New Arrivals For Wednesday Oct. 17, 2007

A rare Wednesday delivery brings us a few new things, including a pumpkin beer for our tasting this evening.

Butte Creek Fresh Hops IPA: Another brand new, untasted arrival. We'll let them describe it thusly: "We celebrate the hop harvest by brewing with freshly picked wet hops. This IPA has grassy, floral & citrus notes from the use of freshly harvested, unprocessed hops." This one's pretty limited, so if you need a couple bottles to round out your collection of fresh hop beers you should come in soon.


Butte Creek Revolution XI: This one's brand new, and I won't be able to try it until later, so here's what the folks at B.C. have to say: "Revolution XI, the hop monster that celebrates our 11th Anniversary, is a fat & chewy Imperial IPA that is over the top on hop flavor and aroma. The piney hop character is derived from a blend of five different hop varities: New Zealand Hallertau, Magnum, Chinook, Amarillo, and Simcoe." Um, fat and chewy aren't descriptors I'd generally think of when describing a beer, but they make it sound like a good thing. We'll see if it lives up to the bar set by Revolution X.


Bison Gingerbread Ale: Bison puts out not one, but two beers during the colder months of the year. Gingerbread is a well-balanced porter accented with ginger and spices to give it a flavor reminiscent of fresh ginger snaps. It's tasty on it's own, and delicious when poured over vanilla ice cream. Seriously, try it.


Bison Winter Warmer (vintage 2006): Bison's second "gray weather" beer is simply called Winter Warmer, and at 9% abv it certainly makes you feel toasty. Loosely brewed to the style of an abbey dubbel, but tweaked a bit with organic raisins to increase the dark fruit flavors and boost the fermentables without resorting to dumping sugar in the brew.


Lakefront Pumpkin Lager: Commercial Description: "Pumpkin Lager is brewed with pumpkins in the mash, spices added during the boil, and lightly hopped. The rich specialty grains and lager fermentation combine to produce the taste and the texture of pumpkin pie." Stop in right now and try it for free!


Lakefront Cherry Lager: Commercial description: "An American style fruit beer made with Wisconsin's Door County cooking cherries and lager yeast. The tartness of the cherry is balanced witht the sweetness from the 2-row barley and the flavoring of Mt. Hood hops." Very little of this brew made its way to Oregon, so be sure to grab some on your next visit.


Lakefront Variety 8 packs: Each box is a mystery, and this is the only way you can try some of their esoteric offerings like Riverwest Stienbier, a unique beer based on an old technique that involves throwing hot stones into the kettle to heat the beer and caramelize the sugars.