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. 

Top 5 Breweries

So two years ago just I was getting Untappd underway, I made a list of my top ten beers. But I don't really think of individual beers as much anymore—I tend to think about my favorite breweries.

So I thought I should organize my top 5 breweries, with my favorite beers from each one underneath them.

Odell (Fort Collins, CO)
Mycernary Double IPA
IPA
Lugene Bourbon

Lagunitas (Petaluma, CA)
Aunt Sally Sour Ale
IPA
Citrusinensis
Brown Shugga

Deschutes (Bend, OR)
Fresh Squeezed IPA
Twilight Summer Ale
Mirror Pond Pale Ale

Russian River (Santa Rosa, CA)
Pliny the Elder
Sanctification
Blind Pig IPA
Consecration

Boulevard (Kansas City, MO)
Tank 7
Tell-Tale Tart
Tropical Pale Ale
Ginger Lemon Radler

Top Ten Beers (as of Summer 2015)

On April 6, I joined Untappd. The first day I entered 34 beers. That's a lot of beers in one day. Of course, they were beers that I either had tasting notes on or just remembered my opinion.

Over the last 11 weeks, I've entered 81 unique beers. That's an average of just over a beer a day. There have been weeks where I've had one beer a day, many days where I don't have any, any some days where I have a flight and enter 4 or 5 on a day. Here are the permalinks to my favorite beers and wish list.

Reviews

Wish List

Since I've tried and learned a lot in the last few months, I thought it would be interesting to break down my top ten beers of the moment, knowing this will likely change over time, particularly as I try new ones.

IPA
Lagunitas
Odell
Deschutes Fresh Squeezed

Double IPA
Russian River Pliny the Elder
Odell Myrcernary
Ninkasi Tricerahops

Golden Ale/Summer Ale
Victory Summer Love
Deschutes Twilight Summer

Winter Warmer/Root Beer
Anderson Valley Winter Solstice
Small Town Not Your Father's Root Beer

That feels about right. I've discovered that Double IPA is my favorite style and that Odell, Deschutes, Lagunitas, and Russian River are my favorite breweries.

- - -

Edit: So above I broke down my top ten beers by category. But since I only covered four categories, I figured I should add some other categories and note my favorites in those as well.

Session IPA
Left Hand Introvert IPA

Porter
Breckenridge Vanilla Porter

Local Brewpub
LowDown IPA

Red
Wynkoop Colorojo

Pale Ale
Deschutes Mirror Pond

Farmhouse Ale
Great Divide Collette

Beer Reviews and Wish Lish: Untappd

Thanks to Niraj, now I've got a place to keep track of the beers I've tried and want to try. You can even click on the date of the review and see my tasting notes.

Reviews

Wish List

Beers To Try

Never Had
Odell Lugene Chocolate Stout
Odell Runoff Red
Odell Levity Amber
Left Hand Milk Stout

Liked Before
Deschutes Twilight Summer Ale
Deschutes Fresh Squeezed
Odell 5 Barrel Pale Ale
Blue Moon Farmhouse Red
Tommyknocker Maple Nut Brown
Russian River Pliny the Elder
Fort Collins Major Tom's Wheat
Fuller's Honey Dew
Wynkoop Colorojo
Oskar Blues Mama's Little Yella Pils

Tried Since Original Post
Dry Dock Apricot Blonde - didn't like
Odell Loose Leaf - very nice, easy to drink, good flavor
Breckenridge Vanilla Porter - delicious. Not a huge fan of porters, but love vanilla and this was great. Best porter I've tried to date. Got better as I drank it.
Sierra Nevada Nooner - okay. Reminded me of miller lite. Not offensive, but wouldn't buy again.

Mark Fever: Make Your Own Six-Packs

Between the two of us, Mark and I consumed 11 bottles of beer at home, from Friday to Sunday. The picture above shows my rankings visually, best on the left.

Mark agreed in some places, disagreed in others. I know he liked the Red Banshee better than the BigLeaf Maple. Overall, these weren't as good as last years.

Blue Moon Farmhouse Red - Blue Moon Brewing Company - Golden, CO

This was the favorite for both of us. It just had a really great taste, exactly what you want a red to taste like.

BigLeaf Maple Autumn Red - Anchor Brewing Company - San Francisco, California

We didn't taste any maple, but this was another solid red. Mark thought it was too hoppy, but I liked it a lot.

Colorado Native - AC Golden Brewing Company/MillerCoors - Golden, CO

This is third in my list, but wasn't that great. It was a decent simple lager.

Sawtooth Ale - Left Hand Brewing Company - Longmont, CO

This was the first beer I've had from this craft brewery and I liked it. Simple but smooth. I'd try some of their other beers.

Jack Whacker Wheat - Tommyknocker Brewery - Idaho Springs, CO

Last year a Tommyknocker beer was our favorite, so I tried a different style. The bottle claimed notes of lemony-citrus but that was almost too much. Still it was easy to drink.

Lands End Amber Ale - Kannah Creek Brewing Company - Grand Junction, CO

This was totally unremarkable. I thought it was boring, verging on bad.

Red Banshee - Fort Collins Brewery - Fort Collins, CO

I thought I was going to love this as I've really been into reds lately. Unfortunately it tasted like a brown beer to me, and a boring one a that.

Angry Orchard Crisp Apple - Boston Beer Company - Boston, MA

Eagle-eyed readers will see that this is the 1 of 12 that we didn't drink. I had a couple of these last fall so I feel like I can place it here, it's a good cider, but that still won't beat out a good beer.

Doggie Style Pale Ale - Flying Dog Brewery - Denver, CO/Frederick, MD

I thought I was going to love this because I've loved it before. I suppose my tastes have changed in the last five years. It was a very hoppy pale ale (as you would expect) but that made it hard to drink.

Hofbräu Maibock - Hofbräuhaus München - Munich, Germany

I didn't think I was going to like this, and I didn't. I only had a sip. I generally don't like European beers and this was no exception. Tasted bland and watery to me.

Bitch Creek ESB - Grand Teton Brewing - Victor, ID

This was the worst beer (not a cider) that we had. It was so dark and bitter, it was just undrinkable. I finished my half-bottle, but I don't think Mark did.

Woodchuck Hard Cider Pear - Vermont Hard Cider Company - Middlebury, VT

This was some of the worst shit I've ever tasted. I got pear specifically because Brit likes pear drinks and I thought it sounded good. It was vile. No one finished their glass. Truly, truly horrendous.

Beer Advocate vs RateBeer

I thought this would be a good exercise, since I just sampled and ranked six different beers, to compare them to the two big beer rating sites. I thought it would be interesting to see how Mark and I compared to national averages, potentially seeing which site would be more useful in determining if I would like a beer that I haven't yet tried.

The beers listed below are in order of my preference. For this exercise, I'll put a ballpark number in bold as my rating. All ratings are out of 100.

Maple Nut Brown - Tommyknocker Brewery - Idaho Springs, CO (93)
Beer Advocate: 78
RateBeer:  33

Twilight Summer Ale - Deschutes Brewery - Bend, OR (90)
Beer Advocate: 84
RateBeer: 68

Major Tom's Pomegranate Wheat - Fort Collins Brewery -  Fort Collins, CO (87)
Beer Advocate: 74
RateBeer: 29

5 Barrel Pale Ale - Odell Brewing Co. - Fort Collins, CO (75)
Beer Advocate: 86
RateBeer: 79

Honey Brown Lager - Dundee Brewing Co. - Rochester, NY (65)
Beer Advocate: 72
RateBeer: 17

Agave Wheat - Breckenridge Brewery - Denver, CO (25)
Beer Advocate: 78
RateBeer: 37

As you can see, for me there was a top three, a middle two and one bad beer.

Let's breakdown how Beer Advocate sees them:

5 Barrel - 86
Twilight Summer - 84
Agave Wheat - 78
Maple Nut - 78
Major Tom - 74
Honey Brown - 72

And RateBeer:

5 Barrel - 79
Twilight Summer - 68
Agave Wheat - 37
Maple Nut - 33
Major Tom - 29
Honey Brown - 17

What is interesting, is that both sites had all six beers in the same order. Unfortunately, it didn't line up with my tastes really at all. (Mark thought 5 Barrel was his least favorite).

It seems as though neither site is a helpful guide to determining if I will like a new beer. So I guess I'll have to figure it out the old fashioned way.

Make Your Own Six Pack - Mark Fever

As part of Mark Fever 2013, we went to a liquor store the size of a Target and made our own six pack. Here are my order of rankings, best on the left.

Maple Nut Brown - Tommyknocker Brewery - Idaho Springs, CO
This was a brown ale with just the right amount of sweetness. Crisp and light.

Twilight Summer Ale - Deschutes Brewery - Bend, OR
This was a great summer beer. It was simple and pleasant, but with good flavor too. If I was bringing a six-pack to a summer party, this would be a great choice.

Major Tom's Pomegranate Wheat - Fort Collins Brewery -  Fort Collins, CO
Didn't taste any pomegranate, but was very crisp. The top three were very close in my head.

5 Barrel Pale Ale - Odell Brewing Co. - Fort Collins, CO
A good strong pale ale, very hoppy. Not as easy to drink as the first three.

Honey Brown Lager - Dundee Brewing Co. - Rochester, NY
Sort of simple, sort of good. Couldn't taste that much honey, but it was pretty good.

Agave Wheat - Breckenridge Brewery - Denver, CO
The only beer I didn't like. It just didn't have any flavor. Tasted like nothing.

For the record, when we out on our last night, I ordered a Angry Orchard "Crisp Apple" Cider. Brit and I both liked it a lot.