New Arrivals For Tuesday April 14th

New Beers!

~Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale: Stone's 11th Anniversary beer (a black IPA) was so popular that they've brought it back as a year-round beer. Roasty, hoppy, and full bodied.

~Stone Imperial Russian Stout: This is the highest-rated beer in the Stone portfolio according to the users of Ratebeer.com, and with good reason. A complex wave of flavors and aromas washes over you with every sip; bitter chocolate, roasted coffee, anise, herbal hoppiness, even a little peppery spice. I haven't had one of the fresh bottles yet, but if it's anything like prior years it's probably a little boozy at the moment. Not that that's neccessarily a bad thing, but I'm guessing it would benefit from at least a couple months to meld like a good stew.

~Butte Creek Organic "Initial Attack" IPA: I'm getting mixed info on this one. My distributor rep informed me that it's a fresh hop beer made with New Zealand hops, but I can't find any references to it being a fresh hop beer either on the bottle or the web. Unfortunately the Butte Creek website is under construction, so I can't go to the source either. I'll take one for the team and report back as soon as possible.

Returning Favorites!

~Stone Cali-Belgique: A special version of their IPA brewed with a Belgian yeast strain. This one went quickly last time we got it in, so don't delay.

~Russian River: Fresh cases of Pliny the Elder IIPA (bottled on 04.07.09) are in the cooler and ready to go home with you. We were supposed to receive a few cases of Blind Pig IPA as well, but they didn't make it onto the delivery truck this morning so they'll hopefully come in on Friday.


Last minute tasting reminder:

We're hosting a Hot Lips Soda tasting this evening from 5-8pm.

HOTLIPS Soda is real fruit soda pop. Picked-ripe fruit is cooked in open kettles, bringing out the nuanced flavors. Seeds are filtered out, but not pulp, then water, pure cane sugar and organic lemon juice are added. Then it is carbonated, put into bottles and pasteurized. It’s simple. High percentages of real fruit. No shortcuts, supplements, artificial flavors, concentrates or trickery. And no corn syrup. Even the bottles are local, manufactured from 80% recycled glass right here in Portland.

As you can see, they take their soda as seriously as most of the breweries around here take their beer. Only the best ingredients and practices go into making them, and it shows in the flavors.

Tonight they're pouring samples of their Strawberry, Raspberry, Pear, Boysenberry, Blackberry, and Black Raspberry sodas. It really is great stuff, either on it's own or used as a mixer for delcious fruity cocktails.

That's all for now. Have a great week!