And again, it is time for my annual review.
As I wanted to get my silly beer ticking addiction a bit more under control, I had two goals for 2023.
Firstly to not tick more than 1500 new beers (N.B. I could well be the only beer hunter on the planet to set a maximum number as a goal…) and secondly that 2 thirds of them should be Swiss beers.
I failed. Twice. I had last year 1751 new beers (365 less than in 2022) and the proportion of Swiss ones was 57% (2022: 50%).
But I will not give up and I am well decided to reduce significantly my beer ticking habit. Therefore, I will not have more than 1000 new beers and 75% of them will be from Switzerland. I can do it 😉
I have now tasted in total 23’908 beers from 192 countries (9’669 from Switzerland).
I attended 9 beer festivals last year (all in Switzerland) and had again the pleasure to judge at the Brau- und Rauchshop and the Salon de la Bière Contests as well as at the Swiss championship of the beer sommelier. And I would like to celebrate here again the amazing achievement of my fellow beer hunter Thomas “ttt” Schneider, who has been the first to reach 10k Swiss beers sampled last May. It’s mind-blowing! On the negative side, 2023 saw again the closure of some Swiss breweries, the most iconic one being of course Blackwell, which will be sadly missed.
From a total of 46 different countries, the five I got the most beers from are the same as in 2022. Just with in slight different order.
Switzerland of course still remains on top with 1003 new beers. It was the third time I topped the magical 1k mark after 2018 (1018) and 2022 (1056).
France improved to second place with 113 new beers, then come the USA (103), England (74) and Belgium (69).
Finding a beer from new countries is each year more difficult and I am happy again to have sampled 3 new ones last year (well, only 2 if you want to be strict).
I had new beers from Iraq, Eswatini (for those who wonder: the new name of Swaziland since 2018) and Tibet.
Yes, I know: counting a special administrative region of China as a “country” may appear a bit weird to some of you 😉 For those interested to know a bit more about what I do count as a country, please read the chapter “definition” on https://www.bov.ch/beer/beer-countries.html.
The ranking of the best countries in 2023 shows the USA on place 1 (as they were also in 2022), followed by England, Sweden, France and Poland.
Among the 590 breweries I met last year (they were 650 the year before), here are those from which I had the most different beers:
1) Mugi.Beer (52)
2) l’Apaisée (22)
3) Blackwell / Drunk Beard (21)
5) the Piggy (20)
The ranking of the most represented styles in my new beers of 2023 shows for the 13th consecutive year the usual domination of IPA and its derivatives:
1) IPA – Hazy / New England (133)
2) IPA – American (130)
3) Pale Ale – American (128)
4) IPA – Imperial (124)
5) Imperial Stout (103)
The proportion of “IPA & friends” decreased again last year at 26% (2022: 30%, 2021: 35% and 2020: 32%). Sounds like a very good news to me, if you ask…
Here is the ranking of my favorite styles of last year (with a minimum of 5 beers tasted):
1) Lambic – Fruited
2) Wild Ale / Brett
3) Porter – Imperial / Double
4) IPA – Imperial
5) Eisbock
Worth noting is the unusual absence of the style Imperial Stout, a top favorite of mine. The presence of Eisbock is surprising too as I usually do not rate at least 5 beers from this rare style within one year.
and the styles I enjoyed the less (worst on top):
1) Radler/Shandy
2) American Adjunct Lager
3) Low Alcohol
4) IPA – Belgian
5) International Pale Lager
And here is the top ten of my favorite breweries in 2023 (in brackets the ranking in 2022):
1) Hoppy People (3)
2) l’Apaisée (1)
3) Trillium
4) Verdant (2)
5) BFM (4)
6) Track
7) À Tue-Tête
8) Drunk Beard (9)
9) BlackPig
10) Fauve
This leads us to the top 20 breweries in my country in 2023 (on a total of 252 different sampled last year – 2022 ranking in brackets):
1) Hoppy People (2)
2) l’Apaisée (1)
3) BFM (3)
4) À Tue-Tête (12)
5) Drunk Beard (6)
6) BlackPig (17)
7) Blackwell (16)
8) Qrew
9) Hopstache Brewing Brothers
10) Barbière (10)
11) Whitefrontier (5)
12) NordSud
13) Arbànt
14) Riot Act (15)
15) Matt & Elly
16) Kloster Fischingen
17) Shrinkbrew Ales (7)
18) Mittelstrahl Braukollektiv
19) l’Improbable
20) Craftfeld
For the record, here are my winners from the last 26 years:
2023 Hoppy People
2022 l’Apaisée
2021 À Tue-Tête!
2020 Hoppy People
2019 WhiteFrontier
2018 WhiteFrontier
2017 Blackwell
2016 Cinq 4000
2015 BFM
2014 S&A
2013 S&A
2012 S&A
2011 Degenbier
2010 Bier Factory Rapperswil
2009 BFM
2008 BFM
2007 BFM
2006 BFM
2005 Öufi
2004 Hürlimann
2003 BFM
2002 Bäre-Bräu
2001 Bäre-Bräu
2000 Seeland Bräu
1999 la Houblonnière
1998 BFM
Last year, I have been able to discover beers from 65 new Swiss breweries (not bad ;-)). Here are my top newcomers:
1) Qrew
2) Hopstache Brewing Brothers
3) Arbànt
4) Mittelstrahl Braukollektiv
5) Brasserie des Vieux Grinches
6) Bögli Bräu
7) Barrel Brewing
8) Schaumstoff
9) Foxbrew
10) Brasserie Seelander
And here are my top new beers for 2023:
1) À Tue-Tête! Epiq
2) FiftyFifty Eclipse EC14 (2020)
3) Cantillon Grenache Noir (2021)
4) Bevog Hagger Blend 0221
5) Adroit Theory Evangelion XI [Ireul] (Ghost 1351)
6) Hoppy People The Boss 2023
7) BlackPig Saison Barriquée – Riesling
8) Lägerebräu Meisterbier – Golden Strong Ale (2023) – Barrique Edition Kirsch
9) Della Fonte Caribbean Storm
10) Bottle Logic Ghost Proton (2022)
And finally, here are my top 20 new Swiss beers:
1) À Tue-Tête! Epiq
2) Hoppy People The Boss 2023
3) BlackPig Saison Barriquée – Riesling
4) Lägerebräu Meisterbier – Golden Strong Ale (2023) – Barrique Edition Kirsch
5) BFM Reverend Bon-Chien aux Damassons (2022)
6) Hoppy People Barrel Aged Swiss Federal Stout 2023
7) Faune Salmo
8) BFM Reverend Bon-Chien (2021) – aux damassons rouges
9) l’Apaisée mes Anges
10) the Beer Guerrillas Shrinkflation
11) Drunk Beard Turbulance
12) À Tue-Tête! Concombre Aneth
13) l’Apaisée Quadruvium
14) Hoppy People Barrel Aged Swiss Federal Stout 2023 – Coconut Edition
15) BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien Grand Cru (2018) – Sangiovese
16) Hürlimann Samichlaus Bier Dark (1987)
17) BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien (2018)
18) Hürlimann Samichlaus Bier Pale (1986)
19) Arbànt Leandra (2023)
20) The Yeast Within Balalaika Poblana
As always, when some breweries or beers mentioned above are unknown to you, I do really recommend you to find them out and to try them!
Cheers!
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