
GREEN FLASH "LE FREAK" - This is by no means an unknown beer amongst the beer cognoscenti, and I'd even had it twice before, but not with the careful and considered contemplation it so richly deserved. Wow! This IPA/Belgian tripel combination could not have been more true to the imagined hybrid in my mind. A wonderful balance of bittering hops, velvet smoothness and yeasty, hoppy deliciousness. A 9.2% ABV treat that I'm now proud to call one of my favorites. 9/10.
LOST COAST "8 BALL STOUT" - Surprise! What I expected would be a rather pedestrian stout is now one of my primo meat-n-potatoes examples of the style. I had two of these in Yosemite and I wish I was quaffing another this very moment. Creamy, dry and full of roasty flavor. It's now sitting proud representing Eureka, CA's LOST COAST, whom I didn't think could make an above-average beer. But oh, they can. 8.5/10.

SIERRA NEVADA "30TH ANNIVERSARY - CHARLIE, FRED & KEN'S BOCK" - This is one of two 30th Anniversary beers cooked up by Sierra Nevada and friends of theirs in the know from around the brewing industry - and I hear there are more coming. I have the much-loved "Fritz and Ken's" beer chilling in a fridge at home, but got to try this on draft at San Francisco's Pi Bar the other evening. It pours a stock-still (high ABV alert!) and very carbonated brown/orange, and brings a nice malty backbone with the hint of distant spice. really great flavors of burnt malt and a little bit of caramel. Definitely off the beaten path and worth tracking down. 8/10.

TROUBADOUR BLONDE ALE - I've written on my former beer blog about my propensity to play "Belgain roulette", but after some big swings and misses of late I'm thinking of calling the jig up. This mediocre blonde ale might have been the kicker. Strong, sharp, very fruity and mildly bitter, but just missing a lot of sass and panache (whatever that is). For an intense Belgian ale, this tasted rather poorly constructed. I hurried through it just to complete the thing & say that I had. No thanks. 5.5/10.

GIRARDIN GUEUZE 1882 - My first gueuze! Like I promised I'd have! Aaron at The Vice Blog told me this was the one I needed to start with, and that fella, he don't lie. Sour citrus lemon yeast gives way to a saliva-thickening deep chewy mouthfeel the likes of which was akin to bein' born all over again. Excellent beer and really not the eye-watering challenge I was expecting. 8/10.

OSKAR BLUES - "OLD CHUB" - Finally, this outstanding scotch ale that I brought a 6-pack up to camp of in a cooler, ostensibly to "share" - but once I got a taste of it I hoarded 4 of them all to myself and dispatched of them with extreme prejudice down my gullet. Really delicious and a flavor-forward malt beer, full-bodied and caramel-coated like a true syrup bomb that somehow managed to find balance & near-perfect structure. I might have savaged this outfit's "Dale's Pale Ale" in the past, but all is forgiven with this one, which is a stone cold knockout. 8.5/10.