Deschuttes brewery "The Abyss" is a DO NOT MISS!

Rogue Brewery has lots of good ones.....their Malt Liquor is SO good with a heavy maduro smoke.

Caldera Brewery has some limited releases that I've just started sampling and are very good.

For an every day beer Walkabout brewery has a workers ale and the Jaberwoky are tasty and run $3.50 per 22 oz. bottle.

You should have access to Sierra Nevada Celebration......their seasonal brew. I've went through a 6'er already, and just grabbed 2 more tonight. At 6.88 per 6 pack, there's not a better "hoppy" beer out there right now for the price IMO.

Obviously though...you need to enjoy hops to buy this one.

Letting us know the style of beer you typically prefer would make recommending anything much easier.

Like Z said though, Abyss is crazy good. But you won't find any until the next release...which I haven't heard, has the 2011 batch already come out Jamie?

BTW I just finished a couple Smithwicks........better than 98.2% of all micro-brews I've tried.

Ron

Have you tried the deschuttes dark cascade ale?

I have never heard of it so it is probably a limited distribution in Oregon/Washington. LMK if its any good.

To understand what beers to recommend, we would need to know what kind of beer you've had before.

I would say that Allagash Wit (belgian wheat) is an excellent representation of the style.

ANY Firestone Walker beer is excellent. DBA pale ale is a beer that is brewed, then part of it is put into barrels for about 8 days I believe, then it is put back into the rest of the batch. It adds a depth of flavor that is hard to match.

Their Nectar IPA is great as well, for a west-coast IPA, and Union Jack is very nice as a "regular" IPA.

If you see any Brooklyn beers, buy them.

Stone beer is big on hops (over the top big).

Lost Abbey is a great brewery that kind of focuses on belgians/soured beers. Usually well worth seeking out.

I could go on and on, so I'll stop there.

Have you tried the Black IPA from Widmer? I poured for them at GABF and that beer left a lasting impression on me. Most Black/Cascadian IPA's have a little grain husk bitterness to them. The Widmer one didn't have any of it due to their use of dehusked grain so all their bitterness was from the hops. Very clean flavor from the hops added.

What kind of styles?

Nevermind. I went to the website and looked. Some sound very interesting.

Best I've had in order would be 1) Deschutes Hop in the dark, 2) Stone 15th Anni, 3) Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous

Thanks.

Widmer has Nelson Imperial IPA that has all Nelson hops from NZ. Its a great way to see what flavor that hop has. Their rotator IPA should also be worth keeping an eye on. Its going to change with different hops or different malt bills being used in formulating their recipes. The one I had was Falconers Flight hops.

The rest of Widmer... meh.

Really? hmmmm

I just finished a case of the SN Tumbler and it was fantastic! I'm glad to hear that about the Celebration... Iv been looking for it, I just haven't found any local shops that have it yet!

if you go out and grab 3-4 different singles and report back, the bevy of knowledge of people posting in this thread already can really help you dial in with recommendations. otherwise, its people reporting their personal preference, which probably has little to no bearing on YOUR personal preference.

you can prob get started with:

guiness extra stout, but draught can substitute

any green bottled lager/pilsner (stella, becks, heineken, etc.)

sierra nevada pale ale

all of these should be fairly easy to find and span a fairly broad range of style. report back and then you can move on from there.

hey pat, how the hell are you?

drinking well i hope.... you ever try avery maharaja? any good?