Great topic! Too bad my 8 months deployed over here in the Middle East has prevented me from enjoying the fine life with good beer. Hopefully, only 4 more months and I get to try some of the suggestions on this thread.
In New England (my home is in Vermont) there are a lot of great Brew-pubs. My favorite beers usually come fresh from the pubs. In fact, if I travel to a new city and I want some food, the first thing I do is try to find a brew-pub. If the town has one, I'm there!
If I must choose a bottled beer, I always go for a micro-brew. Before I left, the one I was trending towards was Harpoon's Munich Dark. Harpoon has a brewery about 10 minutes from my house which makes it convenient to pick an occasional growler to go from their tap.
Cheers! Or since this is a Bavarian-style Dunkel, "PROST!"
Kevin
BTW - If you are ever in Las Vegas, you should go over to the Las Vegas Hofbräuhaus. They actually are affiliated with the "original" Hofbräuhaus in Munich and ship their kegs over from there. You are basically drinking the same beer you would if you were sitting in Munich. It is pricy but the food is great and the beer even better. Especially the Dark Beer (Hofbräu Dunkel). Check out their link http://www.hofbrauhauslasvegas.com/