Best beer

Just realized, three of my fav beers are from Founders.
Fav Bourbon Barrel: Founders Backwoods Bastard
Fav Porter: Founders Porter
Fav Stout: Founders Breakfast Stout

Rounding out my top fav five:
Fav Wee Heavy: Orkney Skull Splitter
Fave Belgian: St. Berbardus ABT 12

Fav Barley Wine: I forget! Dammit!

The best beers are homemade. (period)

Just drank a few new beauties from Mammoth Brewing Company (located in Mammoth Lakes, CA). These are all new, limited releases. Descriptions below from MBC's web site. Good luck finding these outside of Mammoth, but if you can get there (the powder is dumping as we speak), they are top notch (and strong enough to knock you down pretty quickly):

• Devils Post Pale Ale: Originally brewed for the centennial celebration of Devils Postpile, we superheat volcanic rock to start the boiling process. The result is earthy, caramelized wort, giving this ale its unique flavor. We then generously hop with Centennial hops (of course!) to create this double pale ale.
7.5% ABV, 70 IBUs

• Owens Valley Wet Harvest Ale: Mammoth Brewing Company is proud to offer our third annual wet harvest beer. This year, we chose to brew an Imperial Double Red Ale. Drink this limited wet harvest ale today at the peak of freshness to enjoy the aromatic qualities of these high altitude wet hops.
8.0% ABV, 70 IBUs

• Lair of the Bear: A true winter warmer to sip by the fire, Lair of the Bear is a hefty Russian Imperial Stout with an O.G. of 22 Plato. Our brewers fermented this stout with our proprietary yeast in stainless for two weeks then racked into freshly emptied Heavenly Hills Bourbon barrels and allowed the beer to rest for seven months. Enjoy now or age for as long as you like, but be aware Lair of the Bear may put you into hibernation.
9.5% ABV, 70 IBUs

• Fire & Eisbock: Brewing in the land of fire & ice (the Eastern Sierra) since 1995 has brought us to this style of beer, where we use a long intense boil to concentrate color, flavor, and natural sugars. Then, after fermentation, we freeze no more than 2% of the water content out of the beer. This concentrates the alcohol and smooths out the flavor for a true winter seasonal. Like the bliss of a “one swing stick” into ice, this beer will distill your attention down to the single focus of the bend of your elbow. Fire & Eisbock will age well, but do drink one now to compare with our barrel-aged eisbock.
10.0% ABV, 27 IBUs

BTW, Tycobb wins. Can't argue with that!

The best beers are homemade.

I brew a bit, and I don't know about this. People say my beers compare favorably to commercial samples (most recently, Rockadanny, a Bacwoods Bastard copy tasted against the original). A lot of this, I think, is a freshness effect.

Remember, a lot of the commercial folks were once the best homebrewers. I went to graduate school with Paul Phillippon, and drank his yummy homebrew; now he's the man behind Duck Rabbit, "The Dark Beer Specialists," and brews even yummier commercial beer. (Duck Rabbit is has growing distribution, based in NC, keep an eye out.)

My2c,

John