Realbeer Members Top 10 beers of 2009

[Mike Neilson]

Well I thought I would start a topic of the best beers of 2009, my list from 10th to 2009's most memorable most Inspirational and when I was drinking them I was just smiling from ear to ear!!

10) My Smoked Porter, Gold Medal @ NHC

9) Townshends No9 Stout @ Beervana

8) Epic Porter 2007?? or was it 06???

7) Rogue XS Stout 2006

6) MMMMft4CH (Me Joking and Tyler colabaration)

5) Green Flash IPA

4) Yakima Monster Batch 1

3) Pliny the Elder

2) Hallertau Porter Noir

1) 8 Wired HopWired
Has to beer the best beer of '09' not only because its that good its because 98% of its Kiwi!! but because it was raw!! Drinkable and a Shootgun of flavours I couldnt drink this beer enough!! Cheers Soren and long let Brian and Andy to continue to brew along their fantastic range!!!

Cheers

[Matthew]

For me, 09 was the discovery of craft beer and homebrew so a lot of beers gave me the big grin :D

Memorable beer in no particular order:

Yeastie Boys PKB original 09 recipe
Twisted Hop Sauvin Pils
Epic Pale Ale and Armageddon
Maredsous Blonde
3 Boys IPA and Golden
My NZIPA (it's shown me I have the ability to brew beer)
Hallertau Stuntman
Hallertau Porter Noir (this is weird but good award)

There were plenty of other excellent beer too. A good year.

My Top 3:

3. Epic Mayhem
2. 8 Wired HopWired
1. Yeastie Boys His Majesty <3
.

[MrC]

Here's my best of 2009 list. As you can probably see I don't drink that much commercial beer :-)

Each of these beers has inspired me to brew (or rebrew) a beer of that ilk.

10) Cherry Brew Torsion
9) Cherry Brew Pink Panther
8) Cherry Brew APA
7) Three Boys Golden
6) Macs Brewjoais
5) Moa St Joseph
4) Hallertau Maximus
3) Green Man Stout
2) Hallertau Porter Noir
1) Townshend #9

I tried both Townshend #9 and Hallertau porter noir recently and they totally blew me away.
Good job fellas. Keep on brewin'.

[jt]

II don't drink that much commercial beer :-) either and the ones that stand out are on the bigger side for me but all dangerously drinakable.

His Majesty

Brewjolais (damn, I'll miss LN moving the brewery from Welly)

Hopwired (I can understand the small glass at the MH but wish it would've been a full pint, even if I would've missed the bus)

Yeastie Boys PKB original 09 recipe was good, but I was still tinged by the one & only '08 version, a truely great beer.

[nzbrewer]

What about we look for nominations and then we set up a poll so we can all vote

Say 20 most inspirational, newest, most excitingist, ones that helped move beer and craft beer forward in 2009. (not including homebrewers that only a handful of people have ever tried.)

Here are is my starter for 10, in no particular order, just thinking back through the year of what has wowed me.

8 Wired HopWired - the most amazing aroma I have ever had on a beer using NZ hops, the closest I have ever had to Sauvignon Blanc, can't believe (actually I can, knowing them) that Renaissance would let their new brewer create a brand of which the beer is significantly better than their own. Hope they have a stake in 8 Wired beers like this are going to rock.

Yeastie Boys His Majesty - love beer with bitterness, also my taste of the Nerdherder was pretty impressive. Don't know about that Remix (think the alcohol was a bit high ;-) ) Love what Yeastie Boys are doing as it is invigorating the craft end of the market, yet it is so super niche. Be great to grow the volume so it doesn't run out in less than 3000 minutes.

Hallertau Porter Noir & Stuntman 09, bugs, barrels, hops and alcohol, looking forward to more in 2010

Jokings Black IPA - I dread the day that this man gets behind the wheel of a brewery and starts brewing commercially

Smokin Bishop - because it is local and I can us it in tastings and it freaks the hell out of people and craft beers need to do that. I love huge flavour and aroma this beer is great.

3 Boys Oyster Stout on Hand pump, wish I knew it was as strong as it was before I had a session on it. I guess the extra alcohol, helps deliver the extra flavour.

Twisted Hop for best use of Nelson Sauvin hop behind Thornbridge Kipling. And as I think I read some where recently it has taken the place of what Emersons Pilsner use to be, with its amazing passionfruit/subtropical aroma.

I have to put in there the Mussel Inn and the Captain Cooker as it is a legendary beer that needs more recognition for its innovation. Not just for putting in a native plant, but making it taste and smell amazing. This beer typifies the short comings of the judging criteria at the NZ Beer Awards. This beer when it is on form should stand up and win a best in class trophy as it is stunning. Oh that's right Andrew doesn't enter the awards any more. Festive Brew 2010 native plants as special ingredient

Not going to put any imports as that is dumb as we can't get them and they usually don't travel that well (cheers to Greg Koch for jumping in and saying it the way it is for the Stone beers, as well as most of the other US imports that arrive in pretty poor condition).

Must also comment on the number of beers from small breweries that are technically flawed, and almost undrinkable. There are still way too many of these. Some of these brewers should actually learn how to brew, or be made to get a license to brew, and definitely not put any of these beers in bottle and ship them around the country. I know I won't be offending them as they are still too thick to actually get on this forum and ask questions about how to make their beer better. Maybe we should have a thread for naming and shaming the bad beers and brewers so people can avoid them.

I think a very special mention and thanks to Steve Nally at Invercargill for nurturing budding young brewers and giving them an outlet to trial brewing a batch or two to get their brand off the ground. Without him we wouldn't have the great beers from Yeastie Boys and Golden Ticket. Also a nod to Soren for moving quickly and creating his own brand and doing the same with a range of exciting edge pushing beers.

Be great to seem more of this in 2010.

[Mike Neilson]

(not including homebrewers that only a handful of people have ever tried.) Jokings Black IPA????? MMMMft4CH???? Thats what it is!!! now thats pure home brew Genius!! and I thought there was going to be now homebrew Luke!! You should try it now!! I just did!!

[JoKing]

For sure. That beer is right on the top of my list. I had a bottle with my Dad on Christmas... and it really keeps getting better. Mike - we have to get together again... climb Mt Taranaki again... drink some Epic Porter... and brew MMMMoMMft4CH again. For me - that beer is #1 on my 09 List.

Here's the rest:

#2. Porter Noir
#3. Townshend #9
#4. Mikes NZIPA - that beer was awesome.
#5. Maximus
#6. Pliny the Elder & Green Flash West Coast IPA
#7. Old Crustacean... very inspiring
#8. Debilitated Defender - it's getting better.
#9. Epic Porter - very special beer for me.
#10. Kreik Boon 2007. A beer my wife and I enjoy together... the ONLY beer she likes!

[JoKing]

I forgot to mention Naked Poppy... but then if I forgot to mention it... it can't have been that memorable!

[denimglen]

I can't really pick top ten beers so I'll list my top ten beer related things for '09 and in no particular order.

All the imports kindly brought in by Beerstore (and Beerstore in general), it was great to have an opportunity to taste these great beers. Standouts were Shakespeare Stout, Pliny the Elder, Blind Pig, Numbskull and Union Jack among many others.

Yeastie Boys - What a great idea. Instead of five or six beers that I can buy at once, drink in a night and then probably not buy more beers from your brewery you bring out beers at 100% and keep us hanging for the next season. A great business idea and a big bonus for the consumer. It's like you're bringing the variety we enjoy as homebrewers to the average consumer. It's hard to pick out one batch the reigns supreme, but the big ones would have to be the first PKB, HM and KC.

Epic Armageddon vs Hallertau Maximus @ BoQ - A great night, great folk, and absolutely two outstanding beers.

Tyler and Joseph organising a shitload of US hops for us to enjoy.

Beer Festival @ Ellerslie Racecourse - great to see so many beer drinkers actually drinking craft beers and not the big boys dominating the festival.

Discovering Belgian styles - One thing I wanted to try but hadn't really ventured in to, and found an awesome new world of beer.

Some great SOBA meets - including the Beer Festival, BoQ, Steam and Galbraith's.

Galbraith's in general, I love this place, great real pub atmosphere, great food, greater beer, and great guys working there. Big thanks to Keith for having a chat and some tips on brewing a Bob Hudson's style beer, and was great having all the fam there for my 21st.

Picking up some medals at the NHC was great, feels like the hard work and the 'hard' drinking is paying off, and congrats to everyone else also.

I can't think of a tenth, so number ten is that beer is mean as.

Edit - Thanks for reminding me Luke, my new number ten is Greg Koch coming on here and being a fucking douche. Yeah bro, beers don't travel well, we know that, we're educated consumers, but you wouldn't have cried about it if we were all saying your beer was great. GTFO.

[MrC]

feels like the hard work and the 'hard' drinking is paying off
Amen brother! I finally feel like I'm brewing the beer that I set out to brew when I started this whole home brew gig (well, most of the time).

A possible number 10 : Case swaps?
Although I missed CS1 & CS4, I really enjoyed the case swaps and learnt plenty along the way. Home brewing is is long slow learning curve and case swaps seemed to speed up some of that learning with nice beer along the way.

[denimglen]

Yeah, case swaps were awesome, that should be on my list too.

[jt]

(not including homebrewers that only a handful of people have ever tried.)

No include them, if only six people have drunk them, then they will have to stand up in the (possible 593 ?) votes with the rest of New Zealands best

[Reviled]

Allways a tough decision but ill give it a crack, in absolutely no particular order as they are all absolutely awesome!!

1. Maximus - I liked batch 2 better than batch 1, have been to Hallertau quite alot over the festive season and still want more ;o)
2. Armageddon - believe it or not, I preferred batch 1 over batch 2 ;oP
3. Ruination - eye opening stuff, shame greg koch is a whinging bitch
4. My WBC IPA which scored me a 1st place ;o)
5. Pliny the eldar and my clone which was pretty close and is definately on the re-brew list
6. MMMMft4CH (colabaration beer) - Brewed on possibly one of my best beery weekends all year!
7. Mikes 13% brett barley wine - If I had to pick most unique beer all year this would be it!
8. Naked Poppy - It was a toss up between this and debilitated defender, but to be fair, poppy helped give me my hop addiction!!
9. PKB - I only tried the bottled version that Martin brought round, but for me such an awesome dark beer, a good use of NZ hops!
10. My Bourbon Porter which got me a silver medal :o) Still have 3 bottles left, might have one tonight!


Soren - I hoped to have included some 8wired beers but still havnt been able to get my hot hands on any :o( Maybe it can be a great start to 2010 for me? ;o) lol