Best beer you ever made

mine was a monster. one day i went to my lhbs and got hooked up with 16 lbs of lme and 10lbs of honey for thirty dollars. i felt like i robbed the place. the bags of the extract and honey were torn open and taped closed. they told me that most likely the stuff was no good or on the way out and i told them they were crazy. so i brewed my american brown thats 1.57 and added 7 lbs of the lme and 3 lbs of the honey for a monster 5 gallon batch at 1.112. it took a big starter of wlp60 and fermented for a long time. when it was finally done at like 1.014 i kegged it forced carbonated then bmbf the lot of them. it was so good. i miss that beer. it didnt make it past 8 months sadly.

Just made a black IPA and once you go black you never go back

I'm only about 12 brews deep, but, the AHS Agave Wit is, hands down, my best.

its a tie for me, My mint chocolate stout is amazing, but I always enjoy making pumpkin ale

My Imperial Nut Brown, 6th AG batch.

Just started allowing myself to drink it this week after giving a full 2 weeks aging in the kegerator (many half pints were drawn over those two weeks to check on progress). It did not come out as "imperial" as I planned my recipe, but still a respectable 7.7%. When I brew it again I'll actually be shooting for the gravity I got on this batch rather than the gravity I originally planned for. Has a great sweet raisin/toffee aroma that comes out in the taste as well as a bit of roasty/nuttiness that rides out the rest of the taste and makes me want more! This is going on regular brewing rotation for me.

The winter brew in my profile is my new favorite. This thing turned out really good.

Wicked Imp Black Ale (my own creation, sort of a CDA, or Black IPA)

I absolutely love Yooper's Dead Guy Ale Clone. I've modified it quite a bit, but it's still similar.

While I've loved all of my brews so far, the best was actually my first all-grain. And I didn't even have the right equipment at the time! I loved bock beers at the time and decided to throw together my own recipe, then throw an ale yeast at it to change it up. Long story short, I was going to get the equipment that weekend (already had ingredients) but a huge snow storm moved in too quick for me and I decided to MacGuyver it with items I had around the house. I admit, I may think it is the best one yet because I spent a lot of time on it (9 hours or so), but it was pretty awesome.

Orfy's dark mild is high on my list, although I think my schwarzbier actually trumped it! I find that every beer I make seems to get better and better.

niquejim said:

Dean Larsen's SNCA clone
11.75 lb. 2 row pale
1 lb. crystal 55
1 oz. Chinook 13% 60 min.
.25 oz. Chinook 13% 30 min.
1 oz. Cascade 0 min.
.25 oz. each Cascade and Centennial dry hop

I just did a side by side( yeah 2009 SNCA made it to Florida) and it is as good as the original

Click to expand...

Planning a porter and IPA brewday on Sat and have a new bag of Chinook, Cent and some Cascade from the last hops order. I'm going to craft my IPA after this clone. May add some Citra to this hops schedule. Thanks.

My best lately seems to be the latest. I'm 1 year into this hobby and the batches from this summer to the present are preferable to just about any craft brew. I'll still buy a sixer a week for a broad selection, but they are starting to accumulate in my beer fridge. A Loose Cannon clone a few batches back has been the best hands down. The hops were not perfectly done to match Loose Cannon, but it was so good, I had a hard time keeping myself to 24 oz on weekday evenings.

I would have to say my Oktoberfest that is on tap. It was my first lager and 3rd all grain. I am not sure if it will remain my favorite purely from being the best, but I could see it remaining a strong favorite, simply because it was the largest step change in quality/taste with my homebrewing so far IMHO.

My favorite so far, was probably my Amarillo IPA DH'd with Amarillo/Simcoe. But my All-Centennial IPA is right up there. Tastes almost identical to Two Hearted. I'll have to do a side-by-side soon. I've been trying to let it age, and only treat myself to one here and there. I love hops, but am also looking forward to coming up with some more complex malty recipes! Definitely haven't developed the Oak or Smoked palette yet.

Really need to make that Lake Walk Pale Ale sometime.

The best beer I made was my first one: A russian imperial stout from an extract kit. I brewed it last Dec 26th. Its just tasting good now.

I've only got a few batches under my belt, but Yooper's DFH 60 min clone turned out amazing.

Best would have to be a clone of Stone's Russian Imperial Stout. Hands down. It was my first-ever all-grain batch (been all-grain ever since). Nobody could believe I was a noob and got those results.

A close second was a Centennial Blonde Ale. That keg was killed on a brew day by some buddies who came over to brew. Always thought that you're supposed to end up with more beer after a brew day, not less.

edit - oh man my first post was from a 6 year old thread. seems about right!! well it's a good thread...

My best was for the first and only competition I've entered. I scored a 41 but lost a point because the LHBS was out of clear belgian candy so I used dark. My Saison was out of style because of color and I should have entered it into a different category. I've made it several times since but never as good as that batch.

I don't think I could honestly pick a favorite, so many have been incredible. But here are a few of the best:

A 12.1% Bourbon Vanilla Rye Imperial Stout. Aged on charred oak, 10yr bourbon, Madagascan vanilla beans. On tap now. Lucious mouthfeel, complex flavors, no booze at all.

Bohemian Pilsner I made last summer. Double docotion brewing process, all Saaz hops. Stunning Pils! Brewing up another pils in two weeks with all my new, fresh 16' Leaf hops (Saaz, Tradition, Mittelfruh and Tettnanger).

My NE DIPA from a few months back... I would put it up against any Tree House, Trillium, Etc... It was heavy on Nugget hops, but of course has juicier varieties as well. Currently have a NE Pale fermenting now, primarily Citra/Galaxy hops and shaping up to be just as good or even better at half the ABV!

I had two similar porters that were both awesome, about 5% ABV. Hint of smoked malt for complexity, drank a lot bigger than what they were. One was a tweak of the first (basically adding a touch more roast character), but I think third time will nail exactly the profile I am after, creating a recipe directly in between these two.

My Schwarzbier and Cream Ale are also notable mention.

All my beers are original recipes, never cloned or rebrewed anyone elses beers.

Too many to choose though... I have only have two or three beers that I didn't care for (two hefeweizens and a brown ale). Hefe's just didn't pop or get the flavor profile I was after, while the brown ale was just muddled, I believe due to yeast stress (accident!). Otherwise, love nearly every beer I put out with just a few exception.

I have 2 that are really neck and neck...But, I would probably have to go with the Irish Stout..Was a Brewer's Best partial mash kit and was the first batch I kegged..It was awesome all the way up to the final pull of the tap! Even after waiting for all the foam to settle it was GOOD! Gonna have to brew that one again!

The other one was an all grain kit Gooder Then Guinness..Did a blind taste test with the real deal(set up by my daughter) and I couldn't distinguish between the 2..Found out after I told her which one a preferred best..It was my HB!...Still have a few bottles from that batch left..Another one that needs to be done again..

When I posted originally in this thread, it wasn't too hard to decide. Now 6 years later there's been too many good ones to even remember. Any beers with smoked grain are delicious. I love all the sours I've made, especially the non-kettle soured ones, although they're good too. I've served stouts, milds, saisons, IPAs, etc. on my nitro tap and each of them were awesome. I've been very pleased with lots of hop heavy IPAs of every sort. What can I say, I like beer

I've won some ribbons, but those weren't my favorite beers. I'm most proud of my German Pilsner. It was the first beer I ever tried to make, and I failed at least 3 or 4 times a year until about a year ago. I finally got the right OG, hops, yeast, and process. Feels like the end of a long journey that started about 15 years ago. It's on tap right now in fact

I make a smoke beer with cherrywood that is really good. I'm always happy with my IPAs, which I hammer with tons of late hops (about 1# per 5g, including dry hops, in the one that's on tap right now). There's been so many good ones. I meandered through the recipes in Brewing Classic Styles, making most of them over a period of 5 years. So, I've made a lot of beers that were good, but impossible to compare to each other.