The white whales of craft beer may be fun to chase, but don't miss out on easier-to-find brews that are just as good.

In Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby-Dick, a mad fisherman named Captain Ahab is consumed by the desire to hunt down the white whale that chomped off his leg. Since then, the white whale has entered the lexicon as a symbol of any rare, nearly unobtainable objects that people feverishly seek out.

Nowhere is this lust for white whales more apparent than in craft beer, where scant supply, limited distribution, and Internet-fueled praise can transform tasty IPAs, imperial stouts, and sour ales into objects of obsession for which driven drinkers will gladly sacrifice a leg. While Russian River’s Pliny the Younger, the Alchemist’s Heady Topper, and the Bruery’s Black Tuesday are all brilliant beers, the effort and cost required to obtain them borders on the absurd—can any one beer possibly be worth such an investment?

That’s for you to decide. But even if you do chase cult releases, you’ll want to round out your drinking with some easier-to-obtain brews. Here are 10 of craft beer’s biggest white whales and—should your hunt be unsuccessful—their suitable replacements.

Written by Joshua M. Bernstein (@JoshMBernstein)