Ratebeer.com is where millions of beer drinkers go to see how there peers rate beers from all across the world. It is widely recognized as one of the most in-depth, accurate, and most-visited source for beer information. Each year, the site tabulates the results of a year’s worth of reviews and puts together their annual “RateBeer” best list.
We have spent some time peering through the list and have found several reasons St. Louis beer drinkers should be celebrating, especially if you’re a fan of Side Project Brewing.
But let’s start off with perhaps the most coveted award from Ratebeer.com:
Best Brewers In The World
This is the list of the top 100 brewers in the world according to a summary score based on available reviews. The summarization is based on ten different weighted scales that place an emphasis on reviews of the past year and top performing beers but also includes historical all-around performance, a brewer’s range of performance across styles, and other factors to compare newer and older, larger and smaller brewers under a single method of processing. The winners here are presented as an ordered top ten and unordered top one hundred. The members of this list reflect the top performing brewers of over 22,500 listed at RateBeer.
Among the 100, St. Louis is home to 3 list makers, including Perennial Artisan Ales, St. Louis Brewery (Schlafly) and Side Project Brewing.
Pulling Nails among The Best Beers In The World
This list features the top 100 beers in the world according the reviews of the last year and weighted by performance within and outside of style. They were not rated 1-100, but rather featured as equals and presented alphabetically.
Among the local winners is Side Projects’ Pulling Nails Blend #4.
Per Side Projects website, this series of beers are an ongoing experiment in the art of blending to create sour and wild ales of extraordinary depth, complexity and balance.
Pulling Nails also earned a medal in the Best By Style judging, earning a bronze in the category of Belgian Style Sour Ales which was made up of styles such as Lambic, Sour/Wild Ale, Lambic Style Gueuze, Lambic Style – Faro, and Lambic Style – Unblended.
Side Project Earns Silver in Belgian Style Ales
In the category of Belgian Style Ales made up of styles – Belgian Ale | Saison | Biere de Garde | Abbey Dubbel, Side Projects Saison du Fermier From Pinot Noir Puncheons earned a silver medal.
Saison du Fermier is robust and has the paler color of modern Saisons, yet it is balanced with the brightness, depth and rustic character of the wild Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus found on the King’s family’s Missouri farm. This farmhouse ale was fermented in and aged in wine barrels for several months.
Side Project’s Bière du Pays earns Bronze medal
The winning continues for Side Project in the category of Belgian Sessions, which is made up of the following styles: Belgian Ale | Saison | | All beers under 4.6% alcohol by volume. Biere du Pays is a Table Saison aged in Chardonnay barrels with Oude Fermier cultures.
Scratch Brewing earns Silver Medal
Scratch Brewing Company is a farmhouse brewery located 5 miles from the Shawnee National Forest in Ava, Illinois. It also happens to be on the MUST VISIT list of every beer drinker who has not has the pleasure of visiting just yet. The reason is because they make damn good award winning beer.
Their Scratch Spring Tonic, earned a Silver Medal in the Traditional category, which is made up of Traditional Ales | Sahti / Gotlandsdricke/Koduolu. This beer brewed with plants grown right on the Scratch farm. Ingredients include dandelion, carrot tops, and clover, and ginger. Spring Tonic has a lemonade-like tartness with a light ginger finish.
Best Beers, Brewers, New Brewers By Subregion
| State | Top beer | Top brewer | Best new brewer |
| Missouri | Side Project Anabasis | Side Project Brewing | Narrow Gauge Brewing Company |
Side Project Brewing continues to wow not only those of us in St. Louis, but the nation as well. Cory King’s brewery took top honor in Missouri for Top Brewer and for Top Beer with Anabasis.
Anabasis
Blend: #1 | ABV: 14% | Release Date: 03/23/15
Anabasis is a Barleywine that was brewed with American malts and hops, but fermented with a strong English Ale strain. This Barleywine was aged for 18 months in a single Wine and Cheese Place Blanton’s barrel before being bottle conditioned for several more months before being released.
But how about Florissants own Narrow Gauge Brewing Company earning best new brewer! Their beers are only available at their tasting room, which they’ve carved into the center of Cugino’s Restaurant in Florissant.
Best Places For Beer By Subregion
A summary of the very best beer retailers in the states, provinces and counties as judged by the worldwide beer enthusiasts at RateBeer and calculated from their many reviews.
Best Brew Pub: Schlafly’s Tap Room
Restaurant: Bailey’s Range
Brewer Tap Room: Side Project
Bottleshop: Wine and Cheese Place
Bar: Bridge Tap House & Wine Bar
Best New Beers
Side Project’s corral of awards also included three more for three of their newer beers. These top new releases of 2016 were chosen out of a field of more than 60,000 beers (the top 0.0016). The included the multi-award winning Side Project Pulling Nails Blend #4, as well as their Side Project Saison du Fermier From Pinot Noir Puncheons and Side Project Bleuet du Fermier.
