# The Best Beers of 2018

- Link: https://www.nyrdcast.com/the-best-beers-of-2018/
- Published: 2019-01-16T07:00:20-06:00
- Author: Eugene Tierney

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:** 5.00It 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:** 5.00A 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:** 5.00Big 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:** 5.00A 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:**
5.00My 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:** 5.00This 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:** 5.00This 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:**
5.00Center 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:** 4.75This 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:** 4.75Like 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:** 4.75This 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:** 4.75This 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:** 4.75FOC 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:** 4.75While 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:** 4.75I’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:** 4.50Every 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:** 4.50Blue 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:** 4.50Another 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:** 4.50I’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:** 4.50These 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:**
4.50I 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:** 4.50I 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:** 4.50Here’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:**
4.50This 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:** 4.50This 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:**
4.50Citra 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

**r[](https://i0.wp.com/www.nyrdcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Revolution-Tropical-Hero.jpg?ssl=1)
45. 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](https://www.untappd.com/) released some stats for their users.
Here’s what mine showed for 2018.

[[

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