Best beer

i just got into the craft beer thing (i needed some new bad habits) and here's my take:
1. once you get into the microbrews, it's unfathomable you'd ever drink another miller or corona. even the premium mass market stuff like heineken and stella tastes insipid by comparison.
2. bell's (two hearted, oberon, amber)lagunitas and three floyds consistently put out a great product.
3. despite its size and ubiquity, sam adams is also excellent and quite a bit cheaper than the littler brewers. they really have kept up their standards. likewise sierra nevada.
4. keep hearing great things about pliny the elder but haven't found it locally--it's on my must-drink list.

thanks, marty. since we're logrolling here, i agree with you wholeheartedly on the hop/malt balance thing--the trap i think many of these young gun microbrewers fall into is overamping the hops and/or alcohol to give their potions more "character"--the net effect is that they alienate a lot of potential acolytes, whose taste buds just aren't that acclimated to extremes--sorta like a green day fan being exposed to death metal. to which end, i just quaffed at gordon bierch--while i generally eschew all things franchised or cloned, i gotta say their beer is very good--it's accessible without being cloying. damn good brisket, too.