The 25 Best New American Beers of 2010

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12. Barrel-Aged Sexual Chocolate
Brewery: Foothills
Location: Winston-Salem, N.C.
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
ABV: 9.8%
Sexual Chocolate is pure chocolatey stout goodness. After hearing about a barrel-aged version, hundreds drove to Winston-Salem to stand in line for hours to get their hands on a bottle. They weren’t disappointed.—RR

11. Oatmeal Raisin Cookie
Brewery: Cigar City
Location: Tampa, Fla.
Style: Oatmeal Brown Ale
ABV: 5.5%
The name really gives this one away. The unique flavor comes from raisins, vanilla, cinnamon, and oatmeal blending nicely with a brown-ale backbone.—RR

10. Gubna
Brewery: Oskar Blues
Location: Lyon, Colo.
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 10%
The Gubna Imperial IPA is a hyper-hopped beer, with Summit Hops in the boil and post-fermentation dry-hopping taking the IBU up over 100. But German Dark Munich Malt and Rye Malt balance the flavor, giving the front end a touch of sweetness. And it smells like a grapefruit, God’s own blend of sweet and bitter.—JJ

9. Splinter Blue
Brewery: Tröegs Brewing
Location: Harrisburg, Penn.
Style: American Wild Ale
This limited release sold out in about two hours. Starting with Dreamweaver, the brewery added tart cherries and Brettanyomyces and matured it in wood.—RR

8. Moo-Hoo Chocolate Milk Stout
Brewery: Terrapin
Location: Athens, Ga.
Style: Milk Stout
ABV: 6%
Remember when you used to pour Hershey’s syrup into a tall, cold glass of milk? Well, Terrapin isn’t interested in your six-year-old taste buds, opting instead for cocoa nibs and shells from the Olive and Sinclair Chocolate Company. Growing up doesn’t mean abandoning sweets.—JJ

7. Bitches Brew
Brewery: Dogfish Head
Location: Rehoboth Beach, Del.
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
ABV: 9%
This beer began as just a cool homage to the jazz great Miles Davis. Then the Discovery Channel’s Brew Masters sent the honey- and gesho-root-brewed stout’s popularity through the roof.—RR

6. Lips of Faith Vrienden
Brewery: New Belgium, Allagash
Location: Fort Collins, Colo.
Style: American Wild Ale
ABV: 8.5%
Don’t you love it when two people you’re crazy about hit it off? We feel the same way about breweries. Allagash and New Belgium were sitting in a tree…wait, what rhymes with Vrienden? All we know is that there was a whole lot of Belgian going on to get this beer with hibiscus flower and Brettanomyces.—JJ

5. Little Sumpin’ Wild
Brewery: Lagunitas
Location: Petaluma, Calif.
Style: Belgian Strong Pale Ale
ABV: 8.9%
You take a popular hoppy pale wheat ale, pinch a Westmalle yeast from Belgium, and what do you get? Sumpin Wild, & Sumpin tasty. —RR

4. Bourbon County Vanilla Stout
Brewery: Goose Island
Location: Chicago, Ill.
Style: American Imperial Stout
ABV: 13%
The Bourbon County series is insanely popular for lovers of barrel-aged beers. How do you top it? Add vanilla beans, then drool.—RR

3. Provisions Series: Premiere
Brewery: The Bruery
Location: Placentia, Calif.
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
ABV: 10.4%
A couple of years in, and The Bruery just gets better and better. This harder to find bourbon-barrel aged edition in the Provisions Series commemorated the opening of a new tasting room/bottle shop in Old Towne Orange. If it were possible, I would have cut the bottle open to get every last taste of vanilla and light malts.—RR

2. Nemesis 2009
Brewery: Founders
Location: Grand Rapids, Mich.
Style: Wheatwine
ABV: 13%
Yes, we know this is a 2010 list! But Founders released two beers in the Nemesis series this year. The 2009 batch just needed a little extra time and shipped earlier this year. It was a phenomenally big wheatwine matured in both bourbon barrels and maple-syrup barrels in a cave for about a year.—RR

1. Surly Four
Brewery: Surly Brewing
Location: Brooklyn Center, Minn.
Style: Milk Stout
ABV: 10%
For its fourth anniversary, the Minnesota brewery released this double-espresso milk stout. Its coffee-laden deliciousness shined at every tasting in which it appeared.—RR

Follow Reid Ramsay at @ATLBeerMaster or Josh Jackson at @JoshJackson on Twitter.