You read that right, there is no such thing as THE BEST beer.
Sorry to disappoint you with this truth, but it is better this way, once in the title and again in the first line, let’s not fool ourselves. What is with the story that one single thing can be considered the best in the world for everybody?
There are countless titles that promise you a list of the CREAM OF THE CROP. But that can be kind of silly. The arrogance that fits on a billboard reading “Best Burger in the World” is huge and expensive. If your burger was that good, you wouldn’t have to scream it in all caps and pay for that publicity.
We fall into some shallow traps and get deeply disappointed with the desire to find something definitive. Still, we are using this type of narrative to conquer the most diverse palates. Is it worth saying that a sour beer is the best in the world? But what about those who don’t like acidity?
Is it correct to say that Russian Imperial Stout is the most perfect beer there is? But what if most people don’t like roasted malt beers? What is marketing doing with our beliefs and esteem for the taste?
Beer has thousands of possibilities in a web of flavors, so there cannot be a single best one in the world. There’s a lot of tasting to be done before someone with a big mouth lectures me.
It’s really good to be on the move towards different passions. The best beer for that moment, that week, that month, that season.
Perhaps there is the best beer for you. Your personal taste, your memories. Whenever that question comes up, and it always does, I spend some time thinking. I like so many labels, for various reasons, that it is difficult to even list my 10 favorites beers.
When I look back ten years ago, the beers I liked were completely different from today. Either because I hadn’t tried the ones I like today or because they didn’t even exist back then.
In Brazil, the still-in-formation beer market has presented us with many possibilities. Whether in acidic and fruity beers or matured in different woods or fermented wildly with local microorganisms.
We have even been increasingly learning to locally make traditional European or North American recipes, previously on the top-of-mind lists. In the past, the favorite beer was an imported Belgian one, today it is a mimicry made here, much fresher and not oxidized.
I haven’t drunk the best beer in the world, I have been drinking the best beers in the world and I’m not going to stop to choose just one and make my taste buds freeze in time with this choice.
Gastronomy is movement and creative freedom, and beer is gastronomy.