A new favorite beer list to ponder

It was suggested that I make a new list of favorite beers and divide them by styles. I thought this an excellent idea. What I've done is made a list of 5 quality beers in a particular style and also listed an honorable mention. This will be an evolving list and feel free to add your own and make suggestions. The problem with making these lists is that inevitably, you leave something off that should be there. I will add more styles as time permits, but this should give some of you a better understanding of the styles along with some of the best offerings from said style. Enjoy.

Lagers: Spaten, Hofbrau, Paulaner, Augustiner, and Samuel Smith. Honorable mention goes to Staropramen. As you can see, the Germans pretty much own the lager category as far as I’m concerned. I’m sure there are some I’m forgetting that I might have liked better or at least as much, but this is an evolving list, so we’ll go with this for now.

Pilsners: Victory Prima Pils and everything else is a distant second. The rest of the list includes Pilsner Urquell, Paulaner Pils, Sam Adams Hallertau (though technically, this is an Imperial pilsner), and the Rogue Morimoto. Honorable mention goes to Warsteiner.

Brown Ales: This one is going to be tough. Believe it or not, I’m going to say the one at the top of my list right now is the NOLA Brown Ale. After that, the list looks like this: Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale, Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan (it’s really a brown ale no matter what they tell you), Legends Brown, and Terrapin India Brown. Honorable mention goes to Rogue’s Hazelnut Brown.

Belgian Triples: I think it’s widely known that I’m a Westmalle guy and their triple is no exception. This heads my list. And, as trite as this might sound, I really like the Chimay. So, that’s two trappist triples down, four to go. I know a lot of people don’t like this one, but I’m a big fan of the Triple Karmeleit. This list wouldn’t be complete with a La Fin Du Monde and a Victory Golden Monkey. Honorable mention goes to St. Bernardus triple.

Belgian Dubbels: Again, Westmalle leads the way. But their dubbel is easily in my top 5 beers of all time. Again, Chimay makes another strong showing. After that, we have Ommegang, Brother Thelonious, and Val Dieu. I would also like to add here that the one Belgian beer not listed in either of these categories is the Orval. It’s a Belgian Ale and since I’m not going to make that a category, I wanted it known that this is an outstanding beer and deserves mention. It’s also a Trappist and probably the most expensive of the lot.

Stouts: Sierra Nevada Stout, Rogue Chocolate Stout (even though this would probably be a sub-category), Lazy Magnolia Jefferson Stout, Sam Smith Oatmeal Stout (again, sub-category) and Beamish. Honorable mention to Guinness because they’re Guinness.

IPA: There are so many of these things flooding the market now, it makes my head spin. But, a good place to start would be these: Stone IPA, Victory HopDevil, Dogfish Head 90 Minute, Houblon Chouffe Belgian IPA, and Bear Republic Racer 5. Honorable mention to Samuel Smith IPA

Porters: This category was actually tougher than I thought because after I started looking back, I realized that I have had more porters than I thought. I really like the style. A lot of people swear them off when it gets hot, but I drink them straight through because usually, the abv is fairly manageable, even though the beer itself is a little heavier. But anyway, in no particular order, here goes:
Meantime London Porter, Fullers London Porter, and Samuel Smith Taddy Porter. These are all English porters and much like the Germans with lagers, the Brits really do porters better than anyone else. After that, the Stone Smoked Porter and the Finnish Sinebrychoff porter round out the top 5. Honorable mention goes to Anchor Steam Porter.

Hefeweizens: If there's one thing Germans know more about than lagers and invading France, it's wheat beers. They invented the style as we know it today. I've never been a huge fan of the hefeweizen, but I've come to appreciate it more over the last few years. They are perfect for those hot summer days and the alcohol content of wheat beers makes them perfect for multiple quaffs. SO, here are my top hefe's: Paulaner, Tucher, Weihenstephaner, Kapuziner, and Franziskaner. Honorable mention goes to Rogue and their Honey Orange. I figured there needed to be at least one on the list that wasn't German.