Sharks are fascinating. As macropredators, they reign over almost all other animals in the oceans. There have been numerous fictional depictions of sharks and they have become a huge part of popular culture, even going so far as having their own week of programming on Discovery Channel – a 26-year tradition!

New Belgium is in Atlanta for Secret Stash and Argosy hosted a flight of sours. Was the word flight ever more appropriate? The single barrel “Oscar,” the sourcing for La Folie, the 2014 La Folie, a Leopold (Oscar aged in Blackberry Whiskey barrels from Leopold Bros), and "Oscar" Worthy Coffee sent taste buds and spirits soaring.

Hal Doss, a native of Rome, Georgia and a brewer who literally worked his way up from the New Belgium cellar, was on hand to talk about sours. He’ll be at the Square Pub in Decatur tonight with an apple Leopold and NB seasonals on tap.

As we spring forward this weekend adjusting our sleep schedules and daily routines, our food and drink palates tend to change as well. It could be the birds chirping in the dawn or the premature pollen in the air, but I'm stoked when I smell fresh grass and morning dew. I then suddenly notice myself craving beers with resiny hops and earthy character so why shouldn't I give this Golden Rye Ale a try?

Today we’re flipping the ignition switch on a heretofore unseen consequence of science. Summit Brewing Company’s canned Hop Silo DIPA from their Unchained series is their first foray into the rapidly expanding world of explosively hopped beers. It is indeed a molecular powder keg of hop flavor (five kinds), but it’s justified by a trio of well-bonded malts.

Cans are on the up and up for flavorful beer, and flavors are on the rise within them. There will be casualties along the way, but it’s for the greater good of freedom-loving taste buds around the world.

-- Jim Dykstra

Beer: The Final Frontier – As we all mourn the loss of actor, writer, and all-around hero Leonard Nimoy, one beer springs to mind as a perfect liquid eulogy for Mr. Spock – Harpoon Brewery’s UnFiltered Offering, or UFO. This hazy wheat beer/hefeweizen hybrid explores the taste buds and boldly goes where no beer has gone before – beaming its creamy goodness to trekkies worldwide (or trekkers, as Nimoy preferred them to be called).