Defining My Beer Palate

Now that I've rated and reviewed over 200 beers (not 1500 like some people) I thought it would be interesting to glean some trends.

Here are the Top 20 beers I've ever had, broken down by rating, but not in order otherwise. 

5 Stars

4.75 Stars

4.5 Stars

Here's the breakdown of these 20 beers by style:

Double IPA - 8

IPA - 6

Triple IPA - 2

Sour - 2

Pale Ale - 1

Golden Ale - 1

So this is actually pretty eye-opening. First of all, 18 of my top 20 is either some form of IPA or Sour. The only Pale Ale in my top 20 is a citrus-heavy one from Lagunitas. Despite Sierra Nevada being my gateway beer, turns out I don't actually enjoy Pale Ales. Also the Summer Love Golden Ale from Victory Brewing seems to be a one-off that was biased by the hot dog and chips and sunshine. 

Let's go deeper. 

I've tried 17 Double IPAs and 8 of them made my top 20. 

I've tried 53 IPAs and 6 made my top 20. 

I've tried 2 Triples both made my top 20. 

I've tried 3 Sours and 2 made my top 20. 

Sorted by efficiency that's:

Triple IPA: 100%

Sour: 66%

Double IPA: 47%

IPA: 11%

Then you go back and look at my very top ratings...

A Double and Sour got my only perfect scores, closely followed by a Double and a Triple. 

It becomes clear that (single) IPAs are not in my top three styles, and yet that's what I've tried the most.

So now I know. Go for a Double, Triple or Sour. I haven't tried enough Triples or Sours to really declare a precise ranking of those three styles.