For Cantillion, a small family-owned brewery located in Belgium's booming capital city of Brussels, tradition is upheld in the very literal sense of the word; and while "traditional" may suggest "sameness" in some circles, the lambic beers from Cantillon are among the most unique in the world.

While Cantillon was founded in 1900, many of the recipies and much of the equipment used today is original from inception. This is the only lambic brewery in Brussels of many that relocated from Payottenland in the 19th century, deemed "the most visitable Brewery in Belgium and for many the most memorable," by CAMRA's Good Beer Guide Belgium. 

With a 99 on RateBeer and an A- on Beer Advocate, Fuller's London Porter is generally regarded as one of the best in class when it comes to the standard of the style. This is a traditional porter, much milder and softer spoken than the Oflabrikken I reviewed previously. Tradition is, for all intents and puroses, sensible in this case - that London is the home of the porter.

Wikipedia provides some background on the style:

Porter or sometimes London Porter is a dark-coloured style of beer. The history and development of stout and porter are intertwined. The name was first used in the 18th century from its popularity with the street and river porters of London. It is generally brewed with dark malts. The name "stout" for a dark beer came about because a strong porter may be called "Extra Porter" or "Double Porter" or "Stout Porter". The term "Stout Porter" would later be shortened to just "Stout".

Oskar Blues has turned quite a few heads over the last year or two by doing something most quality brewers would have never dreamed of - putting their highly regarded premium craft brew in a can. So I'm going to do something I haven't done before, and keep this one brief: I'm going to let the brewer tell their own story. The below video is from Oskar Blues, available on their website.

Call it good luck, good fortune, or even serendipity. I'll call it an awesome idea on an otherwise average Sunday afternoon. That idea was to embark on a journey to North Arlington, NJ following a string of recommendations and some stellar B.A. reviews of the Copper Mine Pub.

North Arlington is about a 25 minute drive from home- a little further than my wife and I like to travel for our average bar; not to mention the drive to North Arlington takes us through some of the less-desirable areas of NJ. But this is a spot that has been on my 'to-do' list for some time, and as I soon found out, this place is far from average.

While traveling down the main thoroughfare, the small gray building on the corner of Ridge Rd and Crystal St would have been easy to miss if it wasn't for the bold blue awning I recognized from the B.A. profile page. The Copper Mine has a modest gravel driveway off the side street amidst a strangely barren, sort of industrial suburbia. Perhaps augmented by the quiet tendencies of a Sunday, the whole area was empty - all except for the ominous, towering monolithic presence of a bizarre mechanical lift that overlooked the site from across the street. As we abandoned our car, I wondered if the mechanized beast would awake from its slumber to swallow our vehicle- indemnification for our disruptive arrival; a legitimate concern, I assure you.