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!

Stout Patty's Day!

As you may recall, last year we tapped an Abyss in honor of St. Patrick and it was one of the busiest days in cafe history prior to last week's Pliny the Younger night. This year we decided to roll with a bunch of caffeinated stouts instead, and even though none of them have the cache or fervent following of the Abyss I can assure you that they're all world-class tipples.

The initial line up was going to feature three coffee-infused stouts from Laurelwood, Fort George, and Great Divide, but then I got a pleasantly unexpected phone call from Barley Browns out in Baker City, OR. As luck would have it, Shawn Kelso (BB's brewer) was planning on driving into town today and had called to arrange a meeting with Carl (the owner) regarding some as-yet-unplanned future event. Instead, I persuaded him to bring us several kegs of their award winning beer along for the ride, which is why we've got an incredibly rare treat to add to the line-up tonight. I don't recall ever seeing a Barley Brown's beer on tap in PDX, and I've never had the opportunity to travel out to Baker City and try their offerings, so I'm psyched to be able to knock one more Oregon brewery off my "must try" list.




If you don't feel like fighting the crowds at all the "usual suspect" bars this evening I'd encourage you to stop in and enjoy some dark roasted brew. Alternatively, you could make us the first stop of the evening, enjoy a couple pints of caffeinated goodness, and use that energy to fuel the rest of your adventures tonight.

Whatever you choose to do tonight please do it safely, don't throw any chairs through the windows (ask the folks at the Brass about that one), and for the love of Hathor don't drink and drive.