Heavy Seas Beer has announced its 2010 lineup of specialty beers. You will see some new ones for 2010 below like Siren Noire, Letter of Marquee, Smoke on the Water, Summer Ale, and the GREATer Pumpkin. Also notice how the beers are separated into “Mutiny Fleet, Pyrate Fleet, and Clipper Fleet.” This mysterious forthcoming press release that I’ve been waiting for ought to clear things up a bit.
(Ipswich, MA) – Received in my inbox yesterday, news about Ipswich Ale Brewery’s limited release series:
(North Bergen, NJ) – Matt Steinberg, Founder/President of New Jersey Beer Co. (and not to be confused with Matt Steinberg of Mayflower Brewing), is expecting his new craft brewery to launch at the end of January. That is, if everything over the next month goes to plan.
(Stockton, CA) – Valley Brew Old Inventory will be bottled during the second week of January, according to Brewmaster, Steve Altimari, and released soon thereafter.
(Escondido, CA) – Stone Brewing got label approval for Old Guardian Barley Wine 2010 this month. Normally, labels of recurring seasonals aren’t news though Greg Koch always takes the time to write something interesting on the back of the bottle so I thought I’d post up the label. In addition, here is the release schedule for 2010:
New press releases from the last couple weeks:
Alaskan Barley Wine 2009 now available
Aspall Cuvee Chevallier Cyder coming to U.S.
[12/28 Update: Available now in Alaska and Jan. 1st in parts of western U.S.]
Alaskan Releases 2009 Barley Wine: Newest Vintage is Big, Bright and Balanced
JUNEAU, Alaska (December 17, 2009) – This may be its third bottled vintage, but the 2009 release of Alaskan Barley Wine is anything but old news among the crew at Alaskan Brewing Company. Walk through the cellar or past the offices at the brewery in Juneau, Alaska and you’re likely to be asked, “Have you tried this year’s Barley Wine?”
ASPALL CYDER & SBS IMPORTS ANNOUNCE USA LAUNCH OF ASPALL CUVEE CHEVALLIER DOUBLE FERMENTED CYDER
Seattle, WA. December 28, 2009 – Aspall Cyder House of Suffolk, England and SBS Imports of Seattle, Washington are pleased to announce the premiere limited release of Aspall Cuvee Chevallier Double Fermented Cyder to United States market. Cuvee Chevallier joins regularly available items Aspall Dry, Demi-Sec, Organic, and Perronelle’s Blush cyders.
Question and Answer Website for All Things Beer Launches
DENVER (Dec. 22, 2009) – BrewAdvice.com, a community-driven site focused on answering all questions related to beer, officially launched today. Unlike forums, message boards, Facebook, or Twitter, BrewAdvice.com is specifically set up as a simple question and answer knowledge base. Ask a question, get a number of answers, select the best one, and get on with brewing.
Fullsteam Brewery hires former Head Brewer of Abita Brewing Company
Durham, N.C. – Brooks Hamaker, former Head Brewer and Vice President of Brewery Operations for Abita Brewing Company, has accepted a position as Head of Operations for Durham, North Carolina-based Fullsteam Brewery. Immediately after Christmas, Brooks will relocate from New Orleans to Durham to work for the startup brewery, which will open in the spring of 2010. Brooks is Fullsteam’s third employee, joining president Sean Lilly Wilson and brewer Chris Davis.
BrewDog has gone live with the news about its new limited edition series to be released under the name, “Abstrakt.” Rather than rehash their words, I will just turn you over to the brewery’s blog post. It is unclear as to whether any of these will come to the U.S. as each beer in the series will be brewed only once.
[12/29 Update: "LB is fermented entirely with the brettanomyces from 3 Fonteinen and several wine yeasts, plus whatever was living on the berries. There is no saccharomyces cerevisiae in the process for this beer."]
(Ithaca, NY) – From the makers of Ithaca Brute, ranked #51 on Beer Advocate, comes another sour ale. Expect Ithaca LeBleu to be ready Continue reading
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Beernews!
Hopefully you and your family/friends are breaking out something special to celebrate!
[12/23 Update: Not sold out as of tonight, still plenty left]
(Truckee, CA) – Apologies for the lack of notice on this one. Today, Fifty Fifty Brewing released its Imperial Eclipse Stout. Here are the details:
(Copenhagen, DENMARK) – Mikkeller will release a bunch of new beers into the U.S. next year. Two more label approvals came through recently Continue reading
(Baltimore, MD) – Siren Noire will be released in the Continue reading
[12/29 Update: Firestone Walker Abacus will be bottled for December release according to a brewery rep. Seems really close to FW 14 timing so I doubt that is set in stone]
(Paso Robles, CA) – More big news out of California today. Those who Continue reading
Stone to open a Brewery in Europe? from stonebrew on Vimeo.
From the Vimeo page: “This is a very exciting project for Steve and Continue reading
Above: The Beer Wars panel at GABF 2009 (September) | Photo credits below
What a year it has been for the craft beer scene. Growth in the segment continues to outpace others in the industry though that growth has slowed in the last year. Still, the Brewer’s Association’s latest report shows that breweries opening to closing is approximately a 3:1 ratio. Some major trends took off this year or continued their torrid pace from 2008. In a nutshell, those trends are “new beers,” collaborations, social media, city beer weeks, and barrel-aging. The industry also lost important people this year like Greg Noonan and Bill Brand.
Below, you will find the top 10 stories summarizing the year in craft beer. Note that this isn’t a completely subjective list; these stories are the ones that got the most hits on my site this year (even if written late in 2008). If there was a big story that I missed (there weren’t many), you won’t see it here. That said, you will notice some “snubs” like the Black Tuesday release and beer week coverage. Voice what you would’ve liked to have made it into the top 10 in the comments.
(Fort Collins, CO) – New Belgium Brewing will introduce two more beers in bottles next year (perhaps more) when they add Eric’s Ale, a previously draft-only product, and Belgian-style Blond Ale to the Lips of Faith bottle series. La Folie 2010 will also don a slightly different look.