Behind The Tap's Top Ten Beers of 2014

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Enjoy this review with Frank Turner & Jon Snodgrass "Happy New Year"

As we draw to the close of another year (thank goodness it's almost here!), we bring you our favorite beers that we drank this year. There were quite a few great brews to choose from, but these were the ones that stand out in our memories. Also, because we let the blog lapse for so long while my father's health was declining, there will be a significant amount of honorable mentions that were enjoyed and yet not reviewed.

Jennie's Favorites of 2014 (in no particular order):

Fat Heads Hop Juju
The mere, distant memory of this beer has me salivating for spring, when I will run all over Columbus in search of this. That chase will be well worth the effort in order to obtain this elixir of the gods.

Bell's Black Note Stout
This beer is as elusive as the Hop Juju, if not more so. An annual release that is a bourbon-barrel aged imperial stout, it reminds me exactly why Bell's is my favorite brewery. Boozy yet not too much with the bourbon, deep and dark with beautiful roasted and chocolate notes. I'm looking forward to having this again soon.

Jackie O's Paw Paw Wheat
While not a new beer in 2014, it was new to us, and so good that it earned a spot here. It's almost wine-like in its composition, delicious and bubbly and everything you would expect from a brewery with a cult following. And yes, I enjoyed it even more than Oil of Aphrodite, Dark Apparition, and barrel-aged Wood Burner (which, to be fair, was the most exquisite smoked beer I have had). This is light, refreshing, and quite possibly the best wheat beer I have ever had.

Toppling Goliath PseudoSue
A magnificent pale ale from a remote location in Iowa, Toppling Goliath has knocked it out of the park with PseudoSue. No wonder this beer is a hot commodity on the trade market. Any beer that causes Nathan and I to discuss divorce and him to get a job with Toppling Goliath in order to sleep in the stockroom must be worthy of a solid spot on our year-end list. (We didn't review Assassin, but we did have the good fortune to taste some of that deliciousness. It is every bit worthy of being on this list, as well, if only I had taken better notes!)

Weasel Boy Barrel-Aged Anastasia
Another offering from a fantastic stout night back in February, this beer was better-priced than most of the other "whales" we enjoyed, and if possible, even better tasting than most. I recall it being quite silky and with just the right amount of bourbon against a fantastic stout base. No wonder it has been awarded so many medals in the major competitions. I look forward to having this again very soon, especially if it means heading out to Weasel Boy (who also makes a mean rye beer, Wolverine).

Nathan's Favorites of 2014 (in no particular order)

Zaftig ZBS
A newer brewery in Columbus (opened in January) that puts out stellar beer. This is their BA Stout, and when it's available, it goes fast. This is a tap-room only release, so follow them on Facebook and Twitter to find out when it will be released (along with their other limited batches). This was- need I repeat it- KBS Killer.

Homestead Artists Series Vol II: Time (The Revelator)
You don't think with us being the founders, nay, discoverers of Hopsus that this would be a stout heavy list, did you? It's pretty balanced this year though- 4 stouts, 4 IPAs 1 pale ale and 1 wheat. Regardless, this locally made IPA was stellar enough to still long for this 11 months after first consumption.

Deschutes Chasin' Freshies
A juicy grapefruit, pine, and tropical hop bomb with an amazing aroma. We just started getting distribution of Deschutes this year and I look forward to trying more of the selections.

Flying Dog Kujo
Another fine selection from our epic stout night at World of Beer. One of my favorite beers of all time (ssssshhhhh! Don't tell the hops!). An amazing coffee stout that's 8.9% and tastes like a fresh cup of joe. This beer is what gave us the nickname Keg Killers a few years back.

Barley's Bourbon Meyer Buckeye Stout
A peanut butter chocolate stout that's bourbon barrel aged.... Let that sink in while your breathing increases and heart rate raises... Bourbon Barrel Aged Peanut Butter Chocolate Stout... It's available from time to time at Barley's Ale House. Follow them on Facebook to find out when those releases are.

Honorable Mentions (reviewed):
While narrowing down the 50-some-odd brews we reviewed this year, some just couldn't make the cut to the final 10. These are great beers and you should go find them.

Founders KBS 
Schlafly Tasmanian IPA 
Seventh Son Humulus Nimbus
Bell's Hopslam (draft-- because it is such a different beer on tap than in the bottle, different enough to still qualify for Jennie's favorite beer.)
Fat Heads Hop Stalker

Honorable Mentions (not reviewed):
We are sorry to these breweries that with the year we had (read: death, death, death, depression) we did not have the opportunity to fully review your beers. We did, however, enjoy them and thought enough of them to give them an honorable mention.

NoDa Hop, Drop, and Roll
Yup, hops. Copious amounts of hops. We obtained this from a friend/fellow beer writer after her visit to North Carolina. We should have thoroughly reviewed this as we thoroughly enjoyed this. Hopefully, soon, we'll obtain more and give it te proper Behind the Tap treatment.

Homebrew: Peter Schroder's Fired Up Angel (Eximius Brewing)
A beautiful stout with vanilla and scorpion peppers. I have often joked that the scorpion peppers must have been handled by angels, because their presence is so smooth and subtle. There is a lot going on in this beer, but between the silky mouthfeel and the hint of heat set against a beautiful stout, this beer still rings closely in my tastebuds' memories. If I am still talking about it a month after drinking it, it is certainly good enough to be a commercial brew. Actually, let's take that further: I would put this up against any commercial brew and it would outshine them. I had the honor of entering this into a competition for Peter, and the unanimous mutter around the table and in every conversation head since is that this is the best use of pepper ever in a beer. The beer took second place in the competition, but man oh man, I wish I could put this on my list of beers actually reviewed for the year, because if it wasn't my favorite beer of the year, it was right up there.

Fat Head's Hop Stalker

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"Deep in the Yakima Valley, our hop-obsessed Head Brewmaster went commando in seach of his prized nuggets. His mission: Capture the freshest hop flowers he could sneak up on. Then he wet-hopped this bad-ass brew for a deliciously dank IPA. Out of the wild emerged The Hop Stalker."

"Pour it slowly, Unfiltered beer captured inside, go commando, drink it fresh"

All the text on the 16 ounce can of this 7% ABV, 80 IBU, wet hopped IPA seems so inviting to go Gonzo. Go commando, I take that as a challenge to go balls to the wall. Challenge accepted, Fat Head's.

This barely fit into a pint glass (makes sense as 16oz is a pint) with a nice golden amber color with small amount of white head. Very little head, which is fine with me, as it leaves more space for the wet-hopped liquid. You can see tiny bubbles constantly rising through this crystal clear beverage. The aroma on this is dank, like, well, Colorado knows. There is also a nice citrus aroma that washes over, with hints of slight spice to lend for a very hop heavy aroma. It's the season of wet/fresh hop, and I personally don't feel like going into that debate once again (Google it or check our prior reviews on such beers as Sierra Nevada's Estate or Founder's Harvest), we did that too much in previous reviews.

The initial sip on this is an initial blast of unadulterated bliss for hop heads like myself. This is so hop heavy I'm in my own version of Heaven, holding hands and skipping hops across beer vats with Hopsus. Sweet Jesus, if you aren't a religious person, and you're a hop head, this will make you believe in some sort of higher power. That higher power is Hopsus, btw. So the initial sip is just face melting, tongue rocking hops. There is citrus and pine and and and and and. There are so many different flavors coming from this, the taste bud to recognition process is overwhelmed. Dank at first, but instantly kicking into grapefruit, pine, mango, pineapple at times.. Flavor of the hops changing in less than a second between the color wheel, so-to-speak. The malt flavors are not noticed in this, to where this would be classified as "unbalanced" for those who do not have the same love, nay, lust for the Humulus. Dank, tropical, grapefruit, pine, citrus zest, fuck.... I can't type as fast as the flavors are changing. Even after this has been swallowed and copious amounts of hop oils are still around your tongue, gums and cheeks; the flavors are still shifting, running the gauntlet. The drinkability is decent, drinks like a typical IPA, but the palate wrecking oils makes this more of a sipping beer. The mouthfeel on this makes me have a semi-chub. Fuck it, I'm not even going to lie. I'm half-mast drinking this. The mouth puckering oils that are running rampant around are something spectacular. Hopsus, you have let your glorious light shine, and your light has landed on my tongue. With this drink, I accept you into my world, with this swallow, I realize you're all powerful and all knowing. May Hopsus be with you, and also with you.

All religious experience from drinking this beer aside, it's fucking good. Do your taste buds a favor and find some. If Fat Head's isn't distributed in your area, I've heard rumors that people do beer trades, and there may be Facebook groups for trades, for all you social media fiends.

5/5 Caps .... cause FUCK YEAH!
-Nathan-

I am not even sure how to follow that. Well, other than to drink it. And to hope that they introduce themselves in Portland in the next few days with this beer, because we like Portland people, and they should have this beer. And no, I haven't tasted it yet. Nathan wants to stare at me creepily when I take my first sip, so I may be procrastinating a bit.

This is a wonderful, clear golden color with some moderate white foam sitting atop it. The aroma is wonderful: heavy with tropical fruits, such as passionfruit, mango, guava, and a hint of a spice note. The taste? Oh yes, I just called Nathan over to witness the expression on my face. He ended up crawl-scuttling across the floor because he had banged the hell out of his foot on the coffee table. Eh, tall guy/Bigfoot problems. Apparently, I did not disappoint. He wasn't lying about the Color Wheel Effect: it's fast and hard. Prepare yourselves. I'll try to take you through each spoke of that wheel, but as my beertner could not, I give no guarantees. Passionfruit, guava, mango, grapefruit, caramel, pineapple, fermented pineapple (ever had 2-day-old cut-fresh pineapple? Only it's not bad here). I don't get so much dank out of the initial sip; it's more of the mega-coaster at Cedar Point as you are chugging up that first hill, waiting for the bottom to drop out of your stomach. And as soon as I say that and take another sip, there it is, right out of the gate. It's 4:20 somewhere, right?!? Holy hell, this is fantastic. This is palate-wrecked in a good way. This has a medium body: not too thin, not too malty, like Goldilocks' search, just right. Moderate carbonation, and Nathan was right about the hop oils lingering on your tongue long after you swallowed (in a side conversation). Yes, that is what she said, in fact.

Also, a fair warning: Nathan mentioned that people do beer trades. We are definitely cough cough not among those people. And he isn't coming off the last beer we have (as one most certainly is not earmarked for a trade).

5/5 caps
-Jennie

Food Pairing: fucking whatever you want cause your palate is destroyed!
Cheese Pairing: see above
Music Pairing: Bob Marley, "Three Little Birds" because with this beer, everything is, indeed, going to be all right.