OBF Buzz Beers

Breweries adopt one of three or four strategies when they send a beer to the Oregon Brewers Fest. Sometimes they send their flagship, hoping it will convert some of the masses. Sometimes they send a new beer they're launching, hoping to convert the masses. Or sometimes, they send something unexpected, hoping to delight the masses. Uniformly, it is from this last category that the "buzz beers" come from--those beers that get the chatter going at the Fest. No one goes for Pike IPA or Redhook Rye: serious drinkers want to see something new and funky.

Fortunately, it looks as if breweries are finally starting to get with the program. This year looks to have more potential buzz beers than any previous year. Here are ten possibilities that I'll be looking to try ASAP. My money's on the White Lightning.

1. Bell's Hell Hath No Fury...Ale (dubbel) - Bell's Brewery (Michigan)
2. Double Dry Hopped Pale Ale - Boundary Bay (Bellingham, WA)
3. Elysian Bifrost (winter ale) - Elysian (Seattle)
4. 10th Anniversary Farmhouse Summer Ale - Flying Fish (NJ)
5. Vesuvius (Belgian golden) - Full Sail
6. White Lightning Whisky Stout - McMenamins
7. Ned (Flanders Red) - Rock Bottom (Portland)
8. Pliny the Elder - Russian River (CA)
   
9. Standing Stone Double IPA - Standing Stone (Ashland)
10. Hooligan (pale) - Widmer
    

It's a bit hard to guess which monstrous IPA is going to capture the attention of drinkers, but Pliny the Elder's my guess--it is a faithful heir to the Sasquatch throne, a hoary blast of lupulin fury, apt for palates shattered late in the day. I also gave Widmer the nod because they have long been champions of the "special beer" strategy, and had a run of four or five years where they were one of the two or three most talked-about beers. I'll keep grandfathering them in until they send over kegs of Hefeweizen.

Your best bets?