If you could bring back one beer

Tough call. It's a toss up between these two:





And Founders Devil Dancer.

 

That Sam Adams Hallertau Imperial Pils was fantastic. I’ve never had an imperial beer of any sort with noble hops before or since, I wish Sam or other breweries would make something similar.

 

Harpoon (which bought the brewery) still uses the Catamount brand for some beers, probably sold at the VT brewery or only locally - wonder if they've ever re-brewed the 3 original recipes? Here are IPA labels from a few years ago:

 

Yasss!!! OG Sucks for sure!!!

 

Besides Tumbler?

Stone Levitation Ale
Wolaver's Oatmeal Stout (The whole line up honestly)
Brooklyn Brown Ale
Goose Island Brown Ale
Victory Headwaters and Storm King (OG)
Carton GORP
Sierra Nevada Stout and Porter
DFH Indian Brown
Ballantine IPA (Latest version - never had original and I quite enjoyed this one.)


Plenty of others that are still technically available, but no longer distributed in my market.

 

Avery Thirteen (Weizenbock) and Great Divide Rumble.

GD occasionally resurrects older beers, so it's popped back up a time or two since they killed it off. I don't think Avery has ever revisited any of their limited beers, ever.

 

MacAndrews Scotch Ale, BridgePort IPA, Ballantine XXX the way it was....

 

They had Narragansett Bock on draft at the brewery this spring. I'm guessing it's a different recipe as I did not enjoy it at all (and used to really like the one you pictured above).

 

Stone Smoked Porter comes to mind.

 

Stuck between these two...



Levitation was ahead of its time; it discontinued in 2015, right when session IPAs were having a moment. They could have rebranded as a session Red IPA instead.

 

Smuttynose Big Beer Series. Man, that series from the early 2000's introduced me to so many great styles. Yep, big Bomber bottles ruled the beer world. If I had to pick just one: the Smutty Wheat Wine Ale.

 

Fancy AF!

 

Sam Adam’s imperial white ale. Bombastic beer.

 

forgot about the Indian brown ale. I was a fan of that beer.

 

O’dell Mountain Standard Double Black IPA. Failing that, Lagunitas Nighttime.

 

Gambrinus, Columbus (OH) brewed. My buddies and I used to go to a dive bar in the C'bus Brewery District and get 25-cent draws of this, served in a thick dimpled goblet alongside a dish of free redskin peanuts. I'd love to have another go at this just to see if it was as good as I remember.

{insert Paul Simon 'Kodachrome' video here}

 

Would have to choose between:
- De Dolle ... (using Rodenbach yeast)
- De Ranke ... (using Rodenbach yeast)
- Roppelt Dunkel
- De Molen imperial stouts from around 2008-2011

 

IIRC the vat/barrel whatever was no longer usable for beer.