New Arrivals, Special Releases, and Lots of Events

After a big lull in new arrivals we've been deluged with stuff in the last couple of days. Some are seasonal things we've been expecting for a while, some are hotly anticipated special releases, and one is so limited that we've been forced to put a bottle limit on it.

We also have a bunch of fun events lined up for Oregon Craft Beer Month, so keep reading all the way to the end.

New American Craft Beers:

Full Sail Brewing - Black Session (or is it "Session Black?") - A little bolder, a little stronger, and a little darker, but still easy drinking enough that you can have several of them over the course of a session without burning out your palate or filling your gut.

Victory - Hop Wallop 22oz: The same great imperial IPA that you all know and love, now available in bombers so you can get walloped with friends. (why does that sound dirty?)

Laurelwood - Wry Pale Ale: The latest seasonal 22oz bottle from Chad Kennedy and crew is a bright, crisp pale ale accented with rye malt for a little earthy, spicy kick. This one's on deck for after work, so I'll update this post if it's particularly noteworthy.

Red Branch - Honey Red: The latest brew from this innovative Meadery/brewery is an Irish-style red ale with 25% honey to lend a little sweetness to the body.

Anderson Valley - Summer Solstice and Poleeko Gold in cans!: The same great Booneville beer, now in a more outdoor-friendly package so you can have Bahl Hornin! on the beach, river, or top of Mt. Hood.

Sierra Nevada - Kellerweis: If you pay any attention to the big beer geek websites you've probably aware of all the people practically freaking out over this seemingly simple, unpretentious brew. There's a good reason for it; underneath the "I want extreme" exterior, most beer geeks crave something easy drinking and flavorful on occasion, and there are few styles more delicious and refreshing than a well-crafted Hefe. Sierra Nevada's version is about as authentic as you can get without heading to Bavaria, and since it's brewed here in the States (instead of being shipped over from Germany) it's got a 6-8 week head start in the freshness department. This should be a staple in everyone's fridge (along with Black Session) for at least the duration of the summer.

Flying Dog - Woody Creek White: I haven't had this one yet, but one of our regular, wit-loving customers has given it his thumbs up. According to him there's a great spice presence without being over-done or soapy.

New Old Lompoc - Heaven's Helles: Lompoc's first foray into limited seasonal runs is their light, summery lager. It's got a heck of a lot more flavor than it's 4.5% abv would lead you to believe, but it's light-bodied enough that you can easily polish of a 22oz bottle and still have room for dinner.

21st Amendment - Brew Free or Die IPA and Hell or High Watermelon in cans!: These great additions to the canned craft cooler (which is growing rapidly), provide two more options for your outdoor or backyard adventures. As you may or may not know, the Hell or High Watermelon (formerly known as 21st Amendment Watermelon Wheat) has been the number one selling beer (by volume) at the OBF for several years in a row. This might have something to do with the blazing weather the last few years, or the dearth of lighter options in the trailers full of IPAs, or maybe people just really, really like watermelon. Whatever the case, you can rest easy knowing that when they run out at the festival you can pop in and grab a six pack.

Laughing Dog - Huckleberry Cream: The name pretty much sums it up. "Hucky Cream" is light, smooth, and full of dark, semi-sweet berry character.

Lagunitas - Lucky 13: Imperial Red? American Strong Ale? Whatever it is, it's good. Available for a limited time only.

Bison Brewing - Honey Basil: This pale golden brew is light, a little sweet, and has an interesting earthy/herbal basil note that springs up as the brew warms. Judging by the buzz on the blogosphere this was well received at the NAOBF last weekend, and the bottles have been flying out of the cooler ever since. I'm pretty sure this is a limited, seasonal brew, although it does have a different UPC code* than all the other Bison brews, so it could be a year-round offering. *One of these days I'll get around to writing a giant rant on why I despise overlapping UPC codes (I'm looking squarely at you, Rogue), but today is not that day.


We finally have a brewery from Missouri in our coolers that doesn't have AnhueserBusch (or InBev) on the label. I posted a sneak preview picture a month or two ago after I tried them at a distributor open house, so it's no real surprise that they're here, but I thought I'd mention it because lots of people have been waiting for them.

Boulevard - Sixth Glass Quadrupel: Big, dark, strong, and mysterious. Click here for an explanation of the name.

Boulevard - Long Strange Tripel: A little on the sweet side of the tripel spectrum, which should work to it's benefit if you plan on aging it, but it's plenty delicious right now.

Boulevard - Saison: A golden, effervescent Saison made with Amarillo hops, two-row pale malt, wheat, and a pinch of corn.

Boulevard - Double Wide IPA: A big ol' palate wrecker of an IPA, perfect for sipping while you wait out the tornados in your life...

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! (apologies to the late Billy Mays...)


New Imports:

Rodenbach and Rodenbach Grand Cru return! After an almost two year absence from our shelves, the classic Flemish sours are back. I was really, really hoping that the distributor would pull through and get a keg to us in time for Puckerfest, but bottles are better than nothing I suppose.

Steenbrugge - Blonde, Witbier, Dubbel, Tripel: I haven't had any of these since they were available in 11.2oz bottles a few years ago, but if memory serves they're all well-crafted, clean versions of their respective styles. Not quite as complex or challenging as the Chimay's and Rochefort's of the world, but they're quite a bit less expensive so I guess you get what you pay for.

Casa Beer (Morocco): Casa (aka Cascablanca) is a typical "tropical lager" brewed for places with hot weather pretty much all year. There's not a lot going on, but if you're having a Moroccan/North African dinner party it'll make a great accompaniment.

Redstone Meadery - Nectar of the Hops: I haven't had a chance to try this yet, but if you can't wait until July 6th (when the founder of Redstone will be here) you can stop in and grab a bottle of this dry-hopped mead.


Special/Limited Releases:

North Coast - Barrel-aged Old Rasputin XXII: Tastes like you squeezed an evil dictator into a barrel and left him to stew for a few months. Or not. Limited to 2 bottles perperson due to extremely limited supply.

Stone - 13th Anniversary Ale: Supposedly their hoppiest beer to date, the 13th Anniversary brew pours a rich coppery color, throws hop aroma in your face like a walk through the Yakima Valley, and carries more bitterness than a Chicago Cubs fan...

Oregon Trail Bourbon Porter (batch 5): They didn't make very much of the OT Bourbon Porter this year, and I'm not sure how long it'll last, so grab it while you can.

Deschutes Black Butte XXI: Deschutes' 21st birthday present to us takes everything you know and love about Black Butte and cranks it up like only a rebellious 21 year old could. Partially aged in bourbon barrels to give it an added layer of complexity. Side note: I drank a bottle of BBXX a few nights ago and it's tasting delicious, so consider breaking out a bottle from last year and putting it side by side with this one for comparison.

Bridgeport - Stumptown Tart: I haven't had a chance to try this year's version yet, but I'm curious to see how it compares to last year's marionberry version. At 8+%abv it'll definitely be a night capper. Stop in on Thursday from 6-8pm and you can try a free sample for yourself along with the rest of their bottled line-up.


Events and Tastings


THURSDAY JULY 2 6-8PM. BRIDGEPORT TASTING & MEET THE BREWER. Sample the just released Stumptown Tart and the entire lineup from this 25 years running Portland craft brewer. One of the brewers will be on hand to guide you. This year's Stumptown Tart is a blend of wheat ale with 50% aged in wood and 50% ale infused with Oregon Sour Pie cherries.

TUESDAY JULY 7 6-8PM CANNED CRAFT BEER TASTING. In many ways the can is a better storage medium for beer than a bottle. The can doesn't leak at the cap, it completely blocks light, it's lightweight, etc. At long last when you choose cans you don't have to drink industrial generibrew. Now we have Caldera Amber, Pale Ale, & IPA, Oskar Blues Dales Pale Ale, Old Chub Scottish Ale, & Gordon Imperial Red Ale, Big Sky Moose Drool & Troutslayer, 21st Amendment Brew Free or Die IPA & Hell or High Watermelon, and New Belgium Fat Tire. Sample them all fresh from the can tonight!

WEDNESDAY JULY 8 6-8PM Redstone Mead Tasting. Restone Meadery Founder, David Myers, will be here offering samples of several varieties of his award winning mead, including the new Nectar of the Hops. We will also have Nectar of the Hops on draft in the Biercafe, I mean Meadcafe (well, briefly!)

JULY 10 - 16: 3RD ANNUAL PUCKERFEST--A celebration of Sour Beers. July 10-16 in the Belmont Station Biercafe. Featuring very special kegs from Cantillon, Russian River, The Bruery, Double Mountain, Cascade Brewing, New Belgium, Ommegang, Roots, Deschutes, and more!

FRIDAY JULY 10 6PM Puckerfest Opening night with Double Mountain. Brewer Matt Swihart. Matt will bring kegs of Devils Kriek (Sour beer with Bing Cherries) and Rainier Kriek (guess what cherries are in this one) and some of the cherries used in both so you can taste the cherries alongside the beer. BTW Matt also grew the cherries in his own orchards!

MONDAY JULY 13 6-8PM Cascade Brewing Night. Brewer Curtis Bain will offer some free tastes of several of Cascade's Northwest Sour Beers. Nightfall Blackberry Ale and "Barrel 323" (an un-blended Northwest Sour barrel aged for 14 months) will be on draft.

TUESDAY JULY 21 6-8PM. HEATER ALLEN TASTING & MEET THE BREWER.
Owner/brewer Rick Allen of this McMinnville, OR craft brewer will offer tastes of his wide range of German style beers. Plus we'll have Coastal Common, Pils, and a special surprise on draft.

FRIDAY JULY 24 (OBF Weekend) 3PM. Rogue Brewmaster John Maier will tap a keg of John John: Dead Guy Ale aged in a Rogue Dead Guy Whisky Barrel. We'll also have the superb Rogue Charlie on draft.



That's all for now! Enjoy the weather while it lasts, and don't forget to bring a 6pk of craft-brewed cans with you as you venture outside.

Recent Arrivals and Returning Favorites

The weather is beautiful and the new beers keep flowing in. We've gotten a couple of incredible sour beer in over the last couple days which are perfect warm weather sippers. A handful of summer seasonals are also in stock so check the list below for the full run down of new brew.

The cafe draught list is also tipping towards the easy drinking side of things as the weather heats up. A couple of highlights on today's list include Heater Allen Isarweizen, Deschutes Red Chair IPA, and New Belgium La Folie. Never fear though, we've still got a wide range of styles, including a couple heavy hitters like Stone Imperial Russian Stout and Hopworks Bourbon-aged Noggin Floggin Barleywine for those who are gluttons for punishment.


New American Craft Beers:

• Leinenkugels - Classic Amber: A 100 percent malted lager, “Leinie’s Classic” features Leinenkugel’s own unique blend of two-row and six-row malts and four varieties of hops. A blend of Pale, Caramel, and Munich malts offer a complex flavor, with four different hops (Cluster, Cascade, Mt. Hood, and Hallertau) to balance the malts.
  
• Cascade Lakes - Paulina Lake Pilsner: Sweet, bready malt character meets crisp noble hops in this classic style. Toss a couple of bombers in the cooler and take some fishing.
  
• New Belgium - La Folie: Say what you will about Fat Tire, La Folie proves that New Belgium can brew, blend, and barrel age with the best of them. Former Rodenbach brewmaster Peter Bouckaert and crew keep watch over a multidude of foeders (huge oak barrels) filled with several vintages of La Folie. When the time comes to bottle they blend various batches together to create a harmonious, complex whole that's sure to put a pucker on your face. We only received a few cases, so please try and limit yourself to 3 bottles.
  
• New Belgium - Biere de Mars: The other new arrival from NBB this week is their delicious Biere de Mars, a New World take on the classic spring beers from the French/Belgian border region. New Belgium's version includes lemon verbena and "unidentified flying yeasts" to create a earthy, citrusy, brew with "crusty bread" malt character and a dry finish.
  
• Fish Tale - Organic Blonde: Fish's summer release is an easy drinking blonde ale brewed with a touch of rye for a delicate spiciness and just enough hops to give it a crisp, very refreshing finish.
  
• Sierra Nevada - Southern Hemisphere Harvest: This twist on the "fresh hop" craze features fresh hops from New Zealand that are dried, flown from NZ to Chico, and thrown into the kettle in less than a week. It's a major undertaking to be sure, but the reward is an off-season fresh hop beer bursting with grassy and floral hop aromas. Look for the fat 24oz bottle with the bright blue label.
  
• Elysian - Avatar Jasmine IPA: This delectable northwest IPA has a healthy dose of dried jasmine flowers to give it a unique floral nose and dry finish.
  
• Flying Dog - Canis Major 8 Pack: This great little package includes four of Flying Dog's big beers - Gonzo Imperial Porter, Double Dog Double Pale, Horn Dog Barleywine, and Kerberos Tripel - in 7oz nip bottles. They're perfect for when you want some strong, flavorful brew but don't want to commit to a 22oz bottle of something that's 10% or higher. Which begs the question, why do so many breweries put their monstrous beers in big bottles?
  

New Imports:

• Schneider - Hopfen-Weisse: This collaboration between Brooklyn Brewing and Schneider is a hopped-up take on the classic Schneider Weisse. Smooth and creamy bodied with a defined herbal, grassy hop character, this is one easy drinking summer brew.
  
• Belhaven - Scottish Stout: (commercial description) This deluxe stout is brewed for a full roasted chocolate flavour with a hop character that complements a blend of three different malts. Drink, savour, and enjoy!
  
• Whistler - Classic Pale Ale: Visitors to Whistler/Blackcomb (or Vancouver, BC in general) will surely recognize the distinctive labels. I haven't had a chance to try either of the Whistler brews yet, but you can click the links and see what other folks think.
  
• Whistler - Black Tusk: (commercial description) Obsidian black with a creamy, tan coloured head. Aroma: Subtle, malty aroma Palate: A dark, bold English-style mild ale. Expect a mild bitterness with notes of chocolate and a roasted coffee finish. Finish: Delightfully subtle with a refreshing, lingering finish.
  

Returning Favorites:

Russian River - Consecration: We got another small load of this incredible strong sour ale yesterday. I don't recall which batch we received last time, but for those who are keeping track this is batch 002X3. We've also got a fair amount of Pliny the Elder and Blind Pig IPA in stock at the moment.

That's all for now. Don't forget to drink plenty of water while you're out enjoying the sun. It's going to be really toasty this weekend, and your body will need all the hydration it can get.

North Amberican Organic Beer Fest List

The NAOBF website has been updated with this year's beer list, and while many of the attendees are bring the same things as last year, there's some interesting new entries.

Assuming the weather holds out and I get to attend both days I'm sure I'll try just about everything, but here's the stuff I'm most looking forward to (in no particular order):

Elliot Bay Hop van Boorian - Belgian-style IPA: I've had several examples of this new hybrid style (how many commercial examples do you need to create a new category?), and while they've been hit or miss I appreciate the effort that goes into trying to create a harmonious whole out of two disparate elements.

Lakefront Organic Fuel Cafe Stout - We've had the Fuel Cafe in bottles for a while now, but I just received word from their distributor that they've teamed up with a local organic coffee roaster and reformulated the beer to make it organic, so I'm excited to try the new version.

Upright Brewing Reggae Junkie Gruit and Seven (aka #7) - I don't know if Alex and Gerritt want me to say anything about the gruit and ruin any potential surprises, so I'll just say that I'm really looking forward to this one. I'm also happy to see the #7 on the list; the first batch should be ready soon and popping up around town at the usual suspects, but for folks attending the fest from out of town this is likely to be their first taste of Upright. If the weather gets toasty Alex may regret bringing this instead of the ridiculously quaffable #4, but I'm sure it'll be a popular beer regardless.

Laurelwood is bringing the Green Mammoth, on of my all-time favorite local IIPAs, but I got a chuckle out of their second entry, simply labeled "something delicious." I'm sure that's just a fun way of saying TBD, but it would actually make a great name for a beer.

Lucky Lab Recession Session Lager - First of all, great name. Secondly, this looks like the pick of the fest when you need to tone it down for a while or simply quench your thirst and let your palate recover from all the hop bombs on the list.

Those are my picks so far; what's calling your name?

Fresh Off the Bottling Line!

I have in my hands two icy cold bottles of Hopworks Organic Beer that were bottled this morning. The Cross Town Pale and Seven Grain Survival Stout are now in the house and ready for sale, and the IPA and Deluxe Old Ale (aka DOA) should be in tomorrow or Friday.

Daily Notes and a Little Tease

We've only had a handful of new beers trickle in over the last few days, but there's some other exciting news to report as well, so join us as we stroll through virtual coolers...

New Arrivals:


Black Diamond - A long time Sacramento favorite, Black Diamond is now available in Oregon. The initial line up consists of their Belgian-style Blonde, Amber, and IPA. They've also sent a few kegs of their new Saison into town, so look for it to pop up around town at the usual suspect places.



Mateveza - The original Mateveza (brewed at Butte Creek) is no longer being produced. Jim Woods, creator/founder of Mateveza, has contracted with Mendocino produce two brand new beers featuring yerba mate. Mateveza Gold is a 5%abv Golden ale with the equivalent of 1/3 of a cup of coffee per 12oz serving. Mateveza IPA is a west coast style IPA replete with Simcoe, Centennial, and Cascade hop character capped by a long dry finish from the mate. The IPA has slightly more yerba mate in it; roughly equal to 1/2 of a cup of coffee per serving.

If you catch this post in the next couple of hours I'd encourage you to stop by the store to meet Jim Woods and try some free samples of his newest creations.


Heater Allen Returns! After a catastrophic equipment failure destroyed all of Rick's beer we were left wondering how long it would take him to recover, and I loaded up on all the H/A beer we could squeeze into the walk-in. If the word hadn't gotten out I think we would have had an uninterrupted supply, but unfortunately people started hoarding it when they heard it was in short supply and we ran out of just about everything last week.

Luckily for us (and all you lager lovers), Rick was quick on the mash paddle and this morning he replenished our coolers with fresh batches of Pils, Dunkel, and Schwarz. He also brought us the first few cases of Isarweizen, his Bavarian-style Hefe. I haven't had this batch yet, but Rick said he lowered the fermentation temperature a little this time to help mute the banana/clove flavor a bit, and he feels it's a whole lot better than last year's version.


Great Divide - A fresh load of Great Divide is here, and they sent a few fun new beers along for the ride. Belgica IPA is another entry in the blossoming "Belgian IPA" category. Leaning more towards the Belgian yeast character and less towards the hops makes for a fairly easy drinking brew with a complex fruity/yeasty/citrusy twang to it. The Dunkel Weiss is a dark, German-style wheat beer brewed with wheat, dark German malts, and a proprietary yeast strain. As the folks at GD say, "If you like wheat beers, come to the Dunkel side." Lastly, we got a limited number of their Saison, a classic Belgian-style farmhouse ale brewed with barley, wheat, rice (huh...), and 4 different yeast strains to give it that farmhouse character and a bone dry finish.

Fianlly, a little tease:



With any luck we should be seeing Boulevard Brewing Co. on our shelves within the next two months. They were present at a very packed distributor tasting last night, and everyone I spoke to seemed eager to have them. Of course nothing is certain until the beer actually arrives, but this is deliciously exciting news...

Last but not least, join us tomorrow night as we welcome Shawn Kelso from Barley Brown's brewpub. Barley Brown's is way, way out in eastern Oregon, and his incredibly well crafted beers are almost never seen on this side of the cascades, so don't miss this opportunity to try several of his latest brews including WFOIPA and 18 month old Whiskey Malt Rye beer. Yummy!