My advice to anyone playing along, give yourself a little time after this one because these brews pack a whallop. Nothing like a good buzz to start your week off right. Anyway, medalists take the honors and today we begin with the Great Divide Titan IPA, a beer that caught me off-guard in round one as we’d had a few days of softer beers. For you lighter quaffers out there, grab some spicy buffalo wings to temper the smack of the hops from Great Divide (yeah, I know you usually use the beer to temper the wings but trust me here). The Titan lives up to its billing, making it a slow sipper and a bit more filling than many of the other beers but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you’re watching a game/fight/race, you wanna watch it, you don’t wanna be running back and forth because you downed your Bud Lite in 30 seconds. The best thing I can say about the Titan is it’s a man’s beer. A sit-down-in-the-man-cave-and-watch-sports beer. Despite its power it is the best at what it is, and that deserves praise.

Of course what is a good strong ale matchup without Stone? They pack the hops in and even throw a little twist in with their Stone Arrogant Bastard Oaked Ale. Wow I had forgotten about this beer until I tried it again and it is strong but in a totally different way. Where the Titan has knockout hop power the Arrogant Bastard has staying power that keeps this beer fresh sip after sip, bottle after bottle (I didn’t get to more than 2 bottles). Normally I detest barley wine as it takes the worst part of beer and the worst part of wine and jumbles it together, yet somehow Stone has managed to do just the opposite. This beer has the wooden and fruity advantages of the wine while still maintaining the spicy and carbonated body of a good beer. The result is a must-try that is unique and amazing, complex without being snobby, and flavorful without being overwhelming. I welcome your comments on this fantastic match below, as I’m sure by voting for one of these some people will feel slighted.

UPDATE: Click Here for Match Results!