Roeg's Picks for 2012: Best Brewery

Best Brewery: Since it is too hard for me to ever pick a favorite beer (although Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout is right up there), my first category to choose was my favorite brewery for 2012.  I have various reasons to choose a favorite, but it really has to come down to a brewery that is committed to brewing a diverse selection of beer, has a selection that I haven’t had before but are still available to get, and is always trying something new.  Here are my favorite breweries for 2012:

Gold: Brew Dog, Scotland – Once known for brewing the strongest beer in the world (e.g., End of History at 55% ABV), the selection of different beers and their different collaborations made this my favorite brewery for 2012.  They had recently expanded to Nottingham, and I was able to visit 3 times this year.  Overall, I was able to try 22 different Brewdog brews in 2012, finding some limited offerings (i.e., Abstrakt AB:08 – AB:10, Tokyo Rising Sun), and get my hands on some of their collaborations (e.g., San Diego Scotch Ale with Ballast Point and Lost Dog with Lost Abbey).  A great cheese slate for snacking, and different imperial stouts called Paradox which are aged in scotch barrels, Brewdog has made huge strides in fighting convention in the UK and in the US.  The only thing that was missing was their beers on cask, but at my last visit they assured me that it was coming.  Well done!

Silver: Goose Island, IL– I had a business trip to Chicago and was able to stop by the Goose Island brewpub at Wrigley Field, and able to sample may of the local offerings that are not available elsewhere.  Top choices were their Sahti (flavored with juniper berries), the Green Line (a pale ale only available in Chicago), and draft versions of their Pere Jacques and Fleur, two Belgian inspired beers that tasted best on draft.  But is the Bourbon County stout that I want to write home about (a great dessert on a winter evening), as well as all the different variations of the beer.  Finding one of the limited editions is like hitting the lottery, as what happened to me when I found 3 bottles of the Bramble Rye at Oliver’s Beverage.  This version is an Imperial Stout at 12.7% ABV aged in Heaven Hill rye whiskey barrels with raspberries & blackberries.  If you find one of these rare gems, buy it (and if you don’t want it, I’ll buy it from you and we can split it).

Bronze: The Bruery, CA– The beers are top notch, and they’ve gone out of their way to pull together many collaborative brews and celebration beers.  This year I was able to share one of my favorite bourbon barrel stouts called Black Tuesday, an insanely good bourbon barrel imperial stout at 18.2%.  I was also able to obtain a bottle of their 2012 Anniversary beer named Fruet, an Old Ale that was all aged in bourbon barrels (as compared to other versions of their beer that are blends).  For the variety, the quality, and the collaborations, The Bruery continues to shine.

Honorable Mention: Cigar City for their diverse beers aged with wood, Stone for planning their end of the world party back in 2002 (and encouraging us to buy the Vertical Epic bottles to share), Evil Twin for the sheer number of beers (I tried 30 of them) being released for consumption, and Stillwater who showed the American beer drinker everything that you could do with a Saison. - 6208/13261

"Blessed is the mother who gives birth to a brewer." – Czech Proverb