A number of classic/old-school (OG) American craft breweries have introduced new beers into the market in the last 6 to 12 months to capitalize on brewing trends/flavor profiles or simply inject some new life into their core lineup. I'm curious which new beers from OG breweries y'all have enjoyed? For me, New Glarus Zwickel, SN Otra Vez (a really divisive beer, I know, but a pretty good year-round kettle sour), and SA Nitro Coffee Stout are three newbies I really enjoyed. Now, admittedly, NG's Zwickel was far and away better than the other two, but I still give kudos to SN and Sam for trying something new, putting themselves out there a bit, etc.
Stone: Pale Ale and Ruination 2.0 Unfiltered Enjoy By Who you Calling a Wussie Pilsner Not their typical West Coast bitter/resiny hoppy ales as historically done, ventured into the more citrusy and smooth finish hoppy options. And they did a pilsner that came out of nowhere (pretty decent one as well).
Agreed on the Stone beers. Their new stuff has been great. Firestone Walker Luponic Distortion was pretty good.
I really, really enjoyed the Unfiltered Enjoy By. Wussie is a nice pils, albeit much too Americanized for my taste, but it does pair really, really well with so many foods, so it gets high marks there.
The Luponic Distortion series almost made my list, too. Is No. 3 out yet? Haven't seen it around in my neck of the woods...
1) Enjoy By Unfiltered is one of my favorite beers. I was crushed that it didn't make it to IL this time around. Very excited to see a brewery like Stone hopping onto the "ultra fresh/unfiltered" bandwagon. In a similar vein: 2) Not a true OG, but they've been around for a while: Sixpoint recently released Puff, which is essentially Enjoy By Unfiltered for their classic beer, Resin. Great beer, great to see them doing this stuff too. Conversely, I actually didn't love Ruination 2.0. It got rid of what I loved about the original (it's abrasive bitterness and hop profile) in exchange for something that to me tastes more...safe and generic. I understand why they did it (and given how they're killing the Enjoy By series, it's not like it's stopping me from buying their beer), but I miss the original Ruination (perhaps an anniversary release at some point?).
