Lots of stuff to run through after the weekend break….

…An interesting story about a returning hop crisis appeared on the Rogue Ales news wire on Friday: “The explosive popularity of hoppy beer has become bittersweet as the total American harvest was off 30% for the year, according to December’s USDA hop harvest report. Especially screwed now are those brewers relying on smaller-yield, aroma-centric American hops to make mainstream-barreling IPAs, since Simcoe, Citra and Amarillo are largely (if not totally) sold for the year.” It looks like a Beer Business Daily re-post so kudos goes to them for the reporting.

…Mark Saturday, March 12th, down on your calendar. Per the Cigar City Brewing blog, “Bottles of Hunahpu Mayan Chocolate Imperial Stout will go on sale at 6pm, wristbands will be handed out to the first 750 people who want to be assured their bottles beginning at noon. There will be roughly 3000 bottles for this year’s release and the limit will be 4 bottles per person initially with surplus being sold at no limit after everyone who wants to purchase initially has been able to do so.”

…From Flying Dog Brewery‘s blog, “‘Once we unleashed Raging Bitch, it became impossible to for us to cage,’ our CEO Jim Caruso said. ‘Our nationwide sales in 2010 were up 40% over 2009 and we experienced triple-digit growth in the mid-Atlantic region alone. A huge contributor to this outstanding success was Raging Bitch.'” The beer is now available year-round.

…SweetWater Brewery unveiled the six-pack artwork for its Catch and Release seasonal, Road Trip. Also worth checking out is the write-up in V3 Magazine.

…Oskar Blues announced the upcoming re-release of Deviant Dale’s Pale Ale, a draft-only offering. Oskar Blues President, John Bryant, told Modern Brewery Age, “We are brewing a very limited release of Deviant Dale’s draft for the Old Chicago Pub group of Colorado. But there are only enough Deviant Dale’s kegs for maybe 4-6 weeks of supply.” The launch is on January 26th. Bryant also noted that recent expansion brings brewery capacity up to 65,000 barrels.

…Kuhnhenn 9 and 9 Braggot were reportedly released yesterday. There were only a handful of cases for sale so you had better run (and call ahead).

…Jester King Craft Brewery produced 1,600 bottles of Black Metal Stout on Saturday. Complete with videos.