Tree House Brewing Company Cofounder and Head Brewer Nate Lanier provided this IPA recipe.

This two-year-old brewery is putting out some of the best IPAs being brewed today.

We asked you to tell us what beers you haven’t had (yet) but are tops on your list to seek out. Note: For the first time since we’ve asked this question, a lager made the list!

Brewers are experimenting with a variety of ways, old and new, to squeeze even more aroma and flavor from their hops and cram it into their beers. But how much hop saturation is too much for drinkers?

**Aroma:** “Sweet and juicy tropical fruit, pineapple, lemon, mango, peach, and banana. The nose is delicate and subtle but mouthwatering—an absolutely wonderful aroma.” **Flavor:** “More fruity notes of pineapple, mango, and assorted tropical fruit. There’s a nice smoothness to this beer bordering on uffy. Fresh-cut pineapple stewed in pineapple juice and topped with candied pineapple. Malt backbone is chewy and substantial, while the bitterness is dangerously smooth. Melon and cantaloupe right off the bat! Low spicy notes in the middle of the sip. Very unique.” **Overall:** “This beer is great—so full of juicy fruit flavors. Fluffy and light without sacrificing body. Great showcase of the hops. The low bitterness is just enough to make it an IPA. A juicy, fruity, hazy, chewy IPA that’s an excellent example of what new-school IPA can be.”

**Aroma:** “Pine needles, huge mango and passion fruit, and grapefruit. Some mild earthiness and a lovely malt sweetness. An amazing example of the what wonderful aromas hops can bring to the table.” **Flavor:** “A really well-rounded pint. Fruit notes are nicely balanced, with no one aspect sticking out obtrusively. Earthy character from the nose is apparent in the flavor as well, even more so as the beer warms. An exceptionally smooth bitterness helps this go down easily, and good residual malt sweetness provides just the support this beer needs. So juicy and in all the right ways. All the strong flavors promised in the aroma are delivered, and then some.” **Overall:** “The beautiful hazy, deep gold color and fluffy white head are inviting, and the fruity, slightly earthy aroma are nice, but it’s the balanced flavor that really makes this beer shine. The weight on the tongue, the carbonation, and the individual flavors play well together, and the bitterness and malt sweetness are perfectly aligned to make this dangerously drinkable. A well-executed IPA. I'm having a hard to time writing enough effusive praise for this beer because I can’t put down my sample glass.”

**Aroma:** “Peaches, oranges, mango, passion fruit, tangerine, grapefruit, and even a touch of pine—it’s a punch in the nose with a fruit cart. I think I consumed a serving of fruit just through the aroma.” **Flavor:** “Peach and pine carry through from the aroma and are augmented by some dank-ish notes. Some moderate malt sweetness is there, but the emphasis remains ever on the hops goodness. Pleasant bitterness backs up the ensemble and delivers its own tangerine-like notes as it washes down the throat.” **Overall:** “A big citrus/tropical fruit bomb with enough malt sweetness to temper the bitterness. A beautiful IPA, both visually and on the palate. I can almost picture someone cramming hops into the bottle or can. A wonderful use of hops that doesn’t try to get too fancy with anything else and just delivers an amazing hops-forward beer.”

**Aroma:** “Lots of juicy notes on this nose. Dank and resinous hops aroma. Mild malt and moderate esters. Huge orange aromas with lemon citrus complexities. Slight malt sweetness underneath.” **Flavor:** “Beautifully integrated flavors that range from lemon juicy notes to pineapple and mango. Very big hops flavor, expanding on that resinous spiciness in the nose to add some grapefruit notes. Rich but soft bitterness that lasts for days, like a dark-roast coffee. Big and chewy. Massive orange notes with some underlying complexity tasting of grapefruit and lemon. Finishes slightly bitter, begging another sip.” **Overall:** “Turbid and chewy body showcases the complex hops profile with excellent execution. The hops juiciness is paramount and carries through the beer. This beer tastes like breakfast (beer-mosa anyone?). Perfect for a weekend brunch.”

“Deep, inviting orange haze. In the nose, earthy and herbal blend with pine, orange, mango, pepper-like spice. Flavor starts with a cucumber note. Vibrant tropical-dank hops with spicy edges take hold. Watermelon notes transition to earthy, floral flavors, lingering into the bitter, pleasant finish.”

Aroma: “Fruity dankness galore! The K9 unit might get called to search your house for more illicit contraband if you open this on your back patio in less- progressive states. Orange, lemon, green onion, slight peach. Retronasal is much sweeter.” Flavor: “Strawberry shortcake and dank. A nice pine note and the dankness is more reserved and in line with more fruity strains. Malt is a nice support to the hops bitterness.” Overall: “An assertive and unapologetic aroma that turns into a nice flavor with a perfect balance. Well executed.”

Aroma: Huge fruit notes that all over the place, white grape, green banana, pineapple, strawberry. Flavor: The fruit salad of the aroma carries to the nose with a more prominent under ripen banana dominating initially, with a pineapple and grapefruit emerging in the mid palate. A slight pithy, drying character from the bitterness gives the impression of eating on a banana rind. Overall: You came to haze town for fruity and juice hop character and this beer delivered.

**Aroma:** “Medium chocolate with a light rye note and heavy sweet oats. No alcohol. Lots of dark chocolate notes and slight burnt sugar. Light caramel. A bit of vanilla. There is a sweet creaminess and a nice roasty character.” **Flavor:** “Dark chocolate, caramel, and vanilla. Holy sweetness! This reminds me very much of chocolate fondue. Medium roast notes toward the end of the sip. Aftertaste is very sweet and almost cloying with notes of mango and cantaloupe. Rich pipe tobacco and sweetness supported by dark chocolate and cherry tones. Medium dry mouthfeel through the finish, once the initial sweetness subsides.” **Overall:** “Good—very sweet and rich with high chocolate, high fruit, cherry. Light roast complements the sweet chocolate. Rich, complex, and well-blended. The interweaving tobacco and chocolate/cherry notes play very nicely together.”

New beers are rolled out year-round, but with the arrival 2015, here’s a look at breweries who are on the verge of, or just finished up, large-scale rebranding or packaging efforts.

For our annual Best in Beer survey, we asked you to tell us what beers you haven’t had (yet) but are tops on your list to seek out. Here's what you told us.

Cooler fall temps are the perfect time to brew and enjoy the richer, roastier flavors of stouts.

Beernog is more than a way to lighten up a heavy traditional drink. It’s a hook that can lure more people into the indulgent joy of fresh eggnog—and variations abound.

American brewers interested in making beers that fit under the rather broad umbrella of saison don’t necessarily need to look toward Wallonia. The answer may be in their own backyards.

Aroma: “Strong peach aroma (that at times seems artificial because of its intensity) with hints of apricot, orange, and blueberry. Malt lives in the background, supporting all the hop notes with a light pale-grain aroma.” Flavor: “The peach tastes as much like it is baked as it is fresh. This plays well off of the honey and lightly toasted malt notes. It’s light bodied, with medium carbonation and well-balanced. Finishes dry with lingering peach and a touch of bitterness and acidity.” Overall: “Nicely done. Love the complexity that the peach brings and how it interacts with both the toasted malt and the hop bill. The fruit flavor is a good level without going over the top. It’s tough to capture peach flavors without excessive sweetness, but this brewer succeeded.”

In upstate New York, Steve Parker and his team at Fidens Brewing are making the kinds of juicy IPAs that got them excited about beer and inspired Parker’s intense study of brewing. Now, people come from afar to buy Fidens beers—and the learning continues.

The signature farmhouse style of Estonia is a quirky product of preserved tradition, local ingredients, and practicality. It’s also a perfect reminder that farmhouse brewing is, after all, homebrewing.