I started Adding Beers to the Rate beer Database back in 2007 so while the first year probably reflects 3-4 years worth of beers(the notes i took prior to Ratebeer), after that it more or less reflects my life in Beer
How Much I Rate
As can clearly be seen the longer ive been on rate beer the more beers i seem to manage to try every year. I suspect this is a bit of my continuing Ratebeer addiction and the increasing availability of new beer.
Here we can see the number of different breweries i have tried each year, this i think shows the increase in number of breweries available
This Graph shows the Number of newly opened breweries that i rated in each year, reflecting once again the growth in new breweries
Where What I Rate Comes From
The below Graph shows where i mostly Drink beers from, showing all the countries that show up at least one in my top 5 countries of each year.
As can be seen the UK is a beer market as a whole despite Ratebeer separating out each of the UK regions. and the sheer number of English breweries ensures that they always eclipse Scottish breweries. Though the Graph does clearly show in Explosion in Scottish beer. With 2015s massive peak down to the creation of the Alpha Project beers from the Hanging Bat and the Expansion of Stewarts into there Craft Beer Kitchen range at the brewery tap. The Italian peak was due to a RateBeer gathering in Rome where i went wild. Though in the middle years 08-11 i did a fair bit of trading for US beers, its clear also from the graph(even after taking CBC into consideration) that the availability of US beer in the last few years has sky rocketed.
What I Rate
We now look at the Styles of beers that i have rated over time, again the styles were chosen on the ground of each style having made it into the top five styles for at least 1 year
Several things jump out at me, the most obvious being the meteoric rise of IPA,s and the emergence of Saisons in 2012, alongside the rise of the American Pale Ale. What is less explainable if the persistence of Golden Ales while bitters and ESBs die off.
Who Was Best
This Table shows the Best brewery of each where i had tried at least 5 new beers from that brewery that Year.| Year | UK Brewery of the Year | International Brewery of the Year |
| 2007 | Harveys(3.7) | De Struise(4.24) |
| 2008 | Marble(3.72) | New Glarus(3.98) |
| 2009 | Marble(3.8) | Mikkeller(3.82) |
| 2010 | Thornbridge(3.85) | Narke(3.83) |
| 2011 | Magic Rock(3.98) | Firestone Walker(3.84) |
| 2012 | Hawkshead(4.03) | CigarCity(3.98) |
| 2013 | Moor(3.82) | De Struise (3.86) |
| 2014 | Hawkshead(3.95) | Cycle Brewing (3.78) |
| 2015 | Hawkshead/Buxton/Loch Lomond(3.78) | Avery/Alesmith(3.86) |
Interesting to Note that Colin Stronge and Dominic Driscol both were at Marble with Dom making the move to Thornbridge in 2010 and Colin reappearing in the chart with Buxton in 2015
What Was Best
This is where it gets messy as we often have a top equal each year. So Listed below are the Top UK and International beers for each year based on my Ratebeer Score. With multiples listed if they scored the same| Year | Top UK Beer(s) | Top International Beer(s) |
| 2007 | Old Chimneys Good King Henry | Mikkeller X Raspberry Brown 2007 |
| 2008 | Bass No 1 / King’s Ale | New Glarus Raspberry Tart |
| 2009 | Swannay Orkney Porter | Kuhnhenn Fifth Dementia Very Old Ale De Molen Mout & Mocca (-2011) Mikkeller X Imperial Stout Calvados Barrel Aged |
| 2010 | Deeside Talorcan Swannay Old Norway Thornbridge Bolvig Saint Petersburg Deluxe Edition BrewDog Abstrakt AB:04 |
De Molen Hel & Verdoemenis 666 |
| 2011 | BrewDog / Nøgne Ø / Mikkeller Black Tokyo* Horizon | Nøgne Ø Dark Horizon Third Edition Samuel Adams Utopias |
| 2012 | Wild Beer Wildebeest | Fanø Chocolate Lava |
| 2013 | Wild Beer / Burning Sky / Good George Shnoodlepip | Struise Black Damnation I - Black Berry Albert |
| 2014 | Siren / Evil Twin Bourbon Barrel Even More Jesus VIII Coffee Redwillow Thoughtless Swannay Barrel Aged Orkney Porter (Isle of Arran) |
Arizona Wilderness American Presidential Stout Lervig Once You Go Black New Glarus Strawberry Rhubarb |
| 2015 | Magic Rock Bearded Lady Dessert Edition | Cellarmaker Imperial Coffee and Cigarettes |
2012 was an odd Year as my top 2 drinks were not Beer.
But and Ice Cider La Face Cachée de la Pomme Neige Récolte D’Hiver and a Mead B.Nektar Cherry Chipotle.
But what is most interesting to me is the Lack of what is arguably my Favourite Beer, the Old Chimney Good King Henry Reserve. Knocked out of the Top spot by My First Experience of the Kulminator in Antwerp and the 1981. Now ive had the kings ale a few times since and never enjjoyed as much(though generally very good) but on that first encounter in that place it was clearly the beer of the Year. So sadly the GKHR loses out.
Summary
Whats very interesting is that Before i researched this and for the last few years if pushed to pick my favorite breweries it wouldnt and couldnt be a short list but the first two id mention would always be Hawkshead and Highland (now Swannay) So its interesting to see them both appear Prominently in the lists but in totally different ways. Hawkshead dominating my Best Breweries List and Swanney appearing most in my best beers list. Yet neither appears on the other list.Its nice to know my gut feeling backed up with hard figures all be it with a twist.
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