Liquor Max gets Struise Black Albert, Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch

mikkeller-beer-geek-brunch-thumb-100-090 [3/12 Update: Liquid Solutions now has both Black Albert and Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch in stock as well.]

Here are the more recent craft beer additions at Liquor Max. Some good stuff here:

“03-10-09 – Struise Black Albert 33 cL – 6 Bottle Limit! – $ 10.79
03-10-09 – Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel 500 mL – NO LIMIT! – $ 15.99 – Rated # 17 in ratebeer’s best beers in the world
03-10-09 – Mikkeller Single Hop Simcoe IPA 33 cL – $ 5.99
03-10-09 – Mikkeller It’s Alright 33 cL – Petit Orval Tribute – $ 5.49
03-10-09 – De Molen Hel & Verdoemenis 750′s – $ 23.99 – Rated # 121 in ratebeer’s best beers.
03-10-09 – Nøgne Ø Toshi Double IPA 500 mL – $ 9.99 – A guest brew by Toshi Ishii from Yo-Ho Brewing, Japan.
03-10-09 – Amager Hr. Frederiksen Imperial Stout 500 mL – $ 10.99
03-10-09 – Amager Batch One Barley Wine 500 mL – $ 9.99
03-10-09 – Amager Sundby Stout 500 mL – $ 8.69
03-10-09 – Cantillon Lou Pepe Kriek 2006 750′s – $ 26.99
03-10-09 – Nils Oscar Coffee Stout 33 cL – $ 5.49
03-10-09 – Haand Haandbakk Sour Ale 500 mL – Back in stock! $ 10.99
03-10-09 – Huvilla Arctic Circle Ale 500 mL – $ 9.49″

Harpoon Big Bohemian Pilsner comes next in the Leviathan series

(Sorry, IE 7 users! Blip.tv and IE 7 don’t get along or at least they don’t on my computer so you are out of luck without some kind of plug-in. Pertinent nfo included below for those unable to view the video).

HerefortheBeer.com featured another interesting video on its website recently. They took a trip to Harpoon Brewery where they got the scoop on the next Leviathan beer, Bohemian Pilsner, an 10% “Imperial” Pilsner with Saaz hops. Check out the video above for more (and pay their website, full of other videos, a trip as well).

The brewery is starting to release Leviathan Quadrupel. It is now featured on the Harpoon website as well.

Ballast Point Victory at Sea and Dorado Double IPA arrive

ballast-point-victory-at-sea

(San Diego, CA) – Ballast Point Brewing released two returning beers over the weekend: Victory at Sea Imperial Porter and Dorado Double IPA. While both beers were only released at the brewery so far, they will also be released in stores. Victory at Sea will be available later this week. Description: “This is a 10% ABV porter with Caffe Calabria coffee and pure vanilla added post fermentation.” Dorado Double bombers will be available “in coming weeks.” This is a 9.6% IPA with close to “five lbs. of Crystal hops per BBL.” It doesn’t hurt to sport a 4.23 average on Beer Advocate either. Victory at Sea has a 4.37 avg. but this is its debut in bottles so only 17 reviews.

Beer Advocate Extreme Beer Fest 2009 Video Wrap-up

There was some great footage taken at this year’s Extreme Beer Fest event put on by the Beer Advocate guys, more than I remember in the past. Whether or not you would’ve asked a different question had you two minutes with a brewer, it is cool to see some of these guys interacting on camera, a rare sight.

The above video goes about ten minutes long (and features BA Yesac?). You’ll see Lost Abbey, Smuttynose, The Bruery, and Jason Alstrom on there among others. Then there is TMRZoo.com who took seven videos, all of which are posted on Youtube on the TMRZoo channel. Learn a bit about Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout as well as the BA Select beer.

New stuff is up in Craft Beer Press Releases

copy-of-boulevard-brewing-logo

Some interesting press releases from the last week . . . most notably from Boulevard Brewing regarding the release of a new aluminum bottle and New Belgium previewing what is left to come in 2009. Mother Earth Brewing becomes Asheville’s newest brewery in late 2009 . . . and some well-deserved chest pounding for Oskar Blues . . .

Bang it here: Craft Beer Press Releases

Boulevard Brewing introduces Unfiltered Wheat in aluminum bottles

boulevard-wheat-aluminum 16-ounce Container Expands Opportunities for Craft Brewer

KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 5, 2009 – Boulevard Brewing Company today announced the debut of a 16-ounce aluminum bottle for Unfiltered Wheat Beer, the brewery’s most popular offering. The package is expected to enhance distribution opportunities in locations where glass is prohibited, such as golf courses, pools, concert venues, and some outdoor events. The new metal bottles will hit the market beginning April 1.

The company’s choice of the container represents a departure from an exclusive reliance on the traditional glass bottle. “The environmental advantages of aluminum were an important consideration,” explained John McDonald, Boulevard founder and president, “but we added this package primarily to give consumers access to our beer in places that won’t allow glass and don’t have draught capabilities.” McDonald, an art Continue reading

What’s new at online beer stores

founders-kbs-label Archer Liquors has posted that it will not be selling Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout this year. West Lakeview Liquors has it as coming soon on their New Arrivals section though I doubt that it will be available online (they are probably just giving notice to in-store customers). Worth an email…

The ten states where this beer will be available: MI, OH, IN, IL, WI, MA, NJ, PA, NC, and SC. Your best bet, if not in one of these states, to get the beer online is to email the stores in NJ, NC, IL, and OH that ship (listed to the right) to see if they can reserve you a 4-pack if/when they get the beer. Trading for a single bottle or two may be your only option though considering only 1,400 cases of this are being put out there this year.

New brews that are definitely up for grabs:

Going back to Archer LiquorsThree Floyds Brian Boru & Great Lakes Blackout Stout

The Wine and Cheese Place has La Bavaisienne Ambree and Blonde, two well-received beers from France.

South Bay Drugs has Coronado Red Devil.

Rozi’s has/had Struise Black Albert and a couple seasonals from Weyerbacher Brewing.

Bruisin’ Ales got in some Brooklyn Local 2.

Sierra Nevada Kellerweis Hefeweizen revealed as new year-round beer #2

kellerweis-bottle

(Chico, CA) – Mega craft beer maker, Sierra Nevada, gave me the scoop on this a few weeks back. I was hoping to see a label approval come through to accompany this news but it looks like the press release just went out on Friday so no sense in waiting any longer. Here is the scoop on

Sierra Nevada Kellerweis Hefeweizen

:

“The second of Sierra Nevada’s two new year round releases will be Kellerweis Hefeweizen.

It is a traditional Bavarian Hefeweizen that we have been working on for a number of years. We are brewing it in the old school German way, using only open fermentation and top-cropping the yeast.

We have a yeast strain that is from a very small Bavarian brewery, and we are the only American brewery using this truly unique yeast. Here’s the story in a nutshell:

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Philly Beer Week in high gear

philly-craft-beer-week Philly Beer Week began yesterday and from then until it ends next Sunday, there will have been nearly 700 events that have taken place.

Today is the big (sold-out) Philly Craft Beer Fest but there are still plenty of other things going on for people to come visit the city over the next several days.

As I wrote last year, the ‘beer week‘ concept is picking up across the country though Philly is still leading the bunch. Chicago should be next up on the list to start something like this though it wouldn’t be surprising to see a city like Asheville beat them to it.

Links to where you can keep up with Philly Beer Week updates:

What bloggers are saying

Twitter updates via @phillybeer

Twitter updates from everyone

Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS) getting all the buzz

founders-kbs-label

(Grand Rapids, MI) – It happens with literally every Founders Brewing limited release. The brewery sends out a beer like Backwoods Bastard a couple weeks early asking that stores hold it until a certain date before making it available for sale. It is akin to buying a 12-year old a Nintendo Wii on Dec. 13 and asking him/her not to open it until Dec. 25 (well, close enough). There is an allure about all of these limited releases and being in the top 50 on the two big beer sites just makes it that much harder to get your hands on

Kentucky Breakfast Stout

.

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New Belgium Brewing: Big Plans for 2009

new-belgium-brewing

New Belgium Brewing Expands Markets and Portfolio in 2009

(FORT COLLINS, CO – March 5, 2009) New Belgium Brewing (www.newbelgium.com), best known for its flagship Fat Tire Amber Ale, is expanding its distribution and portfolio dramatically in 2009. In addition to seven year round beers and four seasonal releases, New Belgium will produce four small batch Lips of Faith beers, four collaborative beers with Elysian brewing in Seattle (collectively known as The Trip series) and four new Loose Lips beers for internal and tasting room consumption only.

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Mother Earth Brewing opening 2009 in NC

mother-earth-brewing

(Kinston, NC) – Already positioned as a respected player in the microbrewing industry, North Carolina will soon have one more reason to boast;

Mother Earth Brewing Company

. The brewery is owned by businessmen Stephen Hill and Trent Mooring, and kicked off its official entry into the business of beer on Monday, February 16th with a well attended press conference. “Our shared hobby planted the seed for Mother Earth Brewing Company, and the desire to see our hometown grow and attract new folks and new businesses without losing that neighborhood feeling led us to locate the brewery in downtown Kinston, NC” Trent said during the ceremony.

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Oskar Blues grows production 64% in 2008

oskar-blues-logo

Trailblazing microcanner enjoys sixth year of uncanny growth

(Lyons, Colorado) — Oskar Blues Brewery enjoyed its sixth straight year of significant growth, increasing its beer production by 64% in 2008

The company — the nation’s first hand-canning craft brewery and makers of canned Dale’s Pale Ale, Old Chub Scottish Style Ale, Gordon, and Ten FIDY Imperial Stout — produced 19,500 barrels of beer in 2008. The brewery produced 12,409 barrels in 2007. (A barrel of beer equals 31 gallons.)

This growth makes Oskar Blues one of the fastest-growing craft brewers in America.

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Goose Island Sofie, Juliet get approval

goose-island-juliet

[Goose Island Beer Co. now has a brand-new website up. Looks great, lots of good info on there.]

(Chicago, IL) – Goose Island Beer Co., in addition to its Clybourn Heritage Series, has bottled two beers for the first time: Juliet and Saison Sofie. The following info is more or less taken straight off of the labels though I wrote a bit more about Juliet a while back:

Goose Island Juliet

Belgian-style ale aged in wine barrels with blackberries. 6.5% ABV and will develop in the bottle for up to five years.

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State of the Craft Beer Union: Part II

craft-beer-share-08

I noticed a couple articles right after Part I. First, there was an article depicting a bleak 2009 for beer, saying that beer was no longer recession-proof. Q4 sales dropped substantially for beer relative to wine and liquor sales. And then craft beer sales numbers came out. The good news is that we are still growing in market share. The bad news is that the growth is slowing. The increases in production market share, as shown above, went from .5% in 2006 to .37% in 2007 to .25% in 2008. Increases in retail market share went from .65% in 2007 (based on 4.2 billion in craft beer/80 billion total) to .4% in 2008.

There is still work to be done.

As promised, here is a rundown of some of the liquor law shakeups (some good, some debatable) around the country. In each case, there is a link with more info so that you can help. And if you live in one of these states, consider making allies with others facing a similar fight. Strength in numbers…

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Beer Notes: Struise Cuvee Delphine, Bourbon Angels Share, AleSmith, Pisgah

struise-cuvee-delphine

Update: Beer will be available for sale online toward the end of April at this link. -> Struise got its new label for Cuvee Delphine (aka Barrel-Aged Black Albert) last week. The brewery won’t be importing this beer to the U.S. Rather, you will have to order it online via the web. It should be available online at the end of April.

The big news on Monday came out of California where Alesmith and Ballast Point both announced new bottle releases:

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COOP Ale Works opens for business in OKC

coop-ale-works

(Oklahoma City, OK) – COOP Ale Works will officially cut the ribbon on Tuesday, “030309,” pouring the start-up brewery’s first pints to the public. The beer will start flowing at the 51st Street Speakeasy two doors down from the brewery beginning at 2pm. COOP will have its official tasting room at the Speakeasy with several taps ready to go.

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Black Albert, Ommegang Biere de Mars, and Saison de Lente hit online stores

ommegang-biere-de-mars-422-292 struise-black-albert-thumb-90-100 bruery-saison-de-lente More good stuff found online today:

The Wine and Cheese Place now has more Black Albert (or did, can’t seem to get on the site right now to find out). Also: Mikkeller Single Hop Simcoe, and fresh Bell’s Two Hearted .

Healthy Spirits New Arrivals:

1. Ommegang Biere de Mars
2. Eel River Acai Berry Wheat
3. Marin Brewing Company “Star Brew” Wheat Wine

They also had Hair of the Dog Fred from the Wood a while back. Not sure if it sold out or not.

Liquid Solutions is now selling some stuff from Laughing Dog including the new Alpha Dog Imperial IPA. They also have Big Sky Ivan the Terrible and should be getting in Big Sky Olde Blue Hair Barleywine.

Finally, South Bay Drugs gets in a shipment of The Bruery Saison de Lente on Monday.