I had to be in Rome today (for my grandfather's funeral - please raise a pint to him, wherever you are), so I decided to take route 26 toward home instead of the Thruway to Canastota. That meant a chance to stop at Kraig's Kegs in Sherrill to browse their excellent selections.
I wound up buying a six pack of Flying Dog Horn Dog barleywine. I tried a bit tonight but stopped after just a sip for two reasons. First, I noticed a lot of "stuff" floating in the bottle. It looked like bits of hops suspended in the dark, coppery brew. Usually beers with sediment give some kind of indication - such as a "pour carefully" warning; I didn't see one on the bottle. A little research online led me to others who've found the sediment, so I assume it's intentional. The other thing that stopped me was my itching eyes and runny nose. I was having an allergic reaction to something. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the beer, but I poured the remaining 11 ounces into a sealed container and I'll try again tomorrow to verify that.
I also bought a couple of English brews in single bottles from the Black Sheep Brewery run by Paul Theakston (a good article about Theakston and the brewery is here). The beers I got are the Black Sheep Ale (a bitter) and the Riggwelter (a strong ale; the name means a sheep that's fallen on its back and can't get up). I haven't tried them yet but I'll update the site when I do.
Finally, I picked up a single bottle of Maibock from Smuttynose; I have enjoyed their other special beers (especially the "Smutt'nator" double bock) and I'm looking forward to sampling this one.