When you hit your local liquor store or brewery in search of some new beers to try, there are a few we’d recommend keeping an eye out for. Some of these are brand new, some are seasonals making their return, and some were just announced for future release. So next time you’re out scouting some potential fridge-dwellers, look out for these.
Ballast Point Pineapple Sculpin
After the success of Grapefruit Sculpin, the folks at Ballast Point have gone all in on the fruity iterations of their prized IPA. The latest off the line plays with another common hop aroma: Pineapple. Pineapple Sculpin isn’t as in your face with fruit as Grapefruit Sculpin is, but it still has a nice, juicy profile. Link
Sam Adams Nitro Coffee Stout
The Samuel Adams Nitro Project consists of three canned beers—Nitro Coffee Stout, Nitro IPA, Nitro White Ale—each of which, as the name would suggest, contain a nitrogen-filled widget (think Guinness). While we’re not really ones for nitro IPAs, and the idea of a nitro white ale sounds a bit odd, we can get squarely behind the creaminess of a nitro coffee stout. The roasty coffee stout delivers dark fruit notes and a velvety mouthfeel. Link
Stone Americano Stout
Stone’s Espresso Imperial Russian Stout was one of the finest beers the brewery has ever put out—and that’s saying a lot. So, to craft their new Americano Stout, Greg Koch and company turned to the same local coffee roaster who contributed beans to Espresso RIS. The result is a bold coffee stout with notes of chocolate, dark fruits, and plenty of roastiness. Link
Creature Comforts Cosmik Debris
America might not need another juicy Double IPA, but when one as good as Cosmik Debris comes out, who are we to complain? Packed with the melon, pineapple, and citrus notes you know and love, Cosmik Debris is light and surprisingly drinkable at over 8% ABV. If you have access to Creature Comforts’ brews, make sure you snag this when you’re picking up Tropicália. Link
Avery Vanilla Bean Stout
Avery likes to crank the flavor and ABV of their beers to 11. For the nights when Tweak and Mephistopheles’s Stout are too heavy, they’ve made a session beer for you! Just kidding, it’s another double-digit stout loaded with flavor. Vanilla Bean Stout, as the name would suggest, is heavy on the vanilla and is sinfully sweet. And at 10.8%, it is a tad weaker than the aforementioned heavy hitters. Link
New Belgium La Folie 2016
Always one of the releases we look forward to, New Belgium’s La Folie is back on shelves for 2016. The sour beer, which is part of New Belgium’s Lips of Faith series, is packed with fruit and oak notes, and it possess just the right amount of tartness for a bit of lip puckering. Link
Bell’s Oatsmobile Ale
This new sessionable pale ale from Bell’s has an enticing aroma thanks to the Mosaic, Citra, and Amarillo hops used, and a fuller body thanks to the oats. Clocking in at an approachable 4.3%, Oatsmobile will launch in April, just in time to knock a few back during a ballgame. Link
Carton Café Y Churro
Let’s start with the bad news—cans of Café Y Churro have come and gone. We’re putting it on here because we highly recommend seeking it out ASAP before you can no longer find it on draft or up for trade. The beer is a play on Carton’s Regular Coffee, which is one of our favorite beers, and is supposed to taste like a cup of bitter coffee with scalded milk that’s been stirred with a churro. It does, and at 12%, it packs a sneaky punch. Link
