BEER FREAKS these days remind me of Dug the Talking Dog in the animated movie, "Up," whose attention was so easily - squirrel! American brewing is thriving precisely because of its brash creativity, so there's a lot to love in the hundreds of new, offbeat varieties that fill the shelves every week. Yet, sometimes, the Next Great Thing means we miss a perfectly good beer that's been staring us right in the face all along.