[Windswept]

A list of 10 American specialty beers. The most recent I've tried was #9 Widmer Hefeweizen, with a twist of lemon, at the ballpark. Yuuummm! So delicious when sitting in the shade on a hot day.



Has anyone tried all ten of these, and if so, which did you like best?

The Best American Specialty Beers With more than 8,000 American beers on tap, there's never been a better time to drink domestic. We tried them all, so you don't have to. Now, let's raise a glass to the winners. America, you could say, was founded on suds. George Washington brewed a potent porter (making him the first brewmaster general), and the Second Continental Congress guaranteed troops a daily beer ration. But the state of the nation's beer has never been better than it is today. Some 1,400 breweries, large and small, now produce more than 8,000 different brands. The only downside to such alcoholic abundance? It's almost impossible to taste them all -- which is where we come in. After consulting an expert panel, we drank enough regional and craft brew to float several battleships, then narrowed the field to 25 paragons of the brewer's art. If you can't find one at your local bar, you should find a new bar -- or contact a friendly beer distributor that can ship to your state, such as Oregon's Liquid Solutions (liquidsolutions.ws; 503-524-9722) or Brooklyn's Bierkraft (bierkraft.com; 718-230-7600). 1) Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale Deschutes Brewery, Bend, Oregon (deschutesbrewery.com) BITTERNESS: Moderate; BODY: Medium; THE BUZZ: It's no surprise that our top beer comes from Oregon -- with 71 craft breweries, the state has become the capital of American microbrewing. And Mirror Pond, Deschutes Brewery's sublime pale ale, is not only the best beer in the state -- it's the best in the country. The quintessential American pale ale, Mirror Pond elegantly blends the sweetness of malted barley with the bite of hops (which add bitterness and aroma). It's refreshing, loaded with strong hop flavors, and perfectly balanced. Just a few years ago it was available only in the Pacific Northwest; now it has marched east to the Rockies. Tomorrow, the world! LAST CALL Mirror Pond contains only tangy, Oregon-grown Cascade hops. 2) Victory Prima Pils Victory Brewing Company, Downingtown, Pennsylvania (victorybeer.com) BITTERNESS: Moderate, BODY: Light, THE BUZZ: Budweiser is a pilsner. So is Victory Prima Pils -- but these beers are about as different as two pilsners can be. Inspired by pilsner's storied old-world heritage -- the style was first created in the Bohemian town of Pilsen -- Victory's Prima Pils bucks the American pilsner tradition with a serious bit of attitude -- most notably its clean, bitter flavor, which comes from an extra helping of hops (essentially absent from most American pilsners). Drink Prima Pils ice cold on a hot summer day and you'll see what we mean. Prima, indeed. LAST CALL "The Victory brewmasters are artists, and Prima Pils is a masterpiece," declares Daniel Bradford, president of the Brewers' Association of America. 3) Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Chico, California (sierra-nevada.com) BITTERNESS: Moderate; BODY: Medium; THE BUZZ: You know this beer -- it's ubiquitous. And we know what you're thinking: "You put it in the top five? Are you guys drunk?" Listen up: Many breweries on this list produce only a few thousand barrels a year; Sierra makes 575,000 barrels of delicious, world-class ale...and that takes a special kind of genius. It's sweet, spicy, and full-bodied, yet it's light enough that you can knock back more than a few. When you're in a bar and all they have is the usual mass-produced standards, this should be your go-to beer. With Sierra Nevada in the world, there's no excuse to ever drink a bad brew. LAST CALL Sierra, which distributes to all 50 states, is the largest craft brewery in the U.S. 4) Capital Brewery Bavarian Lager Capital Brewery, Middleton, Wisconsin (capital-brewery.com) BITTERNESS Mild BODY Medium THE BUZZ The Germans brought golden lager-style beers to the States long ago, and, fortunately for us, there are still a few brewers adhering to the classic recipes. Capital Brewery's traditional Bavarian lager is rich with the taste of malted barley, and is a refreshing summer sipper -- with virtually no bitter aftertaste. LAST CALL Capital's lager is based on a German style called hell. Note to Mel Gibson: Hell simply means light in German. 5) Anchor Steam Beer Anchor Brewing, San Francisco, California (anchorbrewing.com) BITTERNESS Moderate BODY Medium THE BUZZ This chameleon of a beer -- it literally tastes different sip to sip -- was first brewed more than 100 years ago in California. Today's brand, resurrected in 1965 -- before most current microbrewers were out of preschool -- owes its cult status to a malty flavor that goes well with everything from pizza to filet mignon. LAST CALL This beer has nothing to do with steam; kegs that bounced and hissed during delivery spawned the nickname. 6) Dogfish Head World Wide Stout Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, Delaware (dogfish.com) BITTERNESS Extreme BODY Full THE BUZZ Guinness, the most popular stout on the planet, is about 4 percent alcohol -- hey, that's basically light beer! Dogfish Head's World Wide Stout is 18.8 percent alcohol by volume, which Dogfish claims makes it the "world's strongest dark beer." It's ink black, and somewhat sweet, but don't be fooled: It packs a wallop. And at $8 a bottle, you'll want to drink it slow. LAST CALL "World Wide Stout is so thick you could use it as motor oil," jokes Dogfish president Sam Calagione. 7) Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter Great Lakes Brewing Company, Cleveland, Ohio (www.greatlakesbrewing.com) BITTERNESS Extreme BODY Full THE BUZZ Darker than what we think of as ale, but not as heavy as stout, porter has been popular since the 18th century, when it was first brewed in London. The Edmund Fitzgerald has bittersweet chocolate flavors, the ideal foil to heavy foods, like ribs. LAST CALL This porter takes its name from a ship out of Cleveland that sank in 1975 in Lake Superior. 8) Avery the Reverend Avery Brewing Co., Boulder, Colorado (www.averybrewing.com) BITTERNESS Moderate BODY Full THE BUZZ Some paths in life are begun early: Avery Brewing Co. founder Adam Avery claims he was weaned with a beer-soaked pacifier. That helps explain his uncanny brewing skill. Avery's finest concoction is the Reverend, a high-octane Belgian-style "quadrupel" made with candy sugar for extra kick. LAST CALL "At 10.2 percent alcohol, it just might give you religion," says Ray Daniels, author of Designing Great Beers. 9) Widmer Hefeweizen Widmer Brothers Brewing Company, Portland, Oregon (www.widmer.com) BITTERNESS: Mild; BODY: Medium; THE BUZZ: First, German 101: Hefe means yeast; weizen means wheat. Brewed with wheat and barley, Widmer's American-style hef has a citrusy flavor. Add a lemon and voilˆ -- Bavarian iced tea, by way of Portland. LAST CALL Unfiltered beers, such as Widmer Hefeweizen, are cloudy because the yeast isn't filtered out. 10) Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA Bear Republic Brewing Company, Healdsburg, California (bearrepublic.com) BITTERNESS Extreme BODY Full THE BUZZ India pale ales were invented in the late 1700s, when London brewers used huge amounts of hops (a natural preservative) to help beer withstand the long voyage to far-flung colonies. Racer 5 is today's uber-IPA, using two different kinds of exceptionally strong, bitter hops. The result has the aroma of a field of freshly cut hay. LAST CALL "It smells like a sack of weed!" proclaims one of our more discerning critics.