{"id":2569,"date":"2009-12-08T21:03:08","date_gmt":"2009-12-09T03:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/?p=2569"},"modified":"2014-02-06T18:20:31","modified_gmt":"2014-02-07T00:20:31","slug":"how-to-pick-the-best-25-beers-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/how-to-pick-the-best-25-beers-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"How to pick the best 25 beers in the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the midst of the discussion about the Wine Enthusiast<\/em> list of top 25 beers, Jeff Alworth posed a question<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Stan, just to throw a hot potato back at you: if, under penalty of death, you were compelled to come up with a list of the world\u2019s 25 best, what would it be? Actually, I don\u2019t care what the list is as much as I wonder what criteria you would apply to come up with it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’d probably rather Jeff provide the criteria and I do the list, but that’s not the real question is it? So, understanding I’m bound to overthink this, here you go.<\/p>\n

  • Diversity.<\/strong> When Michael Jackson came up with the list of 42 5-star beers<\/a> I often refer to he picked only one beer within a “style.” I wouldn’t be that pedantic, so just because I’d make Saison Dupont one of my very first picks doesn’t mean I wouldn’t end up with a second saison. Though probably not a third. (And the point isn’t that it’s a particular style; see the next criterion.)\n

    Am I changing the rules? If you look at the annual (or semi-annual) lists from Rate Beer<\/a> and Beer Advocate<\/a> they damn the torpedoes and if three imperial stouts, two doppelbocks and four strong dark ales fermented with yeast from Belgium end up in the top 10 that’s fine. I’d rather read a list that includes 25 beers that represent the best in and the breadth of the world. A cheat? Sorry, I want a helles to have a chance to make the list.<\/p>\n

    Whose palates will be served? Only those who love big hefty, maybe hoppy, beers? Only those who appreciate pale, delicate beers? Why not everybody.<\/li>\n

  • Style is a diversion.<\/strong> Do you decide how much you enjoy a beer based on how good it tastes to you or how well it matches some description of what’s “classic?” <\/li>\n
  • Price.<\/strong> Not part of the discussion.<\/li>\n
  • \nLongevity.<\/strong> Many brewers have won gold medals at the Great American Beer Festival with an initial batch of beer. How many great batches must you brew over how many years to prove it’s not a fluke? Any answer is arbitrary. As the great publican Mark Dorber once said, “Consistency is not the god of beer.” I don’t insist that a beer always be the same; only that is always be great. Once is not always. Three times is not always.<\/li>\n
  • Availability.<\/strong> It’s no longer OK to call Courage Imperial Stout the best of the world, even if you can locate bottles of the last batch brewed in 1993. The “best 25 beers in the world that hardly anybody really drinks” is a different list. Once-a-year limited edition beers are eligible, but only after multiple releases.<\/li>\n
  • Judging credentials.<\/strong> I know I’m not qualified. I’m not quite sure who is. You’ve got to drink all the world, including a boatload of American beers. You can’t claim that a traditional hefeweiss or pilsner or brown ale is better than some new wave beer brewed with chestnuts and a lock of John Wilkes Booth’s hair under a full moon unless you’ve tried them all. Nor can you vote for innovation over tradition unless you’ve tasted plenty of tradition.<\/li>\n

    It’s not a matter of starting with some list, say 10, of the best pilsners from the Czech Republic and hauling them fresh to a judging arena. You must go there and taste them where they are brewed. Same with wheat beers in Bavaria (though not all 1,000 or so available). Timothy Taylor Landlord is not going to be the same on cask in Chicago (site of the next World Beer Cup) as it is anywhere<\/em> in the U.K. Drink multiple pints or half liters or chalices. If it’s one of the best 25 beers in the world you should rip the arms off of somebody who tries to keep you from finishing your glass.<\/p>\n

    Did I answer your question? This is another fool’s errand, so feel free to add what I left out in comments.<\/p>\n

    Curiously, the exercise has helped me focus on why I find trying to identify the very<\/em> best in the world pointless. If you love beer, on any given Sunday the 343rd best in the world may be better than the 14th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In the midst of the discussion about the Wine Enthusiast list of top 25 beers, Jeff Alworth posed a question: Stan, just to throw a hot potato back at you: if, under penalty of death, you were compelled to come up with a list of the world\u2019s 25 best, what would it be? Actually, I … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beers-of-conviction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4wTn-Fr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2569"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12114,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2569\/revisions\/12114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}