Wheattoast wrote:
I don't think ratebeer.com is really the end/all be all of beer judging =) and also note that 50% of the score could potentially come from 4 beers. A brewery like FFF is much smaller and can't match GI from a scope perspective. You could call GI superior because it produces so many solid beers each year or you could call FFF superior because their few high-production beers are maybe a bit more creative or unique. I love them both because a)they both make some great beers and b)they are both LOCAL which means a lot to me.

I agree on the Ratebeer.com comment, and imho if you have an over the top IIPA and RIS you are going to get very high ratings for them. Also factored in is the "mystique" of a beer. Westvleteren is rated #13, a beer I'd imagine less than 1% of people that use ratebeer.com have had. If you travel to West Flanders and buy a beer only distributed at that monastery (or if you paid a fortune for a grey-market bottle on eBay), you can bet it is the best beer you have ever had Not to say it isn't, but I'd imagine most ratings of it are skewed towards the top end for factors beyond taste.

I think as a whole, our beer market is beginning to produce more Belgian style beers, often with our own unique twist (Russian River anyone?). And the quality and style of our US breweries is having an impact on the European brewers. This can be evidenced by the increase in hoppy Belgian beers (Chouffe & Urthel to name a few). It is a fantastic time to be a beer lover!

As an anecdote, one of my neighbors was out of the country for the summer and rented his condo to 6 "kids" from Ireland. I guess it is common to travel bewteen Junior and Senior year in college. Since I brew beer, I'd see them drinking Busch Light and bring them up pints of my latest creations. You should have seen the look on their faces after trying anything with even a moderate hop presence in the beginning. Over the course of their stay I noticed more and more hoppy beers in their hands (they were big fans of Goose Harvest). On the last night we had a BBQ for them and they barely touched the Oatmeal Stout I brewed for them, instead drank Harvest and Alpha King. One of them told me he really hoped he could find some hoppy beers in Dublin.

Jamie

Of course the aggregate opinion of the users of Ratebeer is not the definite answer of the greatest beers that exist. Who ever said it was anyway? But what you do see here is a list that combines the ratings of thousands of people very many of whom have sampled an exceptional number and style of beers so I don't see any grounds to cast aspersion on the list either.

14. Great Divide Brewing Company (Denver, Colorado USA)

I've recently added a second item to my list of things I love about Colorado. The first is hiking 14ers and the second is Colorado Breweries. Of the several Breweries I've been to, Dry Dock Brewing Company and Great Divide Brewing Company have consistently been my favorites.

I've lived in Denver for two years now and can say that folks in Colorado take beer just as seriously as Chicagoans do about food. This is quite embarrassing to admit but before I moved here I didn't think that one could seriously combine the words "beer" and "complexity" in the same sentence. My first real enlightenment of amazingly complex beer was my initial visit to the Great Divide Brewing Company. The beers that just blew my mind were:

Great Divide -
- Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout
- Yeti Imperial Stout
- Hercules Double IPA
- Old Ruffian
- Titan IPA
- Hibernation Ale
- Fresh Hop Pale Ale
- Denver Pale Ale

If you're a beer aficionado (or aspiring to be one, like me) and happened to be in Denver, make a stop at the Great Divide Brewing Company. Your palate will thank you...

Great Divide Brewing Company
2201 Arapahoe Street
Denver, CO 80205 <map>
(303) 296-9460 ext. 26
website: http://www.greatdivide.com/

Greasy Spoon wrote:14. Great Divide Brewing Company (Denver, Colorado USA)
...
Great Divide Brewing Company
2201 Arapahoe Street
Denver, CO 80205 <map>
(303) 296-9460 ext. 26
website: http://www.greatdivide.com/

Great call. You finally managed to get me to pull an long-lingering Great Divide post out of hiding:

viewtopic.php?p=219237#p219237

I really enjoy these beers as well.

I've only tried the Imperial and one of the IPA's from Great Divide, but they were wonderful. I'll have to ask my local liquor store to try and get some of the others offerings.

In the spirit of my last post, I stopped at Flossmoor Station Brewery (I previously posted that I felt "eh" about my first experience there) yesterday for their release of their first bottled seasonal, Collaborative Evil. Sadly, we got there a little too late to buy any bottles (they only bottled 60 cases - they went fast) but we got some on tap and it was fantastic. From their blog:

10% a.b.v. Belgian Style Strong Dark ale made with exotic sugars, honey from the Morton Arboretum, Orange Peel, Black Cardamom, Raisins, two strains of Belgian yeast, and love.

I was expecting something over-sweet & spiced with a punch, but I couldn't have been more wrong. it was so nicely balanced that it took me by surprise on my first sip. Some deep caramel notes with honey at first, followed by the spice of the cardamom and orange. After a few sips, you could really start to taste the raisin - nowhere near as strong as something like Dogfish Head's Raison d'etre, but still present in the taste. The 10% abv really sneaks up on you too. Compared to other beers in that range, you don't notice the taste of the alcohol while you're drinking it. It's a beer I could drink all day.

I'm not sure how long their supply on tap will last, but I recommended heading down there for a taste.

Luckily, I found a kind soul who bought a few bottles and was willing to part with one. I traded him a bottle of 08 Darklord that I had brought for trading in case we had missed out.

Llama, I've become a big fan of these 'dark Belgians' lately myself. Goose Island put one out back in the spring (I think?) called Noire. Very good beer, one that I suggest looking for when it comes back. New Belgium puts out something similar, 1554 as does Unibroue (their Chambly Noire). I thought the 1554 tasted really flat, more than anything (not as in uncarbonated, but almost tasteless? no range of flavours, or complexities) and the Chambly Noire was really sweet. No thank you.

And this list has been good for anything, it's gotten us all talking about different beer, turning us on to brewers that we may not have given much thought to otherwise. I've tried one or two of Great Divide's beers, but I'll try a few more thanks to the hearty endorsements of others.

Just as an FYI, since many said they would try to hit Goose Island soon to give it a chance. They just released Naughty Goose (hoppy brown) and a dunkelweizenbock. The oktoberfest that released last Tuesday is still on tap as well. Sounds like a perfect way to spend a cold evening such as this

Jamie

Llama wrote:In the spirit of my last post, I stopped at Flossmoor Station Brewery (I previously posted that I felt "eh" about my first experience there) yesterday for their release of their first bottled seasonal, Collaborative Evil. Sadly, we got there a little too late to buy any bottles (they only bottled 60 cases - they went fast) but we got some on tap and it was fantastic. From their blog:

10% a.b.v. Belgian Style Strong Dark ale made with exotic sugars, honey from the Morton Arboretum, Orange Peel, Black Cardamom, Raisins, two strains of Belgian yeast, and love.

I was expecting something over-sweet & spiced with a punch, but I couldn't have been more wrong. it was so nicely balanced that it took me by surprise on my first sip. Some deep caramel notes with honey at first, followed by the spice of the cardamom and orange. After a few sips, you could really start to taste the raisin - nowhere near as strong as something like Dogfish Head's Raison d'etre, but still present in the taste. The 10% abv really sneaks up on you too. Compared to other beers in that range, you don't notice the taste of the alcohol while you're drinking it. It's a beer I could drink all day.

I'm not sure how long their supply on tap will last, but I recommended heading down there for a taste.

Luckily, I found a kind soul who bought a few bottles and was willing to part with one. I traded him a bottle of 08 Darklord that I had brought for trading in case we had missed out.

For those who might not be able to make it down to the brewery, as noted on the events page (as already discovered by Llama), Lush Wine and Spirits (Halsted location) will be sampling this beer with the Flossmoor brewmaster this coming Thursday, and will have bottles for sale.

danimalarkey wrote:...Llama, I've become a big fan of these 'dark Belgians' lately myself...

Unibroue's Trois Pistoles is awesome, huge and raisiny, and IMHO their beers are a great value and really well crafted. Ya gotta let them warm up a bit though to let the flavor and aromatics open up... if you're keeping them in the fridge that is.