Sorry for the ultra long reply. It just me reminiscing a bit and I thought I would share. Hopefully this doesn't come off as overly indulgent on my part...
That said, I'd say there are 3 examples that have stood out to me over the years. Only one was submitted for judging.
#1. Belgian Saison "Été"
Saison is my favorite style. I brewed Drew Beechum's "Été" recipe with Wyeast 3711, and I thought it was very VERY good. I'd planned on submitting it to be judged but had put it all in bombers so couldn't submit to NHC. BUT I did hold a saison tasting with several friends and fellow home brewers. There were 8 examples (4 different home-brews and 4 commercial examples including Saison Dupont and Hennepin from Ommegang, Red Barn Ale from lost Abbey, and St-Feuillien Saison). We were blinded to all the beers. Though it wasn't unanimous Été came out on top with some saying it was "Amazing" and one quote was "whoever brewed this is the 'schiz-nit'. So...I guess I'm the schiz-nit! :rockin:
I gave that same beer to my brother and law who also home-brews and this was his comment back to me some time later after he had tried it:
"Last night a friend came by my apartment for a visit before going back to Colorado this weekend and it occurred to me that not only was it time to crack your Saison, but it was an excellent opportunity for another homebrewer and Saison enthusiast to experience the beer. The results were both of us agreeing it was a phenomenal Saison, good work! My friend, who has done an internship at a start up brewery in Fort Collins CO, said he liked it even more than some of the FunkWerks' in Fort Collins. They specialize in Saison and they do make some amazing beers. It carbed perfectly, good color, mouthfeel, all around of the best Saisons we have both had."
Feeling pretty good about myself, I tried brewing it again and submitted it to NHC this year and got a 29 on it...one will never know what my "original" Été might have gotten.
Regardless, that article by Drew Beechum is just flat out excellent and any honor or accolade for my initial attempt really goes to him for his contributions to understanding the style and for that specific recipe formulation. I'd also credit the book Farmhouse Ales by Phil Markowski.
#2. Breakfast Stout Clone
Some time ago I had a chance to do a collaboration brew with one of my best friends who'd introduced me to brewing a while back. He really liked Founders Breakfast Stout and wondered if we could try something like that. He'd never done an AG batch so I brought my cooler connections to convert his coolers to an HLT and mash tun. I researched the recipe and came up with something that was pretty close to some versions that have been published online on a variety of forums, perhaps including this one. The secret ingredient was home roasted Sumatran coffee. We brewed it together and as he lives on the east coast I never got to try the end result. But he emailed me later regarding the beer and this is what he said:
"The Founder's clone is almost fully carbonated, probably 1-2 days away. It is not only the best homebrew I've had, it may be one of the best beers I've ever had...period...and I've had a lot of beer. I think it's better than the original. Words don't describe this beer. I really don't even know what to say, except this keg could make me very fat...."
I tried a rebrew but I didn't have the same ingredients or yeast we'd used and I thought it was just OK. It wasn't as good as the original, which probably had to do with me more than anything. I wish I could have tried that beer!
#3. Olde #10 Barleywine
I named this beer olde number 10 because it was the tenth batch of beer I'd ever brewed. Essentially it was JZ's barleywine recipe "Old Monster" with some homegrown hops and slight mods for available ingredients. It was pitched on a double yeast cake of WLP 001 and fermented at 67F. OG was an amazing 1.117 and it finished at an even more amazing 1.019.
I bottled all of it and it never really seemed to carb. I kept about a case at 50F for 18+ months and would sample it from time to time. I never was impressed and at one point considered dumping it to make room for better beer.
In the spring of 2011, I sampled it and was blown away at how good it had become. It was lightly carb'd at this point. I decided then and there to enter it into the San Diego county fair home-brew competition. As it wasn't carb'd quite to the level I would have liked, I decanted all the bottles into a 3 gallon keg and force carb'd, then used the beer gun to bottle all of it. I bottled it the morning of the competition so didn't get to sample the fully carb'd version.
Long story short it one first place in the strong ale category but fell short in the best of show. When I got home I tried it against a bottle of Alesmith's Old Numbskull which has always been one of my favorites for the style. I will say that mine was in fact "amazing". There were all these clear notes of fig, plumb and tobacco in mine...things I never would have imagined could come out from grain. It did stand out as significantly more complex than the commercial example. But the credit goes to Jamil for that recipe. His book "Brewing Classic Styles" really is a classic. To someone starting out, I'd say, if you want to brew "amazing beer" stick to that book...
Speaking of Jamil, I remember him talking about trying to formulate the Kolsch recipe and about how there are other intangibles that can make a beer seem amazing such as your surroundings, company, etc. So, perhaps for the beer to be truly amazing, it needs to be associated with something else...something which isn't directly measured but nevertheless adds to the overall experience of the beer.
Cheers!
