Good Beer is Good Beer The 5 Best Beers I Have Ever Tasted And Why It’s Important For Brewing With Kits

Let’s take some time to talk about the Top 5 best beers I have ever tasted in my life.

Now I know it has nothing to do specifically with homebrewing with a kit, yet at the same time, it has everything to do with homebrewing with a kit.

How? you might ask.

Read along to see. Whether you agree or not, the answer is the same because good beer is good beer.

Why does this matter?

It doesn’t matter if it is a craft beer or homebrewed beer. If you know good beer no matter what the method, the likeliness of being able to refer people to a good beer is pretty high.

In a nutshell, I’m trying to give y’all a sounding board to see my tastes of beer. I’m hoping this will only increase your appreciation and confidence in my beer-expertise so we can journey on together in this adventure of homebrewing.

Good Beer is Good Beer

The reason I began this blog was to bring awareness to that fact that you can make great tasting beer in your home by brewing with a kit for a fraction of the cost from what you buy at the store.

Most of those store-bought beers are good, some are great, but they can also be pricey, especially if you like beer as much as I do. I have many passions in life, and if you haven’t been able to tell by now, beer is one of them!

My hope is that by listing out some of my favorite beers I have purchased at the store and telling you how they stack up against my own home brewed beers with a kit, it will help motivate you to brew your own beers from a kit.

You can brew it!!

It will taste awesome!

You won’t regret it.

Now let’s get on to this list of beers.

My Top 5 best beers

1. The Phlux Capacitor

The Phlux Capacitor is an Oak Aged American Ale brewed by Terrapin Beer Company Athens, Ga, U.S.A

https://terrapinbeer.com

The Phlux is the beer that changed it all for me and my family.

Once we rode this bad boy we were taken into the outer limits of our drinking experience where we never drank crap beer again. Before this beer, the zenith of my family and I’s beer drinking was Yuengling.

Back To The Brewture

After that fateful night when my dad, my brothers, and I all took the ride with the Phlux together for the first time, the pinnacle of our beer drinking may be stuck in a time inaccessible to anyone without a real DeLorean capable of going back in time to the year 2011.

That night, the bar that represented our standard of what constitutes a good beer was dramatically raised.

Phlux’s Label Fluff

Here’s what terrapin says about the beer on the label:
Time traveling in at number 16 in our “Side Project” series of beers is “Phlux Capacitor.” This wood aged Bully is brewed to an unknown style from another dimension.
Rumor has it that this beer was first invented on the planet Vulcan on Saturday, Nov. 5, 1955. The recipe was discovered here on Earth on Saturday, Nov. 12, 1985, at 10:04 P.M., scribbled on the back of a sports almanac inside an abandoned DeLorean.
It is said that the speedometer in the car was frozen at 88mph and it took 1.21 gigawatts of power to jumpstart the car Back To The Future! We hope you enjoy our interpretation of this totally fictitious ale…Aged in French Oak.

More Info On The Phlux

Here are some specs from the Terrapin website:

ABV: 9.7
IBUs: 88
Malts: 2-Row Pale Malt, Munich I, Crystal 24, Crystal 65, Crystal 85, and Special Roast
Hops: Columbus, Nugget, Bravo, and Chinook (dry)

Click here for a great detailed review.

Everything he writes I second with an Amen brother!

The Infamous Phlux Capacitor

The Phlux was an amazing beer. This oaked beer was the perfect mix of hops and malt. It was a beautiful Amber color, which was easy and unforgettably enjoyable to drink.

The only problem was it was a limited release. Despite looking in several liquor stores the next day we only were able to get our hands on 5 more bottles.

Remember, my dad, my brothers, and I had never really gotten into “craft specialty brews” before this. Since that night we have had as deep a passion for good craft beer.

This is the beer that changed our standards for great beer.

2. Coney Island Barrel-Aged Human Blockhead

The Blockhead Imperial American Doppelbock is brewed in a bourbon barrel by Shmaltz Brewing Company in New York, U.S.A.

https://shmaltzbrewing.com

The Blockhead is a great beer. Seriously y’all, I wish I had more words to describe this beer other than one of the tastiest things I have ever had the pleasure of drinking. This beer was amazing!

If you ever come across this bad boy you need to treat yourself to one. Heck, if you have the means, you need to go ahead and buy as many as you can afford. I bought one and drank it with my dad only to go out the next day and buy the last one we could find.

We ended up keeping it in our beer cellar for around 2 years before my bros and dad could all drink it together. What a treat! Just as good if not better than when we originally tasted its greatness.

Here is a link that describes what a doppelbock is and what this one in particular tastes like. I couldn’t agree with him more.

3. Terrapin’s Big Hoppy Monster and the Oaked aged Big Hoppy Monster

Terrapin’s Big Hoppy Monster is an Imperial Red brewed by Terrapin Beer Company Athens, Ga, U.S.A

https://terrapinbeer.com

This tasty redhead will only leave you wanting more which you most likely won’t be able to find. This is exactly what happened to me. Unfortunately, it’s not brewed any longer and currently on their retired list.

My brother told me he saw it once at the Braves stadium on tap. Go and watch a Braves game and get you some.

Big Hoppy Monster Info

Here are the stats from Terrapin’s website:

Monster Beer Tour
ABV: 8.75% IBU: 73 OG: 21.3%
Hops: Warrior, Centennial, Cascade, Ahtanum, Simco (Dry Hop)
Malt: 2-Row Pale, Munich, Crystal 20, Crystal 30, Crystal 45, Crystal 77.

I can taste the delicious hoppy imperial red now just by thinking about it.

4. Gouden Carolus Classic

Gouden Carolus Classic is brewed by Het Anker, Mechelen, Belgium

http://www.hetanker.be/en/gouden-carolus-classic

Here is one you can finally get your hands on if your lucky since it is currently still being brewed.

COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION:
Het Anker Brewery still brews “The Emperor’s Beer” which is top-fermented and bottle conditioned following traditional methods. Its high gravity (O.G. 1080-85) combines the warmth of wine and the freshness of beer. Gouden Carolus is one of the strongest and most exciting beers in the world. After lengthy maturing and conditioning, it is bottled unfiltered, giving a beer which is rich in vitamins and 100% natural. Gouden Carolus has unlimited storage (it even improves with age) and will charm you with its warm coppery color and rich bouquet.
Here are the stats: WEIGHTED AVG: 3.83/5   EST. CALORIES: 255   ABV: 8.5%.

The Gouden Carolus Classic is the amazing winner of the World Beer Awards for world’s best dark in 2012. I live overseas and found this in a market over the summer, so I am not sure how available it is in the States or elsewhere in the west.

*UPDATE 

I currently just returned to the states for a brief time and was able to find this in a specialty craft beer shop in the Belgian section.*

This beer blew my socks off. I was vacationing the first time I ever tried this beer. When I opened the bottle and went outside on a balcony where it was really dark, so I really couldn’t see very well.

When I took my first sip I thought it was a soft drink or something. This thing is in its own category for tastiness. I don’t drink or really even like soft drinks, but that is how different this beer was for me.

It is seriously a great beer.

Here are some reviews you can read about on Ratebeer.

If somehow you come across this dreamy dark beer, don’t let the opportunity pass you by grab a couple and enjoy.

5. Tropicália®

Tropicália is brewed by Creature Comforts Brewing Company Athens, Ga, U.S.A

http://www.creaturecomfortsbeer.com/beers/2014/5/7/tropiclia

Here is what the brewers have to say about it:

AMERICAN IPA Tropicália® is a balanced, soft, and juicy IPA. A hop aroma of citrus and ripe passion fruit leads into a full, fruit-forward hop flavor that washes over the palate, and ends with a subtle bitterness.
Tropicália is also the name of a Brazilian artistic movement that started in the late 1960s. It is best known today for its music, which merged Brazilian and African rhythms with rock and roll. 6.6% ABV.

This is a super interesting beer. After spending almost two years overseas, my family and I returned Stateside for 3 months. Everywhere I went in the greater Atlanta area all my beer drinking friends were talking about this beer. It was sold out everywhere and whenever it came into stock it hardly lasted for even a day.

That is how good this beer is. Fortunately, The Lord was smiling down on me every time I went into the liquor shop by my in-law’s house where I was staying. There was always the last 6 pack on the shelf sitting there waiting for me.

*UPDATE–

When I was in Georgia while visiting the states this beer has now become one of Creature Comforts flagship beers and it was super easy to find almost everywhere craft beer was sold.*

**Would you believe they did it again, and for the second time running they produced the hardest beer to find on my trip home, but that is a story for another post.**

This is a great IPA which is not super overpowering and incredibly drinkable. Especially on hot Georgia summer days, a feat in itself. The one word that describes this beer more than any other I have ever tasted is Juicy. Who would have known you would ever use that word for a beer, right?

Juicy Juice

Well for the Tropicália that is the only word that fits the bill. If you’re in buying radius of this beer and haven’t heard of it yet, check your pulse to see if you’re still alive. Now go out right now and find a 6 pack. Grab a friend, and enjoy the juicy juice.

Those are my top 5 best beers I have ever tasted in my life. These 5 beers were store-bought. Now, there is one more beer I have to add to this list because it is up there with them. I have added this to the end because it is not bought in the stores.

This last beer is,

The Festival The Pride of London Porter

The Festival Pride of London Porter Kit brewed by myself in my house.

Ingredients
Premium Liquid Malt Extract
Genuine Brewer’s Yeast Strains
Hop Pellets Addition
Priming Sugar
Stats:
Specifications
Kit weight: -3kg
Makes:- 40 pints / 5 gallons
ABV Approx:- 5.2%
Finishing Gravity Approx:- 1.009
Fermentation time:-7 days approx
Conditioning time:-4 weeks
Fermentables required:- None Required
Priming Sugar: Included

Now I know this may sound hubris but I am not lying. This is one of the better beers I have ever had. I am not just saying that because I brewed it.

This is the second beer I ever brewed and it was amazing. It is a dark but hoppy beer. Perfectly blended. Not over the top with a “crush your tongue” hop flavor or too sweet that it makes your teeth jiggle. It was just right in the middle where you want a well-balanced beer to be.

This kit includes everything and I can’t recommend it enough. For sure I will be brewing this puppy again in the near future.

Another perspective change

This kit changed the way I viewed beer drinking in the same vain that the Phlux Capacitor did for my whole family 7 years earlier.

With the Festival Pride of London Porter Kit, the scales fell from my eyes.

After the first taste, I realized that it was actually possible to brew super quality beer myself at home with a kit.

So what are you waiting for? It’s not going to brew itself. To find out more about how to brew with a kit click here.

It only takes a bit of start-up money, some time, and the will to want to brew great beer for yourself. You’ll have an abundance of great beer for a fraction of the price.

I’ll say it again, You can brew it!!!!! You won’t regret it!

Trust me. After trying the first beer you homebrew with a kit, you’ll be hooked.

*Click here to sign up for my email list to receive a full list of notes you should be taking every time you brew with a kit!*