything I or a billion people like and neither do you, haha. Cheers!

This so called 'renaissance' in beer has given us the gift of choice. That's one horse I'm never going to stare down!