Most recent beer to wildly exceed your expectations

Was at City Beer Store yesterday for their cellar sale. They had Wanderer on tap. I knew it would be good, but it may be my most favorite sour now!

 

Logsdon Seizoen Bretta

I'm not much of a fan of saison's or beers with brettanomyces but I really loved this beer. Completely changed the way I feel about the style.

 

Maryland only release. Yeah, makes me sad as well. Du Claw brewery.

 

Well I guess I'm just going to have to start trading! I'm not missing out on that Sweet Baby Jesus. Lol

 

It is one fantastic beer. I won't even let my wife have one of my 4 left!

 

Victory Oak Horizontal, great bourbon flavor mixed with sweet caramel, toffee and vanilla. One of the best barleywines I've ever had.

 

Kern Citra. And my expectations were already high to begin with.

 

Evolution Lot6 DIPA. They just started bottling it this past month. Grapefruit deliciousness. One of the finest DIPA I have ever had.

 

Victory Red Thunder!!! Such a complex beer, and all the flavors blend very well. I agree with browniewithnuts that Oak Horizontal is fantastic too. Victory's barrel program has worked out very well so far. Bring on White Monkey next!

 

Had a bottle of Deviation last night. We had it on tap last year, and I thought it had dropped off big time--was turning into a kind of one-note lactic sour. The bottle we had last night was fantastic though.

 

Whole Foods had a bottle of Conflux #1 Collage on "sale" for $9.50 (better than $12), so I snagged an additional to drink that night. Holy hell, that stuff is awesome!

 

JP Madrugada Obscura. Had no idea what to expect from a funky stout. It turned out to be one of the best beer experiences of my life. Great beer.

 

Maine Beer Company Lil One. I had had Peeper and Zoe and thought they were solid but unremarkable. Lil One was a great complex beast of an ale, classified as an American Strong, but to me was in the vein of a DIPA. Great balance with a nod towards the hops, and this unique fruity sweetness that reminded me of watermelon that I can't remember ever tasting in a beer before (even Hell or High Watermelon!).

 

Mission Dark Seas. Tasty stout. I was gulping it instead of sipping. Dangerous.

 

Jester King Gotlandsdricka. Heard nothing but terrible things about it from reviews but it's actually pretty good.

 

Stone Enjoy by 2.15.13 IPA. I had it side-by-side with a Hopslam and it killed it. It was an utterly perfect DIPA with a phenomenal balance of pine, grapefruit, and just enough malt to allow the sticky hops to coat your mouth. It might have been the best DIPA I have had this side of Heady Topper.

 

Fifity Fifty Eclipse

 

Southern Tier Un-Earthly.
I expected just another IPA and I hadent fully read the lable on the bottle saying it was oak aged. That being said the amount of oak flavor and the bitterness of the hops were blended very well both flavors complementing eachother. In all I think I will have to buy it again!

 

Gift of The Magi and Troegenator.

Had Gift of The Magi at LA and fell in love immediately.

Randomly picked up a Troegenator while I was back East for the holidays - sweet malt bomb that I loved.

 

Actually I got a few bottles at Pinocchio's in Media, PA. If anything I'd classify this one as a beer I had high expectations for that didn't live up. Spring House Big Gruesome was pretty similar but better, had on tap at the same place. I'm a Reese's fanatic and found the latter to be a bit more sweetly satisfying, but really both were dryer and thinner than I'd hoped.

For me, Willoughby Peanut Butter Cup Porter is the undisputed king of peanut butter beers.