Beer of the Year Awards (Part Two)

If you're of a certain age and drink craft beer there are just two ways you got hooked on the hops.

There's the dip your toe in the pool approach - probably the most common - where your first non-Macro beer was a craft lager or a well-made pilsner, or maybe a wheat beer if you were really daring.

And then there's the dive off the end of the dock in December method used by a few of us, myself included, where we started right off the, uh, hop with an IPA - in my case a Smashbomb Atomic from Flying Monkeys - and never looked back.

This is also called the Epiphany Method.

Which is a long way of explaining why IPAs and their friends - the Triple IPAs, the Double IPAs and the Pale Ales - are so near and dear to me and why it is such a difficult process to pick a winner in these categories when I write my annual Beer of the Year blog.

Octopus Wants to Fight - best new IPA

There were no less than ten worthy candidates in the 2015 IPA class - any of which could have been a finalist in the Beer of the Year category as well - and I could have picked a handful of others as well.

I went with Karma Citra and Octopus Wants to Fight from Great Lakes; Headstock (Nickel Brook) and Ransack the Universe (Collective Arts) from the fertile mind of Ryan Morrow; Moralite (Dieu du Ciel); Time Damage (Manantler); Centennial (Founders); Roman Candle (Bellwoods); Big Eye (Ballast Point); and Smashbomb Atomic (Flying Monkeys) to round out my honoured IPAs.

I knocked it down to five finalists from there, including the one-two punch of Karma Citra and Octopus Wants to Fight (one of the best new releases of the year); the Headstock (the Mid-Summer  Beer of the Year) and Ransack the Universe duo; and Big Eye as my international representative.

The winner I sadly haven't seen since the spring - please find more Citra hops and make more beer, Mike - but it was soooooo good.

Great Lakes Karma Citra (IPA)

The Double IPA category may have been even tougher to handicap, with 11 qualifiers and five finalists. The semi-finalists include Ruination 2.0 and Enjoy By IPA - both from Stone Brewing - and Japanese Green Tea IPA from Stone/Baird/Ishi; Witchshark and Double Nelson (representing Bellwoods); Twin Pines (Sawdust City), Seismic Narwhal (Manantler), Refugee (Rainhard), and Immodest (Nickel Brook); as well as Double Trouble from Founders and the great state of Michigan.

My final list was slimmed down to five: Ruination 2.0 ("just as sticky as the original but with more fruity pizazz. Complex as shit. I like it better"); Immodest ("obscene use of Citra and Simcoe hops delivers obscene amounts of flavour"), Witchshark ("deliciously bitter...an all-time favourite"), Twin Pines ("a powerful pint of pine and earthy goodness") and the "divine smelling" Double Nelson.

I was too weak in the knees to pick one winner here, so I picked two:

Stone Ruination 2.0 and Nickel Brook Immodest (Double IPA)

Last year at this time I was drooling over 11.05, a collaboration beer from Nickel Brook and Sawdust City, but not much else in the Triple IPA category. This year the birthday brewmasters from Sawdust City and Nickel Brook changed it up to an Imperial Saison (which I sadly missed) but 2015 also saw me enjoying half a dozen of these high octane (ten per cent ABV and above) Triple IPA delights, with four making the cut as finalists:

Life Sentence, a collaboration between Amsterdam and Great Lakes which had an "intoxicating aroma of mango, grapefruit, orange and other tropical fruit goodness;" Cockpuncher from Indie Ale House (which wasn't billed as a Triple but at ten per cent ABV I'm calling it one AND it has one of the most awesome names in beer); RuinTen from Stone; and Green Bullet from Green Flash of San Diego.

Cockpuncher - the best name in beer?

Here again I couldn't choose so I went with co-winners:

Great Lakes/Amsterdam Life Sentence and Indie Ale House Cockpuncher (Triple IPA)

That leaves me with the American Pale Ale category, a class of beer I probably drink more than any other. Because man cannot always enjoy seven to ten per cent alcohol beers and still operate heavy machinery. Like toasters.

I got this list started with nine names: Nelson Sauvin Monogamy (Bellwoods); Golden Beach Pale Ale (Sawdust City); Grunion (Ballast Point); Amarillo Lollihop and Falconer's Flight Single Hop (both from Manantler); Naughty Neighbour (Nickel Brook); Rhyme and Reason - the reigning champ - from Collective Arts; and Johnny Simcoe and Citraddiction - last year's winner, which hasn't been in my fridge since  January - both from Great Lakes.

My final four? Nelson Sauvin Monogamy, Grunion, Naughty Neighbour and Rhyme and Reason. The best of a great bunch.

The  winner  has become my go-to beer for the past six months. I remember reading a blog from Ben Johnson, a two-time Golden Tap winner, where he lamented the fact the recipe had been tweaked to accommodate Nickel Brook and Collective Arts' move to larger brewing facilities at the new Arts and Science Brewery in Hamilton. If it has been changed, viva la difference! I love the 'new' Naughty Neighbour.

Doesn't everyone?

Nickel Brook Naughty Neighbour (American Pale Ale)

It's always difficult to choose a Brewmaster of the Year champ because, well, I don't get out much and I have a personal relationship with just a couple of finalists. 

I think James Gorry at Manantler is going to make some serious noise at next year's Golden Tap Awards (after his Manantler Brewery wins a few prizes at the Ontario Brewing Awards first) and Jordan Rainhard (the 2015 Newcomer of the Year at those Golden Taps) is a bit of a genius. Mike Clark and Luke Pestl are doing a whole bunch of great things at Bellwoods; Mike Lackey is the King of IPAs out at Great Lakes; and defending champion Ryan Morrow makes brewing magic at Nickel Brook, at Collective Arts; and at Arts & Science. Maybe more, for all I know. 

I also honoured Jeremy Kosmicki (Founders) as this year's international Brewmaster nominee.

As much as I favour Manantler's products (I'm heading out there this afternoon) I knew the final two had to be Lackey and Morrow. It was a super tough call. So tough, in fact, that I wussed out once again and picked them both.

Mike Lackey (Great Lakes Beer) and Ryan Morrow (Nickel Brook/Collective Arts) Brewmaster

Choosing a Brewery of the Year was not any easier than the last category. I discovered a ton of fantastic beers in 2015 and they came from 14 (!) different breweries: Manantler, my local from Bowmanville is represented and Toronto provided five top breweries this year in Rainhard, Great Lakes, Amsterdam, Indie Ale House and Bellwoods. I have three American breweries on the list in Founders, Ballast Point and the legendary Stone Brewery; cottage country provided a trio as well in Flying Monkeys, Muskoka and Sawdust City; the Nickel Brook/ Collective Arts duo is here; and Beau's All Natural from the Ottawa Valley also made the cut.

Everyone loves a 'new'
Naughty Neighbour. I know I do

I had to do a lot of research (mmm...delicious research) to come up with four finalists but I muddled through, choosing Manantler, Great Lakes, Founders and Nickel Brook.

If I say Karma Citra, Octopus Wants to Fight, Thrust!, Maniacal Hopshop, Life Sentence, Audrey Hopburn, Citraddiction, RoboHop, Johnny Simcoe and Long Dong Pilsner three times fast, the choice is clear.

Great Lakes Beer (Brewery)

That leaves me with just one category: Beer of the Year and I promise I won't be weak. Just one beer will be selected from my seven finalists: Naughty Neighbour and Immodest from Nickel Brook; Karma Citra from GLB and Life Sentence, the Amsterdam/GLB collaboration; American brews Ruination 2.0 (Stone) and Founders Breakfast Stout; and Cockpuncher - love that name - from Indie Ale House.

I think I surprised myself when I made my decision. Instead of some of the near-perfect doubles and triples on this list, I went with an under five per cent beer that, with all due respect to my human friends, became my best pal in beer this year.

Nickel Brook Naughty Neighbour (Beer of the Year)

Cheers!