So many beers, So little time…From special collaborations and craft beer one-offs to exciting new fall and winter seasonals, Newbies is your essential map to the “best of the best” and the hottest new craft beers rolling out each week …

So welcome to another edition of Newbies – your guide to great new craft beer releases!

Punishing Your Senses Never Tasted So Good (Bellaire, MI) – That’s the tag line the fine folks at Short’s Brewing are using to explain their latest release and we’re taking them at their word. Bludgeon Yer Eye is their 6.2% ABV Black IPA that’s brewed with the onset of winter in mind and it should be hitting retail this week. Just be careful – we’re begging you!

Time to Don Your Gay Apparel (Fort Collins, CO) – With Thanksgiving soon upon us, New Belgium Brewing is stepping into the holidays in a big way with the return of a popular winter seasonal. Named after the Flemish word for raspberries, Frambozen is 6.5% ABV Raspberry Brown Ale that’s available now and up through the New Year.

A New Frontier Next Year (Denver, CO) – In early 2014 to kick off its 20th anniversary year, Great Divide Brewing Company will release Lasso IPA, a beer they deem “the new frontier of India Pale Ale.” Lasso makes its debut at 5% ABV, the lowest in the Great Divide portfolio. Brewed with a roundup of Columbus, Centennial, and Cascade hops, this sessionable release boasts the same bold character that IPA fans expect. Available in 6-packs and draft starting in early January, Lasso will join Titan IPA, Hercules Double IPA, and the seasonal Rumble Oak Aged IPA in Great Divide’s highly respected family of India Pale Ales.

More Canned Beer for You! (Comstock, MI) – Bells Brewery has announced that they’ll be canning two of their beloved flagships, Two Hearted Ale and Oberon Ale. They will be available in 16-ounce four-packs beginning in late April 2014. Both designs will feature familiar images, but the Two Hearted can will also bring back a local Kalamazoo artist’s illustration from a previously retired label first introduced in the late 1990s.

The Bruery Releases Another Fancy Beer (Placentia, CA) – Our friends at The Bruery don’t want for ambition and they have proven that again this past weekend when they returned to a popular Belgian-style hybrid. An intensely tart and funky beer, Rueuze is their take on a Gueuze-style ale that combines three different vintages of their barrel-aged sour blonde ale. This limited edition specialty is currently available at The Bruery Tasting Room until it’s not – so you know what to do.