This post brought to you by Glass Is Life. The content and opinions expressed below are that of Porch Drinking.

There’s a certain mystique that still exists when cracking open a rare bottle of beer. Perhaps it dates back to the familiar historical allure of opening up a fine bottle of wine. I can’t count the number of times I’ve popped the top to a 750 ml (bomber) or something special, only to have my uninitiated friends marvel at the bottle’s similarity to a high dollar bottle of vino.

Admittedly this post is sponsored by Glass is Life, a community that is committed to the use of glass in preserving food and drink, but sponsorship aside the use of glass bottles does conjure up an emotional tie to the way we drink beer.

These “bomber” bottles, and more recently 11.2 oz bottles have allowed brewing artisans to bottle ferment and produce small batch rarities that would otherwise not be able to reach beer fans outside of taproom production. So we decided to compile a list of rare/special/cream of the crop beers that can generally be found in bottles, that we’re looking forward to trying or revisiting at this weekend’s Great American Beer Festival. Keep in mind there are countless more gems but we wanted to take a moment to highlight a few of our favorite bottled gems!

The Bruery

• Bois
• Black Tuesday
• Hottenroth Berliner Weisse
• Tart of Darkness with Cherries and Vanilla

Wicked Weed

• Serenity 100% Brett Saison
• Oblivion Sour Red
• Peach Sour

New Holland

• Incorrigible- White Sour Ale
• Blue Sunday – Blended Sour Ale

Great Divide

• Peach Grand Cru

Goose Island

• Madame Rose
• Bourbon County Brand Stout
• Backyard Rye Bourbon County Stout
• Bourbon County Coffee Stout

Firestone Walker

• Agrestic
• Velvet Merkin

Deschutes Brewery

• Planete Rogue

Avery Brewing

• Opuntia- Sour Ale Aged in Tequlia Barrels with Prickly Pear Added
• Obscuro & Nimbosus- Sour ale aged in rum barrels with ginger and key lime added
• Rumpkin- Ale brewed with pumpkin and spices aged in bourbon barrels
• Uncle Jacob’s- Aged in Bourbon Barrels
• 5 Monks- Belgian Style Quintupel Ale Aged in Bourbon Barrels

Dry Dock

• Barrel Aged Imperial Stout
• Bligh’s Barleywine

Logsdon Organic Farm

• Anything they bring is usually a safe bet

Ninkasi

• Keep an eye out for Total Domination or Vanilla Oatis

Russian River

• Temptation- Sour Blonde aged in Chardonnay Barrels
• Supplication- Brown Ale aged in Pinot Noir barrels from Sonoma County wineries

FiftyFifty Brewing

• Eclipse Barrel Aged Stout- Flavors of dark chocolate, espresso, oak, vanilla and hints of tobacco.

Almanac Brewing

• Any of the fruited sours will be gold

Karbach Brewing

• Portee d’or- A Belgian-style Tripel aged in Bourbon Barrels

Prairie Artisan Ales

• Tequila Barrel Branson
• Cognac Barrel Beer Wasteland
• Coolship Truck

Nebraska Brewing

• Apricot au Poivre Saison- Belgian-style Ale brewed with black pepper and apricots aged in Chardonnay barrels for six months
• Melange a Trois- Strong Belgian-Style Blonde aged in French Oak Chardonnay Wine Barrels

Foothills Brewing

• Sexual Chocolate- A cocoa infused Imperial Stout

New Glarus

• Anything and everything especially if they bring Serendipity, Strawberry Rhubarb, Raspberry Tart

Jolly Pumpkin

• Ale Absurd
• Vivos Y Muertos
• Luciernaga
• Weizen Bam

Cigar City

• Hunahpu

Hoppin Frog Brewery

• B.O.R.I.S. Oatmeal Imperial Stout
• Barrel-Aged Naked Evil Belgian-style Barley Wine
• Barrel-Aged B.O.R.I.S. Oatmeal Imperial Stout

DESTIHL Brewery

• Wild Sour Series: Counter ClockWeisse Berliner Weisse
• Wild Sour Series: Lynnbrook Raspberry Berliner Weisse
• Wild Sour Series: Here GOSE Nothin’
• Wild Sour Series: Flemish Amber
• Wild Sour Series: Adambier
• Saint Dekkera Reserve Sour Ale Series: Sour Quad
• Saint Dekkera Reserve Sour Ale Series: Sour Crabapple

Brooklyn Brewery

• Sorachi Ace bottles
• Cuvee Noire bottles

Funkwerks

• Raspberry Provincial
• Deceit

Epic Brewing

• Brainless on Cherries
• Big Bad Baptist

Elevation

• Fanboy
• Senorita

Copper Kettle

• Mexican Chocolate Stout
• Sobremesa

Black Bottle

• The Last Unicorn- Raspberry Tart Cherry Lambic

Aspen Brewing Company

• Sour Brett Golden Ale

Liquamentum

• Hell’s Half Acre Barleywine (bottles)

Paradox Brewing

• Salted Watermelon Sour – Recommended by Focus on the Beer‘s Ryan Hannigan

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