Bells and De Proef to team up in March

Bells Brewery logoDe Proef logo

(Kalamazoo, MI) – Bells Brewery was named as the co-brewer for next year’s Signature Series collaboration with De Proef in Belgium. Bells’ John Mallet will travel over to Europe to work with De Proef’s Dirk Naudts this coming March. Past collaborators include Tomme Arthur from Port Brewing/The Lost Abbey and Jason Perkins from Allagash. Both beers were Belgian styles and it would be assumed that is the way the series will continue to trend. That said, Bells’ vast collection of beers only includes a relative handful of Belgian styles to date; it will be interesting to see what brew comes out of this joint effort.

For those who aren’t familiar with these collaborations, I’ve attached the full press release after the jump (below).

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Grand Vin: Captain Lawrence, Allagash, Brooklyn, and more

Allagash Brewing thumbnailBrooklyn Brewery thumbnailConnecticut-based Grand Vin Online has some unique selections in stock to say the least. Only thing is that you have to specifically search for these breweries (don’t put in the beer name in your search), they do not show up when browsing the site.

First, you will find some of Allagash’s specialty offerings: Odyssey, Four, and Curieux (all 2008 ‘vintages’)

What else? Captain Lawrence Xtra Gold (if you want St. Vincents Dubbel you will have to search for it at Liquor Outlet Wine Cellars- higher prices but it’s there), Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, and Shipyard Imperial Porter.

And then there’s Dogfish Head Chicory Stout, Palo Santo Marron, and Indian Brown.

Should New England Brewing ever do its Storm Trooper Imperial Stout again, you might have a shot here as well but that is down the road.

Beer notes: Alchemist celebrates 5, Surly Smoke, new brewery websites

The Alchemist in Waterbury, VT, will celebrate its 5th Anniversary this Saturday night. The brewery, known for drawing long lines at the annual state beer festival, are busting out anything and everything special for this event including Heady Topper, Beezlebub, and El Jefe. The full list can be found at Beer Advocate.

Following the post about Manchester Brewing, another brewery startup is meeting challenges in the small town of Logan, Utah. The brewery Continue reading

New Hampshire brewery debuts tomorrow

Manchester Koncord Kombat(Concord, NH) – “I’ve counted, and Manchester Brewing is my seventh try.” – Kevin Bloom

New Hampshire has a new brewery opening tomorrow.  For lack of a better term, Journeyman/Work horse, Kevin Bloom will open up his latest project, Manchester Brewing Co., to guests on Saturday from 4-7pm (119 Old Turnpike Road 3G in Concord).  Bloom has at least two beers to showcase which will also be available in bottles: Koncord Kombat Ale and Censored Imperial Blonde.  In early December, he is brewing a third called The Devil’s Rooster which will be a Marzen.

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Beer notes Apres Thanksgiving Edition feat. Tyranena, Fitgers

Fitgers Brewhouse logoCleaning up some open items here…another update coming soon as well.

From Tyranena Brewing‘s latest newsletter, the brewery finally hired a new brewer, reported that specialty malt prices will go up 23% for them, and they put a new beer, Imperial Pumpkin-Spiced Ale, on tap Wednesday:

“Our first attempt at brewing a pumpkin beer… this beer appears to Continue reading

Liquid Gratitude offers up Abyss (no restrictions), Deviation IX at Bottleworks

Deschutes the Abyss thumbnailWashington-based Liquid Gratitude now has Deschutes The Abyss up for sale on its website. First-come, first-serve. If you check the Buy Beer page here often, this might be your lucky day. If you haven’t got a hold of this yet, do it now. Don’t wait. The Liquid Gratitude link above will take you directly to the Abyss page for ordering.

I don’t normally post up links pertaining to offline purchases here but Bottleworks in Seattle posted on its new blog today that it had put Russian River Deviation IX on the shelves earlier. The beer was released back in April but they apparently held back a little stock. Go get it if it is there but call ahead first. No shipping on this one as far as I know.

Breaking: Friday is Rasputin XI release

North Coast Old Rasputin XI

(Fort Bragg, CA) – Seems fitting that a craft beer that has been described as pouring “pitch black” be released on Black Friday. North Coast Brewing just sent out an email that Old Rasputin XI will be available this Friday only at the brewery store. The brewery may struggle to compete with shoppers but it gives you guys a valid excuse to escape from the malls (and your wives), right? Here are the release details:

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Iron Hill releasing five beers in bottles

iron-hill-triple-bock

Iron Hill Brewery will put on sale some limited release beers soon. The brewery will release Triple Bock in 375 mL bottles (with a funky 3D label) this Friday, November 28, at Phoenixville. From the newsletter: Continue reading

On deck in the Weyerbacher Brewers Select Series

Weyerbacher Delta

(Easton, PA) – More from Weyerbacher Brewing in a busy 24-hour span full of craft beer news. The next take in the Brewers Select Series, Weyerbacher Delta, will be released in less than two weeks. Looks like the brewery is following up its smoked ale, Charlie, (which will become a seasonal called Fireside Ale in case you missed it earlier), with a beer that seems fit for the holidays.

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Live Oak celebrates 1000th batch

(Austin, TX) – Live Oak Brewing, apparently makers of the world’s best Hefeweizen according to beer ratings, brewed its 1000th batch of beer recently. Live Oak Brewing brewed their 1000th batch of beer over the weekend. From the newsletter:

“This landmark brew is a batch of their new winter seasonal, Primus Weizenbock [pronounced PRE-moose]. It is a dark, rich Continue reading

Two new brews go on tap at Dogfish Head, Victory Brewing

Dogfish Head logo

The Northeastern region got a couple new beers on tap over the weekend: Dogfish Head Arms Akimbo and Victory Yakima Twilight.

Arms Akimbo just went on tap at the Dogfish Alehouse in Rehoboth Beach, DE. The brew quickly became quite popular with the Beer Advocate crowd. “This deeply robust Porter was brewed with star anise, molasses and Continue reading

Liquor Outlet Wine Cellars enters the fold with Schlafly Reserve, Sly Fox, and Southern Tier

Southern Tier Krampus thumbnailOn a whim, I did a quick search and found some interesting beers at Liquor Outlet Wine Cellars. As bizarre as it sounds, you cannot view the site normally and find these beers. You have to copy-and-paste from here and search for them. I checked one of the Schlafly beers and it was in stock, no guarantees on the others.

Here is a short list:
Schlafly Reserve Barleywine 2007
Schlafly Reserve Imperial Stout 2007
Southern Tier Krampus Imperial Helles
Southampton Saison Deluxe 750Ml
Samichlaus
Sly Fox Black Raspberry
Sly Fox Christmas 2008
Cantillon Bruocsella 1900 Grand Cru

New Glarus’ 2009 Seasonals Revealed?

New Glarus Brewing Unplugged logo

Beer Advocate member, Eyncognito, recently posted a list of New Glarus Brewing‘s potential special releases coming next year. Looks like some kind of retail list came to a store where he works.

Here they are (unconfirmed from the brewery):
Black Wheat (Seasonal)
Yokel (Seasonal)
Stone Soup (Year Round)
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Weyerbacher resurrects Charlie as a seasonal this January

Weyerbacher Fireside Ale

(Easton, PA) – Weyerbacher Brewing will bring back one of the beers from the Brewers Select Series as a seasonal for the long run according to an update on the website earlier this month. Weyerbacher Charlie, a 7.4% ABV smoked dark ale, will be renamed Weyerbacher Fireside Ale. Pulled off of the website:

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New attacks down RateBeer on Friday night, JoeT responds

ratebeer-logo

Some of you have run into an error page on RateBeer as of Friday night. JoeT posted a message about the new attacks (‘new’ but similar in fashion to what has been happening the past few months) in a thread on Beer Advocate. It sounds like there will be some work done on Saturday AM by the security team. I don’t know whether that means the site will be back up tomorrow. Best thing to do in the meantime is to apparently watch that thread.

Pike Brewing drops Entire Wood-Aged Stout this Monday

Pike Brewing logo

(Seattle, WA) – For the late Friday night folk, here is a follow-up to my post weeks ago about a special brew coming from The Pike Brewing Company out of Seattle. On Monday, the brewery will release Pike Entire Wood-Aged Stout, “a blend of three beers: Pike’s XXXXX Extra Stout, original gravity 10.73 / alcohol 7.00%; the same beer aged for more than half a year in oak Bourbon barrels; and an Imperial Stout original gravity 10.98 / alcohol 12% [...] is balanced by a generous amount of Yakima Valley Willamette, Goldings and Columbus hops in the boil; finished with even more Willamette and Goldings.” This one sounds like it has huge potential though only around 1,000 bottles will be released. I don’t see the full press release on the website, so I have attached it “below the fold” (yes, that means Click ‘Continue On’).

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Wolavers honors organic farmers through beer series

Wolavers Pat Leavys American Ale

(Middlebury, VT) – Wolaver’s will bring a new beer to market in January as part of its series honoring organic farmers. Pat Leavy’s All American Ale will honor a man that has chaired the Oregon Hop Commission and one that happens to grow his own organic hops. According to Max Oswald, Director of Sales and Marketing, this beer should be available in most places where Wolaver’s distributes: the entire East Coast (minus SC) and WI, IL, CA, OR, and WA.

PLAA is the second in the organic farmers series where Wolaver’s has Continue reading

Bruisin’ Ales gets its Black Albert shipment

Struise Black AlbertDeschutes the AbyssThis is the first report that I have seen that Struise Black Albert is available in a U.S. retail store. Price point is $10/bottle which is the same as Struise’ other reserves. Buy it at Bruisin’ Ales.

On a side note, Struise Earthmonk and Pannepot are now on sale individually (no longer packaged) at Liquid Solutions.

Lastly, Deschutes the Abyss has arrived at Healthy Spirits.