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!