Kyle Nabilcy
The calendar has flipped to a new year, and on every day — as it has been for weeks now, frankly — is scribbled another best-of list. Another year-in-review post. It’s what we do this time of year. So who am I to swim against the current?
The Most Improved Beer: Oskar Blues Death by Coconut
Both Death by Coconut and Hotbox Coffee Porter from Oskar Blues had failed to impress me since their debuts in Wisconsin a couple years ago. However, with each subsequent release, Death by Coconut has actually tasted more and more like, y’know, coconut, to the point that this year’s batch was a legitimate stunner, no qualification.
The “I Still Don’t Get It, but I’m Getting There” Award: Dangerous Man Peanut Butter Porter
Everybody loves this one. It’s probably the beer that Midwestern beer fans think of when they think of peanut butter beers. (It’s not like there’s a huge list, but still.) I’ve given it a number of opportunities, and I just don’t quite feel the love. But a trip to the Dangerous Man taproom in 2017 gave me my best pour of it to date.
The “This Beer is Great and We’ll Never Quite See It Like It Was Again” Award: 4 Hands Super Flare
Chalk this one up to the flurry of craft acquisition on the part of Big Beer over 2017. Super Flare began as a fruited Brett IPA brewed in collaboration between St. Louis’ 4 Hands and North Carolina’s Wicked Weed. Wicked Weed was acquired in May of 2017, and by no later than July, 4 Hands had brewed a batch that excised the Brettanomyces in favor of that very 2017 adjective, “hazy,” and bore no indication that any other brewery was involved. When I had it at the Great Taste, though, it was still delicious.
The “Great News, but Just a Bit Too Late” Award: Improved cellular data service in New Glarus
Now that bottle shares are verboten on the grounds at New Glarus’ Hilltop brewery, R&D releases will be less of an Untappd checkin-fest, but it’s still nice to be able to text your out-of-state friends with pics of the piles and piles of fresh Two Women cans in the beer depot straight from the source, and not a half hour later when you hit Verona.
The Giddiest Beer Experience: Getting the first pour of the last keg of Surly Five
A ruddy bruiser of a sour dark ale, Surly Five was the beer that, for me, launched a friendship and solidified my love of sour beers. When I saw it on the Great Taste program, I was thrilled to learn it was the last keg of the original Five brew and not a re-brew. I was cutting it close getting to the Surly booth for when they were scheduled to tap it, but my friends asked the Surly folks to let me bounce to the front right at 5 p.m. when the funk started to flow. I’m sure I was grinning like an idiot.
Adjunct of the Year: Maple
It’s true, it was everywhere.
Runner-Up: Coconut
See the top of this column.
The “This Beer Should Have Been Great but Didn’t Know What to Do with Either Maple or Coconut” Award: Evil Twin Even More Coco Jesus
Evil Twin does big sugary stouts pretty well, but this one was harsh and bitter. Subsequent batches may taste better.
The “It’s Not All Sours and Stouts” Award: Trappist Westvleteren Blond
Also,
The “Humblebrag of the Year” Award: Trappist Westvleteren Blond
Don’t see a lot of Westy around these parts, and by “these parts,” I mean America. The Trappist monks at Westvleteren have gotten a little less idiosyncratic about the secret handshake you have to know to buy their beers — Westvleteren Twelve is often regarded as one of the world’s greatest beers — but they’re still way over there in Belgium. A friend brought it back from his vacation, and even in a 12-oz. bottle, it was worth sharing with still more friends.
Runners-Up: Trillium Citra Cutting Tiles, Old Nation Boss Tweed
Two New England Double IPAs at the top of the game. The Trillium was brought back to Wisconsin by way of a good friend (hi Lizzi!) and the Boss Tweed was one of those improbable, now-impossible shares at a New Glarus release. Just a random guy with a growler he’d just gotten filled in Michigan on his way to Wisconsin. They’re both big, juicy, cloudy, and wonderful.
The “Numerically Confusing but Supremely Topical Pair of Great Beers” Award: Central Waters Seventeen and Eighteen
Seventeen, which was produced in 2015, started out really hot, and is now developing into a very pleasant sipper. Eighteen came out of the barrel in 2016 only slightly hotter than its flashier and smoother cousin, Black Gold; it was my last beer of 2017 and frankly, good riddance to a lot of that damn year.
The beer, however, was great. Acknowledging that there were so many that could punch in this weight class, here they are, the best of the best.
Kyle’ Best Beers of 2017: Cerebral Work from Home, Untitled Art Imperial Hazelnut Stout, 3 Sheeps The Wolf, The Brewing Projekt Wet-Hopped Dare Mighty Things, Casey Motueka Dry-Hopped Nectarine Casey Family Preserves
Two hazy beers (one of them sour), two adjunct bombs, and a barrel-aged stout. Sounds about right for my 2017. Let’s do another round in 2018, shall we?
