2015 Beer of 

the Year Awards 

(Part 1)

So many beers. So many wonderful beers.

When I wrote my Mid-Summer Beer of the Year blog in early August I declared that it had been a "really good year for beer" so far. Since then I've  reviewed no less than 61 new beers, so 2015 has only gotten better.

I could call 2015 the Year of the Beer, but I expect every year going forward will be described the same, so I'll just say this year rocked!

There have been some stinkers - a Hefeweizen or two, a couple or three light lagers, a few macro beers (including Molson Export and Lucky Beer's Lucky Buddha) - and there have been many, many glorious examples of the proper use of hops, barley, yeast and water.

More than a dozen new beers rated in the past four months ave been worthy of being a finalist on this highly subjective list. Founders Brewing of Michigan gave me a trio of beers to consider this fall and there was also a trifecta of rare Triple IPAs that jumped into consideration for Beer of the Year, with two of them coming very late in the race. There were three new and exceptional IPAs - including one brewed in honour of iconic Toronto punk band The Diodes; three Double IPAs; and even an Imperial Brown Ale, just to name a few that made a late run for the prize.

I put the newbies against my mid-summer winners and, well here we are at the (Second Annual) IPA Tales Beer of the Year Awards:

I tried plenty of superb Strong Ales in recent months - so many, in fact, the mid-summer winner in the Belgian Strong Ale category (Chimay Bleue) and American Strong Ale favourite Arrogant Bastard from Stone Brewing didn't even make the cut in this catch-all division, in which I lumped Quadrupels, Tripels and Belgian Ales together with American and English Strong Ales.

Rochefort Trappiste 10, last year's champ in the Abbey Ale category, is a Strong Ale finalist, as is Avery Brewing of Colorado's The Reverend; Duvel's Tripel Hop, Westmalle Tripel; and Manantler's 3 Legged Dog. For the win I went with the beer that tasted of "ripe fruit of various ages," was simultaneously "sweet and bitter,"" and was just a superb world class beer:

Rochefort Trappiste 10 (Strong Ale)

Pilsner was a hit or miss category for me this year. There were several terrible beers that just missed the cut for the Worst Beer of the Year (I'm not naming names but one had  something to do with apples and two more paired well with trucks) and there were two fantastic examples - the same two from the mid-summer list: Black Oak's Epiphany No. 2 and Great Lakes' Long Dong Pilsner. The winner, with its lemongrass and spices aroma and creamy texture, remained unchanged from August.

Great Lakes Beer Long Dong Pilsner (Pilsner)

Couchsurfer (Indie Ale House) and State of Mind (Collective Arts) were my mid-summer Session Beer finalists and I can now add Manantler's Steady Horse to that list. The newcomer - "juicy and delicious" is how I described it - steals the win here.

Manantler Steady Horse (Session IPA)

Wheat Ales - another catch-all category - started strong this year but faded a bit near the end of the year. My finalists remained unchanged from August: 2014 winner All or Nothing Hefeweizen and Mid-Summer champ Wag the Wolf from Beaus. The current champion was not dethroned.

Beau's All Natural Wag the Wolf (Wheat Ale)

Golden Ales also tailed off in my interest after a  strong start to the year, with Manantler's The Citra Situation (which I haven't see since last winter) again besting Saint of Circumstances from Collective Arts.

Manantler The Citra Situation (Golden Ale)

The Belgian IPA category is a long time favourite and I considered four finalists this year. There was La Formidable, the Beau's collaboration with Gigantic Brewing of Portland, Oregon, which tasted of lemon and grapefruit with "plenty of Belgian spices;"  Catherine Wheel from Bellwoods, with bubblegum, spices, lemony hops, pepper and wild flowers; Cali-Belgique from Stone, which appeared in Ontario liquor stores earlier this year and then disappeared; and Audrey Hopburn from Great Lakes. This was close - I drank La Formidable more but I think I liked Audrey the best.

Great Lakes Beer Audrey Hopburn (Belgian IPA)

There were quite a few categories with just one worthy finalist, though it didn't mean they weren't worthy champions. Apocalypso, a White IPA from Le Trou du Diable, produced a near perfect combination of citrus, spices, tropical fruit and awesomeness; Drew and Steve's Imperial Mutt Brown Ale is a wonderful example of what brewers can do with a Brown Ale and why Stone Brewing can do no wrong; my first Belgian Pale Ale (Continental Drift from Nickel Brook) turned out to be superb; and Blacksmith knocked me over with their excellent Smoked Porter.

Le Trou du Diable Four Surfers of the Apocalypso (White IPA)
Stone Drew & Steve's Imperial Brown Ale  (Brown Ale)
Nickel Brook Continental Drift (Belgian Pale Ale)
Nickel Brook Equilibrium (ESB)
Highlander Blacksmith Smoked Porter (Porter)
Creemore Springs (Mad & Noisy) Hops & Bolts (India Pale Lager)
Bellwoods Farmhouse Saison (Saison)
Innis & Gunn Toasted Oak IPA (British IPA)
Manantler The Dark Prince (Black IPA)

I split Stouts into two categories this year and I was all set to anoint Manantler's  Rococo Chocolate Milk Stout as the Sweet Stout winner until I bought myself a bottle of The Chocolate Manifesto from Flying Monkeys over the holidays. This beer clocks in at 10 per cent ABV so it is definitely an Imperial Stout, but OMG this was sweet! Three kinds of chocolate make this beer taste like those rum-filled chocolates you get at Christmas. In beer.

Flying Monkeys The Chocolate Manifesto (Sweet Stout)

The Imperial Stout class was a far tougher category in which to pick a winner than it was in 2014, as my palate finally adjusted enough to really appreciate the dark deliciousness of the style.

The finalists for this year include 2014 winner Wellington Imperial Russian Stout, plus WOOT Stout from Stone/Farkin/Wheaton (yes, Will Wheaton of Star Trek and Stand By Me fame)and Founders Breakfast Stout from Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I was anticipating adding The Imperial Bout from Great Lakes to this list but, what with the busy holiday season and a battle with a Christmas Cold, I never got around to drinking it and there she still sits in my fridge.

I'll get to that in 2016.

I also have a rare and expensive ($34.70 a freaking bomber!) bottle of Goose Island's Bourbon County Vanilla Rye Stout in my pantry, which I expect to enjoy early in the new year and also expect to see on this list in the 2016 'Best Of' blog. 

The champ comes from both 600 kilometres straight west and south of the border at the same time and was a phenomenally delicious blend of bitter coffee and dark chocolate.

Founders Breakfast Stout (Imperial Stout)

I made up my own category - Hybrid IPA - to honour a couple of beers that were a tad difficult to properly pigeon hole. Hopsta la Vista (Longslice Brewery) - which I enjoyed at the Burlington Beer Fest - was pretty good but the winner here was a hoppy/malty brew that invoked ancient yearnings for my father's Scottish hometown.

Brew Dog Punk IPA (Hybrid IPA)

In Part Two of this blog (hopefully tomorrow) I will honour the best of the IPAs and their friends, as well as Brewery of the Year, Top Brewmaster and Beer of the Year.

The final category for Part 1 is a new class for 2015: Worst Beer of the Year. Because some beers just suck.

It was tough to choose my least favourite beers, what with those pesky Hefeweizens (though I love All or Nothing's take on the style - Oshawa represent!); the Pilsners mentioned earlier and a pumpkin beer or two.

Not so Lucky Ale from Lucky Buddha

My four finalists in this prestigious (!) category include a Rye Pale Ale (Forked River Riptide); a found-only-in-America Bourbon Barrel Ale from Labatt (Prohibition Series) and an old favourite (Molson Export) which was actually the best of the bunch.

But my choice for champion, a gift from my ex-wife (honestly we are still great friends!), was an easy one:

"Pale yellow pour with a persistent, creamy head; which is probably the best thing about the beer. Smells vaguely of spices and tastes of lemon, metal shavings and sweet malts."

Yeah, metal shavings. 

Lucky Ale (Lucky Buddha), which comes in a funky green bottle that would be a cool flower vase except looking at it would be a painful reminder of how bad the beer tasted, is my Worst Beer of 2015.

Cheers!