Another year of beer drinking will soon come to an end. Consumption was low in the early part of the year due to my back injury, and parenthood has kept me out of darkened saloons in general. Also in my old age I tend to forget to write up reviews, so there are some beers I’ll just have to drink again.
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. For more beers check out my 2007 Beer in Review.
Here’s a handy chart of all the beers reviewed in 2008:
Five Stars
- 9.0 – Aventinus
Four Stars
- 8.9 – Gritty’s Black Fly Stout
- 8.7 – Well Bombardier Bitter
Three Stars
- 7.8 – Hofbräu Dunkel
- 7.7 – Magic Hat “Jinx”
- 7.5 – Anchor Liberty Ale
- 7.4 – Paulaner Oktoberfest
- 7.4 – Harpoon Octoberfest
- 7.1 – Sevens Dark Ale
- 7.1 – Berkshire Brewing Co. Cabin Fever
- 7.0 – Affligem Blonde Ale
Two Stars
- 6.9 – Wexford Irish Cream Ale
- 6.9 – Samuel Adams Hefeweizen
- 6.8 – Ipswich Oatmeal Stout
- 6.3 – Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat
- 6.2 – Harpoon Weizenbock
One Star
No Stars
- (Whew!)
Panorama of the Mountains 