I have been on a serious beer ticking and whale hunt over the last few months. For the last week or so I have been revisiting some of my old stalwarts and came to the realization that sometimes the best beers are right under your nose! I have really been enjoying Founders Breakfast Stout. Draft or bottle this beer is about as good as it gets. I had a Stone RIS this weekend. Wow I forgot how good this was and reasonably priced too. Growlers of Jack's Abby have been really wetting my whistle lately. Local and fresh who knew What other (common, somewhat common or local and fresh) beers do people feel don't get the love they should cause they aren't rare ticks?
Sometimes? It's 'always' for me, and there are too many to list. And usually in damn good condition, too. These are great times to be a beer drinker; I'd say relax and enjoy them.
I guess my focus has been on overseas beers and sours for a while now forgetting what is great on my local store shelves.
I think that's all well and good, too, as long as you keep things in perspective and don't get too caught up in that hunting aspect. I'm sure your local shop is doing all it can to stock a great selection, so it's important to support them to keep this community going strong. And, like you are finding out, you can still have access to great beers.
As far as stouts go, I always say Old Rasputin. If that was a seasonal, people would be all over it. I think NB Ranger doesn't get enough cred. That's a pretty good beer. Most year round, easily available IPAs don't get enough credit in general (Inversion Ale & Hop Czar to name a few).
I was up in Nor.Cal about 2 weeks ago and had Old Raspy on Nitro. It makes me appreciate how good and easily available this beer is. I agree with the Stone RIS mention. I also appreciate FW Pale 31 for what it is. Cheers!`
To me Three Floyds Alpha King doesn't get enough credit. Its one the most available beers from 3F and its one that I skip over too often myself.
Not technically an OLD standby, but I was really impressed with SN norwhal, and will be drinking a lot more of it. I know it will disappear temporarily, but it's an awesome beer, not limited, and $10 a four pack. Can't beat that (I like it more than old raspy, on that note)
Norwhal was great and and great price as previously mentioned. Beers I think are always overlooked are Chimay, De Ranke, Scaldis, and De Glazen Torren to name a few. It's funny around here people go crazy for Mad Elf when it comes out. I think if they tried a Chimay Grand Reserve or Dubbel they would never drink a Mad Elf again.
At $7.98/6 pk, this is a no brainer:http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/403/57934. Not exactly local by a long shot, the last 3 six packs I've bought have had an "enjoy by" date of 12/08/12.
