Photo: Jenene Chesbrough

Hop heads are hopelessly addicted to Humulus lupulus, the flowering vine whose cones lend beer its piney, floral and even marijuana-like aromas and flavors.

To sate hop lovers' jones, we turn to the West Coast. There, California brewers are engaged in an arms race to craft bigger, burlier double India pale ales like Russian River's wondrous Pliny the Elder, Stone's Ruination and Port Brewing's heavenly Hop-15 Ale (above).

Based in San Marcos, Calif., Port Brewing is helmed by beer magician Tomme Arthur. Though the funky Belgian ales he brews under the Lost Abbey imprint are fabulous, we're happiest when he's hoppiest.

T-shirt season has arrived at last, and with it the eagerness to trade belly-warming barleywines for more sprightly sippers: namely hoppy India pale ales, whose floral flavors and aromas recall lush spring blooms. Sure, burly, nap-inducing IPAs like Dogfish Head's 120 Minute or Russian River's Pliny the Elder garner megawatt attention, but IPAs need not be monstrously potent to be monstrously delicious.

This principle is fully understood by Bend, Oregon's decades-old Deschutes Brewery. Its newest spring-summer seasonal, the Red Chair IPA (available in draft or 22-ounce bottles), demonstrates the flavorful results of restraint. Named after a favorite lift at Oregon ski resort Mount Bachelor, the Red Chair pours radiant copper, releasing a heady perfume of citrus, black tea and fresh baked biscuits.

Still, Red's no gnarly mouth-puckerer.

A religious epiphany is sometimes known as "seeing the light." In the beer world, however, it's all about seeing past the light -- Bud Light, that is. Though Budweiser's low-calorie brew is America's most frequently slung beer, now that craft breweries make up our country's fastest growing suds sector, pint-sized prophets are creating converts.

This Slashfoodie's brew-piphany occurred in the late '90s on a tour of Berkeley, Calif.'s Pyramid Brewery, where a Hefeweizen opened our eyes to the world Beyond Bud. Back in Los Angeles, we began frequenting beer-centric bars like Barney's Beanery, attempting to sample all the beers on their extensive list.

We're not alone in our new faith: Middle school teacher turned beer connoisseur Damico Ponzio was first moved by a Belgian (Triple Karmeliet), but Ommegang's Three Philosophers was the first American craft creation that knocked him out: "It had a boatload of flavor and [was served in] a wine bottle with a cork! I was completely blown away." Since then, Ponzio's become one of millions of people who regularly visit online beer communities like RateBeer.com where beer nerds congregate happily.

Some converts even go on to become apostles. Asked about his "Ah-ha!" moment with beer, Marty Jones' response is immediate: Ballantine India Pale Ale. "My cousin married a member of the Ballantine family and we would have bottles of their IPA," he recalls fondly. Now, as marketing man for the Oskar Blues Brewery (source of beloved canned microbrew Dale's Pale Ale), Jones travels the country "seeking out the unredeemed."

Got a beer that put you on the path to superior suds?

"I have a quote for you," said Green Flash Brewing Co.'s Brewmaster, Chuck Silva. And when the man who hand-crafted one of your favorite beers in the world tells you he has a quote, you listen. "The harder you work, the luckier you are," said Chuck in response to my query of how Green Flash has managed to have such great success in such a short amount of time. "It's not that we've been lucky, it's just that we work hard and we've had good fortune."

Chuck Silva has been Brewmaster with Green Flash for approximately four and a half years now. In that time, Green Flash has grown from a small San Diego brewery to one of national prominence and availability. It's hard to believe, but Mr. Silva wasn't even Green Flash's first Brewmaster (they existed for two years without him), which just shows how instrumental he has been to their success. I was lucky enough to be able to accost Chuck during a Philly Beer Week event at the P.O.P.E. (fully known as the Pub on Passyunk East, which, as a bar, is post worthy in it's own right, but I'm going to stay on task for the time being), and he was polite enough to answer a number of questions regarding his brews.

Sierra Nevada garnered a ton of press after announcing the forthcoming release of the first year-round addition to their brewing line-up in over a decade. I myself got caught up in the hype, but have been playing it cool waiting to give the beer a try. Part of launching a major new addition to your product line is availability, so half the fun was waiting to see when and where I would first find Torpedo Extra IPA available.

Well, last Friday, I was pleasantly surprised when my local corner store had a couple six-packs stashed in their back cooler. With an official launch date of "late January 2009", it took less than a month for Sierra Nevada's latest offering to make its way onto my block. Not too shabby -- I don't particularly live in a craft beer haven -- and definitely a testament to Sierra Nevada's distribution. For taste, Sierra Nevada is all craft, but on the availability side, Sierra Nevada has become almost as ubiquitous as the big boys.

Over the past 28 years, Sierra Nevada has stood as a formidable national alternative to the massive American macro-brewers. When they started in 1980, there was a dignified simplicity to providing just four basic year-round offerings -- Pale Ale, Porter, Wheat and Stout -- styles which have stood as pillars of the craft industry. But recently, simple has shifted towards quaint, and though Sierra Nevada has always offered a cadre of seasonal and limited selections, someone has seemingly decided it's time to up the ante and add a new addition to their previously untouched year-round core. Welcome Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA.

Torpedo Extra IPA instantly separates itself by name alone, sounding a bit flashier than its other yearlong brethren, as if an ad exec in a mesmerizing tie somehow managed to slip one by the old guard. But I'm not sure that's a bad thing. Frankly, I've always been on the fence about Sierra Nevada. Much props for making the microbrew market what it is today and all due respect to their Pale Ale which is trumped only by Sam Adams Boston Lager in the annals of craft beer history, but, for my tastes, Sierra Nevada brews have always seemed a bit standard -- a feeling that has only become accentuated as the craft market has deepened.

This sounds like something Homer Simpson would have a wet dream over. 

1 cup cake flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
3 tablespoons dried buttermilk powder
2 large eggs
3 oz. IPA beer
4 tablespoons melted butter, cooled

The recipe seems rather easy to make. Just make sure you pay close attention to the directions (especially when it comes to making sure you don't overmix and don't overbrown the donuts).