Monthly Archives: December 2008

#1 Connecticut beer to return this month

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new-england-stout-trooper

(Woodbridge, CT) – A distribution rep reported on Beer Advocate earlier today that

New England Imperial Stout Trooper

could go out on shelves as early as this weekend (even with the holiday?). I could be wrong on the assertion that is ranked #1 but its Beer Advocate score is 4.4 with approximately 75 reviews in the books. I even reported in March that it was #2 in all of New England to Portsmouth Kate the Great (not sure if that still rings true).

There is also a limited batch of Imperial Stout Trooper aged in an Eagle Rare bourbon barrels that will be reserved for key account. Those in CT need to be on the lookout.

Ithaca Beer Co. releases new Excelsior! beer today

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Ithaca alpHalpHa

(Ithaca, NY) – First news of the week comes out of the great state of New York where Ithaca Beer Co. is releasing its latest in the Excelsior! Series today. Jeff O’Neil, Executive Brewmaster, calls

Ithaca alpHalpHa

a “double honey bitter.” According to the description, it’s brewed with organic barley, New York-grown Cascade hops, and local Alfalfa honey. And in typical Excelsior! fashion, it is a big beer at 8.5% ABV.

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Sunday special: 5 new beer approvals

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New Old Lompoc Proletariat Red

I can’t go into detail on every beer I see approved but I can, at the very least, just throw ‘em out there for you in case you are local to the region. I believe these are all due out next year though a couple may have been released already. If that is the case, just let us know by posting a comment. And I cold be wrong but these all look like session beers! Here are five to look for…

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Canals Discount Liquor Mart has two Pennsylvania rarities

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voodoo-brewery-logoAt least to out-of-staters…

One is a little-known brewery out of Meadville called

VooDoo Brewery

, a very young brewery headed up by Matt Allyn. The brewery is responsible for a couple of the most highly-rated beers of 2008 though the one for sale at Canals is a different one. According to Beer Advocate,

VooDoo Pilzilla

has a 4.24 average and is labeled as a Zwickelbier.

Per the website: “Pilzilla is a beer that I’ve been brewing for years. Each year it gets bigger and bigger. Nicknamed “The beer that took over Tokyo”. It is an unfiltered Keller Bier. Nicely hopped at this point with 9 different kinds of hops at 10 additions and about 6.75 % alc. Each year we will add another variety of hop and bump the alc a bit.

The other brewery I am featuring is Sly Fox and I have mentioned Canals as the prime spot to find their beers before. Right now, listed on the site is Ichor, a Quadrupel, Route 113 IPA, and the much-less seen Sly Fox Odyssey Imperial IPA.

You will see plenty of other interesting stuff on there as well like Dogfish Head Worldwide Stout and a ton of Mid-Atlantic breweries (but no Troegs?).

How to solve Three Floyds’ Dark Lord Day?

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Three Floyds Dark Lord label

[4/25 Update: Pictures
 and more info on today's event]

(Munster, IN) – The news of the week may have very well been the gaffe that occurred on the Three Floyds website…their new developing website that is. Up on one of the pages was some info about

Three Floyds Dark Lord Day 2009

to take place in April of next year. Here is the info (credit to Mike from Hoosier Beer Geek for grabbing it before it was pulled down amidst lots of beer forum chatter):

“Darklord Day 2009 will be greatly improved to accommodate larger crowds, including expanded parking, more porta johns, shorter lines and more food choices.

In order to facilitate a fair and much more convenient system for buying Dark Lord on DLD 2009, we will be implementing a lottery system. Don’t worry, you’ll have a much better chance of getting a winning ticket than almost any other lottery you can play.

Basically our DLD 2009 lottery system will break down as follows:

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Breaking: Discovery Channel pushes Beernews.org to #1

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Beernews.org

The ratio of promoting others to promoting myself on this site is pretty high so I am ok to show a little pride here. The pic above says it all. Months of nothin’ but hustle (think running through first base vs. pool sharks) have led to this. I have been creeping up the board for #1 beer news site on Google for some time now, hovering in various spots on the front page for months. But until tonight, I have never seen Google credit my site as the #1 source for beer news.

Google Beer News results < - Give Beer News a click!

I gotta tip my cap to the Discovery Channel and DFH. Sam Calagione Continue reading →

Beer Notes: Black Ops, Deschutes, Alpine

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Brooklyn Brewery logoFrom Brooklyn Brewery‘s Garrett Oliver on Beer Advocate this week: “Well, I can tell you that the first batch of Black Ops is in cases, and the second batch is still in re-fermentation/aging; that will be out first week of January or so. Both batches are in the new bottle.

The new version, at 11%, is slightly stronger than last year’s in-house version. It was brewed in June, aged four months in the bourbon barrels, bottled flat, and re-fermented in the bottle with Champagne yeast. We are very happy with it and we hope everyone will enjoy it.”

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East End Brewing holds Festival of Darkness this Tuesday

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East End Toaster Imperial Stout

(Pittsburgh, PA) – East End Brewing is doing it up huge for this year’s 4th anniversary event which takes place this coming Tuesday 5-7pm at the brewery. Owner/Head Brewer Scott Smith sent out a newsletter this past Wednesday, noting that he doesn’t think he will run out of any beer though it may be close on the Homewood Reserve 2008. Here is an excerpt from the newsletter with all the details on the SEVERAL beers to be released that night:

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Highland Brewing comes out with its first organic beer

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highland-black-mountain-bitter

(Asheville, NC) – Pisgah Brewing is the local beermaker most known for specializing in certified organic beers. Now Highland Brewing will get into the act with the release of Black Mountain Bitter. The beer will be released during the week of January 12. Here is the rest of the scoop, per the website:

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Stone 11th Anniversary Ale Redux

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stone-sublimely-self-righteous

(Escondido, CA) – Stone Brewing will bring back its critically acclaimed 11th Anniversary beer in bombers next month according to the official Stone blog today. The beer, already out in California on draft, will be called

Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale

. Greg Koch noted this week on Beer Advocate that it will be released “occasionally.” More info over at their site.

Sierra Nevada Porter gets a facelift…or a color change

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Sierra Nevada Porter

(Chico, CA) – It depends on how you look at it. I haven’t been able to confirm with the brewery yet but it looks like one of the classic beers of the U.S.

craft beer

scene will get a new look. If

Sierra Nevada Porter

has been around since the beginning of the brewery in 1980, that would mean this is the first-change ever to the label that has donned powder blue for nearly three decades. Nothing on the label implies that this will be a “limited edition” release so I expect this label to change over in all markets next year. Again, no confirmation, so don’t hold me to that…

Saint Arnold Brewing holds special auction

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(Houston, TX) – This just popped into my mailbox from Saint Arnold Brewing as part of a newsletter: We have put on eBay the opportunity for you and up to 3 of your friends to sample Divine Reserve Nos. 1 through 7 with brewer Brock Wagner (beers not included – see below for how that works). Brock will sit down with the group and all 5 people (Brock will be enjoying the beers with you) will taste each beer, discuss how the recipe came to be, the style and flavors in the beer, and how it is aging. These beers proved very popular and all sold out within a day at most retailers. Saint Arnold held back a few cases of each release and locked them up in the cold box for aging. All have aged spectacularly.

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Brewdog releases two more beers in near future

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Brewdog Dogma

(Fraserburgh, SCOTLAND) – In late July, I mentioned a Brewdog beer called Speedball expecting it to arrive in the States soon thereafter. Unfortunately, the TTB wouldn’t have it so easy for anybody. As it turns out, Brewdog couldn’t bring this beer over as SPEEDball so they had to rename the U.S. version (surprised that the TTB let through all those poppy seeds though).

According to James Watt, Managing Director, “The name Speedball was actually rooted in the beer however as it is a mixture of natural stimulants and depressants.” Bummer. So what did they come up with?

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Arcadia celebrates anniversary with new rye beer

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Arcadia Sky High Rye

(Battle Creek, MI) – A new beer for Michigan!

Arcadia Sky High Rye

should be out on the shelves sometime this month. The West Coast-style Pale Ale is already on tap at the Hopcat (listed at 6.4%), among other places. The brewery celebrated its 12th anniversary on December 6th.

Shining a light on Sierra Nevada Beer Camp

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Courtesy of Bill Manley, Sierra Nevada Brewing

Courtesy of Bill Manley, Sierra Nevada Brewing

(Chico, CA) – At Sierra Nevada Brewing, a program to teach some in the industry the arts of craft brewing is underway. The program kicked off in May with a batch of Super 7 Pilsner. August brought Pilot House S8zon, the brewery’s first saison. And just this past November, a group brewed Hop Secret 393.

Jeff Walker, Owner of JJ Brewsky’s actually chronicled much of the first beer on his blog. “Our goal was to brew a strong pilsner with lighter color, moderate IBUs, a dry finish and nice hop aroma. After much discussion, Continue reading →

Why don’t I write about your store?

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Stores need to pretty much satisfy two criteria to appear on the Buy Beer page:

1) Ship local craft beer online

AND

2a) Have a blog/RSS feed updating with news on new beer in stock

-or-

2b) Update your homepage or New Arrivals page periodically with what new beers you have

-or-

2c) Send out a weekly email newsletter

THAT’S IT! If you’re doing this and I’m not writing about your store, just send me the links. At this time, I am unable to post about stores that do not ship online. There are hundreds of brick & mortar stores and it would overwhelming!

Thanks

Widmer to reprise another from Brewmaster Series

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Widmer Drifter Pale Ale

(Portland, OR) – Widmer Brothers Brewing will bring back another W Series beer next month, much like it did recently with the new seasonal, Widmer Brrr, which was a redux of Widmer W’06 Northwest Red Ale. Next month, Widmer Brothers comes out with Drifter Pale Ale, bringing out of retirement its W’07 beer.

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