Russian River Supplication
Santa Rosa, California

Russian River Brewing Company is famous for their barrel-aged creations. Located in the heart of Sonoma County, where wine flows freely, wine barrels are re-used to age beer. Supplication, one of these ales has been aging in local Pinot Noir wine barrels for one year along with sour cherries. Brettanomyces yeast is added to this honey-brown colored ale for extra leathery funk. Lactobacillus and Pedicoccus, two types of bacteria from the used wine barrels, impart a very tart zing. The taste is tart up front before giving way to the smooth wood-aged components on the finish. Grape flavors leap out at you, along with lemon and cherry. The acidic quality is not overpowering at all and neither is the 7% ABV.

Stillwater Cellar Door
Baltimore, Maryland

Brian Strumke is a part of a trend of brewers who have no brewery of their own, yet create delicious beers at breweries and brewpubs both stateside and in Europe. Stillwater Artisanal Ales usually create saison style ales, and the Cellar Door is no exception. Cellar Door, referred to as the most beautiful term in the English language, is the summer edition of Stillwater’s stateside lineup of brews. German wheat and pale malts blend with Sterling and Citra hops to create a grassy, citrus aroma. There is a “cleansing” theme to this saison accentuated by the interesting use of white sage, which gives this dry saison an herbal quality and spicy earthiness. Cellar Door is great to pair with Italian red sauce dishes or roasted poultry.

Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous
Escondido, California

Originally started as the 11th Anniversary Ale by Stone Brewing Company. Sublimely Self-Righteous is a Black IPA, which all other beers of its kind are judged against. The benchmark for the Black IPA style, this 8.7% ABV ale is straight black in color. The best way to describe the style would be a hopped up take on a bold porter. There are layers of hop flavor from the use of Chinook, Simcoe and Amarillo hops leaving the beer at 90 IBUs. A technique of roasted dark colored malts provides a chocolaty, coffee flavor, with the aromas of tropical fruits from the hops.

The Alchemist Heady Topper
Waterbury, Vermont

After a recent hurricane washed out southern Vermont’s Mad River Valley Region, the Alchemist Pub and Brewery was forced to close due to flooding. Fortunately, the watery interruption coincided with the opening of a cannery on the other side of town, and the Alchemist’s are back in business. The Heady Topper is a delicious, hazy, double IPA— orange in color, unfiltered and unpasteurized. The beer tastes quite piney with tons of fresh grass hop flavor. Smooth and creamy finish, with a piney resin coating the mouth. John Kimmich, the Alchemist brewmaster, recommends drinking this 8% ABV American Double IPA right out of the can.

Three Floyds Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout
Munster, Indiana

This Russian Imperial Stout from Three Floyds Brewing Company has its own day devoted to it. On the day that this beer is available for sale at the brewery there are ticket raffles for vintage beers, tailgating parties and plenty of drinking. Highly devoted beer fans make this event a sold out success every year, released each April with different colored wax-dipped tops marking the year or vintage. The Dark Lord is worth the hype, too. Black as night, this stout weighs in at a walloping 15% ABV. Dark Lord is brewed with “Intelligensia” coffee, vanilla beans and molasses. A very dark, dense ale shows tons of coffee flavors from roasted chocolaty malts. The coffee rides in waves over vanilla, with a light chocolate base and a boozy bite seeping in at the end of each sip. Barrel aged versions of this ale are also available.

Three Floyds Zombie Dust
Munster, Indiana

Formerly known as Cenotaph, Zombie Dust is a pale ale from Three Floyds Brewing Company. Zombie Dust displays the delights of the Citra hop from the Yakima Valley in Washington State, which imparts a piney, grassy flavor over this grainy pale ale. The feel is creamy, and a rocky white head sits atop a yellowish-orange body. The beer is not very bitter, but filled with aromas better fit in a lawn mower bag. Zombie Dust has a slight flavor of pineapple, with a dry, smooth easy drinking finish. This pleasurable ale features artwork of a zombie king on the label drawn by comic book artist Tim Seeley.

Troegs Nugget Nectar
Hershey, Pennsylvania

Troegs releases this masterpiece every February. Nugget Nectar is a perfect balance between sweet, malty flavors and bitter hops. Three hop varieties: Nugget, warrior and Tomahawk, each lend their distinctive flavors to the mix. The base of this ale is Troegs’ year-round flagship Hopback Amber. The malt and hop flavors are intensified by increasing the dosage. Sweet apricot flavors in this amber colored ale wash over the palate before being sliced by a crisp, bitter hop bite. The pleasant and fruity malt back is ever present diminishing the intensity of the bittering hops. This beverage, also known as an Imperial Amber ale, rounds out to a 7.5% ABV.