What is your favorite "experimental" brewery?

Lots of folks will say Hill Farmstead here, but since I've never been there the main one that springs to mind for me is Wicked Weed. They brew really nice saisons and sours with just about anything.

 

For years I've gone to Perennial Artisan Ales Thursday release, most of these are test batches and a free taste. Their bottled stuff pushes the envelope a bit as well.

 

Another check in from Michigan and another thumbs up for Short's for pushing the limits on the experimental brews. Juicy Tree and Wowee Zowee come to mind on the 'a bit out there' scale.

I also agree that Odd Side is there as well, but I haven't had nearly as many from them. Mayan Mocha and Hipster Brunch as examples.

 

Tired Hands (Ardmore, PA) - http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28383/

Jolly Pumpkin (Dexter, MI) - http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/9897/

 

why forschungsbrauerei of course!

 

Breakside. They make ridiculously good GABF winning traditional beer but always are brewing other weird shit too:

Examples:

• Duck Duck Drunk Porter: brewed with 100 roasted ducks
• Grapefruit Chamomile Gruit
• Braggot aged in aquavit barrels
• Pumpkin Bier de Garde spiced with candy cap mushrooms, fresh ginger, and Jacobsen sea salt.
• Birra Minsestra: Blone Ale brewed with Oregon basil, sungold tomatoes and tart pluots

I could literally go on and on.

I challenge someone to find a brewery that is brewing with more interesting ingredients.

 

shorts no doubt. pipeworks here in chicago does some wild stuff too.

 

Michigander checking in with another thumbs-up for Short's. And Odd Sides is great, too. Bean Flicker is my favorite offering from them

 

DFH

 

de Garde
Holy Mountain
Ale Apothecary

 

DFH or Evil Twin. And I like what Mobcraft is doing, even if I haven't had anything from them yet haha.

 

Perennial/Side Project. Perennial is fairly cutting edge with their beer, but Side Project is almost completely experimental.

 

Darn! How could I NOT think of Dogfish Head???

 

There's experimental, then there is good tasting experimental. Luckily most of the ones people listed above are good ones. Honestly, I don't even know of very many bad mad scientist/experimental brewers. I love DFH beers despite a lot of the hate.

If I could go anywhere right now to try new beers, I'd love to hit Wicked Weed in Ashville and de Garde out in Oregon. Both really intrigue me right now from the styles pumped out and quality ratings I'm seeing.

 

Plan Bee is our local that brews pretty experimentally. They use all homegrown ingredients, and try about any herb there is to make their beers that feature their own honey as one of the fermentables.

 

Living in Michigan we would most certainly agree with Short's. Generally speaking, however, my mind goes to Crooked Stave. Not only do they use weird florals and vegetals, but they've got arguably the most robust and "experimental" yeast and barrel program around.

 

Crooked Stave?

 

I visited Earth Eagle in Portsmouth NH last summer, and they had some pretty out there beers, using odd ingredients.
Some of them I thought were great, a couple others, not so much.
However, I do give them a lot of respect for making the experiments.
Most of these mentioned above, IMO, aren't all that experimental. THey still use basically the usual ingredients, and more or less common styles. Sours and saisons aren;t all that experimental, and Hill Farmstead, as good as they are - and they are VERY VERY good, are still not going really out on a stick with unusual ingredients.

 

I can't believe that my fellow Michiganders have not yet mentioned Right Brain Brewery. They have used whole apple and cherry pie, and I think a blueberry pie too. Somewhere in their list of beers is a porter that is brewed with a whole BBQ pig, and I think I recall one that was brewed with asparagus or broccoli. I have not had any of these beers to know whether they were good or bad, I think the pig one has some bad reviews, but at least the brewery tried the experiment.
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