(Mt. Pleasant, SC) – A bunch o’ news from Westbrook Brewing‘s newsletter [sign up here] today…

We have a lot of good stuff coming your way this month!

First up will be our first bottle releases – Dark Helmet 22oz bombers and barrel-aged Tripel 750ml bottles. We know a lot of you have been waiting patiently (or not so patiently) for the first beers to come out of the barrel room, so we’re very happy to announce that there will be not 1, but 3 (three!) different versions of the wine barrel-aged Tripel released simultaneously at the brewery on Dec. 15th! Each of the beers was aged for 8 months in a different type of red wine barrel to explore the effects that the various types of wood and wine would have on the beer. The barrels were: 2008 Whetstone Bella Vigna Pinot Noir (French oak), Rombauer single-vineyard Cabernet (French & American oak), and Tiger Mountain Malbec (American oak). These beers are different than anything we have tasted before and very limited, so don’t miss out!

As if that’s not enough, we’ll also be releasing our 1st Anniversary beer on December 20th! To mark this auspicious occasion we have brewed the Mexican Cake, a massive Imperial stout aged on Ecuadorian and Ghanaian cocoa nibs, cinnamon, vanilla, and habanero peppers. Some of you may have tasted the test batch we had in the tasting room a while back – imagine that beer turned up to 11 and you have the Mexican Cake!

A little bit of bad news: we have decided to stop brewing (at least for a while) the Belgian Pale. Unfortunately it just wasn’t selling fast enough to make sure that the beer stayed fresh. Ok now on to the good news: the Vanilla Tree Dubbel will be taking its place as a semi-year round offering. Right now the plan is to brew the Vanilla Tree during the cooler months (October – March) and switch it up with another beer for the warmer months (April – September). We also hope to introduce an additional year-round beer soon. Leaning towards some sort of stout or brown ale, but we’re open to suggestions!