'Sleeper' beers

I'd have to say NoDa Coco Loco. I had tried it a couple times as part of a flight, and never particularly cared for it. But just last week I gave it another shot and thought it was delicious. Now I've got a go to porter (besides Founders).

 

Sierra Nevada Saison with oranges and peppercorns. Absolutely delicious

 

for me it was ballast point grapefruit sculpin
i read tons of great things about it here and finally picked up a 6 pack of cans about 2 months ago
first beer was meh and i was pretty disappointed but tried it again the next night and loved it and have since put it into regular rotation, picking up a 6 pack any time i see it at my local bottle shops
not sure why my first was disappointing but it has grown on me like a fungus!

 

I STILL haven't tried anchor steam. I have to go across town to get it. I'm concerned the dates will be bad (the distributor that carries it here is REALLY bad about dates, and we have a slower craft culture out here still in the boondocks)... so... I'll eventually pick it up but I'm not going out of my way for it today. That said, I was VERY impressed with Anchor porter the ONE TIME I bought it, and I kind of feel silly for not having gotten it again since. But there again, I have to run across town to that same store to get it.

 

Ayinger Celebrator comes to mind first, I used to see it all the time and always know it was supposed to be great but just never tried it. When I finally did a year and a half or so ago it redefined beer for me in many ways and is largely responsible for my current love of traditional German styles, and lagers in general.

 

Anchor IPA. I've also been shouting it out from every rooftop I can find that this is an incredible beer that gets virtually no run whatsoever. From a national / regional distro standpoint, I'd also have to through in there Hop Devil from Victory and Anniversary Barley Wine from Uinta. A few sleepers specifically from my area are Missile from Champion, Pocahoptus from Center of the Universe and Great Dismal from O'Connor.

Edit* Forgot to add my international choice, which is Krisstalweissbier (sp?) from Weinhenstephaner

 

Definitely some of the classic internationals -- Weihenstephaner Hefeweizen was a real knockout the first time I tried it, and I've yet to find a gueuze as good as 3 Fonteinen's classic iteration. They may not be the stuff of whales, but man they're good.

Domestically, and this is a hard one to choose because it's got a bit of hype behind it (so that I'm not sure it really qualifies as a sleeper), but La Cumbre's Project Dank is the real deal. Just excellent. Oh, and as @surfcaster and I were noting elsewhere, Westbrook's One Claw is severely overlooked. Great stuff.

 

For me it's pretty much every Belgian ale (particularly but not limited to the Trappist brews). I thought I wouldn't like them (because I'm not the biggest fan of spicy yeasty flavors) and because of their relatively high prices I would always skip them. When I finally got my hands on a few of them I was totally blown away.

 

I'll second @breadwinner 's choice of Westbrook One Claw and also add COAST Willett's Rye BA Blackbeerd. Mexican Cake from across town gets all the hype, but Blackbeerd is the better beer.

 

Lagunitas Sucks - now easily one of my top three go-to selections

 

New Holland Mad Hatter (new recipe) isn't necessarily mind blowing, but I find myself really enjoying it when I drink it. I'd definitely classify it a sleeper and wonder why I don't drink it more.

 

Dirtwolf

And DIPAS in general but ive been meaning to try dirtwolf since i turned 21 and passed it off for a year before trying it. And it is amazing.

 

The Goose Island sisters because they were/are so readily available. Halia in particular was incredible!

 

I'll agree with others on Celebrator. Just loved it. On the other hand, I've had any number of other German beers that people said were "must try" that I didn't like at all (Vitus for example).

 

Celebrator and Victory at Sea. Too readily available. Need more hype/rarity.

 

Never had an Orval. Not sure why. But I have two now. One in the fridge and one in the cellar.

 

passed by rochefort 10 for about 3 years before I finally bought it...one of my favorite beers now

 

I am still passing over rochefort 10 just can't justify 8$ for a baby bottle