B.O.T.Y. Call!
During the Pandemic I have been ordering craft beers from various establishments. In fact I ordered from 8 different craft breweries. I not only want to support local small businesses but I want to find some awesome beer as well. This blog post is the summary of my beer adventure over the last year. I am calling it…
BEER OF THE YEAR!
I will pick some arbitrary categories. In each category I will pick one beer that blew me away and one runner-up. Finally I will pick a BEER OF THE YEAR and BREWERY OF THE YEAR.
Ales And Pilsners
I added 3 beers to my favorites list in this category this year. The winner is a surprise. I pick Side Of Rice from Moonlight Brewery. Side Of Rice is a wonderfully light and crisp beer from the folks who make Death & Taxes. (Death & Taxes is a well known stout beer of theirs.) Sermin really liked this one as well. (FYI. Sermin likes, “Beers that taste like beer.” )
Winner
Side Of Rice from Moonlight Brewing
Runner-Up
Pool Haus from Bare Bottle Brewing
IPA
Unlike ales and pilsners I added a lot of IPA to my favorites list this year (eg 8). The competition is fierce in this category. The winner here was amazing. You can read more about it later. Hint hint. Final Fantasea from Humble Sea Brewing. The runner up was tough but edging out Pliny The Elder from Russian River is Giants Grove from Bare Bottle Brewing. Bare Bottle took home a lot of runner-up trophies. Hint hint.
Winner
Final Fantasea From Humble Sea Brewing
Runner-Up
Giants Grove from Bare Bottle Brewing
Stouts
The stout category was another hot contested category. I added 9 beers to my favorites list this year! The winner is CBS (aka Canadian Barrel Stout) from Founders. CBS is dark, rich, and smooth. This one knocked me out of my chair. Not a tiny brewery, Founders has a lot of great stuff. This one might be the easiest to find on the list. The runner up was Maple Coco Gnar Gnar from Humble Sea Brewing.
Winner
CBS from Founders
Runner-Up
Maple Coco Gnar Gnar from Humble Sea
Reds/Ambers
I added 3 to the list but all were pretty great. The winner is Chronicale from Pizza Port Brewing. This is one that Steve recommended to me and it did not disappoint. Nice texture, rich flavor, and tastes like an amber. This was Sermin’s favorite beer of the year. She wants me to buy more of it. The runner-up was also a recommendation from Steve!
Winner
Chronicale from Pizza Port Brewing
Runner-Up
Colossus Of Clout from Strike Brewing
Belgium Beers
I tried 5 or 6 during the year but only one made the favorites. Again a recommendation from Steve. Steve knows his beer. Brother Thelonius from North Coast Brewing. This one has a wonderful finish, a nutty flavor, and is a joy to drink. I also got one of their cool t-shirts. Of the 5 or 6 I tried most were Belgium beers from Belgium. North Coast blew them all away. No runner-up here at all.
Winner
Brother Thelonius from North Coast
BEER OF THE YEAR
My BOTY is Final Fantasea from Humble Sea. I was able to get 4 packs during the release. I poured it into my glass and smelled it. Tart and fruity. I took a sit then stood there…stunned. I took another sip. The flavor, the complexity, the hops. This is one of the best beers I have ever tasted. It is off the charts amazing.
Winner
Final Fantasea from Humble Seas
Runner-Up
The BOTY runner-up is actually another IPA. Giants Grove from Bare Bottle was another winner IPA that I tried this year. Giants Grove has a spruce sort of flavor and just the right amount of hops. This one is wonderful.
BREWERY OF THE YEAR
The BREWERY OF THE YEAR was super easy to pick…Humble Sea. I tried 4 different beers from them and I everything was very good. Also they produce new beers WEEKLY and ship for FREE to Santa Clara. Win. Win. Win.
Runner-Up
The runner-up here was tough but I am going with Bare Bottle. Two of the runner-up entries are from them. I ended up ordering from them twice as they are a Santa Clara brewery and I wanted to support local guys. 🙂
