I figured I would put up my personal favourites of the year. Some of these are beers that were released for the first time this year, others are old standbys which remain undefeated in their category (according to me). I’m aware that I did not really break my list down by strict style but given the sheer number of distinct styles and tendency for overlap I decided to go with more general “categories” to prevent confusion. I have also included my favourite 2 releases of 2014.
Best Wheat-Based Beer: Side Launch Wheat
Runners Up: Side Launch Colossus, Beau’s Ashnan
Best Rye-Based Beer: Flying Monkeys The Matador 2.0: El Toro Bravo
Runners Up: Cameron’s RPA, Forked River Riptide
Best Saison / Farmhouse Beer: Bellwoods Farmageddon
Runners Up: Beau’s Siduri. Amsterdam / Great Lakes Ezra
Best British Style Pale Ale: Granite Brewing Best Bitter Special
Runners Up: Black Oak Pale Ale, Great Lakes Pompous Ass
Best American Pale Ale: Great Lakes Canuck Ale
Runners Up: Publican House Square Nail Pale Ale, Augusta Ale,
Best IPA: Great Lakes My Bitter Wife
Runners Up: Amsterdam Boneshaker, Muskoka Mad Tom,
Best Imperial IPA: Nickel Brook / Sawdust City 11.05
Runners Up: Great Lakes RoboHop, Black Oak Ten Bitter Years, Bellwoods Witch Shark
Best Hoppy Dark Ale (“Black IPA”): Wellington (Extra) Terrestrial
Runners Up: Great Lakes Apocalypse Later, Flying Monkeys Netherworld
Best Brown Ale: Black Oak Nut Brown Ale
Runners Up: Wellington County Dark Ale, Granite Peculiar
Best Porter: Mill Street Coffee Porter
Runners Up: Amsterdam Stenhouse Porter,
Best Strong Porter: Bellwoods Donkey Venom
Runners Up: Cameron’s Obsidian, Bellwoods Bounty Hunter
Best Stout: Stonehammer Oatmeal Coffee Stout
Runners Up: Bellwoods Grognard, Mill Street Cobblestone Stout
Best Imperial Stout: Amsterdam Tempest 2014
Runners Up: Nickel Brook Winey Bastard, Beau’s Matt’s Sleepytime Stout
Best Strong Belgian Style: Black Oak Epiphany No.1
Runners Up: Bellwoods Grandma’s Boy,
Best Traditional Pale Lager: King Pilsner
Runners Up: Creemore (Molson) Pilsner, Double Trouble Prison Break, Howe Sound Lager
Best Macro-Style Lager: Amsterdam (416) Local Lager
Runners Up: Old Credit Pale Pilsner, Steam Whistle Pilsner, Cool Beer
Best Amber Lager: Beau’s Festivale Altbier
Runners Up: Creemore / Zum Schlüssel Collaboraton Altbier, Howe Sound Lager
Best Dark Lager: Silversmith Black Lager
Runners Up: Hop City (Moosehead) 8th Sin
Best Strong Lager: Cameron’s Bourbon Barrel Deviator Doppelbock
Runners Up: Amsterdam Springbock, Beau’s Hogan’s Goat (6.9%), Bush Pilot Norseman
Best Hoppy Lager: Flying Monkey’s Green Man
Runners Up: Mad & Noisy (Molson) Hops & Bolts Imperial Pale Lager (5.3%), Hop City (Moosehead) Barking Squirrel,
TOP 3 OF 2014
Bellwoods Motley Cru 2014
Barrel Aged Imperial IPA? Hoppy Sour? This limited release by Bellwoods beautifully defied style conventions and challenged my palate. Flavours and aromas came in waves and were too many to list. In some ways its terribly sad that this was a brewed once, but I suppose it makes it all the more special.
Muskoka Detour
This beer, while wonderful in and of itself also made me happy for what it represented: a greater focus on session ales. While I love high intensity beers as much as anyone, the lower-strength market has been sorely neglected and hopefully beers like this indicate a long overdue interest.
Nickel Brook / Sawdust City 11.05
Without a doubt, the stealthiest beer I’ve had north of 10%. Even a hop load like the one in this beer couldn’t possibly hide this much booze on its own. An expertly crafted “Triple IPA”. The two breweries managed to stuff just about every hop note you can imagine (Citrus, pine, dank, ginger, tropical fruit, resin etc.) into the aroma and taste.