Beers that met/passed your expectations

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

 

Sucks
Hoponius Union
Wisdom Seeker
BCBS

 

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

 

I was really surprised by the New Belgium - Lips of Faith Cocoa Mole. Very nice.

 

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.

 

Hop Crisis.
Had an older can so my expectations were low. Man did it surprise me, pleasantly.

 

Red Racer IPA really got me into IPAs. It's still great.