Name: Claymore Scotch Ale
Brewery: Great Divide Brewing Co.
Style: Wee Heavy/Scotch Ale
ABV: 7.7
Final Grade: A
Score: 46

Colorado has more than 100 breweries (118 as of 2010), and yet, the one I hear about the most is Great Divide.

This Denver brewery is well known for its Yeti, a Russian Imperial Stout. But after having tried the Claymore Scotch Ale, I’d have to figure that this malt-bomb would give any beer on the menu a run for its money.

“Chimay. That’s some good stuff.” — Devon Herrick

There were seven of us who were sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner — for many, our first holiday away from family — when one of the guests walked in with a bottle of Chimay Premiere.

I had no clue what this tall bottle with a cork and cage was all about. This was more than a decade ago, and my education in craft beer had just begun. Even the best beer I was drinking then was sold in six-packs and required a bottle opener. This bottle looked like something I’d bring to a New Year’s party.

Everything changed that Thanksgiving. How could I possibly be tasting rum-raisin and plum, chocolate, clove and pepper, all in one glass and well before the dessert course. No dish on the table stood a chance. This beer was the highlight.

Chimay Premiere (the red label) is a dubbel, a style that I have since always seemed to be in the mood for.

Name: Spine Tingler
Brewery: Mactarnahan’s Brewing (Portland, Ore.)
Style: Belgian Tripel
Price: $8.50 per 22 oz. bottle
ABV: 8.5
IBU: 23
Final Grade: A-
Score: 42

For so long, I’ve wanted to write a review with the dateline “Portland, Ore.,” a West Coast utopia that is the stuff of beer geek fantasies and television satires.

I’ve still never been there, but finding a Portland beer in my area was exciting all the same. Mactarnahan’s Spine Tingler did, indeed, send tingles up my spine.

Not only was it a Belgian tripel — a favorite style of mine — but it was made in one of America’s truly great beer cities. So, it was something of a letdown to realize that it wasn’t.