The second half of today’s beer notes, spanning ten breweries west of the Mississippi… the East edition is here.

Boulevard Brewing: “The brewery produced 149,000 barrels of beer last year and expects to sell 160,000 barrels this year. Sales already were up 8.2 percent for the first quarter compared with a year ago. Boulevard plans to spend $3 million this year to expand its fermentation capacity. […]

Boulevard also is planning to use its Smokestack series to scout whether there’s a market for Kansas City’s homegrown brew on the East Coast. Sullivan said the company was looking at Boston, New York or Washington for its foray.”

21st Amendment Brewery: Brewbound.com reports, “For 2011, Freccia and O’Sullivan confirmed that two new four-packs will be making their way to market. Hop Crisis, a triple IPA which took home the silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) last year will now be distributed in four-packs starting in early June. […] Also making its way to cans by way of the four-pack will be the Ninkasi and 21st Amendment collaboration beer brewed in February. This beer is scheduled to hit the markets in October or November.”

Stone Brewing: John Trogner of Troegs Brewing has been named as the third collaboration partner on the upcoming Cherry Chocolate Stout. This was the winning recipe at the recent AHA rally. A Meet the Brewers event will be held at this Tuesday.

Also, Craft Business Daily reports, “We were tipped off to a particularly heinous discount yesterday: Vons selling Stone sixers for $6.99 (with club card-reg. $11.49) until June 28. The brewer, of course, doesn’t discount like that, and we’re told the distributor was floored. It’s a prime example of craft increasingly becoming a “loss leader,” taking the hit on pricing as retailers seek to generate traffic into the beer category, or just bring people in the store. Typically this tactic is reserved for big premium light beer brands, but apparently craft beer’s appeal is starting to make it more common in that space. I guess craft has truly arrived when chains are selling below cost…”

Oakshire Brewing: “We used a combination of Mugwort, Dandelion root, Dandelion leaf, Burdock Root, Licorice Root, Milk Thistle Seed, Blessed Thistle, Chamomile Flower, and Grapefruit peel to bitter and flavor this special Belgian Style Beer. We call it Mountain Rose Gruit after the local and organic herb company, Mountain Rose where we sourced all of the herbs.

Mountain Rose is a mahogany colored ale with herbal, licorice, banana, and fig notes in the aroma. It is medium bodied with a sweet malty middle yet finshes dry. Hints of spice and dark fruit linger in the finish. 7.0% abv.”

Rogue Ales: “Dad’s Little Helper will be available in 22oz serigraphed bottles and on draft starting May 1st, 2011.”

Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey: The brewery announced its fifth anniversary party will take place on May 14th. The Fifth Anniversary Ale will be released at the event.

Odell Brewing: “We hope you are enjoying [Odell Friek] as much as we are and we are looking forward to continuing this project in the future. The next batch of Friek has been aging in oak and souring for quite some time now, so if you missed out the first time around don’t worry it will be back…”

Jester King Craft Brewery: The brewery discusses at length how it is using wild yeast.

Block 15 Brewery: The brewery’s third attempt at a Berliner Weisse is now on tap.

Mountain Sun Pub and Brewery: They are bringing out four spring seasonals.

Bonus I: “In just a couple of weeks, Bud “Stub” Rommel, known to many as an icon in the Kellogg area, and his wife, Nan, will say goodbye to Stub’s Pub and Grill, 100 North Sheppard St., Kellogg, a well-known bar and grill they’ve been running since 2007.” The pub will continue on under new ownership.

Bonus II: Craft beer legislation progresses in Texas.

Bonus III: Small Wisconsin breweries seeing big growth

Bonus IV: Vancouver Craft Beer Week…these guys always have some creative, funny videos (see above)