Here’s a handy list of beers I’ve drank and judged over time. Beers I’ve tried since 2007 I’ve reviewed on this blog and are hyperlinked to the original review. Beers I rated prior to 2007 do not have a full review and do not link to anything
I rate beers by awarding points for their appearance, aroma, taste, how they look after a few sips, and overall quality on a ten point scale. Any beer that earns 5 or more points is worth trying again and I rank these with one to five stars. Any beers below five points are on a descending spiral of badness. I tend to screen out bad beers ahead of time so I don’t get many no star beers.
If you want to look at it on a letter grade system then the point scale to letter grade equivalents would be something like this:
- A = 8.1 – 10
- B = 6.1 – 8.0
- C = 4.1 – 6.0
- D = 2.1 – 4.0
- F = 0.1 – 2.0
Five Stars
- 9.6 - Guinness Stout (from the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin)
- 9.1 - Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
- 9.0 – Aventinus
Four Stars
- 8.9 - Growstown Steam Ale
- 8.9 - Gritty’s Black Fly Stout
- 8.9 – Rogue Shakespeare Stout
- 8.8 - Murphy’s Irish Stout (in Cork, Ireland)
- 8.7 - Well Bombardier Bitter
- 8.6 – Old Chub Scottish Style Ale
- 8.5 – Harpoon Leviathan Imperial IPA
- 8.5 – O’Hara’s Irish Stout
- 8.5 - Victory Old Horizontal
- 8.4 - Kilkenny Beer (in Kilkenny, Ireland)
- 8.3 - Slumbrew Porter Square Porter
- 8.1 - The Haven ‘Special 70′ Ale
- 8.0 - Beamish Irish Stout (in Cork, Ireland)
- 8.0 – Hofbräu Oktoberfest
- 8.0 – New Albion Ale
- 8.0 - Tennant’s Lager
- 8.0 - Trappistes Rocheforte Biere
- 8.0 – Young’s Chocolate Stout
Three Stars
- 7.9 – Brooklyn Oktoberfest
- 7.9 – Éphémère (draft)
- 7.9 – Lindemans Framboise
- 7.8 – Cambridge Brewing Co. Sgt. Pepper
- 7.8 – Hofbräu Dunkel
- 7.8 – Mayflower Pale Ale
- 7.8 – Mill City Porter
- 7.8 – Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale
- 7.8 – Samuel Adams Winter Lager
- 7.7 – Magic Hat “Jinx”
- 7.6 – Pretty Things Baby Tree
- 7.6 – Rising Tide Daymark
- 7.6 – Weihenstephaner Korbinian
- 7.5 – Anchor Liberty Ale
- 7.5 - Caffrey’s Ale
- 7.5 – Lagunitas Lucky 13 Mondo Large Red Ale
- 7.5 – Radeberger Pilsener
- 7.4 – Harpoon Octoberfest
- 7.4 – Paulaner Oktoberfest
- 7.4 – Wachusett Quinn’s Amber Ale
- 7.3 – Grimbergen Abbey Ale
- 7.3 – Guinness 250th Anniversary Stout
- 7.3 – Harpoon White IPA
- 7.3 – Magic Hat #9
- 7.3 – Samuel Smith’s Organically Produced Lager Beer
- 7.3 – Shipyard Old Thumper Ale
- 7.2 – Brewmaster Jack Total Eclipse
- 7.2 – Cisco Island Reserve Lager
- 7.2 – Éphémère (bottle)
- 7.2 – Haverhill Annie Schwartz Black Lager
- 7.2 – Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout
- 7.2 – Magic Hat Pistil
- 7.2 - The People’s Pint Farmer Brown
- 7.2 – Post Road Pumpkin Ale
- 7.1 – Berkshire Brewing Co. Cabin Fever
- 7.1 – Buzzards Bay Black Lager
- 7.1 – Charlie’s BBC British Ale
- 7.1 – Peak Organic Nut Brown Ale
- 7.1 – Sevens Dark Ale
- 7.1 – Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale
- 7.0 – Affligem Blonde Ale
- 7.0 – CBC Amber Ale
- 7.0 – Harpoon Ale
- 7.0 - Harpoon Munich Dark
- 7.0 – Hertog Jan Springbier
- 7.0 – Mount Desert Island Ginger Wheat
- 7.0 – Samuel Adams Latitude 48
- 7.0 – Smithwick’s (draft in Boston pub, 2009)
- 7.0 – Southampton Keller Pils
Two Stars
- 6.9 – The Bük
- 6.9 – Long Trail Belgian White
- 6.9 – Long Trail Blackberry Wheat
- 6.9 – Long Trail Double Bag Ale
- 6.9 – Mayflower Autumn Wheat Ale
- 6.9 – Palm Amber Ale
- 6.9 – Samuel Adams Hefeweizen
- 6.9 – Sea Dog Brewing Co. Apricot Wheat Beer
- 6.9 - Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine
- 6.9 – Wachusett Blueberry Ale
- 6.9 – Wexford Irish Cream Ale
- 6.8 – Ipswich Oatmeal Stout
- 6.8 – Ithaca Apricot Wheat
- 6.8 – Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy
- 6.8 – Magic Hat Odd Notion
- 6.8 – Mystic An Dreoilin
- 6.8 – Notch Saison
- 6.8 – Rogue Dead Guy Ale
- 6.7 – Blue Moon Spring Ale
- 6.7 – Dale’s Pale Ale
- 6.7 – Harpoon Brown Session Ale
- 6.7 – Hertog Jan Pils
- 6.7 - Lagunitas IPA
- 6.7 – Negro Modelo
- 6.7 – Wormtown FU IPA
- 6.6 – Anchor Humming Ale
- 6.6 – Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
- 6.6 – Haverhill Tap Nico Kölsch
- 6.6 – Long Trail Harvest Ale
- 6.6 – McEwan’s 80/ Ale
- 6.6 – Saranac Pale Ale
- 6.5 – Cain’s Bitter
- 6.5 – Harpoon Belgian Pale Ale
- 6.5 – Peak Organic Pomegranate Wheat Ale
- 6.5 – Red Hook Long Hammer IPA
- 6.5 – Samuel Adam’s Boston Lager
- 6.5 – Staropramen Lager
- 6.4 – Anchor Small Beer
- 6.4 – Brooklyn Lager
- 6.4 – Cape Ann Fisherman’s Pumpkin Stout
- 6.4 – Harpoon Chocolate Stout
- 6.4 – Harpoon Winter Warmer
- 6.4 – Ommegang Abbey Dubbel
- 6.4 – Southampton Public House Double White
- 6.4 – Stoudt’s Scarlet Lady Ale
- 6.3 – Boddington’s Pub Ale
- 6.3 – Cisco Brewers Bailey’s Blonde Ale
- 6.3 – Jack’s Abby Jabby Brau
- 6.3 – Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat
- 6.3 – Samuel Adams Blackberry Witbier
- 6.3 – Saranac White IPA
- 6.3 – Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
- 6.3 – Sixpoint Brownstone Brown Ale
- 6.3 – Wieckse Witte
- 6.2 – Harpoon Weizenbock
- 6.2 – La Fin Du Monde
- 6.2 – Off Shore Islander Pale Ale
- 6.2 – Otter Creek Winter Ale Raspberry Brown
- 6.1 – Allagash White Ale
- 6.1 - Calder’s Cream Ale
- 6.1 - Fuller’s London Pride Bitter
- 6.1 – McNeill’s Blond Bombshell
- 6.0 – Abita Turbodog
- 6.0 – Comet Tail Pale Ale
- 6.0 – Dogfish Head Raison D’Etre
- 6.0 – Little King’s Cream Ale
- 6.0 – Narragansett Beer
- 6.0 - Old Speckled Hen Ale
- 6.0 – Ommegang Witte
- 6.0 - Tröegs DreamWeaver Wheat
One Star
- 5.9 – Belhaven 80/ Ale
- 5.9 – Blanche de Bruxelles
- 5.9 – Cambridge Amber
- 5.9 – Long Trail Harvest
- 5.9 – Southern Tier Raspberry Porter
- 5.8 – Budels Pils
- 5.7 – Leinenkugel Fireside Nut Brown
- 5.7 – Peroni Nastro Azzuro
- 5.7 – Smithwick’s Ale (in Kilkenny, 1998)
- 5.6 – Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter
- 5.6 – Singha Lager
- 5.6 – Victory Lager
- 5.5 – Hell or High Watermelon
- 5.5 – Left Hnad Juju Ginger Ale
- 5.5 – Off Shore Inkwell Imperial Stout
- 5.5 – Stella Artois
- 5.4 – Samuel Adams Boston Brick Red
- 5.4 – Simpler Times Lager
- 5.4 – Southern Tier Heavy*Weizen
- 5.4 – Whale’s Tail Pale Ale
- 5.2 – Clarke’s Amber
- 5.2 – Heineken Lager
- 5.1 – Harpoon IPA
No Stars
- 4.9 – Bass Ale
- 4.8 – Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale
- 4.5 – Presidente
- 4.2 – Wallace IPA
- 4.0 – Caledonian 80/ Ale
- 4.0 – Carlsburg Lager
- 3.2 – Southern Tier Pumking
- 3.0 – Wild Blue Blueberry Lager


Posted by Liam on 8 April 2009 at 9:56 am
Five great American beers I’ll have to try (according to Paste).
Posted by george303 on 20 January 2012 at 10:05 am
Hey Liam, you need to get some Belgian in you (not many on the list). Here’s one I tried and throughly enjoyed.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=261953007205692&set=a.261347090599617.61289.261299830604343&type=3&theater