Craft Beer Power Rankings 7-27-13

We’d like present you with the Craft Beer Power Rankings for the end of July.  The craft beer rankings ranks the 5 most buzzworthy beers of the week. Influences include but are not limited to social media (Facebook,Twitter, Instagram) as well as RateBeer and BeerAdvocate. Cheers!

5. Stone R&R Coconut IPA – It seems this time of year, Stone puts out multiple new products. The dust hasn’t even settled from w00tstout, and we are now about to see their next collaboration drop, R&R Coconut Stout.  Those who have tried the home brew batch say it’s an amazing concoction, Stone makes great IPA, so I’m believing the hype on this one.

4. The Bruery Bottleworks XII 2013 – Two years ago, The Bruery made two sours in super limited production. The first one being The Wanderer and the second one being Bottleworks XII.  The limited availability raised my anxiety, but then I thought, these people are in the beer selling business, they will make these beers again, and probably on a bit bigger scale.  Sure enough, Bottle Works XII, a sour ale with raspberries hit the streets a few weeks ago, as part of a Reserve Society offering.  Rather than the 1 oz. pours I’ve been getting from batch one, I was able to enjoy a glass of it, and by God, it’s delicious. Those who were trying hard to get it back then haven’t forgotten about this and will be still trying to get their hands and lips on this beer.

3. Against The Grain Bo & Luke – Until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of Against The Grain Brewery.  All of a sudden, the trade boards are asking for Bo & Luke. I grew up watching Dukes of Hazard and this immediately caught my attention.  Apparently its a smoked, barrel aged beer collaboration with De Molen.  Stay tuned as I try to track this down.

2. The Alchemis Pub and Brewery Heady Topper – Every day, somebody turns 21 and could potentially turn right to craft beer.  Anyone who dives head first into craft beer goes to RateBeer and BeerAdvocates Top 50 list for guidance on what to check off their “to try” list. People look to track down and try Heady Topper more than any other beer I can think of. It’s a very good beer, and probably one of the best Double IPAs in the north east region, and is captivating a brand new audience daily.  They’ve just announced some tweaks to their distribution to curb black market sales of this beer. Unfortunately, all that’s going to do is raise it’s awareness further and add to the insane levels of hype.  I can’t stress it enough that the beer is awesome, but the hype is starting to overshadow it.

1. Lost Abbey Duck Duck Goose 2013 – Easily one of Lost Abbey’s crown jewels.  The beer itself, coupled with the name, coupled with the label art, with some major rarity thrown in has made this one of the most valuable beers on the market.  Lost Abbey dropped a silly video yesterday teasing the return of this beer labor day weekend with as little details as possible. It’s been a while since people have gotten in line at the crack of dawn for a Lost Abbey release, I guarantee you this will be near chaotic.