What was the best beer you ever brewed?

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fritochip

fritochip

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So I was thinking back on all the beers I've ever made and two stand out. My absolute favorite tasting beer was a Belgian White Ale (Blue Moon clone) I made last summer. But my most memorable was my first beer- an Irish Stout. In retrospect, it didn't turn out all that great- but that was the beer that got me hooked on the hobby!

I'd be interested to hear everyones favorites...
 
I'm only 10 brews in, but the absolute standout is one of the two I designed myself - a rye dark mild. The rye and chocolate malt I used give it a heavy for style mouthfeel and an amazing amount of flavor for a 3.3% abv beer. It's the one beer I will brew again with no changes.

My first brew was also an Irish Stout. I thought it came out good but not great. I've tried rebrewing with a few adjustments and came out equally good but different. I think the next attempt I can get really close to what I want in an Irish Stout.
 
If I had to pick one, probably the Kentucky common recipe in the HBT recipe bank. It helped that it was one of the first beers I kegged. Such a different interesting delicious beer. Its the only beer recipe I have brewed more than twice.
 
My favorite was an IPA that was probably also my simplest: it was Pilsen light DME, and equal parts citra and centennial in the usual format, 60min, 15, 5, 0 and dry hop. Though I think I did a 30min boil, and it was fast to bottle as well. I was impressed by how tasty it was given the lack of specialty grains etc.
 
Probably a modified version of Yooper's House Pale. Crystal was cut in half, added some base malt, big hop stand and dry hop, and finished at ~7.5%. Used WLP007, and it came out so good. Need to revisit that one.
 
Too many "bests" to pick one, but the most memorable beer I've brewed to date was the first that used Citra for the late additions (so, a while ago :))
Knocked everyone's socks off, and it's still my favorite character hop...

Cheers!
 
My best beer is always the one in the fermenter. At the end of every brew day I say, "This is going to be the best beer yet." And sometimes it is, in its own way.


The one that stands out in my mind is a Citra IPA from a couple years ago. Somehow I nailed that one, and I haven't re-created it yet (or tried). I wonder if I got a particularly juicy batch of hops, or maybe my benchmarks are just unsurpassable at this point. Anyhow, you can always have a best in some other style or variation of style.
 
2 beers come to mind....

1. A Rye Galaxy IPA i made a few years ago.
2. The Pilsner I am still sipping on now. Got 15G out of 1 batch (19G in a 20G blichmann, oh ****!). Recipe was spot on from the grain, to the hops, to the water.
 
Rye saison with 100% nelson sauvin hops. Fermented with 3031. Scored a 45 and took gold in a localish comp. I have three bottles left and I'm saving them until 3031 is rereleased this summer from wyeast so I can rebrew it.
 
Too many bests to choose from... My double IPA, my triple IPA, my single hop Citra APA, my single hop Mosaic APA, my smoky bacon brown ale, my chocolate vanilla stout, my milk stout... Really can't say... Since my Mosaic APA is the newest, I'm leaning towards that, but... I dunno.
 
My personal best was the first batch of 3 Floyds Zombie Dust clone that I brewed directly off of the recipe on this site. My second batch turned out too dry though, still good but much too dry. I am going to do it again soon. Love that recipe!
 
Might be my most recent, but it's tough to say. It's NB's chocolate milk stout that I made a mini mash with additional grains - a pound of pale malt and a pound of oats added to their steeping grains. Also added 1/4 cup of cocoa powder at the end of the boil after mixing it with some wort to dissolve the powder. Used rehydrated 04 and racked over the cocoa nibs for 2 weeks and I had the nibs in vanilla vodka for a few days prior to secondary.
 
My first lager - a Vienna lager using wyeast Munich Lager and fermented in my keg fridge.
It came out procedurally perfect, or at least as close as I've come.
I doctored my keg fridge to allow fermentation at about 50 degrees (max setting is 46) and it went well.
Just a minor flavor issue due to a last minute ingredient substitution, but overall I was very satisfied.

I have a German Pils fermenting with W34/70 right now that looks and smells like it is going to be great...I hope to update this thread when that one is tapped!
 
I went into my LHBS once to pick up priming sugar, walked out with a recipe pulled off the top of my head, not overthinking the recipe was the key. Ended up roughly the style of a British strong ale/old ale. 12lb MO 1lb c80 .5lb choc malt. Noble hops 45IBU, Nottingham. Something like that. Oh and I forgot my priming sugar of course. That's my best beer so far.
 
I have 2 out of around 30 that I consider my best yet.
1st was a bourbon porter from last year. the first half of the keg was ok, the rest I let sit for 6 months more. It needed that time to become perfect.
2nd is a chocolate porter that I just taped last week, it is only 2 months old and getting better with each pull. I am trying to keep it till the 4th of July.
 
The chocolate stout I brewed (and kinda made/modified the recipe to) back in fall 2012...

There are still a few bottles "ageing" at dads. We should probably get them chilled and see how they have held up!
 
As much as it pains me to say it, but my Cherry Light...

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the beer (to me of course), but it's just a light, crisp, refreshing beer that has a taste all it's own but easy drinking and highly carbonated.

Made it so my BMC drinking buddies could stand back and admire my $.35 cent beer, and I'll be danged if it's one of my first that I can drink and not think, "Man that's too sweet." or "Hmm, that's good, but I'm changing this or that next time I brew it." It's a beer I could brew over and over, and easily drink it.

Only thing is, it's not the reason I got into this hobby lol. I want to brew my brown ales, stouts, porters, "weird" beer lol
 
My favorite beer so far was a trappist inspired belgian trippel. It was my second beer ever and I thought I'd up the challenge from my first batch. I still have a couple bottles that have aged and it is a delicious beer.
 
My best and most consistant beer has been my Cream of 3 Crops. I have used only slight variations in ingredients.

My absolute favorite has been the clone of Westvleteren 12, a Belgian quad. Just awesome flavors and at 11.4% abv it packs a punch!
 
Hm...well, I'd have to say, at this point, that it's a toss up between the Kottbusser, & my Cougar Country IPA. The Kotty had a slight tartness on the back that was tasty in the light hybrid sort of lager. The CCIPA used 8.3ozs of hops between the boil & dry hop. It compared very well with commercial examples. But it had that sort of resiny quality of Pliny The elder, mixed with the usual hoppy qualities of the better commercial IPA's. Gotta make another batch of that, after getting a 10 cu ft fridge to keep'em cold in to last longer!
 
But my favorite (and most creative) beer, that probably should have never worked, was a: "Rum Barrel Aged Lemon Drop Aletoberfest".

I made 15 gallons, but the split of the batch that got American Oak Cubes soaked in Rum in the keg was the best!

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8.0 oz Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 1 1.4 %
14 lbs 0.3 oz Rahr Pale Malt Lot#21596-3-09215 (4.2 SR Grain 2 38.8 %
10 lbs 14.6 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 3 30.2 %
10 lbs 10.6 oz Pilsner (Weyermann) (1.7 SRM) Grain 4 29.5 %
2.00 oz Magnum [11.30 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 25.5 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 6 -
3.00 oz Lemon Drop [4.40 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 7.4 IBUs
3.00 oz Lemon Drop [4.40 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 8 5.4 IBUs
3.00 oz Lemon Drop [4.40 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 9 3.0 IBUs
3.00 oz Lemon Drop [4.40 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
4.0 pkg SafBrew Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-33) Yeast 11 -
 
A Barley Wine that I made so many mistakes on it's a wonder that it was drinkable at all, let alone one of the best beers Ive ever had. managed to lose track of time enough that when I figured out my mistake I ended up boiling for 3 hours instead of 2. When transferring to secondary I was using a new siphon that created an air bubble where the cane attaches to the tubing, effectively oxygenating the wort after fermentation (d'oh!). Fortunately, I had misjudged and fermentation was NOT actually finished, so I think I at least got some of that oxygen out of there. Retransferred to another vessel for "another" secondary because fermentation kicked off again - in retrospect, I should have just left it. Then, the secondary time table that was supposed to be 2 months became 12 because I got so busy with life and work and completely forgot about this beer until cleaning out the basement crawl space I used for fermentation (62-65F all year long, so it was damn near perfect for fermenting in).

After all the dumb mistakes I made it turned out to be one of the best beers I've ever had. It has incredible sweetness from the long boil, but not cloyingly so. Tastes of Toffee and biscuit are backed by hints of smoke, oak and and an almost cherry-like flavor that I have trouble describing. I am usually very over critical of my own beers, especially ones that I know I messed up on, but this one was amazing... I'm going to try and recreate it later this year, but with so many errors, I'm not sure it's going to ever be an exact match. :(
 
A traditional style dry hopped saison (bone dry, highly carbed, noble hops) blended with Gewurtztraminer grape must. 3711 yeast. Bottled into champagne 750 ml bottles with a healthy pitch of Brett Lambicus. Aged for 6 months.
 
May be my most memorable because it is still on tap but my APA. It is very well balanced between a smooth bitterness and a dry but full mouth feel. I'm drooling at work thinking about it.

APA 1.053 ~6.2%
11.5 gallons

19lb Maris otter, 1.5lb munich, 0.5 lb carapils
1oz Magnum 60min
1oz Cascade & Willamette 10, and 1.5oz of each at 2 min
0.5oz Cascade & Willamette dry hop

Nottingham at 68
 
It was a Vienna lager. Nov '14. I entered it in NHC '15 where it was scored 15.5/50.

It later scored 38 on its first birthday and a still-decent low 30s last month when used in a tasting exam.

(It) happens.
 
I have only been brewing for 2 years with maybe 40 or more brews but I am still improving. I will probably start with water chemistry next year for more improvement!:mug:
 
Finally gonna brew the mumme' soon, so I may just change my mind in a couple months. A gruit that enhances weight loss, tastes good, etc would be an interesting " health Ale" that I've been thinking about. Like Force Factor X180 Ignite, & BioTrust's BellyTrim XP, both organic derivatives. so I got to thinking this gruit, maybe others would go/work well with them???
 
A simcoe IPA I brewed a few months ago has been my favorite but as of late, I have used the same grain bill & only using one kind of hop through-out the brew with great success.

12lbs 2 Row
1lb Munich
.5lb C60
.5 oz Simcoe 60min
2 oz Simcoe 30min whirlpool
2 oz dry hop for 5 days
Safeale 05 yeast
 
A rye IPA I made a few months back comes to mind. It started off as crazy bitter. Even a month after bottling, was quite off-putting. Somewhere after the 6th week, it all came together and was amazing. Very dry IPA with Amarillo and Sorachi Ace. Everything was in balance, the flavor, smell, color, carb - it was all there. Wonderful brew.

For 5 gallon batch
11 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
2 lbs 8.0 oz Rye Malt (4.7 SRM)
8.0 oz Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM)
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)
2.0 oz Carafa II (Weyermann) (415.0 SRM)

1.0 oz Magnum 60 min
0.50 Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10 min)
2.0 oz Cascade 1 min

2.0 oz Amarillo Steep/flame out 25 min
1.0 oz Citra Steep/flame ou 25 min
2.0 oz Sorachi Ace Steep/flame ou 25 min

1.0 oz Cascade dry hop 5 days
1.0 oz Sorachi Ace dry hop 5 days
 
The concept of this thread is so great that I'm reviving it from the dead.

For me it's my Amber Biere de Garde. Leagues above my next best beer, which is saying a lot after 200+ batches! Amazing aroma, persistent head, lovely ruby glow, subtle alcohol warmth without being harsh in the least... absolutely smashing beer.

BdG.jpg


OG: 1.074
FG: 1.010
ABV: 8.4%
IBU 30
SRM: ~23

65% Pilsner malt (Weyermann)
16% Vienna
7% DIY Candisugar (made using DAP to 290F, very similar to D90, following SnickASaurusR's recipe)
3% Briess Special Roast
3% Caramunich
3% Simpsons Dark Crystal
1% Chocolate Rye

152F mash

18 IBU of Tradition at 30
12 IBU of Mittelfruh at 30
1 oz of Mittelfruh at flameout

Water profile: Malty (I believe Brewer's Friend Light colored and malty profile)

Large starter of WY1007, pitched at 64F with a 1F raise over 7 days to 71F, hold 71F for an additional week, drop to 50F for 1 week, bottle condition at 2.75 volumes. Tasted fantastic at 2 weeks in the bottle (5 weeks post brewday) and got even more refined with time. Wish I entered it! I have one bomber left that I'm saving for a truly special occasion, TBD, and I'll be brewing a 10g batch next time--and another 10G batch when I'm down to 5G, so that I never, ever run out again. Brew it!
 
Kickass said:
Can you elaborate on this? One of my most acclaimed beers was a Belgian style triple with lavender.
Click to expand...
The malt was from Sugar Creek, though it seems that right now they're out of stock. It's actually fairly subtle stuff, and the taste is spicy-sweet as much as it is floral. I've definitely made smoked beers with overpowering smoke, but with this stuff, even at nearly half the grist, things really worked.

I did make a saison with lavender flowers, about 5 g/gallon, introduced in a hop stand, 10 minutes at ~160 F. Possibly the worst beer I've made, felt like eating one of those little pillow sachets. Way, way, way too much. When I try this again, I'll use 1/10 the dose, if not less.

Can you post your lavender tripel recipe?
 

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