
The world of beer is wonderfully diverse, and getting increasingly so. As the late lamented drinks writer Michael Jackson said, “you’d not go to a restaurant and ask for ‘some food’, so why would you go to a bar and ask for ‘a beer’?” This highly personal selection of 15 beers to try before you die is thus deliberately eclectic—to pique interest if any are new to you, or elicit comment if you disagree (you will). It is not an attempt to name the world’s best 15 beers, as I haven’t tried them all yet.
Given taste is necessarily subjective and influenced by context, every experienced beer drinker will have his or her own favorites unlikely to coincide with this litany, and unless you suggest lite-beer I won’t refute your choice.
Don’t please read anything into the order—like your children, it is surely wrong to love one great beer more than another.
See all 15 beers on the following page.
