My brother-in-law brought me back a bottle from the Bethlehem Brew Works. It was their Pumpkin Ale. I've had pumpkin ales before and hated them. I really liked it.

A brewpub in Austin,TX makes Lovejoys Folsom Prison Blueberry Porter, that blew me completely away!!! But as far and the more known stuff...Ayinger Ur-Weisse made me love the wheats again!!!

J.W. Lees Harvest Ale. I knew it would be sweet, and as I normally don't like too sweet beers, I was sceptical. But, surprise: As it turned out, I discovered that even a VERY sweet beer can be acceptable when it is extremely well made. [:p]

There are many. The two most recent, very pleasant surprises were Goose Island Bourbon County Imperial Stout and Founder's Black Rye. Both beers from brewers I previously thought were mediocre. It turns out I just hadn't tried the right beer yet!

quote: Originally posted by Oiznop The one you though you would hate but you wound up liking. What was it??? For me it was probably Czechvar and Pilsner Urquell. Not a fan of the pilsner style, but the Czechs know how to brew it. These actually had flavor!

quote: Originally posted by Oiznop The one you though you would hate but you wound up liking. What was it??? For me it was probably Czechvar and Pilsner Urquell. Not a fan of the pilsner style, but the Czechs know how to brew it. These actually had flavor!

believe it or not i'd hae to say beck's. i tried w/ a bunch of other beers that were so-called "world famous" and i have to admit while the others sucked, this one wasn't bad. mind you had it from a can to the glass and everyone else i've spoken with, even cyberly, have had it from the green bottles so that can lead to the skunkiness.

The Timmerman's Faro I recently had. Faro was the last style of the lambics for me and I wasn't expecting much, having nearly despised the Straight Lambic I had, and having found the Gueuze to be dislikeable. The Faros are the way to go, with the sugar added to complement the sourness.

i can't say there were any micros that were surprises as one would expect a micro to be good. so to me it's the mass-produced stuff that i try that i think has the most surprise when one actually tastes good. and recently that beer would be old vienna, or molson's o.v. to the uninitiated.