If you're like me and are still semi-new to the beer scene (although I like to think I can hold my own to an extent), Beer Advocate (BeerAdvocate.com) can be a great tool to increase your knowledge on the subject. When I was first starting out, BA is where I went to figure out what was what. The forums are a great tool, seeing what others are drinking, where they are drinking and what they think about the beers they are consuming.
But perhaps the best tool you can use is BA's Top-250 beers, which until just recently had only slightly changed from time to time. When I wanted to find out whether or not this funky looking brew I found was any good, I took a look to see what its rating was and if it was anywhere on the top-250.
For the longest time these rankings remained rather stagnant with Alchemist's Heady Topper leading the way. Well, a couple days ago the rankings went nuts and everything changed!
Heady was replaced at the top of the list by Russian River's Pliny the Younger (have yet to indulge, but hear it is fantastic). That was just the start of it. The top-10 looks very different. Zombie Dust moving into the top-10? Don't get me wrong, a fantastic beer, but it made a drastic jump to make its way up to No. 9.
The fact that I now see Stone's Enjoy By IPA all the way up to No. 48, just ahead of the likes of Focal Banger (49) and King Sue (51) is just nuts to me. Enjoy By is a good beer. Not great, but good. To me I can't see why it even belongs in the top-250, let alone in the top-50!
Ballast Point's Sculpin, another solid brew, is not the 52nd best beer in the world. It just isn't. I'm sure some people out there consider it their favorite beer, but there's just no way it belongs that high. Not to mention you can pretty much find it anywhere nowadays.
The more I look at the rankings, and believe me I have not gone to great lengths to examine the list top-to-bottom, it seems to be more of a popularity contest. What I mean by that is some of the beers that made drastic jumps are very popular and quite easy to find. I don't know if this plays a factor, but it's a little head-scratching to me.
Pliny the Younger is brewed once a year and distributed to a number of areas. If you are in Philadelphia around the time it is released, there is a decent chance you can find it on tap (although you are going to have to wait in line for it). My point here is how does a beer that is only around once a year, which is usually in the winter, all of a sudden make the leap up to No. 1? It hasn't been drank by anyone in months and out of nowhere, in mid-July, it vaults to the top spot.
Obviously either way you cannot take these rankings as gospel. Drink what you enjoy and don't let rankings and ratings get in the way. But I have to say I was thrown for a loop when I saw these new rankings. Just a little puzzling to me.
Cheers!
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