The Bar Towel

I cant believe we havent had a 10-page-long Top Beers thread yet, so I'm starting one now

Here's mine:
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1)De Dolle Stille Nacht '95 - This was the original recipe, and it was incredible. Unfortunely De Dolle changed the recipe (I believe they were unable to get the proper yeast or something after this), and, while its still a good beer, it simply isnt the same.

Anyone hoarding any of this, please get in contact with me

2)Niagara Falls Eisbock Gold - I think they only made this one time? Also an incredible beer, which beared surprisingly little resemblance to the regular Eisbock product.

Luckily I have found a small hoard of this in the city (Not saying where or else you will take it from me!). Its past its prime but still quite good.

3)North Coast Old Rasputin Imperial Stout - At last, I have found the perfect Stout. (Of course, implicit in this statement is the
fact that the Perfect Stout must, by definition, be an Imperial Stout).

4)New Glarus Belgian Red - Hard to even call it a beer, its more like liquid dessert!. Definitely a sipping beer, and very hard
to finish all by yourself.

5)KLB Raspberry Wheat - After 4 Big beers (either ABV or intense flavor, or both), I have to include this beer which has been a staple of many summer afternoons and evenings. What can I say? This beer has just the right amount of raspberry nose and taste.


Hmm, somehow I missed putting any barleywines on there! Honorary mentions for Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, Anchor Old Foghorn & McAuslan Vintage Ale...

Most of the time, I travel around trying to find a beer as good as ours (sorry). In the Franconia area of Germany...I tried hard to keep up and failed. A town called Bamberg has some of the best beers anywhere. In particular, a brewery called Mahr's. Been brewing beer since 1670. They had a couple of lagers (one unfiltere). Truly perfect beer.

On the bock side of things, I challenge anyone in a blind taste test to find a better bock than our urBock 2002.

Howard - Creemore Springs Brewery

Someone mentioned barley wines. Bridgeport in Oregon made a beer called 'Old Knucklehead' very good in the barley wine style. St. Leonard was pretty good too, haven't had it for a while. Best IPA's. Siera Nevada and Mendicino 'Blue Heron' hands down. Runner up to McCausland.

I still like Big Rock Trad Ale, hard to pigeon hole it though.

I figured someone was going to have to add Aventinus to this list sometime. May as well get it over with.

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale just needs to be part of the list.

I forgot, Wellington County Cask condtioned Arkel Best Bitter is good drinking. Served fresh, that's a session beer.

How about worst beers? Sam Adams triple bock has got to be on that list. Maybe La Choufe too...but I am sure someone that has a hankerin for pine tar will shoot me on that one. I'll throw in Crest and Faxe while I'm at it.

Pilsner Urquell still does it for me on the lager front, along with Schlenkerla Rauchbier. But my vote has to go for Stone Brewing's Arrogant Bastard Ale. If you love hops, this is one heck of a beer.

SNCA would have been my #5, but I have a soft spot for KLB Raspberry and wanted to put ant least 1 beer on there I can get on a regular basis

Lets open another thread for Worst Beers, but for sure Triple Bock is going to be on there!

It would seem A and I share very common tastes in beer. To keep things interesting, here's my top 5, excluding A's list (most of which would have shown up on mine):

1. Quelque Chose. One of the most unique beers out there, and in my opinion the ultimate winter warmer. A real shame that it doesn't sell here and probably won't be back at the LCBO.

2. Boon lambics. Not a specific beer from Boon here, all of the lambics I've tried from them have been fabulous. Still have a bottle of Mariage Parfait Kriek at home waiting for a special occasion.

3. Victory HopDevil. Whenever I try a new American IPA, I always come back to this one.

4. Maudite. My sentimental favourite. It was probably the first Belgian-style beer I had, when it hit Ontario during my University years. I still enjoy it, although it's not the same as I remember it.

5. Denison's Weizen. What a beer, one of the best weizens I've had, and it's made right here in TO.

Honorary mentions to SN Celebration and Bigfoot, McAuslan Oatmeal and Vintage, the Great Lakes 1993 barleywine, Alexander Rodenbach, and the beers of Dieu du Ciel in Montreal.

Forgot about Alexander Rodenbach, that was a great beer (even though I think it was made with extract?)

BTW Howard, your urBock *is* a great beer. Perhaps a Creemore IPA could be coming in the future?

No surprises for anyone who knows me:

Orval
Rodenbach Grand Cru
Gueuze Girardin
Saison de Pipaix
Schultheiss Berliner Weisse (c'mon LCBO, bring it back! I can sell a dozen cases to my American friends in about a week, and a dozen more to myself)

And around twenty more as well, including a few you can buy here: Aventinus, St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout, Christoffel Blond, Quelque Chose, Schlenkerla Marzen (well, I might prefer the UrBock to the Marzen these days)

A Creemore IPA! Oh no. That would be musclin' in on my action... Just kidding.
Perry

Here goes:

Westmalle Tripel (if you care at all for Belgium then this has to be at the top of your list)

Duvel (again, classic Belgian)

Creemore Lager (one of the few Canadian beers I ever drink...thank God even some really sad sack bars carry this one or I'd be drinking water a lot of the time)

Mort Subite Framboise (forget KLB...did they use more than one raspberry per batch? don't think so!

Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout (hard to find a better stout anywhere)

....top 5 just ain't enough....I could go on and on and give you my top 50 and I have the gut to prove it!

For fear of being made the laughing stock of this thread ... well ... here goes ... there IS a book out there that lists Delirium Tremens ((( currently available in consignment ... don't you know !! ))) as the No. 1 beer in the WORLD, bar none. This is an actual BOOK. It's called "The 50 Greatest Beers in the World".

Would any of you consider it in your top 5 at least ??

Just curious.

Aw nuts, you guys hit most of my faves.

So here's my top 4 that haven't been mentioned already:

1. Hitachino Nest White Ale
2. Brooklyn Black Chocolate
3. Victory Storm King
4. Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA