Cans, bottles and kegs make a difference. Example: Pabst Blue Ribbon in the can is a horrible trailor trash beer that only my soon to be deceased grandfather would drink willingly. That very same beer coming out of the tap is somehow light and buttery with a clean finish.

I don't understand why that is, but it helps make sure my favorite bar stays in business.

Well after reading about the seasonal beers I picked up some Sam Adam's Winter Lager and some 2 Below from New Belgium. The Sam Adams was about what I would expect from a nice bold beer. The 2 Below really impressed me with the taste, especially the after taste. Very unique to me as nothing I've tried even comes close to it. Overall, good suggestions guys I've been buying beer like crazy lately to give them all a try.

Personally, from what I've tried I have to say that 1554 and Hoegaarden are my top picks. I was quite disappointed on my last trip to the store they didn't have any Hoegaarden in stock. :(

I tried Wychwood Hobgoblin with a mate a few weekends back and it was bloody awful. We always try to throw in something new or different on weekend drinking sessions and that one was a stinker. It's a damn pretty beer in a sweet bottle, though. :)

I'm not huge on Fat Tire, but it's not bad at all and I do drink it on occasion. I remain a fan of most things New Belgium (except for that somewhat crappy seasonal fall brew I tried that they put out this year). Those of you who like 1554 should try to get your hands on some Köstritzer Schwarzbier if it's available in your area. It's a black beer with the same style of heavy flavor, but most decidedly better. Dunno where all you might find it on tap in the US, but you should at least be able to find it as an import some places, at worst.

So long as I can get a Weihenstephaner or Edelweiss hefe, I'm happy. Speaking of which, if you've never tried Edelweiss Hefetrüb, you probably should. The imports are pretty awful compared to the real stuff you get in Austria, but it's still right up there with my favorite hefeweizens, even as a stateside import.

While I am very sympathetic to the bottle>can reflex, I have had some (like 3) great beers from cans. Old Chub being the most notable. Old Chub is a great strong scottish that comes in can and I occasionally sip a little from the can before pouring just for the odd feeling of drinking such a good beer from a can. I know from my beer studies that cans are better than bottles for beer storage on paper but bottling is generally much more cost effective to small specialty brewers because canning operations are usually prohibitively expensive. This leads to quality brews being associated with bottles. Cans aren't a huge problem to me since I genuinely have a problem drinking beer from a bottle or a can any more due to drinking so many bottle conditioned beers. You definitely don't want to drink homebrew/bottle conditioned beers from their original container unless you really like that funky, gritty warmed yeast paste that the last few drinks turn in to on those. Now I also enjoy the pour for the head/aroma exposing of the beer too and advocate pretty much any beer worth drinking be poured into at least a pint glass so that it can be enjoyed in full.
Good canned beer:
Dale's Pale Ale -- great canned pale
Old Chub -- previously mentioned scottish
Double Haul IPA -- Good luck finding this outside Montana, but great IPA nonetheless.
These couple of breweries also offer some other beers in cans, but most of them are not exactly easy to find. There are definitely other beers that are pretty good in cans too. (Like Young's)

Anyway, recent fun beer report: I got 2 4-packs of PranQster (North Coast Brewing Company) from a local Fred Meyer for 2.99 each. I'm pretty sure it was a price mistake since the 4 pack is regularly 7.39 or so, but I was pretty stoked about getting such a good beer for 75 cents a bottle. I would have much rathered it was Old Rasputin from that brewery, but hey, 8 PranQster for $6? Try to beat that deal anywhere but your cellar brew project.

As a finishing note, you people out there should start to look for your regional seasonal winter brews out there. Winter seasonals are some of my favorite beers (and not just for the crazy alcohol % on some of them) because they are nice associative memory of the darker, colder months of the year. The good ones will definitely warm you up.

It's probably impossible to get outside of Belgium (and even over here I think only in some bars, specialized shops) but I drank a "Zwijntje" a few weeks ago.
Its a heavy blonde beer, taste is somewhat reminiscent of Leffe Blonde but with alot more character to it. 8% Vol.

Tried to see if I could find some info about it but all google came up with: the brewery is Brewery Bios, no website.

If I see it, I'll definitely get it.

New tasting report - I figured it was pretty bad to not have tasted such an iconic beer, so I finally tried Pilsner Urquell the other night. I don't know if its the noble hops or what, but it lives up to its reputation and I think it's now probably my favorite pale lager. And with a 6-pack of that purchased, my collection is now up to 30.

I would take a picture of my collection, but I stripped all the labels off the bottles and refilled them with homebrew.

I traded off my last Sam Adams Cherry Wheat for a Sam Adams Octoberfest and the Octoberfest was excellent. I'm sad that it's a seasonal and that I can't go pick up some more. The next time I'm at the beer store I'll try to get some of the winter seasonals instead.

I had a smoked beer last week (I don't recall the name and I'm not at home to check it, but it was German) and I couldn't finish it. I even had it with a steak. It was just too much like drinking charcoal. In the end, I made a pot of chili and poured it in there since I didn't want to just pour it out into the sink.

I did about the same thing with my first smoked. It was an alaskan brew I tried at a brewfest and I thought it was horrible.
I suggest you try and get ahold of a Stone Brewing Smoked Porter before you totally make up your mind on the style though.
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/90

Harpoon Winter Warmer has a pleasant bite.

The Sam Winter Lager is tasty as well. On that note, bed.

edit: the Sam's creates a beautiful pour. I spent too much time framing and not enough clicking so the head has deflated a little, but this is what it looks like:

Tried a Three Floyd's Gumballhead tonight; it's a red wheat beer. *Very* tasty, like everything else I've had from that brewery. If you don't like hops, you won't like it - there's a lot in there. Pretty classic wheat beer in terms of flavor, nice aroma, good citrusy taste to it. Probably hard to find outside of the Midwest (the brewery is in Muenster, Indiana - right by exciting and beautiful Gary!) but worth it if you come across it.

Tried (Bierra) Moretti last night at a local Italian restaurant. Good, definitely drinkable, but nothing special. Just an average pilsener that happens to go pretty well with a woodfired margherita pizza.