By the Pint's Top Ten Beers

Monk's Cafe Flemish Sour Ale - Brouwerij Van Steenberge, Ertvelde
Monk's Cafe Flemish Sour Ale
46
Oud Bruin

The Belgians are an interesting bunch... Their beers are among the world's best. The abbey style ales that come from Belgium are some of my favorite beers I've ever had. Belgians, being a little ...out there, have some more interesting ales in their stable as well, and that's what I've got today. I sat down with this Monk's Cafe Flemish Sour Ale not knowing exactly what to expect. I've had a few American Oud Bruin style beers before, they were sweet and sour brown ales usually brewed with a bit of cherry flavor. That's the only frame of reference I really had. It's safe to say this Flemish Sour is nothing like the Oud Bruins I've had before...

Belgian-Style Abbey Ale - Cathedral Square Brewery, Saint Louis
Cathedral Square Abbey Ale
45
Dubbel

Cathedral Square is Missouri's newest brewery. Based out of Saint Louis, Cathedral Square actually contracts all of it's brewing through the Weston Brewing Company. Weston, which is north of Kansas City, isn't exactly known for putting out quality beers... I've heard the problem exists somewhere in the bottling line. Curious, why would anyone contract brew through a brewery that has such a bad track record? Don't as me, because it doesn't make any sense whatsoever...

Laško Club Export - Pivovarna Laško, Laško
Laško Club Export
44
Light Lager

This is a good looking beer. It comes in a minimalist green bottle with a chic old world logo and a date firmly in the 19th century embossed on the bottle. You could totally sell this beer for $8 a pop in an up scale joint. You'd make a killing too, because no matter how fancy this beer looks, it just a macro lager from Europe. Laško, the Slovenian word for toilet water, is a super thin and super light fizzy yellow beer... that's about the extent of the nice things I have to say about it. It'd be a good beer for sitting on the porch with your buddies, except they'd make fun of you for drinking a fancy boy import in a green bottle.

13th Century Grut Bier - Brauerei Weihenstephan, Freising
13th Century Grut Bier
43
Gruit

This is my first true Gruit style beer. I've heard a lot about Gruits recently and was excited when I found this bottle on a recent trip. My knowledge of Gruits is pretty limited, I just know that they are not brewed with hops. Instead of using hops to flavor the beer, Gruits are brewed with herbs and spices. This particular Gruit is a version released by Weihenstephaner and is modeled after recipes from the 13th century. The label of this beer indicates that is is part of a Historic Signature Series and was brewed by Dr. Fritz Briem in Munich. The historical significance of Gruits isn't lost on me, but there's a good reason beers aren't brewed with ginger and bay leaves anymore... so I'm cautiously optimistic.

Coastal Fog IPA - Tied House Brewery, San Jose
Coastal Fog IPA
42
India Pale Ale

My membership in a beer of the month club was recently canceled (Don't worry, we parted on good terms), but the last shipment was already in the mail so it looks like I've ended up getting 12 more beers than expected, oh no... This final shipment hit my doorstep about a month ago and I'm finally getting around to these short Golden Gate clad IPAs labeled "Coastal Fog". This beer is brewed and bottled by the Tied House Brewery in San Jose. I've heard absolutely nothing about this beer and even less about the brewer, so this should be fun... or a regrettable mistake.

Bud Light Golden Wheat - Anheuser-Busch, Saint Louis
Bud Light Golden Wheat
41
Wheat

I don't make a habit out of following Anheuser-Busch's press releases so Bud Light Golden Wheat was a bit of a surprise to me. My first thoughts were, "Oh, they're trying to cash in on the popularity of craft wheat beers by releasing one of their own." Then I got to thinking... craft beer drinkers aren't going to pass over their regionally brewed wheat in favor of the Bud Light version of a wheat beer unless it's absolutely stellar. Well, spoiler alert: it's not stellar, not even close. This beer is essentially just a Bud Light that was brewed with a pinch of orange rind and, allegedly, coriander. The body is cloudy but not quite as opaque as the wheats you've had before. It certainly looks a lot closer to a wheat than a Bud Light... but looks can certainly be deceiving. The flavor is about the same as I remember a regular Bud Light tasting only it hasn't had ALL of its flavor filtered out. There is a faint hint of citrus up front when you take a sip but it quickly dissipates and you're left with a bland, slightly bitter and wholly riced light beer.

Shergill IPA - Rhinelander Brewing Company, Monroe
Shergill IPA
32
India Pale Ale

This beer came to me from Wisconsin in a mixed box of bottles I received as a gift a couple weeks ago. Most of my attention was focused on the New Glarus bottles I received and I completely overlooked this Shergill IPA. This bottle is fairly nondescript, it's a simple red, white and green label with an Indian parade elephant on the bottom. I decided to open up this bottle today because it'll be one of the few early fall 70+ degree days we'll have left. I've got a pork shoulder on the smoker, the dog is sleeping on the deck and things seem pretty great... then I went and ruined it all by pouring a glass of what has to be the worst beer I've had this year. Seriously, it's bad, really bad...