Monthly Archives: April 2008

Ommegang Rouge: Ommegang collaborates with Bockor on first Flemish sour ale

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Courtesy of Brewery Ommegang

(Bellegem-Kortrijk, BELGIUM) – Brewery Ommegang has been working with Brouwerij Bockor in Belgium on a Flemish sour red ale to be made available on tap in the States later this year. The beer will be authentically Belgian, having gone through spontaneous fermentation and oak aging for 18 months right at Bockor’s facility. This is not a blend of different vintages, notes Larry Bennett, Ommegang Marketing Director; it is “straight from the tuns.”

Bennett describes the flavor profile of the beer, which will be called Ommegang Rouge, as, “tart with a bit of green apple aroma and taste, with notes of dark berries and cherries [...]” The brewery was eager to take on a partnership with Bockor, who runs an operation long known for producing Flemish sours, to fill the sour ale gap in Ommegang’s current lineup. Brewmaster, Phil Leinhart, has made multiple trips to Belgium to help Bockor in the process of making this beer.

Bennett notes that Ommegang Rouge, coming in at 5.5% ABV, will be available on tap either late this summer or in early fall. If it is eventually bottled, it wouldn’t be until the end of this year or in 2009.

Struise Black Albert bottles and Pannepot Cafe to arrive in US this summer

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Struise Black Albert - Courtesy of De Struise Brouwers and Ebenezer\'s Pub

[7/28 Update: These timetables may no longer be accurate. Matt Dinges of the Shelton Brothers informed me that some of the Pannepot beers may not arrive before fall. We expect Black Albert to be released as planned mid-late August in time for Ebenezers Belgian Beer Fest. No news on Pannepot Cafe.]

[6/20 Update: Please read the follow-up to this article with new timetables. Note that there is no new information on the Pannepot Cafe.]

(Woesten-Vleteren, Belgium) – De Struise Brouwers will release their masterpiece, Black Albert, in 33cl bottles for U.S. distribution as soon as this summer according to Head Brewer, Urbain Coutteau. Coutteau says that plans are to export 540 cases (24 per case) of 33cl bottles around June 15.

The release of this beer will be much-anticipated considering the attention it has received through beer ratings. In December, Ratebeer ranked it #4 in the world for its Ratebeer Best 2008 competition, which also named De Struise Brouwers the #1 brewers. Beer Advocate also named Struise Black Albert #1 in the world in its magazine back in December. It may be among the best-brewed Russian Imperial Stouts ever though Coutteau contends that Black Albert is a “Royal Belgian Stout.”

One of the first hints of this beer’s release came back in early February when it got label approval in the U.S. with the Shelton Brothers stamp on it. However, there was no mention of the beer being released in the multi-hour Easter podcast interview with Chris Lively, owner of Ebenezer’s Pub, Coutteau, and Carlo Grootaert, Struise Taste Analyst, over at The Brewing Network. Lively confirmed that the beer would be bottled soon at Beer Advocate one month ago.

Staying on the subject of beer forum rumors, it seems that the release of Black Albert has been tied closely to a new Belgian pub in the States. This has been known for some time as Coutteau revealed back in late January that the new Pannepot Cafe could open in Maine late this spring. Unfortunately, the project, a partnership between Struise and Lively, has been delayed. However, in a surprising turn of events, a mysterious new Beer Advocate user, “Mainemove,” posted on the forum this month that the cafe will be opening up in South Portland, Maine, (old Eggspectations spot) as early as June 1st (it’s credible). An 8.5 barrel brewery is also slated to open there by the end of the year. Little is known about the arrangement though the Easter podcast also revealed that world-class beer chef, Sean Paxton, of Homebrewchef.com, has been consulting on the menu.

As for Black Albert, Struise originally brewed the beer for Lively as part of the Belgian Beer Festival held at his top-rated pub in Lovell, Maine back in August. Several lucky patrons and some folks out in California have been able to try the beer since then. The beer has also been semi-exclusively available on tap at Brasserie Erasmus in Brugges, Belgium. According to the brewery’s website, it appears as if Black Albert may be available as early as May 9 for those in Belgium [ed: Can someone translate it?].

Lastly, there was also some word of some Black Albert resting in oak Bordeaux casks when the beer was first reviewed. Coutteau confirmed that this would be available “next autumn” [ed: We'll follow up to to see if that means 2008 or 2009].

Finally, there have been recent plans to import Struise Pannepot Grand Reserva to the states this summer as well though that will have to remain speculation at the moment.

Stay tuned.

Rogue Brewer’s Ale, Yellow Snow IPA, and three XS beers due in 2008

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Rogue Brewer\'s Choice 2008 - Courtesy of Rogue Ales & Spirits Rogue Double Dead Guy Ale - Courtesy of Rogue Ales & Spirits

(Newport, OR) – Rogue Ales has a slew of new beers appearing in new bottles over the course of the next several months. With a little help from Vice President, Jim Cline, we were able to get some of the details. Here they are:

Rogue Brewer’s Ale 2008 is a tribute to Brewer, John Maier’s dog that passed away two years ago, and is a redux of a beer made that year in Brewer’s honor. It was previously bottled under the Johns Locker Stock Series but will carry a new label this year. Brewer’s Ale packs 107 IBU’s and is very similar to the one brewed in 06. The beer will be released as part of the Second Annual Brewer’s Memorial Alefest, a charity event taking place in Newport on May 16-17.

Rogue is also expected to release two more beers under its XS line this summer. Cline had previously mentioned June as a possible release date for Rogue Imperial Porter and Rogue Imperial Special Youngers Bitter though Realbeer reported yesterday that the beers would be due out in July. In either case, it looks like you can expect to see these on shelves around that timeframe. From Realbeer:

Imperial Younger’s Special Bitter was first brewed in 2006 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Horse Brass Pub in Portland, Oregon. Imperial Porter was first brewed for the Oregon Brewers Festival in 2007 and is a strong version of the Mocha Porter.

Rogue Double Dead Guy Ale will be released later in the summer, and most likely, it will be August. It is a big version of the most-reviewed maibock in existence, Rogue Dead Guy Ale. The beer will don a red label and will be released under the XS line. Cline expects that the beer will see limited distribution across the country.

Finally, the brewery will be releasing Rogue Yellow Snow IPA in October. The beer was produced with the skiing culture in mind and will be available somewhat exclusively in those areas. If you look closely at the label, you’ll notice that this beer will be released in 5L bottles.

Rogue Yellow Snow IPA - Courtesy of Rogue Ales & Spirits

Iowa drive-through fast food joint now serving beer

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Iowa Castle Fast Food small


(Des Moines, Iowa) – This is a first. The Des Moines Register has been tracking developments around a fast-food restaurant in Clive, Iowa, that recently got a liqour license allowing it to serve beer at its drive-through window. The Clive city council voted unanimously back on April 17 to award the liquor license to Iowa Castle. The paper published an update today as to how people in the community are worried about it (and understandably so).

[Ed: I'm guessing that this could blow up into national coverage before long. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (or MADD) will almost certainly get involved. For this reason, I don't see any fast food "chain" with even a hint of a reputation touching this...even though they could probably make some decent $$$ off of it.]

Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest Fresh Hop Ale Set to Launch

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Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Fresh Hop Ale - courtesy of Sierra Nevada Brewing

(Chico, CA) – Sierra Nevada Brewing is prepared to release its third fresh-hop ale in the Harvest Series. According to the brewery, Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest Fresh Hop Ale (the most words in beer’s name in history?) “marks the first time in known history that a fresh hop ale has been available in America in the spring since hops are harvested in the fall in the northern hemisphere. The inaugural ale will debut in early May.” The beer is brewed with all-New Zealand hops. More info about the beer can be found in the official press release.

There will be release parties at both The Brickskeller in Washington D.C. on May 15 and at The Drafting Room in Pennsylvania on May 22. It also appears to be available at the new Hopmonk Tavern in Sebastopol, CA.

Hair of the Dog, Tap NY, WBF Raleigh, and SF International Beer Fest Recaps

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Hair of the Dog Earth Day Sale - photo courtesy of the Champagne of BlogsThere were at least four other fairly big events that took place over the weekend.  Here’s a rundown:

Hair of the Dog held its annual Earth Day Sale (swiped the image from the Champagne of Blogs, thanks!). Portlandbeer.org reported that things went just fine. What was available? The usuals: Hair of the Dog Fred, Fred from the Wood (200 cases!), and Adam, all of which were on tap, too.  The brewery was also selling Ruth, Doggie Claws, and its spring 2008 bottling of Blue Dot IPA.

Those in line early were rewarded with “Adam Batch #1 and some .375s of Dave from 1995,” which sold out in less than 15 minutes, according to Portlandbeer.org.  Dave was reportedly selling at $80 a bottle (Take THAT eBay!).  Hair of the Dog Dave has earned the brewery its highest beer ratings to date.  From Ratebeer:

Dave is an English Barley Wine. This beer was produced in 1994, and won first place at the 1998 Toronado Barley Wine Festival. The strength was achieved by taking 300 gallons of Adam and freezing it twice, leaving only 100 gallons.

Oh, and they sold a squash-flavored beer, too.  Beer Advocate has a fruit/vegetable category, but has anyone had, let alone, seen a legitimate vegetable beer??

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Tap New YorkHunter Mountain and the Hudson Valley Beer and Food Festival put on their annual New York-only beer fest, Tap New York.  Over 40 breweries were invited for the two day event but not all, including Southern Tier, made it. There are awards given out at the fest annually and Ithaca Beer Co. came out the big winner this year.

On Saturday, two breweries were honored with the titles, “Best Craft Beer Brewery in New York State” and “Best Craft Beer Brewery in the Hudson Valley.” Ithaca Beer Co. took home the state award and Browns Brewing took home the Hudson Valley award.  Ithaca then won the gold and silver medals for the individual beer awards with Ithaca Ten and Ithaca Flower Power, respectively.  Says the brewery about Ithaca Ten:

[...] our Anniversary Ale.  It’s an exploded version of CascaZilla.The beer has A LOT going on.  Incredibly aromatic, oily and viscous, slightly woody from the judicious use of some  Bamberg smoked malt, with a sweet and juicy flavor, like cherries.  It’s the biggest and hoppiest (read: most expensive) beer we’ve ever brewed [...]

Last year, Lake Placid Pub and Brewery took home both best brewery “Cups” as they’re called.   Judges deemed Southern Tier Unearthly Imperial IPA the best beer in-state at last year’s fest.

For some pics from this year, head over to Beer Bits 2.

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World Beer Festival RaleighAll About Beer Magazine held its first of two “world beer festivals” to take place in North Carolina this year. One was held in Raleigh yesterday. The other is scheduled in Durham in October.

The fest is billed as “the largest celebration of national and international specialty beers in the Southeast…300 beers from 150 breweries [...]” according to the official site. As with many other fests there have been some mixed reviews; you can join the discussion at the North Carolina-based beer community, Beerinator.com.  There’s also coverage over at Musings Over a Pint and My Life on Craft.

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San Francisco International Beer FestivalLastly, the San Francisco International Beer Festival celebrated its 25th year with over 140 breweries bringing 300 beers. Still no reports on this one though I would expect that Jay Brookston or someone else that is local to the area will blog about it soon enough.

Dark Lord Day 2008 troubles overshadow spirit of the event

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Three Floyds Brewpub(Munster, IN) – Reports coming in after Dark Lord Day 2008 indicate that things were still a mess, if not worse than last year because of the sheer number of people that attended. Some people reported waiting in line for over four or five hours only to find that it was sold out by late afternoon. Apparently, there were more in attendance to sell on eBay than ever before with people actually scalping at the event. At least two eBay resellers have put up bottles with asking prices of $75 and $120. One of the resellers, “heyIrule,” was even outted by kp on the Ratebeer forums yesterday for having posted on the site asking around during the week for a place to stay. The Flossmoor Station gathering on the eve of the event sounds like it went off a little more successfully.

Not everyone reported a bad experience though, mostly those who made it early or skipped waiting in line altogether to share beer that they brought with others at the event. This guy had so much fun that he rated 26 beers over the course of two days. As far as what the other breweries brought, Russian River Compunction was reportedly a hit. I’ve been unable to confirm what Goose Island brought to the party but here is a short, incomplete list of what was offered (not including Three Floyds beers):

Russian River Compunction
Pizza Port Black Lie IPA
Firestone Walker Parabola
Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA
Surly Bitter Brewer
Founders Double Dry Hopped Centennial IPA
Founders Devil Dancer
Founders Rubaeus
Beer Valley Black Flag Imperial Stout
Updated:
Goose Island Belgian Blonde
Piece Camel Toe
Two Brothers ?
Flossmoor Station Pretty Big IPA

For some pics of the event and a write-up by someone in attendance, I’ll refer you to the Hoosier Beer Geek.

[op-ed: It sounds like the bottle limit should drop to three or four next year to ensure that more people waiting in line are able to get some. You would also be less likely to find the eBay guys. That said, they'll always be there no matter what because it would still be worth it for them to make $50-80 profit for five hours of their time. Dropping the limit would hopefully place some focus back on the camaraderie aspect of the event.]

Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey 2nd Anniversary Party Details

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Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomme - courtesy of Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey(San Marcos, CA) – The brewery released some extra info this afternoon on the limited beers that will be available at the anniversary party taking place on May 3.  For the rest of the details including pricing, head over to the Lost Abbey Press blog.

Port Brewing 2nd Anniversary – A Hop Bomb of a double IPA just for our second birthday! 9.5% ABV, available in 22oz bottles. (Brand new)

Lost Abbey Inferno Ale ( <– we discussed this one recently ) — Our first release of this devilishly good Golden Strong Ale. 8.5% ABV, available in 750ml cork stopper bottles. (Brand new)

Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomme – Gold medals at the 2007 Great American Beer Festival and the 2008 World Beer Cup! Only 150 cases are available. There will be a maximum of 6 bottles per person. (Top 100 at Ratebeer)

Mikkeller, Alesmith, and Stone Brewing to collaborate on beer this June

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Mikkeller - Denmark Brewery Alesmith Brewing - Brewers of Speedway Stout Stone Brewing Co. - Brewers of Arrogant Bastard

(San Diego, CA) – Owner and Head Brewer of Alesmith, Peter Zien, has mentioned in recent interviews that the Decadence label is the one through which it will be releasing its new beers. Decadence was released on April 1 so that’s it for new Alesmith beers until next year, right? Wrong! Alesmith will actually be part of a collaboration that could be possibly result in the release of a new beer later this year. Continuing its wave of cross-the-pond collaborations with American breweries, Mikkeller will set sail for San Diego in early June to brew up a new batch of beer with two West Coast beer powerhouses. Alesmith is one of them and Stone Brewing is the other.

Mikkel Borg-Bjergsø, Mikkeller Brewmaster, made the announcement this past Sunday confirming that the beer would be available in both the San Diego area and Denmark. Little else will be known about the beer until down the road. Luckily, Mikkel did share some other news: he estimates that around 3000 bottles of Hvedegoop, Mikkeller’s collaboration with Three Floyds Brewing, will be available for those attending Dark Lord Day this coming Saturday. Two pallets are also heading to Denmark. And according to Nick Floyd, owner of Three Floyds, there will be a bottle limit of two per person at $11 a pop.

Mikkel also informs us that a new beer, Mikkeller It’s Alive, will soon be hitting the states:

“‘It’s Alive!’ is a blonde Belgian ale brewed with brettanomyces. It is inspired by Belgian Orval and has a fresh hoppiness and dry finish. The brettanomyces makes this beer live on in the bottle and will develop it greatly over the next couple years.”

Finally, on the Mikkeller front, Tyttebaer, the brewery’s fruity Belgian collaboration with Nogne O of Norway, is still fermenting away and should be available this fall.

Alesmith is still working on its brewery expansion. Zein hopes that the expansion will enable the brewery to produce around 2000 barrels in 2009 and 3000 in 2010. While the expansion will provide relief for some of the 35 distributors currently on a waitlist, it also comes with growing pains. According to an inteview held with Blind Tiger Alehouse last month, Alesmith Summer Yulesmith is typically due out on July 1 though it is not guaranteed that it will brewed this year as a result of the expansion project still being in the works. Zein alluded to the fact that, with the expansion, he’d like to fill out the rest of the West Coast and eventually hit the Midwestern states, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Stone Brewing released its top-rated Imperial Russian Stout about one month ago and news recently filtered out about Stone Vertical 08.08.08 being a lightly hopped Belgian pale ale. Beer fans now wait for details on Stone’s 12th Anniversary Ale due this summer. Stone also traveled to England this year to brew up a special IPA that received quite a bit of buzz in a country less known for its hopped-up ales than its American counterpart.

Southern Tier Creme Brulee and Cherry Saison get approval

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Southern Tier Creme Brulee - Courtesy of Southern Tier

[7/13 Update: This beer hit some stores this weekend and it is FLYING off of store shelves. People are saying good things about it! Contact your local store and stay on top of it...]

[7/1 Update: Paul Cain confirmed that Creme Brulee will begin shipping late next week and could be in some stores at the beginning of the following week (7/14).]

(Lakewood, NY) – Exactly one month ago, we posted that the next beer in the Southern Tier Blackwater Series would called Creme Brulee, a vanilla bean-accented stout. Less than two weeks ago, we also reported on a rumor we had seen that Cherry Saison would be a new offering from the brewery. Roland and Russell later confirmed that this would be the second upcoming beer in the Blackwater Series. We are pleased to report that label approval for both beers came in this morning.

[ed: Paul Cain, Brewhouse Operations, has confirmed that Southern Tier Creme Brulee is scheduled for mid-June and that Southern Tier Cherry Saison is due even earlier, anytime between mid-May and early June.]

Creme Brulee is an imperial stout weighing in at 10% ABV. A combination of two-row malt and dark caramel malt, lactose sugar, and a hop mixture of columbus (kettle) and horizon (aroma) make up this big vanilla stout. Cherry Saison is the second Belgian-style beer from the brewery after its Tripel and the first of the series to incorporate oak aging (done with french staves). The imperial saison is brewed with cherries, Belgian-candied sugar, and Magnum and Sterling hops.
Southern Tier Cherry Saison - Courtesy of Southern Tier

Stone 08.08.08 Vertical Epic is a West Coast IPA-inspired Belgian

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Stone Vertical 08.08.08 - Courtesy of Stone Brewing


(Escondido, CA) – Stone Vertical Epic 08.08.08’s label approval went public this morning. The back label says that the new edition is a “very dry pale golden beer” that was inspired by a recent trip to Belgium. The Stone brewing team received a version of a “renowned Belgian golden triple” that was brewed with the addition of American hops and it impressed them enough to create a variation of it. [ed: Who knows where they went or wants to take a guess?][UPDATED]

Stone Vertical 08.08.08 back- Courtesy of Stone BrewingThe beer is #7 in the landmark series, one that beer people have closely been following over the last several years. The 07 version was a Belgian Strong Ale described as a hybrid of a tripel and a saison.

Some of those wise enough to collect bottles toward the earlier part of the series have been able to make hundreds off of the lineups they’ve collected so far on sites like eBay. Others may wait until December 12, 2012 to drink the beers when each of them are supposed to be at their peak.

The Secret Beers of Lost Abbey: Inferno Ale and Isabelle Proximus

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Lost Abbey Inferno Ale - Courtesy of Lost Abbey

[7/3 Update: We've written about Isabelle Proximus in eight different articles in the last couple months. The beer has now been sold out except for those mysterious cases that will hit various bars around the country. Our only update with respect to that at this time is that we know Monk's Cafe in Philly and Brouwer's Cafe in Seattle will get some.]

Tomme Arthur continues to churn out new beers at a rapid clip, quick enough to the point that the internet is too slow to catch up to him. Seriously, type “Lost Abbey Inferno Ale” into Google and see what you come up with. What about “Isabelle Proximus?” You will only find references to a sold-out April 20 beer event hosted by Certified Executive Chef and beer dinner expert, Bruce Paton, featuring not one but five breweries on-hand. Relatively little is known about these two newest beers…until now.

One clarification should be made before going any further. This is old information but Isabelle Proximus is not actually just Lost Abbey‘s beer; it is the brainchild of four other breweries as well. For this project, Lost Abbey collaborated with Russian River Brewing, Dogfish Head, Avery Brewing, and Allagash Brewing. According to metalllitone1 at Beer Advocate, “Each brewer contributed four barrels (Dogfish Head contributed two) and their own yeast strain. They brewed a large batch that was the base beer and barrel aged it in the barrels from each brewery with there yeast. After tasting each barrel there was a final blend. Every brewery made it into the final blend.” He also posts a link to his photo album showing the aforementioned tasting and the barrels (any guesses as to what the top barrels were from Russian River and Dogfish Head?).

Isabelle is slated to make its debut the night of the 20th at the San Francisco event, dubbed “Five Guys and a Barrel,” accompanying a toast [kudos to Bill Brahm, who revealed back in November on his "What's on Tap" beer blog that this dinner would take place]. The Cathedral Hill Hotel dinner will also feature Russian River Supplication, Avery The Maharaja, Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron, and Allagash Interlude among others.

Arthur confirmed today, as rumored, that Isabelle Proximus will be a sour ale and that less than 400 cases were produced. It will also be on-hand at “the Craft Brewers Conference and World Beer Championships in San Diego this month” according to Keith Johnsen, Director for Michael Jackson’s Rare Beer Club. The beer will be available for limited release at the brewery around that time UPDATE HERE though Arthur was unable to say whether there would be any left over to distribute elsewhere.

Lost Abbey Inferno Ale back - Courtesy of Lost AbbeyLost Abbey Inferno Ale is the brewery’s special release shipping this month exclusively for the Rare Beer Club [thanks to Beer Veteran, Westsidethreat, for this tip!]. This beer is described as “a golden Belgian-style strong ale in the mold of Duvel.” According to Arthur, this will be distributed in mid-May on the West Coast and also see some distribution in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. How is the brewery able to produce all this beer? Johnsen elaborates in the Rare Beer Club newsletter that, “Three new tanks were installed last week, a new bottling line is in the works, and the sophisticated barrel beer program is now up to 300 casks.” It would appear as though the craft beer renaissance taking place out in San Marcos, California, is only about to get bigger.

The brewery also just released Lost Abbey Serpent’s Stout last month. Early beer reviews indicate that this imperial stout could eventually land in the top 100 at both Beer Advocate and Ratebeer.

Founders Imperial Stout and Porter to make long-awaited return in 08

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Courtesy of Founders - Imperial Stout

(Grand Rapids, MI) – Founders Brewing Co-Founder, Dave Engbers, revealed on The Beer Report podcast last week that the Michigan brewery will release its Imperial Stout and Porter in bottles for the first time in two and three years, respectively. According to Mike Stevens, Co-Founder, the Porter will be be available in a could be available “potentially mid to late summer” and will be the same recipe as before. The Imperial Stout will likely be later, late summer to early fall, but that could change.

The brewery, known more for its other two imperial stouts, Breakfast Stout and Kentucky Breakfast Stout, has undergone a lot of change in the last year. Founders moved to a new location this past winter, building a multi-million dollar addition on an existing space (you can read a lot more about the brewery’s move at Rapidgrowthmedia.com). The move, which shut down production for three weeks, has allowed the brewery to expand its capacity to 11,000 barrels, up from 4,000. Engbers acknowledges that much of the benefit of the expansion will go toward supplying its flagship brands more consistently and allowing the brewery to push those beers into new markets. However, the bottling of these two beers after a long hiatus shows that some of the specialty labels will reap the benefits as well.

The Imperial Stout is one of three beers in the top 100 at Beer Advocate. The Porter is ranked in the top 15 within the style at RateBeer.

Smuttynose Big A IPA recipe to change, Portsmouth releases Wheat Wine

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Courtesy of Smuttynose - Logo(Portsmouth, NH) – The brewers at Smuttynose and Portsmouth have been busy as of late, both in the brewhouse and in the blogosphere. Portsmouth’s Tyler Jones has been updating the blog daily while (it appears that) Head Brewer, Dave Yarrington, has recently got back into it after a long hiatus.

Yarrington recently posted that the Smuttynose Big A IPA will be undergoing a change in its hop profile as a result of the shortage. Big A is easily the most well-respected double IPA brewed in New England that sees any kind of distribution. To put that into context, out of the top 75 DIPAs with the most beer reviews on Beer Advocate, only two are brewed in New England. Suffice it to say that the beer has been somewhat of a godsend to hop lovers located outside of the metro areas (where DIPAs are more readily available from other states).

More information as to how the hops are specifically used is available at the Smuttynose blog. Some of the same hops are still being used; here are the two beers to compare:
2008 edition: Nugget, Cascade, Centennial, Crystal, Chinook, Sterling
2006 edition: Warrior, Cascade, Centennial, Crystal, Horizon, Amarillo, Ahtanum

Smuttynose just released its Maibock and the Big A IPA is next up in the Big Beer Series. The release of these beers follow the very successful Baltic Porter (about which Yarrington also discusses in his blog). After just two months, that beer has already risen to the top 5 baltic porters produced.

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Courtesy of Portsmouth Brewery - LogoTyler Jones and Tod Mott have also kept busy over at Portsmouth Brewery. They were granted a short reprieve when Moat Mountain Brewing sent them a couple kegs of their Square Tail Stout. As Jones writes, the beer didn’t last past the weekend.

Jones reports that Portsmouth just released its Wheat Wine, a 2007 Great American Beer Festival silver medalist: “We did some dry hopping and oaking that we didn’t do last year. I feel that the oak smoothes out the 11% abv beer and makes the almost toffee sweetness come out even more.” Mott gives a summary of the brewing process in the April newsletter. They also just put on Le Chat Noir, a Belgian-style version of one of their flagships, Black Cat Stout, and some other Belgian beers at the Brewpub.

Portsmouth’s offerings are typically available in growlers (but not always), some of which are also available in a limited number of bottles. Special releases are sometimes as cheap as $4/bottles as was the case with the popular Oatmeal Stout a few weeks ago.

Beer notes: Jolly Pumpkin brews Lambic, Left Hand changes stout, Haandbryggeriet Haandbakk

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[These first two scoops come courtesy of Jeff from DrinkCraftBeer.com. Thanks!]

Courtesy of Jolly Pumpkin - logoRon Jeffries, Owner and Brewer at Michigan’s Jolly Pumpkin Brewery, revealed this week that he is brewing up a Lambic-style ale that will eventually become one the brewery’s regular offerings. He plans to blend it in the fall and release “as soon as it is ready.” He asserts that parts of the blend may be over four years old by the time of its release.

courtesy of left hand - oak aged imperial stoutColorado’s Left Hand Brewing announced that its “Oak-Aged Imperial Stout will be aged in brandy barrels rather than French oak wine barrels” for its Big Mo’ Series release to come in 2009. The test batch blew away people at the brewery apparently. The Oak-Aged version was generally well-received but didn’t emerge from the rest of the pack of barrel-aged imperial stouts. Brandy-barrel aging is not (yet) a common practice when it comes to beer but some breweries have done it successfully with barley wines and old ales.

courtesy of haandbryggeriet - haandbakkFinally, Norway’s Haandbryggeriet got label approval for another new beer to be imported by the Shelton Brothers this past week. Haandbryggeriet Haandbakk is an 8% ABV sour ale. The beer is barely a blend as 95% has been aged in oak barrels. This is the second new beer to get approval after the recent Dobbel Dram IPA.

Avery Fifteen gets approved, reports new oak-aged beer in 2009

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Courtesy of Avery Brewing - Fifteen(Boulder, CO) – Avery Brewing got label approval for its fifteenth anniversary ale this week, set to be released June 1. According to the commercial description, Avery Fifteen was brewed with “black mission figs, hibiscus flowers, white pepper, and a very unique strain of brettanomyces yeast.” Historically, the anniversary ales have received the best beer ratings out of all of the brewery’s offerings.

Avery also recently reported that it will be expanding its work with barrel-aging. From the latest newsletter: “26 French Oak barrels arrived at the brewery last week after a long trip from Norman Vineyards in Paso Robles, California, and their arrival marks the beginning of a new phase of production for Avery Brewing Company. With enough cooperage on hand to produce upwards of 650 cases of finished product, Adam has tapped Andy Parker, who is a Senior Brewer on the Avery staff and our resident barrel-aging expert, to commence production of a brand new oak-aged beer. Still no word on what this beer will be (we’ve heard whispers of a Baltic Porter style), but sleep well knowing that we’ll have a few hundred cases of barrel-aged, increasingly complex product to distribute at some point in 2009.”

Beer notes: Rogue XS Imperial Porter, Baron Seven Swabians, Tyranena Update

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Courtesy of Rogue Ales - XS Imperial PorterRogue Ales XS Imperial Porter will be the newest beer in the Rogue Ales’ XS series and joins a long list of new imperial porters released in 2008. We have seen Alesmith, Full Sail, Deschutes, and a slew of others jump on the imperial porter bandwagon this year. If the beer reviews for Rogue’s John Locker Series version of an imperial porter is any indication, the brewery knows how to make a good imperial porter. It is possible that this could even be a re-branding and that the beer is actually the same as the JLS #16 porter.

Courtesy of Baron Brewing - Seven SwabiansBaron Brewing, based in Seattle, got label approval for its newest beer in the Grimm Brothers Series. Baron Seven Swabians will be an eisbock as the brewery continues to grow its reputation for making quality German-style beers. The beer will be released in bombers and weighs in at 13% ABV making it one of the strongest eisbocks to ever hit the US market.

Finally, Tyranena sent out an update during the week. Tyranena Devil Over a Barrel should be available in bottles starting this week. Also, the brewery left a few notes about what it has in production:

“Brewing: Brewing a double batch of Bitter Woman IPA today… with a guest assistant brewer and hopefully a batch of Three Beaches Honey Blonde tomorrow (assuming we get our malt shipment which is now one day late).

Bottling: Bottled 164 cases of Three Beaches Honey Blonde on Monday and 446 cases of Bitter Woman IPA on Wednesday. We have 2 cases of Three Beaches and 1 case of Bitter Woman mislabels for sale in the Tasting Room.”

Russian River Beatification now available at the pub in bottles

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Courtesy of Russian River - Beatification
(Santa Rosa, CA) – Natalie posted this afternoon that Russian River Beatification was finally ready to go on sale and is available at the pub as I write this. Supplication, however, is not yet ready.

Beernews.org Friday Weekly Round-Up: Stone IRS in six-packs?

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Courtesy of Flossmoor Station - Prohibition Party Courtesy of The Duck-Rabbit Brewery - April Event

It has certainly been a busy beer week. Here are the biggest stories and what to look out for going into next week.

Announcements/Releases

Stone Imperial Russian Stout continues to filter through parts of the US (and will now be distributed in 12 oz bottles (international only). ? Possible report forthcoming over the weekend – or is this old news and I’ve been living under a rock? 6:15pm EST update: Greg Koch confirmed that these will only be available to the international market and in limited quantities; great news for them but bad news for a featherweight like me!).

Nick Floyd of Three Floyds revealed some details about Dark Lord Day 2008.

Russian River beers went on sale online (virtually unannounced) and Temptation was made available at the brewery.

Lost Abbey Serpent’s Stout and Port Moon Lit Sessions hit store shelves early this week in California. The beers are surprisingly expected to get limited distribution in Massachusetts as well, possibly as soon as next week.

Deschutes announced Black Butte XX as its next beer in the Special Reserve Series.

Surly Bitter Brewer will be released in cans beginning April 14.

The Mikkeller X Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout auction began on Monday (shipping is expensive if you live in the US).

Label Approvals

The collaboration between Mikkeller and Nogne O, Tyttebaer

Rogue XS Imperial Porter 2008 will become the newest beer in the XS line.

Events

If you live anywhere near Peoria, Illinois, Night of the Barrels is lining up to be quite an event to take place next Thursday (report forthcoming this weekend).

The Duck-Rabbit Brewery will be holding a release party on Saturday night for its Rabid Duck Russian Imperial Stout at the brewery (North Carolina).

Flossmoor Station (Illinois) is holding its “Repeal of Prohibition” event on Saturday night in which it will launch its bottled beers for the first time. Note: A late surprise? The brewery just got approval for its Sheol Barleywine to be released in bombers. The beer looks like it was hastily-labeled. Despite few reviews, early indications are that this beer is getting some respect; it will become the highest-rated beer in Flossmoor’s bottled lineup to date. It is possible that this will either be made available for the event tomorrow or more likely, ready in time for Dark Lord Day.

Finally, John Foyston notes in his blog, “The Beer Here,” that there will be a Belgian beer event involving 15 Oregonian breweries taking place all Saturday at Root Organic Brewing.

[4pm update: There is also an event in Superior, Wisconsin called the Gitchee Gumwee Brewfest. The fest is celebrating its 11th year with 120 beers on tap from 30 breweries. Apparently, it is sold out though except for VIP tickets which run $75.]