- Dogfish head - Anyone who disagrees is foolish, and I stand behind that. No one said experimental had to be good, it's just experimental.
- Cigar City - definitely some funky stuff coming from them.
- Shorts - I find most of their experimental beers disgusting(key lime pie, etc) but they are out there
- stone can be experimental, Belgo IPA and Belgo RIS come to mind, as do the vertical epics
-Russian River is not, sorry. Absolutely excellent beers, without question world class, and they usually set the curve that everyone else is judged by, but they aren't that experimental. At least not in the top 5
@oldworld, I 1000% completely disagree with you. Jut because you don't see the value in saffron in beer doesn't mean there isn't value there. Clearly some people like it, and it's experimental because no one else out there is doing it: they are experimenting with new things.
I remember listening to Sam from DFH in an interview talk in response to the Left Hand Brewmaster saying "Any monkey can throw 400 pounds of hops in a barrel". To paraphrase Sam: if there actually is some monkey running a brewery that happens to throw 400 pounds of hops in a barrel, and there's a village nearby with people that are willing to pay money for this monkey's beer, then it's a product that is worthy and valuable.
Moral of the story, Dogfish is a thriving brewery, their beers aren't for everyone, and they acknowledge that. But they are definitely experimental, and as long as people continue to pay money for their beer, there is value in their product.
