Zymurgy Magazine's "Best Commercial Beers in America"
Zymurgy, the journal of the American Homebrewers Association (AHA), announced the results of its annual reader survey of the “Best Commercial Beers in America.” The 2010 winner for the “Best Commercial Beer in America” for the second straight year is Pliny the Elder, a double IPA brewed by Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa, California.
Zymurgy has been conducting the annual survey for eight years, inviting readers to send in a list of their 20 favorite beers that are commercially available beers in the United States. Votes were received from Zymurgy’s 22,000 readers around the world.
“We are flattered to be voted Zymurgy’s number one beer for a second year in a row,” said Russian River owner and brewer Vinnie Cilurzo. “Russian River is so blessed to have such a great customer base that seeks our beer out and often travels from all over the country to visit our brewpub. We are very appreciative of the homebrew community and the support they give us!”
Pliny the Elder narrowly edged Bell’s Two Hearted Ale, an IPA brewed in Kalamazoo, Michigan, by two votes. Stone Arrogant Bastard, an American strong ale from Escondido, California, finished third for the second straight year. Following recent trends, six of the top 10 vote-getters in the competition are IPAs, proving that hoppy beers are still king among readers.
“As homebrewers and beer lovers, Zymurgy readers are some of the most knowledgeable beer connoisseurs on the planet,” said Jill Redding, editor of Zymurgy. “This is a very prestigious list to be on if you’re a professional brewer.”
See the complete Zymurgy “Best Commercial Beers in America” list.
About The Author
Angelo
Angelo grew up in Maine and is proud to call New England his original home. Cascadia is now his home. He fell in love with great beer in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California. He has been a correspondent for the Portland Tribune's Guest on Tap column, LivePDX.com, and has been featured in publications such as Beer Northwest and PDX Magazine. Angelo also has a great interest in independent music, and has been a booker and organizer for shows around the Portland under the name Pop Tomorrow! Angelo garnered much knowledge regarding beer from his experiences homebrewing, working at Belmont Station, Pyramid Brewing, Upright Brewing, By the Bottle, Beer Revolution, Olde Depot Public House, Falling Sky Brewing, Cascade Brewing, and from many many knowledgeable, passionate, and loving people along the way. It is Angelo's mission to bring "infotainment" and "edumation" to the readers of this website. If you have any questions or comments, or would like to contribute, please contact me at angelo@brewpublic.com
Gaah… what i wouldn’t give to get Bell’s Two-Hearted in Portland –
I’ve never seen it here, and it really is a fantastic beer. It’s been a couple years since I had one, so I thought maybe I had hyped it up in my head over time, but I guess my memory isn’t it as bad as I thought.
I haven’t looked into how the voting works for this list, but people must be able to vote an unlimited amount of times for all those Rahr beers to be on that list. Not sure on how you can QC a reader’s poll like this outside of one vote per person, but they shouldn’t have allowed all those beers on that list, IMO. It makes the list look like a joke. Maybe Zymurgy was scared to mess with Texas?
Yeah, Rahr who?
It takes a lot of credibility out of the poll when you ask your customers to all go and vote for you. I’m doing a bit of assuming here, but I think it’s safe to say. Maybe they make great beers but there is only one way you get that many on the same list.
Otherwise, I think there are a lot of great, internationally recognized beers on that list.
Anyone know where in SE Portland I can find Pliny the elder bottles?