Who’s Best is the Best of the Best?
Everyone loves a list. Actually, this isn’t true. If it were true, everyone would read a list, smile, laugh, and share it with others while generally doing things associated with happiness. No, everyone hates lists. As soon as they are published someone has a problem with them. I’d venture that even the person responsible for compiling the list has a problem with the list, maybe more than one, possibly enough to make a list of problems with the original list. So what’s with all the talk about lists? The American Homebrewer’s Association just released their list of the Best Beers in America!
Before I comment on the list (actually, a couple lists) presented by the AHA, I want to turn back the clock to earlier this year following RateBeer’s Best release. As is common with many things RateBeer, the criticism was that there was too much focus on the rare, the strong and the trendy. As I said before, a list is ripped to shreds the second it is viewed by the public. Many of these criticisms (none of which I will validate with links as many deteriorated from criticisms to attacks) pointed fingers at beer geeks and tickers who were supposedly ruining the world of beer by contributing to such a foolish and apparently dangerous list. I want to state here, my stance is not to question the quality of beer drinker who created this list nor to rip the list apart, but to talk about the AHA’s list and what it represents.
Giving the AHA’s Top 50 Beers in America list a glance, I’m met with many familiar names. In fact, familiar is exactly what comes to mind when going down the list. Many of these beers I’ve had countless times and qualify as craft beer classics.
But does classic necessarily mean that it’s the best? Is Sierra Nevada Pale ale really the tenth best beer in the country? I’d venture I could make a list of “the best” beers at my local grocery store and the classic green label may not make the top 10 (My local grocery store has a very nice beer selection).
Up and down the list are beers that are top sellers, beers that we’ve all sessioned with and, if we’ve decided to homebrew, may have served as inspiration for recipes. While Stone Brewing is represented well with Arrogant Bastard at #6, there is only one other beer from the San Diego brewery to be found in the top 50. This is just my opinion, but wouldn’t homebrewer’s appreciate Stone IPA as much, if not more, than the beer nerds who use rating sites (Stone IPA ranks as the #6 IPA in the world on RateBeer, and #3 on Beer Advocate)? Would a better place in the shopping aisle change this in years to come?
So where does the AHA’s list fit into the grand scheme of things? Are Ratebeerians going to carry this list around as a bucket list? Probably not, as many established beer geeks have most likely had the majority of the beer on the list. Does this act as a great list to help bring in new beer drinkers, or help expand the knowledge of recent craft beer converts? Absolutely. You could hand this list to someone looking to learn about beer and tell them to get back to you when they’ve tried all the ones available in their market.
In the end, every list serves its own purpose. The Brewing Association and AHA have a different audience than RateBeer. While there is a lot of overlap (we all love craft beer), there is a core difference as to where our focus lies. Our lists represent our groups and may seem odd to outsiders, but that doesn’t make them any less valid.
Before I go, I just wanted to point one thing out. Many criticisms of RateBeer’s Best indicated they didn’t like the dominance of Imperial Stouts and Double IPAs. Four of the top 5 in the AHA’s list are Double IPA and Imperial Stout. Maybe they get rated so highly because they are just that good.
