Craft Beer Power Rankings 11-21-13

We’re back from fall vacation with this edition of Craft Beer Power Rankings. We attempt to rank the top 5 buzzworthy beers, with influences from social media, highly respected database communities (RB and BA) as well as common sense.  Cheers!

5. Noble AleWorks  Tongue Tickles DIPA – Admittedly, I have not tried this beer yet, but this beer won the LA IPA Festival competition this past weekend. Pretty much everything Brewmaster Even Price has brewed this year has been solid gold, so all of you looking for a new fresh IPA trade, look for this bad boy.

4. Terrapin White Chocolate Moo-Hoo – Many mature craft breweries have taken notice to the rare game being played by the new and young breweries. Sours, barrel aged beer, wax dipped bottle necks, limited release blah blah blah.  Terrapin Beer Co. is playing their hand with White Chocolate Moo-Hoo, which seems like a delicious idea to me. The one advantage these mature craft breweries have is quality control, so I have high expectations for this beer.

3. Stone Enjoy By 12.13.13 IPA – This beer has been on the market for a year now, and has not lost it’s luster. This is a case study in giving people what they want in an IPA/Double IPA. It hasn’t lost any traction on social media and it’s ratings are stellar on RB and BA.

2. Lagunitas Sucks (32 oz. edition) – Lagunitas came up with a smash hit two seasons ago with Lagunitas Sucks, a hoppy Double IPA-ish ale that took place of Brown Shugga.  There’ve been rumors and hints it would return this year in 32 oz. bottles. We’ve learned that it has now hit shelves and the fans are going wild.

1. Hoppin’ Frog BORIS Van Winkle – Don’t get me wrong, Hoppin’ Frog BORIS and Barrel Aged BORIS are world class beers.  Aging this stuff in Pappy Van Winkle Barrels just shook the entire universe. This beer will be going on sale Black Friday and will be flooding the trade boards quickly.