Two amazing beers - but they are like night and day

[NRaleighLiberal]

I've been hoping for so long for Florida's Cigar City beers to start showing up in North Carolina - and they now have!

So as I type this I am drinking a Jai alai IPA. Best IPA I've ever had - and I am a stout/porter drinker. As complex as a wine. 7.5 alcohol so I am sipping slowly!

The real winner was Cigar City's Marshal Zhukov's Imperial Stout. Right up there with Bells Expedition and Alesmith Speedway and Oskar Blues Ten Fidy as the greatest beers I've ever had. My wife and I split a big bottle over two nights. Slow slow sipper. Big time alcohol level!

[we can do it]

1. Thanks for the tips! Will look for them to try.

[BlueJac]

2. Hey, try this beer,

we get that in Florida, I am from the west coast and this is one of the best, behind Sierra Nevada Beers. •Lagunitas IPA. Enjoy the best beers. Florida's Cigar City beers are pretty good for newer Breweries. West coast has been doing great small breweries for a long time. Enjoy!!!!

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. I am a big Lagunitas fan - love their Capuccino Stout. Well priced beers

Got some Little Sumpin in the closet too.

[BlueJac]

9. Nice, ever tried Red Hook for Seattle.

The price is the best for the IPA.

[japple]

4. Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale is my favorite. Haven't tried their Ten Fidy, but

will be looking for it next time I go to the big city (Atlanta or Chattanooga.) Will put your other recommendations on my list. I used to drink nothing but Guinness, but have expanded into IPAs, bourbon and mead. I found a lovely, light mead from Viking Alchemist (made just down I-75 in Marietta, GA) called Antimony.

[Saviolo]

5. I am spoiled for choice for good beer where I live.

Here in Southern Ontario, there are a whole ton of microbreweries making a huge range of beer styles. It's really an amazing scene here. I've got some friends hugely into beer over in Seattle and San Jose, CA, and they complain that the beer market is still flooded with IPAs, mostly, so I feel lucky.

About a three minute walk from my house is Kensington Brewing Company, and they've got a constantly rotating list of beers they're making in small batches. Also, Bellwoods Brewery about a 30-minute walk away from me is one of the best breweries around.

[NRaleighLiberal]

6. Yes, Bells is a favorite of ours - also Founders (Breakfast Stout...yum!)

[Saviolo]

7. Stout is one style I've never really managed to pick up.

Not sure why, but I've never been a big fan of stouts. I don't hate them, but I certainly don't choose them very often over other styles. Kölsch is my current go-to for something really simple and drinkable, and a Belgian dubbel or trippel if I want something a bit more complicated or interesting to linger over.

There are a couple of breweries around here doing what they call a Black IPA, and they have some of the character of a stout, mostly the toastiness. And they are BLACK. Like, light does not penetrate these beers at all. Even the head is a dark brown froth.

[NRaleighLiberal]

8. my rule of thumb is typically "if I can read through it it is too light"

I like really aggressive flavors - buttery huge chardonnay, rich zins, intense tomatoes - I was surprised I loved the Jai alai so much because I sometimes find the pine of IPAs off-putting. Nice citrus tones to the Jai alai!