Pete Brown’s Top 10 beers

Why should you care about a list from Pete Brown headlined The Ten Best World beers? (Since you might be asking yourself, who is Pete Brown?)

Maybe because he’s written two beer related books – Man Walks into a Pub: A Sociable History of Beer and Three Sheets to the Wind: One Man’s Quest for the Meaning of Beer – that are just plain good reading.

Or because his list, obviously intended for the UK audience, appeared in the The Independent. You’d want to read a similar list if it appeared in the New York Times. (Quick aside, it appears the Times’ next beer feature will be about wheat beers.)

The article isn’t available online, but Glenn Payne of Meantime Brewing was nice enough to send along a copy (I asked him; he wasn’t promoting Meantime, which made the list).

The 10:
– Budweiser Budvar (Czech Republic)
– Badger Golden Champion Ale (UK)
– Brooklyn Lager (USA)
– Gonzo Imperial Porter (USA)
– Meantime Grand Cru wheat beer (UK)
– Asahi Black Lager (Japan)
– Cooper Extra Strong Vintage Ale (Australia)
– Goose Island IPA (USA)
– Deus (Belgium)
– Duvel (Belgium)

Of the Badger Golden he writes: “This is the taste of summer evenings captured in a bottle.” And of Duvel: “Let it rest on your tongue for a while and the citrus flavours come out from behind the alcohol like a lover re-entering the room after slipping into something a little more comfortable.”

Kind of a new way to think about Duvel, eh?

Goose Island IPA is on a bit of a tear in the UK. Jeff Evans gave the IPA his only “9” (Editor’s Choice) in the April/May edition of Beers of the World. Evans wrote: “One of the world’s great beer aromas, with big, juicy, fruity hops leaping out of the glass. Earthy resins; deep citrus and pineapple notes” and “Astonishingly fresh tasting, outstanding pale beer. Will a UK supermarket please put it back on the shelves?”

Brown described the IPA this way in The Independent:

It can be confusing when beer is described as “hoppy” if you don’t know what hops are like, so this beer is an object lesson in the delights of the multi-talented little plant. The depth of its piney, grassy, citrussy bouquet rivals any sauvignon blanc. That, plus the zingy bitterness that follows on the tongue, is what hops are like.

An object lesson in the delights of the multi-talented little plant. Indeed.

7 thoughts on “Pete Brown’s Top 10 beers”

  1. Great post, I have read “Man Walks into a Pub: A Sociable History of Beer”, and have to say that this guy is a great writer. He has some top shelf bieres on that list and I was happy to see my number one on there, Duvel. Brooklyn Lager was a surprising entry.

  2. Hi Conrad,

    The best thing about this post is that I discovered you are blogging – that is it in German makes it a little hard for those of us who barely speak the language but I’ll be recommending all those who do to read you regularly.

    I agree, a list that has 3 American beers and none from Germany looks a bit strange. My guess is that it was based on beers sold in the UK. Still, aren’t beers such as Augustiner Hell and Ayinger Celebrator (I better not start a list or it will get too long) available if you know where to look?

  3. Every aware beer drinker has his/her favorite. Lately I have developed a liking for Leinekugel’s summer wheat beer. I’m not good on taste descriptions, so I suggest you try it yourselves.
    George Miller

  4. Brooklyn Lager? When I was in New York, I tried that. I thought, “MUST be the water!”

    This guy has obviously never tried the Sierra Nevada IPA, or the Sierra Nevada Brown Ale.

    Peter Berkow

  5. Not just the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale ( has been my benchmark for near 20 years) and the Hercule”s Double which I just recentlt had the good fortune to find.He needs to also try the Three Floyds Brewing “Alpha King”-another outstanding example of an IPA that is in the same league as the two aforementioned brews.

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