New Berr Round-Up Oct. 30, 2009

We received close to 20 new fall and winter seasonals in the last few days, so it's time for another round-up.

New American Beers:

• Full Sail Wreck The Halls
• Great Divide Fresh Hop
• Marin Hoppy Holidaze
• Laurelwood Vinter Varmer
• Upright Pure Wit
• Upright Flora Rustica
• Boulveard Nutcracker
• Oakshire Ill-tempered Gnome
• Bayern Doppelbock
• Dick's Double Diamond
• HeBrew Monumental Jewbelation
• Rogue Santa's Private Reserve
• Pike Entire Stout
• Alaskan Smoked Porter 2009

New Imports:

• St Bernardus Christmas Ale
• Kerst Pater (Pater Leiven Christmas Ale)
• Ridgeway Seriously Bad Elf
• Ridgeway Criminally Bad Elf
• Ridgeway Santa's Butt Porter

If you have questions about any of these, please feel free to give us a call at 503.232.8538.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Facebook Anyone?

You may have noticed that there's a new sidebar widget below the Twitter feed that shows our *gasp* Facebook Page.

After numerous requests for us to create a Facebook page I broke down and created one this morning. It's still in it's infancy, but I've already populated the event page with our upcoming tastings and added a couple of photos.

So, if you're into the whole social-networking thing, why not become a "fan" of the shop and give yourself one more way to keep up to date on all the newest beer arrivals, tastings, and other special events.

Lots and Lots of New Beer

A monsoon of winter beers is upon us. In the last 10 days we've received over 30 new beers, and a bunch of elusive favorites have returned.

Sadly, I don't have time to do full write-ups and links for all of these, but Google and Ratebeer work well enough that if you see something on the list that you're curious about it should be easy to find. As always, feel free to give us a call at 503.232.8538 if you have questions about anything else beer-related.

New American Beers and Ciders:

• Upright - Five
• High and Mighty - Home For The Holidays (proceeds benefit Afghanistan Vets)
• Wandering Aengus - Wanderlust Semi-Dry Cider
• Oskar Blues - Ten Fidy Imperial Stout
  
• Elysian - BiFrost Winter Ale
  
• Eel River - Climax Noel Imperial Red
  
• Ninkasi - Oatis Oatmeal Stout
  
• Bison - Organic Gingerbread Ale
• Bridgeport - Ebenezer
• Full Sail - Wassail
• Sam Adams - Winter
• Lagunitas Sumpin Extra
• Southern Tier Iniquity Black IPA
• Southern Tier Creme Brulee
• Southern Tier Hoppe Imperial Pale

New Imports:

• Brew Dog - Atlantic IPA
• BFM - Abbaye St. Bon Chien (Vintages from '06, '07, and '08)
• Nogne O - Tiger Tripel
• Nogne O - Tyttbaer (sour ale with lingonberries and wild yeasts)
  
• Nogne O Peculiar Yule
• Nogne O Winter Ale
• Ridgeway - Bad Elf Strong Ale
  
• Ridgeway - Lump Of Coal Stout
  
• Kerstmustke - Christmas Nightcap
• Tsmisje - Calva Reserva
• De Dolle - Bos Keun
  
• Geants - Noel de Geants
• Hitachino - Commemorative Ale 2009
• Hoffstettner - Granitbock
• Hoffstettner - Kuebelbier
  
• Van Steenberge - Witches Brew Tripel
• Christmas in Belgium 5pk (5 assorted small-batch Belgian ales)

...And Some Returning Favorites:

• Harviestoun - Ola Dubh 18yr
• De Dolle - Special Export Stout
• Hitachino - White Ale
• Hitachino - Sweet Stout
• JW Lees Harvest Ale 2006 (Lagavulin cask-aged)

Last but not least, a quick note about our Beer List page. I've been working diligently to keep it up to date lately, and you'll notice that there's now a blurb at the top of the page showing when it was last updated. I also spent more time than I'd care to think about implementing some simple javascript that will allow you to sort the (formerly static) table and re-organize it by brewery name, state/country of origin, or beer style. Hopefully this proves useful to people, I'd hate to think I spent all afternoon working on it for nothing but my own edification.

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EDIT: 2:00 pm, Friday October 23

A few more things rolled in this morning:

• Ridgeway - Very Bad Elf
• Ridgeway - Insanely Bad Elf
• Ridgeway - Reindeer's Revolt
• Amager - Julebryg
• Sierra Nevada - Celebration Ale
• Mad River - John Barleycorn Barleywine
• Goose Island - Bourbon County Stout 2009
• Goose Island - Christmas Ale 2009
• Firestone Walker - Reserve Porter
• Nectar Ales - Black Xantus Imperial Stout

Don't forget, on Monday night from 6-8 we'll be having a Nectar Ales tasting where you can sample the new Black Xantus bourbon-aged imperial stout along with the rest of the Nectar line. We'll also have a keg of Black Xantus on tap next door if the samples don't slake your thirst.




Have a good weekend!

Fresh Hop Finale!

It's been building all week, but we're not done yet. To properly cap off Fresh Hop Week 2009 we've loaded all but one of the tap lines with fresh hopped goodness.

Here's the full line-up:

1. Full Sail Lupulin Fresh Crystal Hop
2. Full Sail Lupulin Fresh Cascade Hop
3. Fort George CoHoperative - NEW TODAY
   
4. Oakshire Conundrum Fresh Hop
5. Oakshire Harvest Fresh Hop
6. Bridgeport Hop Harvest - NEW TODAY
   
7. Cascade Lakes Fresh Hop Ale
8. Deschutes Hop Trip
9. Hopworks Fest o' Fury - NEW TODAY
   
10. 4th Street Fresh Hop Ale
11. Sierra Nevada Estate Harvest Ale
12. Barley Brown's Roadside Fresh Hop
13. Rogue Chatoe Wet Hop Ale
14. Laurelwood Hop Bale Fresh Hop Ale
15. New Belgium Trip III (You know we had to keep something sour in the line up)
    
16. Upright Fresh Hop of Bel Air
17. Full Sail Lupulin Fresh Crystal (cask)

Not in the mood for hops? Don't worry, we've still got 800+ chilled bottles in the coolers just waiting to be consumed.

Mmm...Fresh Hops

Just a quick heads up, when the cafe opens at 3 we'll be rocking 11 different fresh hop beers. Here's the full tap list for today with the fresh hop beers highlighted:

• Full Sail Lupulin (Crystal)
• Full Sail Lupulin (Cascade)
• Double Mountain Killer Green (Brewer's Gold)
• Lagunitas Li'l Sumpin' Extra
• Calapooia Pacific Pilsner
• Rogue Maierfest
• Cascade Lakes Fresh Hop Ale (Santiam)
• Deschutes Hop Trip (Crystal)
• Block 15 Blocktoberfest
• 4th Street Fresh Hop Ale (Willamette)
• Sierra Nevada Estate Harvest Ale (Cascade, Centennial)
• Barley Brown's Roadside Fresh Hop (Wild roadside hops)
• Rogue Chatoe Wet Hop Ale (Independence and Revolution)
• Laurelwood Hop Bale Fresh Hop Ale (Amarillo)
• New Belgium Trip III
• Silver Moon Snakebite Porter
• CASK: Full Sail Lupulin (Crystal)

Trying to figure out what to have after work will (hopefully) be the toughest decision I make all day...

New Arrivals and Impending Hop Overload

After another lull in new arrivals we've suddenly been deluged with beer in the last few days. Winter seasonals, new cans (Buckbean Brewing from Reno, NV), a couple new imports, and the Sam Smith's gift boxes return for the season.


New Craft Beers:

• Buckbean - Original Orange Blossom Ale: Cream ale with orange flavors
  
• Buckbean - Black Noddy Lager: Schwarzbier (in a can!)
  
• Dogfish Head - Punkin: Strong ale with pumpkin and spices
  
• Mactarnahan's - Humbug'r: Strong, dark ale (tweaked version of Black Watch?)
  
• Pyramid - Sno Cap: American strong ale
• Cascade Lakes - Santa's Lil Helper: English-style strong ale
  
• Cascade Lakes - Skookum Creek Ale: American strong ale
  
• Big Sky - Slow Elk: Oatmeal Stout
• Full Sail - Vesuvius: Belgian-style golden ale
  
• Bridgeport - Hop Harvest: Fresh hop IPA
  
• Anderson Valley - Winter Solstice: Strong cream ale with spices
  
• Shipyard - Pumpkinhead: English-style ale with pumpkins and spices
  
• Stone - Sublimely Self Righteous: Black IPA
  
• Sierra Nevada - Estate: Fresh hop IPA made entirely with ingredients from SN's brewery estate.
  
• Deschutes - Hop Trip: Fresh hop pale ale
  
• Alaskan - Winter Ale: English-style old ale with spruce tips
  

New Imports:

• Aecht Schlenkerla - Urbock in Minikegs: Traditional smoked bock
• Lurgashall - Tower of London: Mead with Scotch whiskey added
• Sam Smith's - Selection Box: This gift set contains one bottle each of the Pale Ale, Nut Brown Ale, and Oatmeal Stout in addition to a logo'd Sam Smith's pint glass and coasters.

Fresh Hop Week in the Biercafe

Holy Hops Batman! We have so many fresh hop beers that I'm not sure how we're going to squeeze them all into a single week unless we load up all 17 taps at once. Even then I'm not sure we can do it, but I'm counting on all you hop heads to help us out.

I can't really say when anything in particular will be on tap (it's not a secret, I just don't know), but we'll be running at least 8-10 of our taps (plus the cask engine) with fresh hop delights all week long. We promise to update the homepage before the cafe opens each day, and we'll send out up-to-the-minute tweets if something blows once the cafe opens.

That said, here's the list of things that are in-house and confirmed for next week:

1. 4th St Fresh Hop - Cascadian Dark Ale
2. Barley Brown's Roadside Fresh Hop - IPA
3. Bridgeport Hop Harvest - IPA
4. Cascade Brewing (aka Raccoon Lodge) Fresh Hop - Cascadian Dark Ale
5. Cascade Lakes Harvest Ale - Pale Ale
6. Deschutes Hop Trip - Pale Ale
7. Double Mountain Killer Green - IPA
8. Fort George CoHoperative - Pale Ale
9. Full Sail Lupulin (Cascade) - Pale Ale
10. Full Sail Lupulin (Crystal) - Pale Ale
11. Full Sail Cask-conditioned Lupulin (Crystal) - Pale Ale
12. Hopworks Fest of Fury - Oktoberfest
13. Laurelwood Hop Bale Ale - Pale Ale
14. Oakshire Conundrum - Cascadian Dark Ale
15. Oakshire Harvest Ale - IPA?
16. Rogue Chatoe Wet Hop - IPA
17. Sierra Nevada Estate Brewer's Harvest Ale - IPA

There's also a few more that we're hoping will make it in time, but I don't want to get anyone's hopes up until they're actually here.

That's it for now. Have fun in Hood River, and if you can't make it out there be sure to stop in here next week for some fresh, resiny goodness.