The Beer Retard - The Beers of 2007

It's safe to say that I drank more beer in 2007 than during any other year of my life. There were only two days in the year that I went beer-less and both of those were due to a stomach bug and not a lack of desire to have a beer. The year's quest to try 365 new-to-me beers was met on December 22nd. The beer was the Left Hand Snowbound Ale. I'd hoped for number 365 to be a special beer (Westvleteren 12 or Sam Adams Utopias) but that didn't happen. So perhaps reaching the goal was a bit anticlimactic, but it was still a satisfying moment. After a trip to Port Townsend over the weekend, the list is up to 374. I may hit 375 tonight since I'll have the chance to sample the Avery Fourteen.

You may have figured out that I'm a borderline-OCD freak who can't stop making lists, so I had to make one of the beers I enjoyed the most this year. I found it difficult since beers I've had over the last month or two are still very fresh in my mind, while memories of beers I sampled in January are suffering from the passing of time (and the sheer number of beers consumed). Since I'm still in the hophead phase of my beer journey, I've decided to make two lists. One for my 10 favorite IPAs/hoppy beers and one for my 10 favorite beers encompassing all other styles. If I just made one list, it might be too IPA-heavy and that wouldn't be fair to the other amazing beers I've enjoyed. Listed in their order of preference, here are the two lists:

IPAs/hoppy ales:
1. Russian River Pliny the Elder
2. Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale
3. Big Time Double Decade IPA
4. Russian River Blind Pig IPA
5. Avery Maharaja Imperial IPA
6. Alpine Pure Hoppiness
7. Moylans Hopsickle (note that the bottles I had earlier in the year that made me love it taste much different than the one I had more recently)
8. Ballast Point Big Eye IPA
9. Green Flash West Coast IPA
10. Schooner Exact 3-Grid IPA

Not far behind: Water Street Strange Brew Single Hop Ale, Lagunitas Kill Ugly Radio (draft not bottle), Anacortes IPA, Great Divide Hercules Double IPA, Big Time Perspective Dry-Hopped IPA, Auburn IPA, Rubicon IPA, Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye, Lagunitas Hop Stoopid, Sam Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner (not an ale, but belongs here anyway).

All other styles:
1. New Belgium Le Terroir
2. Hair of the Dog Fred From the Wood
3. Cantillon Vigneronne
4. Big Time Yulefest Christmas Ale (the cask version)
5. Lost Abbey Red Barn Ale
6. Gulden Draak
7. Avery the Reverend
8. Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen
9. Big Time Old Wooly Barleywine
10. Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout

other notables: Petrus Aged Pale, Cantillon Organic Gueuze, Unibroue Maudite, Stone Imperial Russian Stout, Russian River Bravo, Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere, Deschutes The Abyss.