My colleague, Nic Castro, has decried my beer of 2010 selection and argued for a more esoteric choice.  He very much enjoyed the Infinium collaboration between Sam Adams and Weihenstephaner.  He thought the Bitches’ Brew from Dogfishhead was most excellent.  He also saw Alesmith’s IPA and Speedway Stout as candidates.  He says that for a beer to qualify as beer of the year one should have to work to get their hands on it.  This way the beer has proved that it is of substantial quality to draw in consumers before it is even available to be poured into a glass.  He is an advocate of rarity because in some sense, if a beer is difficult to make it may not necessarily be made in great quantity.  Further to that, if a beer is that good and took grand efforts to produce it should, in turn, take effort to procure.  We do agree on relative affordability though.  It is a sad thing to have a wonderful beer priced out of reach for those who desire it most. Continue reading Best Beers…