Paste Magazine's most recent "List of the Day" surveys the 25 best American breweries of the decade. Just hours after it was posted, a friend asked us what we thought. Overall, we think it's pretty solid. We've had beer from all of the breweries, some more than others, especially Paste's picks for the two top spots, Dogfish Head and Allagash. Still, we have a few beefs...

We wouldn't have placed Victory or Founder's in the top five. Those spots should have been reserved for cutting-edge breweries like Lost Abbey and Russian River. Similarly, we love Weyerbacher but probably would have placed Bell's in its top 10 spot. And Jolly Pumpkin way down at 19? We don't think so.

Perhaps going beyond the bounds of Paste's rating method, we would have  listed Brooklyn, Stone, and Samuel Adams much higher for their widespread efforts to inform American drinkers that there's more to beer than Bud, Coors, and Michelob, as well as raise the status of beer in general. We also would have tried to squeeze Flying Dog, Left Hand, Troegs, and Duck Rabbit somewhere into the top 25.

Beyond that, if we could have done a Top 40, we would have tried to get O'Dell's, The Bruery, Boulevard, Full Sail, Captain Lawrence, 21st Amendment, Sly Fox, Anderson Valley, New Holland, Clipper City, Bear Republic, and Elysian on the list, but it would have been very difficult to decide who goes where. Since many of the aforementioned breweries are up and coming, we have a good feeling several of them will be on next decade's list.

For those of you who don't have the patience to click, below is Paste's list. We won't take the time here to argue the reasons for our gripes, but let us know what you think in the comments and we'll continue the conversation there.

1. Dogfish Head (Milton, DE)
2. Allagash (Portland, ME)
3. Avery (Boulder, CO)
4. Victory (Downington, PA)
5. Founder's (Grand Rapids, MI)
6. AleSmith (San Diego, CA)
7. Russian River (Santa Rosa, CA)
8. Three Floyds (Hammond, IN)
9. Weyerbacher (Easton, PA)
10. Lost Abbey (San Marcos, CA)
11. Bell's (Kalamazoo, MI)
12. Lagunitas (Petulama, CA)
13. Deschutes (Bend, OR)
14. Rogue (Ashland, OR)
15. Samuel Adams (Boston, MA)
16. Oskar Blues (Lyons, CO)
17. New Glarus (New Glarus, WI)
18. New Belgium (Ft. Collins, CO)
19. Jolly Pumpkin (Dexter, MI)
20. Stone (Escondido, CA)
21. North Coast (Fort Bragg, CA)
22. Ommegang (Cooperstown, NY)
23. Brooklyn (Brooklyn, NY)
24. Sierra Nevada (Chico, CA)
25. Great Divide (Denver, CO)

In the September/October issue of Imbibe, the editors selected their 99 favorite beers in different categories, such as seasonals or beers to drink with a burger. In "Imbibe Vs. Beerspotter," Y&H's Beerspotter takes each list to task.

Offer a beer for a limited time, and beer lovers will chase it, as was the case last spring when Troegs Nugget Nectar and Bell's Hopslam lit up Beerspotter's Twitter feed like someone caught the Real World-ers sipping it. I look forward to them every year, as well as the nominated Anchor Christmas Ale and Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale.

But Imbibe left out at least two important seasonal styles: doppelbocks and barleywines. Brewed by German monks for sustenance during Lent, doppelbocks are as central to spring as March Madness (and for NFL fans, February's postpartum depression). Ayinger Celebrator is the standard-bearer for the style, while the Lager Heads have their eye on the rarer Weltenburger Asam Bock. Both, though, will fill your belly with raisiny and chocolate-cake malts while you're holding out for penitence.

Snifter-worthy barleywines show up at summer's end and linger until the last days of winter. They're fireside beers, often with malt and hops both pushed to a balance extremes, like extinguishing an overly spicy dish with a gob of mayo. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot and Anchor Old Foghorn are stand-bys; Bigfoot boasts an apricot sweetness while Old Foghorn subtly plays out with the dark fruit and anise notes of Anchor's Christmas offering. If your cognac habit is outpacing your bank account, switch to barleywines and you'll never look back.

What's your favorite seasonal? We'll never know if you don't tweet @Beerspotter.

Imbibe picks:

• Alesmith Yulesmith

• Anchor Christmas Ale
• Avery Kaiser
• Delirium Noel
• De Ranke Pere Noel
• Dogfish Head Punkin Ale
• Bell's Hopslam
• Sierra Nevada Celebration
• Widmer W Series
• Troegs Nugget Nectar

Last week's Beerspotter column about Smuttynose IPA mentioned that the beer shined in a blind tasting against old standbys, such as Bell's Two-Hearted Ale, and was mistaken across the board for Stone IPA. It's exactly discoveries like this that make beer tastings so much fun — sometimes you'll find a new favorite and, in any case, you get to drink good beer with friends.

So here are the notes from my recent IPA tasting, in chronological order. We tasted the beers blind and informally, with no scoring system, and the bottles ere based on availability, not necessarily my top choices. Taste is opinion, and as with sports or politics or music, arguing is half the fun. So sound off in the comments section or yell at me directly on Twitter.

• Stone. Poured golden with a frothy, laced head. A strong grapefruit aroma wafted over the sweetness of golden raisins and dessert wine. My notes say "Stone?", but as this was the first taste of the night, I wasn't convinced.

• Highland Kashmir. Not available in D.C., this is an Ashville, N.C. beer that my friend brought up. It was light in flavor, on the malty side, with lemony sweetness. Fine as an all-day beer but a lightweight in this competition.
• Sierra Nevada Torpedo. A few of us identified this one by its giant citrus flavor, courtesy of Sierra's signature cascade hops. It's a heavier beer with a brown pour, which stood out from the first two.
• Great Divide Titan. This was different than I remembered: big, fruity, and floral, with a sweetness like white wine. Some funky stuff going on in the nose, kind of a clash between all the hops. The consensus: busy and delicious.
• Anderson Valley Hop Ottin. This beer was a definite outlier: a dark, chestnut body with a fat head the color of buttercream frosting. Heavy malts put it closer to a big red ale like Bear Republic Red Rocket than an IPA.
• Smuttynose. I can't say it was best in show, but given its dark-horse stature (none of the panelists had tried it recently) and the near-unanimous agreement that it was Stone IPA, the takeaway lesson from this tasting was that Smuttynose IPA is awesome. Fresh grapefruit hoppiness with an aggressively dry finish.
• Bell's Two-Hearted Ale. The reason Smuttynose can't be the hands-down winner. Everyone picked this out of the blind tasting with no problem: the huge citrus flavors, the twin peaks of sweet malt and quenching hops....This is a beer to bring home to Mom.

If you've done a tasting recently, let me know in the comments. My question for everyone: What style would you like to see done next? Pilsners, doppelbocks, embarrassing product tie-ins?

A sixer of Dale's to go — on your desert island

I've had, and still do have, a proclivity toward lists and the ranking of favorites. High Fidelity inspires desert island-record discussions. Fantasy football drafts are a drug. And as tykes, my brother and I would sit cross-legged in the living room, surrounded by sorted mounds of Halloween candy or Pogs (depending on the season) and conduct elaborate trades and negotiations based on our arbitrarily prized possessions. (Should I be confessing this in print? If I ever run for public office, let's pretend this didn't happen.)

The point being: I'm no different today. So when I see the Alström brothers of Beer Advocate fame enumerating their top five desert island beers alongside a profile in The Boston Globe, I start getting ideas. Building a desert island list is a delicate task. With records, you need to take into account all the different styles, eras, and at least one sentimental favorite. You probably want some reggae in there, being on an island. So while ranking Pogs may be less nuanced, picking just five beers to drink for all of sand-locked eternity seems unfair, if not impossible. Or in other words, fun.

Like records, my favorite beers change frequently — probably every time I walk into a beer store. But here's my outline, the prototypical desert island beer list. And despite the urge to apply a beach theme, I have one rule: nothing with a lime in it. Ever.

1. The go-to quaff. You need one lighter beer, a refreshing lager you can drink by the case while watching the game (better believe my desert island gets NFL Sunday Ticket). This beer is also necessary for pairing with the fresh seafood your monkey butlers bring in off the trawler every morning. My go-to here is Victory Prima Pils, or in fantasy land, I'd take Pilsner Urquell, unfiltered and fresh from Plzeň. But no, if I really have to pick just one, it's Terrapin Rye Pale Ale from Athens, Ga. It's as light as Tahitian sand and bristling with dry rye flavor. Terrapin doesn't ship to D.C. yet, but I'm on their case about it.
2. IPA, at least one. What's a man without hops? Sad and alone on a desert island, that's what. But if there's a Bells Two-Hearted Ale or a Dale's Pale Ale in my coconut shell, I'm doing all right.
3. Sentimental favorite #1: big and hoppy. As with Jason Alström, I have to have some Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye. It's a dark, spicy beast with enough hops to put your average IPA to shame.
4. Something for the palate.You're going to want to invite guests over to the desert island, and you'll need something classy to pair with a fine cheese plate. Something in the Belgian style seems in order; I'd go with a trappist like Rochefort 8, St. Bernardus Abt 12, or a saison like Dupont.
5. Sentimental favorite #2: mellow and complex.I'm still lacking in slow-sipping beers, so I'm leaning toward a double IPA or barleywine. My choice here at the moment is Head Knocker from the Vintage 50 restaurant and brewpub in Leesburg. It's a lighter, golden take on an English barleywine, with a honey aroma and a sweetly smooth finish. The beer is now retired, but brewer Bill Madden will open brewpub Mad Fox in the fall. On my fantasy island, it's delivered in fresh casks via helicopter.
6. The cheating sixth beer. Come on, you knew it was coming. Who can pick just five beers? My cheating sixth: Fullers London Pride, the ultimate English bitter, in all its quaffable, buttery glory.

So fellow Beerspotters, let's hear it. What are your top five (okay six) desert island beers?