New Arrivals

The flow of new beers dropped off for a while, and it seemed as though everyone was simply trying to survive Craft Beer Month. Or, maybe everybody was simply planning ahead and saving tank space for the cornucopia of fresh hop beers and other fall/winter seasonals we all love so much.

Thankfully that's changed in the last few days, and between new releases from local Oregon breweries, popular recurring seasonals, and new imports we've got a solid list of new arrivals.


New American Craft Beers:

• Oakshire Brewing - Overcast Espresso Stout: An oatmeal stout infused with cold-brewed espresso. Mmmmm...breakfast beer.
  
• Oakshire Brewing - Watershed IPA: A big, bold, west coast-style IPA with a solid malt backbone.
  
• Beer Valley - Gone Fishin' Mild Ale: A 4% English-style mild ale for less than $4 per 22oz bottle? If it's any good you'll probably see it on the employee picks board next to Jimmy's name.
  
• Mactarnahan's - Lip Stinger Farmhouse Ale: (commercial description) An effervescent and rustic farmhouse ale. This limited release ale is fermented with cracked peppercorn to introduce a spicy nose and warming mouth feel that will deliver a flavor sensation that is endlessly interesting. Enjoy the heat….and no pouting!!
• Blue Frog - DIPA 3: Blue Frog reformulated their double IPA to make it more hop-forward and slightly less malty. They also lowered the price, so it's a double win.
• Widmer - OKTO: Even though it's an ale rather than a lager, Widmer's popular fall seasonal is a malty, amber-hued refresher that captures the spirit of the classic German festival beers.
• The Bruery - Papier: a 14.5% monster of a beer brewed in honor of their first anniversary. Partly aged in bourbon barrels, it blurs the lines between Belgian Quad, American Barleywine, and English Old Ale. It's tasting great now, and it should age well for several years if properly cellared.
  

New Imports:

• Scaldis - Refermentee (75th Anniversary Ale): I haven't had a chance to dip into one of these yet, so here's a great Ratebeer. com review from BeastieFan2k: "It pours with a medium thick head. It is a dark and murky thick orange color. Aroma is full of ripe fruits (and slightly overripe fruits for that matter as well), only lightly alcoholic, which is surprising. Basically a nice meld of fruit, alcohol, and lots of Belgian yeastiness. Taste chugs right along. There is a nice orange aspect in the flavor as well. Nice thick mouthfeel that plays perfectly with the structure of the beer. Usually Scaldis can be unpredictable with the high alcohol content becoming undrinkable (think Scaldis Prestige) but I thought this brew pulled it off well."
• Dupont - Biere de Miel: A refreshingly light, dry saison with subtle honey flavor. Deceptively easy drinking for 8% abv.
  

New Ciders:

• Ace Cider - Apple and Honey Cider: A smooth, fairly dark cider created by blending a small amount of honey into the fermenting cider. Fans of the Spire Dark and Dry should give this one a shot.

That's it for the new stuff this week. Be sure to join us next week as we host a Mad River tasting on Monday (6-8pm) and an Oakshire Bottle Release/Meet the Brewer event on Tuesday (also 6-8pm). In addition to free samplesd of the bottled products w'e'll have several special kegs flowing in the Biercafé. Check the events page for more info on these and other upcoming tastings.

Shhh...Keep This On The Down Low...

Rumors have been swirling for a few days now about a second wave of Abyss arriving in Portland this week, and I can confirm that there are a couple hundred more cases dropping tomorrow and Friday. As far as I know, every place that received some of the first wave should get another small allotment, and a few places that got screwed the first time will be getting a some as well.




We won't be getting anywhere near the amount we received on the first batch, so in order to spread the joy a bit we're going to limit people to 3 bottles per person (per day) for at least the first week.






As if that wasn't enough to motivate you to stop in on Friday, we should also be receiving Full Sail Bourbon-aged Top Sail, Stone Old Guardian Barleywine, and maybe (it's a slim chance) some Oregon Trail Bourbon Porter. Even if the Oregon Trail Porter doesn't show up that still leaves you with 3 world class beers arriving on the same day!

Throw in a few other things we've got in stock like Great Divide Oak-Aged Yeti, Orkney Dark Island Reserve, Beer Valley Black Flag Stout, or Rogue Russian Imperial Stout, and you've got the makings of one heck of a beer tasting. Just a thought...

Just be sure to take it easy on Friday night. Trying to drink all three (maybe 4) of these 10%+ monsters in one sitting is a recipe for disaster, or at least a nasty hangover.

New Arrivals for Friday 11.30.07

Today we received beer from Oregon, California, England, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, and Australia, plus an "ice cider" from France, making this one of the most international "New Arrival" posts in quite some time. I'm sure everyone is excited to go to the Holiday Ale Fest, so I'll keep the lead-in short and get straight to the brew...

Local Craft Beers:

Beer Valley - Owyhee Amber: Owyhee Amber Ale is an easy drinking amber beer for the masses. Brewed with 2-row barley, Munich, and crystal malts, this amber beer is a cleaner, crisper version of an ale reminiscent of an amber lager beer. Owyhee Amber is a true session beer as refreshing as a breath of air in the vast mountain range that it was named after.


Moylan's - White Christmas: Winter seems like an odd time to roll out a witbier, but I suspect this is one of those times when the brewers thought of a great name and then created a beer to go with it.Whatever the case may be, Moylan's Holiday offering is chock full of citrusy, spicy goodness, and the higher than average alcohol content gives it a bit more of a warming presence than a "normal" wit. Tasty and limited, so don't miss it.

From England:

Hook Norton - Double Stout: A smooth, full-bodied stout with a refreshing hoppy aftertaste. Brewed with proportions of black malt for color and toast flavor and brown malt for dryness. Based on a recipe over 100 years old, brewing was revived in 1996 after a break of 79 years. It's only 4.8% abv, so I'm not sure what the "double" refers to, but it seems like a tasty brew.

From France:

Etienne DuPont - Ice Cider: As a true ice cider "Cidre de Givre" expresses with intensity the flavors of the apples from Domaine Etienne Dupont. It is derived from E. Dupont Cidre Bouche Brut 2005 by freezing it and then removing the frozen water.


From Australia:

Baron's - Black Wattle: I'm glad there was a little explanatory blurb hanging on the neck of the bottle, because I know the first thing people will ask is, "What the heck is a Wattle?" Simply put, it's the common name for the Acacia tree and the edible seeds they produce. According to the neck ring, it imparts a unique hazelnut/chocolate/coffee flavor to beverages. According to Wikipedia, it's an ingredient in Barq's Root Beer and Altoids peppermints, so I'm surprised I'd never heard of it before. I tried a sample last week, and it does indeed have a chocolaty, slightly nutty flavor, kind of like a lighter, less filling version of Rogue's Hazelnut Nectar. It's not going to blow you away, but hopefully it'll open your eyes to a new flavor sensation.

Baron's - Lager: The refreshing Barons Lager is brewed with Czech Saaz and NZ hops, Australian and German malts. We have selected the finest international ingredients to create the world class beer. Enjoy. Mmm...pale lager...


From Belgium:

De Dolle - Oerbier Special Reserva: Oerbier aged in Bordeaux casks. That sentence fragment either makes you very happy, or very confused. If you've never heard of De Dolle, find a beer geek and drag them in here. Trust me, they'll thank you.

La Rulles - Christmas Ale: A chestnut brown Belgian strong ale with spices, guaranteed to keep you warm on a chilly winter night.

Regenboog (aka "t Smisje") - Wostynje: This beer with Torhouts' mustard has been craft brewed with top-fermentation at Brewery De Regenboog. Ingredients are malts, hop, candi sugar, mustard seed, yeast and water.


From Italy:

Birraficio Montegioco - Quarta Runa: A belgian ale with "Volpedo Peaches" (well-known peaches from the town of Volpedo, near Montegioco) added during fermentation.

Birraficio Montegioco - Demon Hunter: Demon Hunter an intense beer with great complexity. It is of amber color with a persistent head. The nose has notes of chestnut trees, mature plums, grapes and caramel. The pepper compliments the light herb notes from the hops. The flavor starts with a taste of honey and finishes on a beautiful hop note. Demon Hunter is matured for 15 weeks. 8.5% abv

Birraficio Italiano - Fleurette: I don't much about this beer except for the list of unusual ingredients which include whole roses and violets, citrus bee honey, elderberries, and black pepper. Violets and black pepper?!?

Baladin -Wayan: Wayan is made of 17 different ingredients (barley, wheat, spelt, oats, rye, different types of hops and many different spices besides coriander. Teo calls it a "Saison" but it is certainly his personal definition of a saison. Aroma and palate are rather complex, ie it takes some time to find your way through it, so to speak. The different hops are barely noticeable. The balance and bitterness is by a high defree provided by those many spices some of which are very, very unusual in brewing. This quite unusual combination of spices and herbs greatly impacts the finish which again is very different from "regular" saison-style ales.

Baladin - Xyauyu: Brewing process: the wort is hyperconcentrated then boiled for two and a half hours followed by primary fermentation for 25 days in steel vessels. Then, after a sterile filtration (to eliminate primary yeast strains) the beer is transfered in a steel vessel with transparent membrane and a "oxygen hat". After several tastings from 6 to 24 months later (it depends on the oxidation velocity, very inconsistent!) the brewer decides when it's time to bottle in 50cl. champagne shape bottles with good quality cork. The production is very limited. That's an awful lot of big words which don't tell me a thing about the beer, so we'll have to try one and see what kind of effect the oxidation has on it.


From Switzerland:

BFM - La Dragonne: From the producers of Abbaye de Saint Bon Chien (one of the hottest beers at PIB '07) comes La Dragonne, a beer intended to be mulled. The following review from Ratebeer.com is for a warm sample. "Deep, dark amber ale with no head. The aroma is blend of anise, melted butter, cinnamon, clove, orange peel, cardamom and coriander. Smells a lot like spicy, hot apple cider. Sweet, spicy flavor. Boozy. Medium-bodied with no carbonation." Sounds tasty, and brings new meaning to the "winter warmer" style.

BFM - Cuvée du 7ème: The seventh anniversary brew from BFM. I don't know much about it, but it's garnered great reviews like this: " Cloudy amber, lively head. Tart and lemony with some caramel. Vinous with red berries, prunes and freshening acidity. Russian River-like tartness and complexity. A fantastic beer!" and this: "Very smooth and light mouthfeel. This is the second beer I've tasted from this brewer and they are definitely high on my radar now." And This: "Ok, this is the best beer I've ever had."
Even if it's only half as good as the Saint Bon Chien it'll still be better than 90% of the beer in the world, and less than 100 bottles were brought into Oregon, so don't delay!

A final quick note for all the hopheads: Moylan's Hopsickle and Green Flash West Coast IPA are back! They've been absent for a couple of months, but we finally have a fresh stack of both in the shop.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the fest safely!

New Arrivals For Tuesday 11.06.07

Todays' delivery brings us some of the most sought after beer of the season, so let's not waste time on idle chit chat...

Anchor - Our Special Ale 2007 (aka Anchor Christmas): This one's a mystery every year, but thankfully the rep brought a sample bottle the other day (Thanks, Brady!), so we got to try it before bringing it in. This year's recipe has less of the nutmeg/clove combo and features more earthy, spruce needle flavors. Quite tasty now, and it seems like it will be a tasty vintage to lay down for a few months or more. Available in 12oz bottles, 1.5ltr magnums, and draft for a limited time.


Stone - Double Bastard: Ye shall know the Bastard, and the Bastard shall set you free! If you've never heard of Double Bastard, or the "regular" Arrogant Bastard, then this beer probably isn't for you. Clocking in at 10% abv it isn't quite double the arrogance, but it's enough to knock you down a peg or two if you're not careful. Available for a VERY limited time in 22oz bottle and 3 ltr Jeroboams.


Lagunitas - Cappuccino Stout: This welcome addition to the holiday beer calendar is brewed with Sebastapol Coffee. Big buzz, small price. What more could you ask for?


Mad River - John Barleycorn: One of my favorite barleywines, and reasonably priced too. Best of all, it's organic, so you can feel good about saving the planet while drinking it.


Beer Valley - Pigskin Pale Ale: Brand new, we'll let you know as soon as we've tried it.


Beer Valley - Highway to Ale: Also brand new. Check back soon for an update.


That's it for now. If you happen to read this in the next couple hours be sure and pop in for the first in our series of Winter Beer Tastings. Tonight's tasting includes Deschutes Jubelale, Big Sky Powderhound, Lost Coast Winterbraun, Golden Valley Tannenbomb, New Belgium 2 Below, Pyramid Snow Cap, Sam Smiths Winter Welcome Vintage 2006, and the new St. Peter's Winter Ale. As usual, we'll have sale prices on the tasting beers throughout the evening.