This was a pretty big year for me, beer-wise. Got way more into collecting and cellaring bottles (thanks to this thread), started working at Karbach, and willfully developed my taste for sour beers.

I liked the idea of trying to come up with a personal top 5 beers of 2015, so I started going through my Untappd list and couldn't really narrow it down to just five. Actually, this was an unexpectedly interesting way to recall the events of the past year.

Most Memorable Beers of 2015 (No Particular Order):
-Nebraska HopAnomaly w/Brett
-Odell Barrel Thief IIPA
-Karbach Hop Delusion (Tequila barrel-aged keg-- was on tap at the brewery restaurant and Flying Saucer)
-Prairie Noir
-Avery Fortuna
-BRASH Vulgar Display of Power
-Karbach BBH/BBHV
-Jester King Black Metal

Top five for me, no order:

Fen Tao on tap at Jester King
Chardonnay barrel-aged apricot sour from Brewery at Bacchus at Ginger Man in Manhattan
Bourbon County Regal Rye on tap at WF
Supplication (1/2014 bottling) consumed at home post-CFA L2 exam
Pliny the Elder on tap at Falling Rock on my 34th bday

Pretty decent for a .99 sale beer. Nothing earth shattering, can't remember last time I had one of the other deliriums so I can't really compare it to those. I must confess I did have some help with the BCBS last night.

Trying to recall my top beers from this past year but from what I can remember right now is Canadian breakfast stout, Brett loves citra, Iris, and quite a few pours of vanilla rye bourbon county at GABF.

Are we friends on Untapp'd? Don't remember the TA handle of yours.

2015 Top Five: (no particular order)

1. Pliny the Elder - courtesy of Ben. Excellent. Had it as a Sunday evening nightcap. I don't remember what else was happening that weekend earlier this year because this one lived up to everything I had heard of it.

2. Prairie Apple Brandy Barrel Noir - Might be my favorite beer I have had. Got a bottle when I was feeling swanky at Bearded Lady in Fort Worth. Wasn't cheap, but well worth it.

3. Elevation Signal de Botrange - I need to get this one again. Stellar farmhouse beer. Had it randomly on a Thursday evening in the Spring.

4. Ommegang Three Philosophers (2011) - It was awesome that Meddlesome Moth in Dallas had this. Guess they cellar beers for release in later years. Had this Belgian style quad in a stack with '12, '13, and '15. I now regret not buying a 4-Pack of '15 at the store to cellar. I just don't really have the cellar room anymore.

5. Yellow Rose - Have had it a few times this year, superb.

Oh yeah, and heady, so good

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Oh yeah, and heady, so good

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Anyone want to trade me some Heady? I've got lots of RRBC, FW and Lost Abbey.

My 2015 top 5 (no particular order):
Meta Modern
Yellow Rose
Abita Wrought Iron
BCBS (torn because it is AB, but still the gold standard for BA stouts)
Mirror Mirror

My top 5 of 2015

Pliny the Younger at RRBC - totally worth the effort and the wait. Followed by as many PtE, Blind Pig, Supplication and Consecration as I could get within the 3 hour limit.

Cable Car at Toronado with BSD - great beer and it led to a very long search for more. When they finally got this year's bottles in, I got a Cable Car and a Toronado 25. Was feeling very good after that.

Societe's The Thief at their 3rd anniversary beer pairing dinner. The best part was talking with the local wine makers who grew the grapes they used in the beer, while drinking the beer.

Sam Adams Utopias - it isn't really fair to compare it to beers, as it is much more like an after dinner port or brandy. If I could only smell one thing, it would be Utopias.

Lost Abbey Veritas, Firestone Walker Sucaba, Lone Pint Yellow Rose, Almanac Dogpatch Saison de Brettaville were all great, but so were the Sculpins that I pulled out of the cooler attached to my Stand Up Paddleboard in the middle of Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe.

in no order:

clown shoes had a big year for me, so to narrow it to one of theirs, I'll go with the bottle of luchador en fuego i held on to a while, edging out Pierre ferrand billionaire, fistful of unidragon, crasher in the rye, and flight of the angry beast

crooked stave l'brett d'pluot courtesy of bsd (pretty sure that was 2015, it all blurs together)

cascade blackcap raspberry (1st cascade offering, was blown away despite hefty price tag)

jolly pumpkin fuego del otono, was actually a random '14 xmas gift (drank in '15 so im counting it) from my mom without any input from me whatsoever, and she knocked it out of the park. had never tried this before and was pretty impressed a woman that knows literally jack **** about beer chose this one. my favorite jp offering to this day.

I want to throw big bad baptist in the mix, but being as to how I tried it last night, i feel like it could be premature. so in its place, I'm gonna cheat and go with all the '15 bishops barrel offerings, I wanna say 8-12 going on memory but some of those probably are 14. that stretch of bishops barrel brews is imo the best stretch st arnolds has had in their existence. it seemed like all of them killed it.

lots of awesome beers I hate to leave out, but I feel pretty good about my list. haven't ventured out like many on this thread with the headys, plinys, cantillons, and cable cars of the world, and while I'd love to try all those, I feel like I drank some really good **** this past year anyway. wanted to include jester king but because I only drank their production beers and missed out on every damn brewery offering of 2015, I couldn't. lemon lime provenance a was real close though. also, honorable mention to xocoveza, as once I start seeing this in 6ers, it's gonna be one shelf beer I horde the **** out of. loved it.

drinking black ops now and watching Freddy got fingered. if I don't think about the price tag, it's a really good beer. I like the light/drinkable contrast the champagne yeast offers up against the heavy bourbon barrel stout. not sure it's worth $25 (especially with bcbs being $9.99) but glad I tried it.

I'll go with top 5 beer related moments of 2015 since I was able to travel to a couple of craft beer hot spots this last year.
5. Pelican Brewing Company on the Oregon coast, nothing outstanding on the menu while I was there but solid beer none the less with an outstanding view.
4. Crooked Stave tasting room in Denver.
3. Belmont Station in Portland, best bottle shop I've ever been too, having a Barley Browns pallet jack on tap while I shopped was pretty cool too.
2. First time having Pliny on tap at Falling Rock Taphouse.
1. De Garde tasting room in Tillimook, for the Portland guys on this thread feel free to send a care package next time you're out that way.

So tasty.

This year's BBA Legion. It is a bit thinner than prior years, but I'm still liking it. Getting better as it warms.

We might be connected, but if not my username is ajrAggie

I love this beer

That is a good one.

Shared a bottle tonight as well, excellent beer.

Glad you liked the BdBdB, love their wine sours. I still have a bottle of their Syrah grape sour I'm saving for a special occasion.

I have really enjoyed Real Ale Three Lions as well, although I haven't seen one with that much sediment yet. Underrated beer IMO.

after burning through quite a bit of expensive beer from my collection these last couple days, I'm taking it relatively cheap and easy tonight. I bought the alaskan heritage coffee brown almost as an afterthought while grabbing several other beers a couple weeks ago. finally cracked it open, and I'm pretty impressed. alaskan rarely has any bad beers to me but all the same not a lot of their stuff stands out to me either. this one does though. very coffee forward

Memorable 2015 beers for me...

-2010 The Dissident split with wife as her first beer after our newborn son
-Peche n' Brett, split on the same night as above
-Crowler of Boneyard Notorious while hottubbing in Bend in ~0 degree weather over Thanksgiving. We didn't last long outside, p'd out due to the cold. Went inside and got laid.
-2009 The Abyss on tap @ Horse Brass (love that my birthday falls around their anniversary party)
-Had an awesome beer weekend in Hood River in September with friends for their Fresh Hop fest. No particular whales, just lots of great beer and a fun boozy weekend.

Honorable mention... I aged 5 handles of Evan Williams in an oak barrel for several months, then emptied it out and put some homebrew porter in it for 3 or so months. Blended it back in 50/50 with unoaked porter in to a corny keg and and slowly working my way through it. That **** is tasty.

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Honorable mention... I aged 5 handles of Evan Williams in an oak barrel for several months, then emptied it out and put some homebrew porter in it for 3 or so months. Blended it back in 50/50 with unoaked porter in to a corny keg and and slowly working my way through it. That **** is tasty.

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That sounds amazing.

Having my first beer since Christmas (been on antibiotics). Enjoy by 12/25 that I didn't get to before Christmas. Good but not as great as other Enjoy By's that I've loved.

I've really stopped buying the Avery sours as I just don't find them worth the price but pulled this one out of the back of the fridge tonight and it's certainly one of the better ones I've had in the series.

Had some really good beers this year

- Pliney the elder
- Karbach BBHV
- zombie dust
- big bad baptist
- reindeer tears

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Had some really good beers this year

- Pliney the elder
- Karbach BBHV
- zombie dust
- big bad baptist
- reindeer tears

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You got an uninfected Reindeer Tears?? I thought they were a myth...

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Had some really good beers this year

- Pliney the elder
- Karbach BBHV
- zombie dust
- big bad baptist
- reindeer tears

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You got an uninfected Reindeer Tears?? I thought they were a myth...

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Yes. Based off of all the reviews on untapped I was wasn't hoping for much but was happily surprised.

guess its time to roll the dice on my bottle of reindeer tears!

I think it is time to cut back a bit. After the last two weeks of eating and drinking whatever the hell I wanted, getting dressed this morning was tough. That poor button on my pants is going through a stress test like no other today.

Yeah, I love stout beer but it doesn't like me