If there’s anything good that has come from our current economic Armageddon, it’s the opportunity to cry in our beer. Sure, this space has mostly been a forum to whine in our wine, and you can certainly scream in your scotch, rant in your rum, or vent in your vodka. But crying in your beer -- well, that’s as Amurkin as Mom, apple pie, and driving while texting your best friend about all the idiots on the road.

Not just any beer, though. As all true hopheads know, there are plenty of artisanal alternatives to the insipid brews of Anheuser-Everything, beers produced to maximize flavor, character, and complexity rather than sell 10 bazillion gallons to thirsty suburbanites at 7-Eleven.

Of course, that doesn’t make choosing among these high-quality brewskis any easier. Go to your average liquor store and you’ll find more obscure craft beers lurking on the shelves than there are Goldman Sachs executives sucking at the taxpayer tit. So to make sobbing in your suds a more satisfying and buzz-worthy endeavor, we hereby present this small roster of first-rate craft beers -- all ales of various types, because even hopheads have to know their limits.

We’ll start with India Pale Ales, a name derived from the practice of British brewers in the late 18th Century to boost the level of hops and alcohol in their beers so they’d survive shipping to such far-off outposts of the British empire as India. So IPAs tend to be big, bold, manly-man brews, the kind that would mug a wussy brew like Corona in an alley.

Manlier still are the “double” or “Imperial” IPAs, like Maximus from Lagunitas Brewing Co., Mad River’s Steelhead and Maharaja from Colorado’s Avery Brewing Co. The Maximus is typical of that style, with malty, floral aromas, a deep bronze color, thick, creamy texture, and flavors of fruit and spice with sweetish caramel overtones. Steelhead cranks it up even more, a dark viscous brew with earthy, nutty, cherry flavors and faintly flora finish.

The Maharaja is something different, smelling more astringent and grainy, with spicy notes reminiscent of Belgian beers and a pronounced but pleasantly bitter aftertaste. Great Divide Brewing’s Titan IPA does the Belgian spice and citrus thing too, and though lighter in heft, it is equally intense in hoppy flavor.

On the lighter side is Rogue Brewery’s Dead Guy Ale. It’s an easy-drinking brew that starts off with toasty and delicately caramel aromas, then moves on to crisp, cleansing hop flavors. On one of our brutal South Florida summer days, nothing refreshes like an ice-cold Dead Guy.

Sierra Nevada is not exactly a boutique brewery, but its signature Pale Ale stands its own against any artisanal competition. It’s an elegant brew, light on the palate, with a pleasing amber color, well-balanced between hops and malt, and the kind of beer you can drink without feeling overpowered.

Of all the beers guzzled -- I mean, sampled -- for this tasting, the hands-down favorite was Stone Brewing Co.’s Arrogant Bastard Ale. “Luscious” describes it quite nicely, bursting with nutty, toffee-like aromas and a complex array of flavors -- nutty, toasty, spicy, malty -- that fill the mouth and are far too compelling to, you know, cry into.

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