Most Unique New Beer Styles of 2008

Gose
Gose is an ale the orginates from Leipzig, Germany. It is very similar to a Berliner Wiesse. except that it sometime in the late 1800 it began gaining its lactic sourness from lactic acid rather than spontaneous fermentation and bacteria. It is also very similar to a Witbier. Currently 3 German Breweries produce it.
The Gose I had came from Herkimer Brewpub of Minneapolis, which focuses on German style lagers. I had the Gose Speziell Wizen. It is brewed with 50% wheat malt and is spiced with coriander and orange peel (Witbier.) It is then spiked with lactobacillius and salt (Berliner Wiesse, well at least the LactoB)
The sample I had at GABF came very ill advised. Surprisingly, many of the booths without representatives present came with servers knocking the beers they were serving, which I thought was awful. Granted, this beer is not for everyone, but after getting a small sample for starters, I asked for more. It was deliciously sour, and feety like a farmhouse ale, with nice spiciness and lactic tang in the finish. Sounds like a homebrew experiment ready to happen.

Stone Beer
This beer Boscos brews at its Memphis and Nashville locations. Its origins can be traced to the Rauchenfels brewery in Neustadt, Germany, which is also featured in Michael Jackson's the Beer Hunter series. Known as a stone beer, or stien bier, large stones are heated over a beechwood fire and lowered into the into the wort during the brewing process, where the steam and sizzling caramelizes and slightly burns the sugars present in the wort.
Boscos Famous Flaming Stone Beer uses pieces of pink Colorado granite are heated to 700 degrees in Boscos wood fired oven. It is a light, creamy and softly caramelized beer.

Milk Stout
Also known as a Sweet Stout, this is a stout containing Lactose, which is generally unfermentable by ale yeasts, and adds a lot of residual sweetness to an otherwise dry beer style. This beer was supposed to be very nutritious, and even was recommended to nursing mothers in the late 19th century.
The milk stout I had this year came from Three Floyds Brewing Co. from Hammond, Indiana. The Moloko Plus, as it is called, was very rich. It is very sweet up front, like milk chocolate, with caramel, cocoa and vanilla in the finish. It is jet black, and the texture is very silky, like velvet.

Eisbock
The Eisbock beer style was discovered by pure accident. Its origins date to 1890 Klumbach, Germany where the casks holding just finished Doppelbock bier froze over night. Upon removing ice from the partially frozen barrels, a new, fortified bock beer was discovered. Ranging from 9 to 14 percent ABV, this is a strong, warm and rich bock. Pretty brilliant accident, but not one for the light of heart.
I tried several Eisbocks this year, the best being Aventinus. , which was much warmer and sweeter than their delicious Wizenbock. I also tried Klumbacher , a smoother but less complex and flavorful version, and one by Lodi Brewing Company., which was very light, sweet, warm and much more toasty and caramelly.

100% Rye Beer
Granted, I've tried dozens of rye beers before. The use of rye in beer can be traced back to Regensburg, Germany, where a version of a Dunkelwizen was brewed with rye instead due to the lack of wheat in the area. Today, whether it be a traditional Roggenbier, a RyePA, or a Saison with Rye, its use is prevalent, and it adds a unique spicy character to beer.
100% rye beer? I didn't even know this was possible. I thought it was similar to wheat and other adjuncts, which lack the proper chemical makeup (in particular, the diastatic power ) to convert the starches to sugars. Well, not the case. But I could still see brewing with 100% rye to be a unique challenge. Most recipes I've seen go as high as 50-60%, but that's about it. The stuff is without hulls and has a high beta-glucan content, which makes for a long, complicated and sticky sparge.
Amazingly, there were a couple of 100% rye beers this year. Bear Republic's EZ Ryder stands out as the most drinkable, a spicy, doughy and refreshing all rye beer. I'm guessing they used a special variety of rye that has a much less subdued flavor, because although I expected it to be overpowering, it was quite sessionable.