HF Genealogy of Morals. Loved the Madeira and Oak flavors as they blended well with the coffee and rye bitterness and weren't overpowering. Excellent.
Utopias met my expectations. How easy it would have been for it to fall short, but it didn't. GI Big John exceeded them. I thought it was friggin' delicious.
A new brewery opened in Madison over the past couple months. They had a soft opening a couple weeks ago to work out kinks and advertised through word of mouth. Been in a couple times and Karben4 Brewing completely blew my mind. My friends and I got personal tours, and it was opened by four buddies who decided to brew beer after college. They are truly living the life, with a new brewery. A bonus that they make delicious beer. They saved the Silk Scorpion to release simultaneously with the grand opening. It is delicious, I bought my first growler of many. These guys deserve all the support they can get!
Oh the amazing beer (Silk Scorpion) is a black IPA for the record. They have six beers on tap total, so something for everyone. Nightcall, a great smoked porter, just reeks of a good winter beer.
After a year of hoping for it to fall into my lap, and weeks waiting to taste it without the hype swilrling around my mind, BCBS blew my mind.
I would say the Zombie Dust held up and exceeded all of the expectations. A few others that surprised me and/or met my expectations were: Dreadnaught Hopslam Hoptimum BORIS and DORIS ST Unearthly (Turned me on to craft beer exclusively) Schlafly Tasmanian - probably the best surprise and one of my new favorites Bo and Luke from Against the Grain
First of all, here are some breweries that weren't even on my radar and now I'm a fan. These more than surpassed my expectations: Revolution Pipeworks Maine Brewing Co. Beers recently that surpassed my expectations: Kuhnhenn BBBW Stone "Best By" Lagunitas "Daytime IPA" Bruery Oude Tart
I gotta agree with you here. After I had my first Rochefort 10 I was blown away. FAR exceeded my expectations. I knew the hype but for some reason doubted it would be all that.
Bell's Two Hearted Ale. It was the beer that got me to love IPAs. Prior to trying Two Hearted, I wasn't too sure about IPAs.
In the last 6 months these come to mind Founders-Backwoods Bastard Oskar Blues-Old Chub & Ten Fidy Willoughby Brewing Co.-Peanut Butter Cup Porter Breckenridge-Agave Wheat
I just drank my first Abyss last night (2011 bottle) and I have to say it exactly met my expectations. Beers that have made say "Holy f*ck is that good" include: Southern Tier Unearthly Stone 15th Escondidian Black Ipa Hair of the Dog Adam Dark Horse BB Plead the 5th Founders BB Sumatra Mountain Brown Lagunitas Sucks
Zombie Dust. Of course I knew it was great going in, but damn did it blow the doors off the phrase great. Dreadnaught is my favorite DIPA, and the notes zombie dust was hitting were on par with it's bigger brother. The zombie king Blew my mind and became my favorite brew to enjoy. Vitus was another. Stone 12.12.12 vertical epic blew me away as well. I didn't have big expectations for it. Narwhal was one I expected to be a good thick mouth coating stout as SN brews always have perfect thickness and for me it was always a must for them to release a big stout and they did a marvelous job with the unicorn whale. Founders imperial stout, and stone's IRS are 2 I have every year and every time it's an awesome experience. FFF Black heart was a well done English ipa and green flash double stout was excellent. These are the recent ones that come to mind
A lot of people are big on heady topper including some of close friends, but honestly I've had 2 bottles of it fresh and I just can't put it in the same tier as say Pliny the Elder and Dreadnaught. Even Younger which I've never had but it's supposedly a bigger elder. But honestly I consider Stone Ruination 10th anniversary better IMO than heady topper. But hey that's just me
Off the top of my head, in the last few months... The Bruery Fruet Hoppin' Frog BA Naked Evil Firestone Walker DDBA Flying Dog Gonzo DuClaw Devil's Milk DuClaw Retribution BCBS BCBCS BCBSCR Founders Backwoods Bastard Smuttynose Baltic Porter (2012) Smuttynose Imperial Stout (2010) Smuttynose Really Old Brown Dog Avery The Czar Uinta Cockeyed Cooper Half Acre Daisy Cutter AleSmith Wee Heavy CCB Warmer Winter Winter Warmer to name a few...
For me it had to be Monster 29. I came into thinking it was going to be this huge hop bomb (I am by no means a hop head). Holy cow was I wrong, so delicious and decadent. I really wish I could get my hands on more.
Def Pliny the Elder. KBS for sure. Ruination 10th. Yorkshire Stingo. And hopslam yum. All these are better than their very lofty ratings.
Some of the more recent ones: I went in with super high expectations for BCBS and they were still far surpassed. I had last years Deschutes's Black Butte XXIII the other week, I went int thinking itt would be good but found I loved it. I even preferred it to The Abyss. Also, gave Breckenridge's Holidale (their Christmas Ale aged in Whiskey Barrels) and given my past experiences with them I expected disappointment, ended up quite enjoying it.
Heavy Seas- Below Decks (Bourbon Barrel Aged) and Urban Chestnut Brewing Co - Daft (Barrel Aged) Barleywine Both of these were less than 9 dollars each, but were drinking like a high end 25 dollar barleywines. These both blew my expectations out of the water. If you see these on the shelf, I would highly recommend grabbing one up.
Victory Headwaters Pale Ale One of the few Victory beers I hadnt had yet. Amazing. Tasted like a crisp, clean, chuggable, light IPA. I finished the bottle before i knew what happened. good thing i got a 6 pack. One of the most refreshing and tasty beers at the same time. Victory can do no wrong.
Headhunter (flatheads). First west coast ipa in the Cleveland area. Huge hop flavor and aroma! Blew me away.
- Heady - Lunch - Sucks, Brown Shugga Substitute - Goose Island BCBCS (sitting on a bottle of Cherry Rye) Sorry not more West Coast love - just can't get my hands on and Pliny. That being said, if anyone wants to trade for some fresh Heady, let me know!
I just got a sixer of Schlafly Tasmanian IPA. I had never heard of it but it was recommende at the bottle shop. I absolutely loved it and would say it's in my top 5 IPA's
Uinta Dubne IPA surprised the hell out of me,didn't know anything about it but found the hop aspect to be on the fantastic side.Will try more from this brewery.Cheers
