A bittersweet Monday edition of beer notes…

Pierre Celis: Celis, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 86, is credited with singlehandedly reviving the Witbier style. Learn more: Google news links and Roger Protz’s write-up.

Firestone Walker: The brewery is changing the name of Abacus to something else to be determined. The brewery has not said why. ZD Wines currently holds a registered mark for “Abacus” when it comes to wines. There is currently no registration for Abacus under the class of goods for beers and ales though.

BrewDog: Lots of interesting stuff in their latest blog: “2011 has succeeded all expectations so far with actual growth of over 200% and an increase of over 400% in orders. […] Since early 2011 we have also been making a small amount of beer at Meantime in London. This was meant to help us grow and although it contributes around 8% of our current production we are still a long way short of keeping up with demand. The Meantime arrangement is an interim one, meant to enable us to keep the momentum and help us supply customers until we finish building our new flagship brewery outside Aberdeen in 2012. […] The beers we make at Meantime are almost exclusively lagers (77 and zeitgeist) for export markets.” The plan is for the new brewery to be operational around summer 2012.

Allagash Brewing: The brewery’s Twitter account mentioned last week, “First Spontaneous Beers (brewed 1-3 yrs ago) will be sold at brewery store ONLY. Release in next 90 days. Exact date will NOT be announced.”

Hangar 24 Craft Brewery: “Our IPA [has been] renamed Columbus IPA to honor the fact that it is brewed with 100% Columbus hops.” It will be in stores in 22 oz. bottles beginning on Monday, 4/11.

Revolution Brewing: The Tribune reports, “By January 2012 – and hopefully well before that, owner Josh Deth says – Revolution beer will be in bars and on Cook County shelves.

Revolution will can its flagship beers year-round – Bottom Up Belgian Wit (a Belgian-style white ale), Anti Hero India Pale Ale and Eugene (a chocolate porter) – and at least a couple of seasonals (October fest and Fistmas, a heavily-hopped brown ale spiced with ginger and orange peel). Its reserve line – a milk stout, a barrel-aged milk stout and a saison – will be put into 22-ounce bottles. The canning line, Deth says he was told, once belonged to Stroh’s. He’s still weighing whether to package his beer as four 16-ounce cans or six 12-ounce cans (I voted for the latter).”

Uncommon Brewers: Per the brewery blog, “the shipping tracker shows that the first two pallets of Uncommon beer have reached Philadelphia. Including the stack that just hit New York, that’s three pallets of our cans out on the East Coast. Two more will launch for Richmond, Virginia within the next week, along with a few kegs.”

Schlafly (Saint Louis Brewery): New draft exclusive went on tap this weekend…Citra Pale Ale (Single Hop)

Great Basin Brewing: KTVN reports, “Officials for the brewery say they plan to bottle and distribute their signature Ichthyosaur ‘Icky’ India pale ale outside of Nevada in the coming months. They say it will be the first Reno-area beer to be bottled and sold outside the state.”

Bonus I: An urban farm with a brewery involved. Really interesting concept.

Bonus II: An interesting law allows liquor establishments to bring in beers into D.C. that aren’t otherwise distributed in the municipality.

Bonus III: Michigan brewers see future in cans