The Best Beers of 2018

Each year, I rank and review the new beers I tried in the previous year. This year, I’ve added a little bit of analysis on what I drink. I’ve also added my own beers to the rankings this year, including my first beer produced at a brewery.

1. Center Ice Brewing Small Batch 18: Farmhouse IPA
Style: IPA – International
ABV: 7.00%
Rating: 5.00
It might be cheating to put this at #1, but it’s a beer I made at a brewery.  It was really good though.

2. Maplewood Brewing Son of Juice
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 6.30%
Rating: 5.00
A late addition to the list; I picked this up right before New Year’s Eve. It’s right there with OJ Run (Narrow Gauge) as my favorite NEIPA.

3. 2nd Shift Brewing Liquid Spiritual Delight (Coffee)
Style: Stout – American Imperial/Double
ABV: 11.50%
Rating: 5.00
Big stouts have really grown on me over the last year and a half, but I still struggle with coffee beers; this one had less coffee than many of the others I’ve had, which moves it up the list.

4. 3 Stars Brewing Citra Lemon Saison
Style: Saison/Farmhouse
ABV: 5.00%
Rating: 5.00
A hop I like and one of my favorite styles.  I didn’t expect to see this on our D.C. trip, but it was incredible.  It’s something on my to brew list.

5. Narrow Gauge King Fallen Flag
Style: IPA – Imperial/Double New England
ABV: 8.60%
Rating: 5.00

6. 4 Hands Brewing Madagascar Uganda (2018)
Style: Stout – American Imperial/Double
ABV: 9.30%
Rating: 5.00

7. Cigar City Space Pope IPA
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 7.30%
Rating: 5.00
My favorite from a quick stop at Cigar City.  It’s second from the left in the picture.

8. Perennial Artisan Ales Static Electricity
Style: IPA – Imperial/Double
ABV: 8.00%
Rating: 5.00
This was the second IPA I’ve had from Perennial and it was easily the best.  I ended up picking it up a few times after the initial trial.

9. The Veil Brewing Frederiksdal Barrel Aged Sleeping Forever
Style: Stout – Imperial/Double
ABV: 13.00%
Rating: 5.00

10. Evil Twin Brewing I Always Felt Closer to IPAs Than I Did to People
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 7.50%
Rating: 5.00

11. Perennial Artisan Ales Abraxas (2018)
Style: Stout – Imperial/Double
ABV: 11.50%
Rating: 5.00
This lived up to previous releases and I was able to find a bottle pretty easily.

12. Center Ice Brewery Grim Reaver
Style: IPA – Red
ABV: 7.50%
Rating: 5.00
Center Ice is one of the newer breweries in the area and Grim Reaver is one of their flagship beers.  It was brewed by former STL Blue Ryan Reaves (one of a few hockey players to brew a beer there); Reaves is a beer nerd and created a good beer.

13. Mother’s Brewing MILF
Style: Stout – American Imperial/Double
ABV: 11.00%
Rating: 4.75
This is probably my favorite, easily available seasonal stout.  I picked up a few 4 packs when it was released last spring. I also have some of the variants aging.

14. Mother’s Brewing Sunshine Chugsuckle
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 6.50%
Rating: 4.75
Like MILF, this was a regular pickup.  For a brewery in state and 3 hours away, it took a long time for them to come to St. Louis.

15. Perennial Artisan Ales Coffee Abraxas (2017)
Style: Stout – American Imperial/Double
ABV: 10.00%
Rating: 4.75

16. 2nd Shift Brewing Albino Pygmy Puma
Style: Pale Ale – American
ABV: 6.00%
Rating: 4.75
This was the first hazy Pale Ale I’ve had and it was pretty good.

17. Boulevard Brewing Saison Brett (2018)
Style: Saison/Farmhouse
ABV: 8.50%
Rating: 4.75
This lived up to previous year’s releases; I really need to find another to age for a year and compare it to a fresh one.

18. Fat Orange Cat Brew Co Vito the Beer Whale Cat
Style: IPA – Imperial/Double New England
ABV: 8.00%
Rating: 4.75
FOC was new to Missouri this year and this was my first taste of their beer; it was a good first impression.

19. Odell Brewing Cloud Catcher
Style: IPA – Milkshake
ABV: 6.80%
Rating: 4.75
While it’s listed as a Milkshake IPA, it’s not really.  I’d say it’s more a hazy NE style. Either way, it was good.

20. Perennial Artisan Ales Prism: Mosaic
Style: Saison/Farmhouse
ABV: 5.50%
Rating: 4.75
I’ve tried a few of the Prism series and this is easily the best.  The Mosaic hops brought a citrus taste that really popped.

21. Cigar City Pants! Pants! Pants! DIPA
Style: IPA – Imperial/Double
ABV: 8.30%
Rating: 4.75

22. Logboat Brewing Jerk Alert Imperial IPA
Style: IPA – Imperial/Double
ABV: 8.50%
Rating: 4.75

23. Stone Brewing Stone/Farking/Wheaton W00tstout (2018)
Style: Stout – Russian Imperial
ABV: 11.50%
Rating: 4.50
Every year, I’ve wanted to like this beer and most of the time I didn’t like it.  This year, the coffee seemed a little more toned down and it’s been my favorite. Plus I like the bottles.

24. Blue Blood Brewing Robber’s Cave: Hop Abduction
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 7.20%
Rating: 4.50

25. Blue Blood Brewing Robber’s Cave: Justifiable Hopicide
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 6.70%
Rating: 4.50

26. Blue Blood Brewing Robber’s Cave: Pineapple Assassin
Style: Pale Ale – American
ABV: 5.90%
Rating: 4.50
Blue Blood is fairly new in St. Louis, and the Robber’s Cave series has been more hits than misses.  These 3 have been my favorites and I’ve picked them up a few times.

27. 3 Floyds Brewing LazerSnake
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 7.00%
Rating: 4.50

28. Sweetwater Brewing Mosaic Single Hop Hazy IPA
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 6.20%
Rating: 4.50
Another new brewery to St. Louis; I’ve had some of their readily available beers on trips down south, so I was happy to try other stuff.  I’ve come to the conclusion that they are a little overrated, but you can still find a gem like this every once in a while.

29. Exit 6 Brewery Pineapple Berliner
Style: Sour – Berliner Weisse
ABV: 3.60%
Rating: 4.50

30. Goose Island BCBS Northwoods (2017)
Style: Stout – American Imperial/Double
ABV: 13.20%
Rating: 4.50
I’d heard some people complain about this beer being too sweet, but I thought it was really good.

31. Anchorage Brewing Love and the Death of Damnation
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 6.50%
Rating: 4.50

32. Nyrdcast Home Brew There Will Be Blood…Orange Saison
Style: Saison/Farmhouse
ABV: 5.60%
Rating: 4.50

33. Nyrdcast Home Brew Big Brain on Brett Saison
Style: Saison/Farmhouse
ABV: 5.40%
Rating: 4.50
These are 2 more of my saisons and the base recipes are the same.  For the Blood Orange one, I bought 3 lbs of blood orange puree and used 2 strains of standard Belgian yeast; for Big Brain, I pureed 5 lbs of mandarin oranges myself and used Brett in place of one of the Belgian yeasts. The original was a lot more dry, while the update was more fruity.

34. Upland Brewing Iridescent
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 6.00%
Rating: 4.50
I have tried some of Uplands regular beers a few years ago and was pretty disappointed.  Then I heard that they had a great sour line; I was able to track one down and it lived up to the hype.

35. Breckenridge Brewery Hop Peak IPA
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 6.50%
Rating: 4.50
I don’t know if this one is readily available. I was fortunate enough to try it at a festival, and it’s something I’d like to track down.

36. Goose Island BCBS (2018)
Style: Stout – Imperial/Double
ABV: 15.20%
Rating: 4.50
Here’s a side by side of 2017 (left) and 2018 (right).  The coffee from the ’17 died off a little, which I preferred over the ’18.

37. Bur Oak Brewing Hoppendaz
Style: IPA – Milkshake
ABV: 6.00%
Rating: 4.50

38. Center Ice Brewery Rose Ale
Style: IPA – Brut
ABV: 5.10%
Rating: 4.50
This was the second Brut I tried last year (the first was Center Ice’s the Beauty), and this was my favorite.  Bill, the brewer at Center Ice, heard about the Brut style early on and has perfected it. I’ve had a bunch since and most haven’t compared.  The Rose is on the left.

39. Oskar Blues Fugli
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 5.80%
Rating: 4.50

40. Cigar City Guayabera
Style: Pale Ale – American
ABV: 5.50%
Rating: 4.50

41. Good News Brewing Brut IPA
Style: IPA – Brut
ABV: 6.80%
Rating: 4.50

42. Logboat Brewing Alien Gold Belgian Golden Ale
Style: Blonde Ale – Belgian Blonde/Golden
ABV: 8.50%
Rating: 4.50
This was an impulse buy before I went to a share, and it was one of the few non-BA Stouts there. This BA Golden was much better than it deserved to be.

43. Six Mile Bridge DDH Citra IPA
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 6.00%
Rating: 4.50
Citra is one of my favorite hops to use right now, so DDH Citra beers are right up my alley. I was able to first try this on the Pop Culture Bomb-cast as part of the mystery 6-pack; I’ve bought it a few times since then.

44. Lagunitas Brewing Citrusinensis Pale Ale
Style: Pale Ale – American
ABV: 7.50%
Rating: 4.50

r45. Revolution Brewing Tropic-Hero
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 7.00%
Rating: 4.50

46. Walnut River Brewing Ridiculous
Style: Strong Ale – American
ABV: 11.00%
Rating: 4.50

47. Good People Brewing IPA
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 7.10%
Rating: 4.50

48. Sweetwater Brewing Hop Hash Easy IPA
Style: IPA – Session
ABV: 4.20%
Rating: 4.50

49. Sierra Nevada Hop Bullet Double IPA
Style: IPA – Imperial/Double
ABV: 8.00%
Rating: 4.50

50. Founders Mosaic Promise
Style: Pale Ale – American
ABV: 5.50%
Rating: 4.50

This year, Untappd released some stats for their users. Here’s what mine showed for 2018.