The Summing Up

I had been thinking of writing a sort of overview of the best brews I sampled in the past year. But RateBeer.com beat me to it and did the work for me with their new year-end feature, “My 2013 in Beer.” This is a compilation/summary of all the beer ratings I entered on that site during the year. Or what one (better) blogger calls a "listicle."

And so, I learn that I “entered 878 beer reviews in … from 336 breweries. 191 breweries were tried for the first time, 5 of which opened in 2013.”

I had 107 IPAs (at an average rating of 3.5 out of a possible 5.0)

57 Pale Lagers (2.17 avg.)

46 Imperial/Double IPAs (3.6)

43 American Pale Ales (3.32)

41 Belgian Strong Ales (3.6)

and 36 Saisons (3.69).

My favorite styles are Imperial/Double IPA and Saison, but those types are harder to come by in Japan than are Pale Lagers (which are everywhere).

By nation, I rated 399 brews from the United States (avg. 3.48)

165 from Japan (2.98)

107 from Belgium (3.45)

46 from Germany (3.19)

and 27 from Denmark (3.66).

On the road, I had chances to visit the following bars, breweries, and brewpubs for the first time:

Craft Beer Bar Marciero (Osaka)

Doll Dress (Osaka)

Beer Belly Tenma (Osaka)

Concordia Ale House (Portland, OR)

Grain and Gristle (Portland, OR)

The Commons Brewery (Portland, OR)

Alameda Brewing Co. (Portland, OR)

Breakside Restaurant & Pub Brewery (Portland, OR)

Bend Brewing Company (Bend, OR)

10 Barrel Brewpub (Bend, OR)

Silver Moon Brewing (Bend, OR)

Three Creeks Brewery (Sisters, OR)

Double Mountain Brewery and Taproom (Hood River, OR)

Arch Rock Brewing Company (Gold Beach, OR)

Surly Brewing Company (Brooklyn Center, MN)

Firestone Walker Brewing Company (Paso Robles, CA)

Ladyface Alehouse & Brasserie (Agoura Hills, CA)

Finally, here are the beers I rated at 4.0 or higher during 2013:

Firestone Walker Double DBA (4.4)

Three Floyds Behemoth Barleywine (4.4)

Hill Farmstead Arthur (4.4)

BFM √225 Saison (4.4)

Mikkeller George! Barrel Aged (Bourbon Edition) (4.3)

Oude Gueuze Tilquin à l’Ancienne (4.3)

Hill Farmstead Vera Mae (4.3)

Hill Farmstead Juicy (4.3)

Russian River Blind Pig IPA (4.3)

Harviestoun Old Engine Oil (Bottle) (4.3)            

Nectar Ales Nectar IPA (4.2)

Mikkeller Monks Elixir (4.2)

Founders Nemesis 2010 (4.2)

Bush Prestige (Scaldis Prestige) (4.2)

Schneider Aventinus (4.2)

Firestone Walker Sucaba (4.2)

De Ranke XXX Bitter (4.2)

BrewDog Abstrakt AB:13 (4.2)

De Dolle Dulle Teve 10º (Mad Bitch) (4.2)

The Bruery White Chocolate (4.1)

Grassroots Arctic Saison (4.1)

Grassroots/Stillwater/Mikkeller Gypsy Juice (4.1)

Evil Twin Falco IPA (4.1)

The Bruery Black Tuesday Imperial Stout (4.1)

Fuller’s Golden Pride (Bottle/Keg) (4.1)

Jandrain-Jandrenouille IV Saison (4.1)

Green Flash Imperial IPA (4.1)

Gigantic IPA (4.1)

Weyerbacher Sour Black (4.1)

Firestone Walker Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA (4.0)

J.W. Lees Harvest Ale – 2004 vintage (4.0)         

Deschutes The Dissident – 2008 vintage (4.0)

Mikkeller Draft Bear (4.0)

Firestone Walker Walkers Reserve (4.0)

Ladyface Chesebro IPA (4.0)

Firestone Walker Pivo Hoppy Pils (4.0)

Shiga Kogen Far East Triple IPA (4.0)

Maine Beer Lunch (4.0)

8 Wired iStout (4.0)

Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Jack & Kens Ale (4.0)

Logsdon Seizoen Bretta (4.0)

Malheur Bière Brut (Reserve) (4.0)

Lagunitas Maximus (4.0)

St Feuillien Grand Cru (4.0)       

Fantôme Saint-Roch (4.0)

De Leite Ma Mère Speciale (4.0)

Upright Captain Beefheart (4.0)

Whew!

Here’s to 2014!