Monthly Archives: February 2009

Bell’s Batch 9000 full of storylines

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2/9/10 Update: The beer is now available in stores! (and is NOT considered an Imperial Stout by the brewers)

(Kalamazoo, MI) – “The saying goes, ‘give the customer what they want.’” Founder, Larry Bell, wrote that message earlier this month on Beer Advocate. Bell’s Brewery‘s latest packaging is 8996, meaning that 9000 ‘could be’ right around the corner. What will this year’s recipe be? Says Bell, “Remember 7000? Well that was kind of weak, so we are trumping up that recipe to make something bold. You want something for the cellar? You got it.”

And if you love a beer with a storyline, this one’s got ‘em.

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Beer Wars, a craft beer movie, hits theaters on April 16th

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beerwars_poster_smallCraft beer will soon hit the big screen. A one night-only event, Anat Baron’s Beer Wars will play in theaters nationwide on the night of April 16th. Ben Stein, who may be best known for Win Ben Stein’s Money, will host a live screening that same night with a beer discussion featuring industry folks taking place as well.

The documentary stars (who else but) Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head and Rhonda Kallman, Co-founder of Boston Beer Company, and Founder of New Century Brewing. Others like Michael Jackson, Todd Alstrom, Jim Koch, and Greg Koch also see some airtime as the movie was set at a Las Vegas beer convention a few years ago.

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Tyranena Sheep Shagger Scotch Ale on tap (and in bottles?)

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[Update from Rob Larson: the beer won't be available until "next winter"...drats!]

(Lake Mills, WI) – Tyranena Brewing just released its ode to Meatloaf, Paradise by the Dashboard Lights, and now it looks like there will be another new brew coming in bottles soon called Sheep Shagger. (What a name!) Wait, or will it be released soon? Despite label approval coming through in February, Robin Shepard of The Daily Page writes that it won’t be bottled until next winter according to brewery owner and brewmaster, Rob Larson. The article was printed three weeks ago so maybe there is still hope that there was a change in heart and some will be bottled for this winter.

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New arrivals: Consecration, Oak-Aged Unearthly, Biere de Mars

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russian-river-consecration-thumb-87-100 southern-tier-oak-aged-unearthly-ipa-thumb-100-053 Ommegang Biere de Mars - courtesy of Brewery Ommegang southern-tier-cuvee-2 terrapin-roggenrauchbier-thumb-91-100

What’s hot this week?

South Bay Drugs has another incoming shipment of Russian River Consecration sold out scheduled for Monday. Still some Boulevard Smokestack Imperial Stoutsold out by the looks of it though Red Poppysold out probably sold out over the weekend. Ommegang Biere de Garde (Mars?) is in as well.

The Wine and Cheese Place has another shipment of Bell’s Hopslam that came in but did it last the weekend? Southern Tier Cuvee #2 arrived on Friday. Southern Tier Oak-Aged Unearthly will be Monday or Tuesday. Shiner 100 and 2007 Vintage Bon Chien are other new arrivals.

Julie at Bruisin’ Ales updated her list of beers. On it were the following Pisgah Brewing offerings: PISGAH India Pale Ale*
PISGAH Pale Ale (22oz)
PISGAH Porter
PISGAH Solstice (750ml)
PISGAH Valdez* (22oz)
PISGAH Vortex II
PISGAH Endless Summer
PISGAH Brown Ale

and.. from Terrapin Brewing:

TERRAPIN Big Hoppy Monster*
TERRAPIN Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout*
TERRAPIN Dos Cocoas*
TERRAPIN Gamma Ray*
TERRAPIN India Brown
TERRAPIN RoggenRauchbier*
TERRAPIN Rye Pale Ale
TERRAPIN Rye Squared*(2008)

Some of those may sell out fast (if they didn’t already) so check for availability.

Healthy Spirits got in some Hair of the Dog Fred from the Wood and New Belgium Lips of Faith Dark Kriek.

State of the Craft Beer Union: Part I

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[Calendar update got derailed because of work late last week. WILL be up in the AM. GUARANTEED. Oh, and you may want to check out the Buy Beer page this morning.]

We’ve all read for months that beer is recession-proof relative to other “commodities.” And that may or may not still be the case . . . at least for craft beer. Andy Crouch cites numbers from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel showing a 5% sales increase for craft beer from 2007 to 2008. Dogfish Head, for one, expected to be well into double digit growth, perhaps among the leaders of the pack. Macros, on the other hand, experienced major losses. An example of this: net income for Heineken sank 74%.

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Beer Notes: Schlafly Helles, National IPA Championships

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schlafly-helles Schlafly Brewing did something pretty unique this week when it announced its new Helles Lager to Twitter followers online. Dogfish Head did something similar recently, revealing ‘Brand X’ to be Sahtea. The beer will be released on/around March 27, shortly after the onset of spring. I’d tell you more but the site appears to be down at the moment. Instead, here are a couple more Twitter breweries to follow! Lost Abbey, Firestone Walker, and Hoppin Frog.

Cigar City Brewing did not pass its inspection but is hoping for a re-inspection shortly.

Meanwhile, can anyone shed some light on what this post is about from Todd at BA? Freedom is afoot at BA perhaps?

Kid Rock will bring a few hundred jobs to Michigan apparently. Who knew he’d be the economic savior? And how is he doing it? With a new beer deal with Michigan Continue reading →

Beer notes: DarkLordDay.com launches, Toronado Fest video, Brabant release

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Newly crowned RateBeer brewing champ, Three Floyds Brewing announced on its website yesterday the launch of DarkLordDay.com, the new hub for Dark Lord Day news. There isn’t a whole lot of info there yet except for confirmation of the date (April 25) and details on how the ticketing system will work:

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Hoppin Frog to debut two new beers

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(Akron, OH) – Hoppin Frog is slated to release two new beers soon:

Barrel Aged B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout

and Outta Kilter Wee Heavy Scotch-style Red Ale.

Aging is taking place in Whiskey barrels as I write and according to the Continue reading →

The RateBeer Comment

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amish_paradise_140x105 Looks like a nonchalant comment I made in the last post about women in avatars sparked quite the discussion at RateBeer today, a 17+ pager!

I meant to link to the actual RateBeer thread discussing Long Trail Coffee Stout in that last post which would have given the comment some context. Otherwise, it does come off as a blanket statement against RateBeer. (Sorry about that!) Click on the Coffee Stout link and you’ll see a set of hot pics above the fold. Given that I published the post at around 7am and get most of my traffic during the workday, I just didn’t want people in an open setting at work to be caught off guard. This coming from someone who does all of my work at various client offices. I’d be toast if they saw anything on my screen given that they pay the firm I work for up the ….

Didn’t mean for it to be a blanket statement about women in avatars at RateBeer. I dig how Hopscotch does his chick of the day thing.

Anyway, much love for RateBeer and more news back up in the AM.

Beer notes: Kate the Great, Sexual Chocolate, and other recent releases

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foothills-brewing-logoSome quick hits…

Were you at the Portsmouth Kate the Great release? If not, check out the video at Here for the Beer to see what the scene was like. The beer kicked on tap that night. Needless to say, there was once a time when it lasted for months.

Just a couple days earlier there was the release of Foothills Sexual Chocolate down in North Carolina. 600 bottles sold out in just 41 minutes. It may have even sold out faster than KTG did. Field reports can be found at Beer Advocate.

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Liquor Max selling Dark Kreik, vintage Old Guardian

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new-belgium-lips-of-faith-dark-kreik-thumb-100-100 Here is the list of recent arrivals at Liquor Max Warehouse.

02-16-09 – Vintage Release – Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine Style Ale
2005 – $ 9.99 (1 Bottle Limit)
2006 – $ 8.99 (2 Bottle Limit)
2007 – $ 8.49 (2 Bottle Limit)
2008 – $ 7.99 (4 Bottle Limit)
2009 – $ 6.99 (No Limit)

02-10-09 – Lost Abbey Serpents Stout 750′s – $ 10.69
02-10-09 – Port Moonlit Sessions Lager 22 oz – $ 5.29
02-06-09 – Big Sky Olde Bluehair Barrel Aged Barley Wine 750′s – $ 13.99
02-04-09 – New Belgium Lips of Faith Dark Kriek 22 oz – $ 9.29 (2 Bottle Limit For Now)

Russian River Consecration, Lost Abbey Red Poppy at South Bay Drugs

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2/16 Update: As of 8pm EST, Consecration and Lips of Faith Dark Kreik sold out! Hopefully you checked here this morning and ordered your allotment! Keep checking back, I plan on updating this more often. Easier said than done, of course.

Damn, can’t keep up on this end. So many beers online these days. Isn’t it great to know that you don’t have to deal with eBay anymore? (for the most part…unless you live Internationally).

Today, Joey at South Bay Drugs should be getting in about four more cases Russian River Consecration (he sold out of his previous allotment pretty damn quickly so there’s probably going to be a limit for online orders). Combine that with Lost Abbey Red Poppy (limit 2), New Belgium Dark Kreik (limit 1), and Lost Abbey Serpent’s Stout (I can personally vouch for that last one, what a solid beer), and you have one heluva box right there.

I don’t think you will find Red Poppy anywhere else. Good luck with Consecration, too.

Sixpoint narrowly escapes the Feds

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Photo courtesy of Freewilliamsburg.com

(Brooklyn, NY) – Sadly, the image you see up top is one that was taken down off of the Sixpoint Craft Ales site last month. Why? In a note sent out to Sixpoint fans late last week, Brewmaster, Shane Welch, details what went down with the Feds and the brewery’s Hop Obama Ale last November [ed: you might also remember that I wrote about similar problems for Obamagang and Obama Brau]:

“Sixpoint was raided by the Feds and they put the kabosh on our Hop Obama. Naturally, I was infuriated by the censorship so I decided to do what I’ve done from the start – turn it into a story and allow the company to serve as a platform for delivering the story. However, this was quickly squashed by the Feds as well. Apparently, they did not want us making the beer NOR did they want me to create a story out of it.

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Ninkasi Spring Reign debuts next week

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(Eugene, OR) – According to Nikos Ridge of Ninkasi Brewing, “We are releasing

Spring Reign

in bottles next week; it is not style specific, but is a refreshing seasonal ale, with NW hops [Simcoe is featured] and a nice biscuit malt backbone. 6.0% ABV and 38 IBU’s.”

It looks like the beer debuted at last weekend’s KLCC event in Portland. Angelo at Brewpublic describes it as “a golden-copper bodied ale with a small wispy white head and worthy to fill a Victorian pint glass.” Fancy stuff!