2nd Annual Year End Awards

Last year I decided to do an End of Year Awards post to take a look back at my year in beer brewing and my favorite beers and brewery of the year. It was fun to do because I got a chance to look back and evaluate how far I've come, think about beers
I've brewed, and set some goals for the coming year. So without further ado, here's the 2009 Bearded Brewing End of Year Awards.

Worst beer/idea: Easily the worst beer/beer idea was my Cranberry Milk Stout. Luckily, El Jefe questioned if putting the entire batch on cranberries was a good idea and so I split the batch into a 2.5 gallon keg of the milk stout, and put the rest on top of cranberries. I think a couple things went wrong, but the end result was not good at all. First off, I think it's a bad combo, the tartness doesn't play well with the stout and I left it in the secondary for too long and it became almost winey. Thankfully El Jefe was right and I was able to salvage a good milk stout out of the batch.

Best recipe to build on: This one goes to the Steelhead Slammer DIPA. While it didn't end up quite as high of ABV or having bitterness I want in a double IPA, it was the hoppiest beer I made. It was well received and it gives me a base to build on, by upping the bittering hops and using a yeast starter, I should be able to get my next big IPA to what I'm wanting. It was a good experience though, and I know I can brew a really hoppy beer successfully.

Successful new style brewed: I was happy with the turnout of both my Vaca Milk Stout and Norseman Oatmeal Stout. I haven't brewed a lot of stouts, and I am excited going forward to brew more. I like how both turned out, and want to continue to play with the amount of chocolate/roasty/coffee flavors I can get by using different quantities of roasted malts.

Brewing Accomplishment: In June my wife had our second child, and the following months have been a feat to juggle a 2 year old and a newborn, as well as my job and sanity. Without becoming a dead beat dad or a divorced dad, I was able to keep my brewing going. How you might ask? Well, I changed my brewing time to 9pm on Friday or Saturday nights, and switched from the partial mashing I had been doing back to extract. The switch saved me some time and allowed me to brew about once a month. I also kegged more, which also saved me a lot of time. The one thing that has been hard is finding time to blog as much as I used to. The first couple years of this blog I was able to write more, and on a variety of topics. I hope to get back to that eventually. Regardless, keeping the brewing going has been more manageable than I thought it was going to be, and that has been a huge accomplishment this year!

Believe the Hype Award: Last spring I got a chance to go to Denver and at the Falling Rock Tap House had my first taste of Russian River. I had the Damnation, Pliny the Younger and Pliny the Elder. This fall I received a bottle of Blind Pig... all excellent. Every bit as good as advertised and a brewery I wish we had access to in Minnesota.

My Favorite Brewery of the Year: The truth is that New Glarus could get this award every year in my mind. But for the sake of making this interesting and not to sound like too much of fanboy, I chose three finalists....
First off was Lagunitas, which only loses out because I haven't had everything they offer, so I can't fairly judge them. What I have had has been great, and Hop Stoopid is the best bang for your buck DIPA out there. $4.99 a bomber at most stores, and is comparable to most $9.99 bottles from other breweries.
I would also be remiss if I didn't mention Summit. I love what they did this year. They added 3 new beers. Doesn't sound like much, but I think Summit sometimes is the forgotten old man of the craft brewing world in Minnesota. This year the release of an aggressive hoppy red ale, Horizon Red, plus the new one-off series Unchained, produced a Kolsch and an outstanding Scotish Wee Heavy...these served as a reminder that Summit makes great beer and shouldn't be overlooked. Excited to see what this coming year brings from them.
But Founder's came to Minnesota this year, and damn...I've had their lineup and it's all good. Centennial IPA and Founders Porter both jump into the top 2 of those styles I've ever had, and their Breakfast Stout is the kind of breakfast I could drink every morning (if I wouldn't lose my teaching license.) So brewery of the year for me is Michigan brewery Founder's.

Which leads me to my Top 9 beers of 2009. This category is for beers I've never had before this year, even if they had been out, they were new to me. In no particular order:

Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA
Dark Horse Stout Series Tres (Blueberry Stout)
Summit Horizon Red Ale
Founders Centennial IPA
Founders Porter
Town Hall Brewery's Raspberry Milk Stout
Fitger's Starfire Pale Ale
New Glarus Cracked Wheat
New Glarus Coffee Stout

And finally....the Bearded Brewing Beer of the Year: The Gringo Imperilistic Mexican Lager

Last year this was the beer that I was excited to build on, and I was happy with the changes I made. In my mind, I wanted to create a unique beer that captures a lot of what my brewing is about: organic, accessible, but unique and well crafted. What started off as kind of a joke, an imperial Mexican lager, turned into a hoppy, smooth beer that was unique enough to impress some beer geeks, but accessible enough to be enjoyed by most. The key to the Gringo this time around was two things: Patience to let it lager and sit in the bottle long enough, and also the addition of Agave Nectar in the secondary. The agave (a honey-like substance) rounds out the sweet citrusy hops, but adds a nice touch that compliments the beer. I was happy that most people who reviewed it picked up on the maltiness, the beer is slighty grainy and lagerish, but the heavy addition of Centennial hops gives it a great citrusy presence. It was the beer I was most proud of this year...hence the award.

It was a great year, brewing and otherwise and I look forward to 2010. The goal for this past year was to return to some basics, try my hand at nailing down subtleties in beers like pale ales and stouts. Also to brew very hoppy beers, something I've never done. I sought out advice from more fellow brewers (three new bloggers reviewed my beers), I connected with some local beer blogger/brewers, and am entering a contest for only the second time this winter. The goal for 2010 is to return back to the creativity that drove my early brewing, building upon the success of the beers I brewed this year, combining what I learned with some more adventurous recipes.
Happy New Year and thanks for reading.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer