In this week's installment of BR, I sampled five beers, four from mid-Atlantic states - one of which has Maryland ties. Along with those four mid-Atlantic beers is a West Coast brew that came to me on the recommendation of a home-brewer I know.

Let's work our way through them, from best to worst, the worst this week being an innocuous beer that, while not bad, is nothing special...

Stone IPA
Stone Brewing Co.
Escondido, CA
Grade: 9.0

The Stone IPA, brought to you by the same people that brew Arrogant Bastard Ale, starts off with a pleasing, hoppy, floral aroma, and finishes with a floral, citrussy flavor with a hint of bitterness in the aftertaste.

When poured, this IPA has a nice and rich, smoky golden color, with good, even carbonation.

This was truly one of the better IPA's I have had. I highly recommend this beer for the pale ale fan.

Hop Hog India Pale Ale
Lancaster Brewing Co.
Wilkes-Barre, PA
Grade: 7.8125

This is an extremely drinkable IPA (not quite on par with the Stone IPA, but worth the money for a six) that's lightly aromatic with hints of copper and hops. The beer is flavored with caramel overtones with a touch of hoppy bitterness in the aftertaste.

When poured, the Hop Hog has a beautiful, rich amber color, which might be considered by some to be a touch on the dark side for a pale ale. While the beer carries a nice head while in the glass, the body of the beer comes off as over-carbonated.

Stoudt's Scarlett Lady ESB
Stoudt's Brewing Co., Ltd.
Adamstown, PA
Grade: 7.625

Brought to you by the nation's first female brew-master, Stoudt's produces a respectable bitter with an underwhelming caramel aroma touched with bitterness at the back of the nose. As with any quality bitter, the Scarlett Lady ESB is indeed bitter, with the contrasting sweetness of caramel in the beer's aftertaste.

The Scarlett Lady has a beautiful, deep coppery color and is evenly carbonated.

Rugged Trail Nut Brown Ale
Troeg's Brewing Co.
Harrisburg, PA
Grade: 7.5

This very drinkable but brown ale brewed in the capital of Pennsylvania with an ABV in the 4.5% range is the brew for the person who wants more than one beer, but doesn't want to get stinking drunk too quickly.

It has a very nice, very caramel infused aroma which compliments its smoky, caramel flavor and coffee finish.

Like any good brown, the Rugged Trail is a rich amber-brown.

The beer's biggest flaw is that when poured, the amount of carbonation makes it look like soda.

Fordham Copperhead Ale
Fordham Brewing Co.
Dover, DE
Grade: 6.125

Fordham Brewing is the parent company of the Ram's Head bars/road houses in Maryland. Until recently, the Ram's Head in Annapolis brewed on premises. Now all of the restaurant's brewing is handled at the Dover brewery.

Overall, this is a fairly innocuous beer, flavored largely by what I suspect are copper kettles, thus receiving the Copperhead name. There was an almost nonexistent aroma touched with the vague odor of copper, and the beer itself had no character. It drinks, from a flavor standpoint, like anyone of a number of other indistinguishable ales out there.

The best things that can be said about this beer is that it has a nice coppery color and is well carbonated.