[BEER RELEASE CALENDAR NOTE: In light of wanting to do a little more work on the calendar with today’s news in mind (and it being 2:20am), I won’t have time to publish until tomorrow night.]

It just wrapped up with the Portsmouth/Smuttynose news though it actually started with a major announcement from reigning RateBeer champion brewery, Struise, that it would be releasing a top 50 beer.

Struise Cuvee Delphine

This is the reincarnation of Black Albert in bourbon barrels, named after the artist and daughter of King Albert, Delphine. Will this be exclusive to Ebenezers Pub here in the States? Good chance that is the case but everyone will have a shot apparently as it will be sold online at the Struise site. I will keep an eye on that and post on the Buy Beer page as soon as I see something.

From Ebenezer’s Pub Proprietor, Chris Lively, on Beer Advocate today: “Soon to be released this month between the 13th and 29th will be De Struise Cuvee Delphine. Delphine is the “unofficial” daughter of King Albert of Belgium. She is a highly respected artist throughout Europe, and we are honored to have her name and beauty grace our bottles.

This beer weighs in at 13% abv, and is aged in 4 Black Roses Bourbon barrels, we hope you enjoy…”

Catch the talk at RateBeer. And the 16 page thread about it arriving the TOP 50 last week.

Flossmoor Station Killer Kowalski

I gave a sneak preview of Flossmoor Station Wooden Hell on Christmas Eve. Illinois-based Flossmoor Station now has release date info for the beer along with Killer Kowalski Baltic Porter, a repeat medalist at the past two Great American Beer Festivals. I’ll just refer you over to one of the best brewery blogs out there where you can check out the label pic of Kowalski for yourself.

Brewdog Real IPA

Brewdog is aging some IPA the way it was done in the old days, at sea. [sidebar: For anyone that reads this blog that is new to beer (there must be a few, ya?), the history of the IPA is quite contradictory to how we decide to consume it today: fresh. It even confused my local beer/wine store owner who was holding back some IPAs in the cellar to “mark up” the beers a year later.] The brewery set some casks sailing and have a video blog of the mini-event up on their blog.

Finally, Brewery Ommegang has released its beer release calendar for the year. A couple new brews there.