Zymurgy's Best Commercial Beers in America

Earlier this month, Zymurgy magazine released its annual list of the best commercial beers in America as voted on by members of the American Homebrewers Association.  Last year, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot and New Belgium Fat Tire tied for the best beer in the country.  This year, 1,100 voters decided to hand the distinction over to Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA.  The exact method of voting and ranking isn't revealed in the article, but I imagine it to be fairly consistent over the 5 year period that the survey has been completed.

Let's look at the top 10 beers as ranked by this group of homebrewers:

• First: Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
• Tied for Second: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Stone Arrogant Bastard
• Tied for Fourth: Alaskan Smoked Porter, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Guinness Draught, North Coast Old Rasputin, Schneider Aventinus, and Sierra Nevada Celebration

No surprise here that the top ten is dominated by flavor packed beers with 5 being centered around hop flavor and bitterness.  In fact, when I look at the entire list of 61 beers provided, 22 are hop-centric as classified by me.  Should it be any surprise that more than a third of the top beers are hop heavy?  Of course not!  Home brewers have been piling hops into beers for years testing the limits of drinkability in search of the perfect "hop bomb".  Other stats from the list of 61: 12 Belgian style beers, 5 imperial/high alcohol stouts, a number of barley wines, and only 6 non-Belgian imports.

An interesting peak into the minds of what homebrewers are drinking these days.  Obviously there are many other great beers out there, but unfortunately they are not all equally distributed across the US.  Some less widely available beers certainly got votes, but not at a level sufficient for them to make the list. 

Another interesting award handed out by the magazine was the Spirit of the Homebrewer Award.  The total number of votes received by a brewer is divided by the total production in barrels.  This years winner was AleSmith Brewing Co of San Diego.  I have been to the brewery and can honestly say that they pump out 1,200 barrels of beer from the smallest space possible so this award is very appropriate.  AleSmith also produces some wonderful beers including Speedway Stout which tied for 34th.  I picked up a bottle in LA last weekend and look forward to drinking it sometime this week.

Diagree with this list?  Then, what are your top five beers?  Or even ten?  Leave your list in the comments section so I can see what my readers prefer to drink.

Comments

[Tim]

I find it a bit odd that last year's top choices weren't even in the top ten this year.

Here's my current top 5:
1. Guiness
2. Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout
3. Arrogant Bastard
4. Hoegaarden
5. Fat Tire

I have to admit, my choices have lot to do with easy availability. (I can get all on tap within walking distance of my house.) I don't know that I've had the Dogfish 90, but now I'm going to need to try it.

Tim

[Jack Farris]

Tim...I think it all depends on who from last year also participated this year. Plus I think that home brewers are always looking for new beers to try. I know I am! That could lead to some variety in favorites at a point in time.

Thanks for sharing your top 5. All good choices! Dogfish isn't out in LA yet. They are mostly out east with some distribution in other large craft markets out west. Here's a link to where you can find them: http://www.dogfish.com/brewings/distributors.htm