Brewers were challenged to think beyond Double IPA’s and Imperial Stouts this year, and responded by really upping their game. Fruits and nuts were big this year, and the diversity of barrel-aged beers (moving beyond bourbon to wine, oak, steel and brandy) was really impressive.

Here’s my take on the best in show from an incredibly strong lineup of brews.

Sierra Nevada: It would be easy for these guys to lie down, crank out nothing but their signature Pale Ale, and call it a day. That’s not the plan. Last year they unleashed Torpedo Extra IPA, Kellerweiss, and the insanely ambitious Estate Ale. And they’re following that up with a series of anniversary-year collaborations with craft beer’s titans. They brought a 1994 vintage Bigfoot Barleywine and Hoptimum, a triple torpedoed IPA, to the fest. An East Coast brewer told me he was amazed the Bigfoot was still hoppy, 16 years later. “How???” he asked. As for the Hoptimum, my notes only say, “Whoa.”

Dark Horse: Look for this Michigan crew to be featured in an upcoming edition of Beer Advocate mag. The four beers I tasted were off the charts. There was Lambdick, a Lambic that sat in a barrel for four years, and has been on fresh raspberries for the past four months; Double Crooked Tree IPA, one of the strongest IPA’s at the fest; a Brown Ale brewed with 249 local donuts; and a Tripel aged in a new oak cask with honey, agave and hibiscus. The beer took the adjuncts really well, and it finished with this crazy floral flavor. It tasted like a beer, and then a flower. It was awesome.

Ithaca: BA mag veteran Jeff O’Neil brought some old faves to the fest (alpHalpHa, an ale brewed with NY state hops and honey, and Brute, an effervescent Brett-infected drink that was my hands-down favorite from last fall’s Belgian fest), along with LeBleu, a Lambic-inspired American wild ale. Blueberries cut the lactic sour notes beautifully. Awesome stuff.

The Bruery: Great stuff across the board from another brewery soon to be featured in the mag. Mischief and Saison De Lente, you know. Then there’s Two Turtle Doves, an Imperial Porter brewed with cocoa nibs, sugar and pecans, and Melange No. Sechs, a strong brew with sour notes smoothed out by cocoa nibs and rose petals. Probably the most creative beer I had all afternoon.

Uh, yeah.

Beer Works Black Rider Lager: Had a pint of this last night, before the massive Al Green show at House of Blues. I share the first BA.com reviewer’s take – here’s a nice, nutty, reasonably complex malt beverage that would’ve been better if I’d known I was drinking a Schwarzbier, rather than some unidentified black German lager that was helpfully offered as a 2-ounce sample when I asked what the f it was. All in all, not bad, though.

Shipyard XXXX IPA: Whoa. The Shipyard crew did not come to play around on this one. The traditional English brewery jumps into the big beer game, and they come with a deep copper, massively complex beer. Love the attention to the malt bill on this one – there’s wheat, carapils, and I think I counted like five others in there. In addition to a dizzying hop schedule. Each really pushes on the other. Guess that means I’ll never fit in out west, where they love their malt bills to lie down and let the high-alpha cones do all the heavy lifting. To me, an IPA needs a big sweetish backbone to stand up against. And this one definitely delivers. It would normally be tops in a roundup like this.

Except for, Sierra Nevada Chico Estate Harvest Ale: It’s tough to describe just how great this beer is, because there’s nothing overtly outrageous about it. It’s not 15 percent alcohol, pitch black and fermented with champagne yeast; it’s not loaded with bugs and critters; it’s not face-blisteringly hoppy. It’s just an outstanding beer brewed with fresh, hyper-local ingredients sourced entirely from Sierra’s Chico brewery. Fresh wet hops pack a ton of flavor and aroma without overwhelming bitterness, and the malt backbone is perfectly balanced. The best beer I’ve had in months.

This month’s brewer spotlight shines on Alan Sprints, brewmaster and founder of Hair of the Dog in Portland. He’s been in business for a decade and a half now, brewing a few hundred barrels a year out of a little warehouse by the tracks, and his suds are Michael Jackson-approved.

When we spoke, I asked Alan whether he’d ever thought about taking his beer national, or global, and blowing up big-time. His answer: “I’m mature enough to know what I really want out of my career, and I’m happy to make a living. I really don’t want to run a beer factory. It’s nice that I can still brew, and enjoy that aspect of it, and not get bogged down managing people.”

Read the whole thing here. Or save yourself the clicking and subscribe and enjoy the mag every month in glorious heavy-stock newsprint.

That’s all for now. I’ll have less-than-full report from tomorrow’s Belgian fest, uh, sometime. Hopefully.

Southern Star’s hype beer is its Buried Hatchet Stout. I can’t weigh in on it, as it was out of season when we spoke. I can absolutely vouch for Pine Belt Pale, which comes in 16oz. tallboy cans, and the sneakily awesome Bombshell Blonde. It’s sneaky because it doesn’t look like much, and it doesn’t look like much because there’s not a ton of complexity in the beer. It’s just two-row and Vienna malt, and some Sterling hops. And, Dave told me, it’s that simplicity that really drives the beer’s outstanding flavor.

“It comes off as being more complex. There’s nothing really special about the ingredients. What makes it special is the simplicity. Especially in lighter beers like that, people tend to put too much stuff in them. So your palate almost gets overwhelmed. You lose depth by putting too much in it.”

Read the whole thing here. And, as usual, get off the internet and subscribe to the magazine already.

According to the paper, sales of the Buzzards Bay label have slumped to under 200 barrels a year – not a pretty figure.

The brewery will stay open, self-distribute a small new house line, and contract for Cisco and the awesome Pretty Things.