Recent Arrivals and Returning Favorites

The weather is beautiful and the new beers keep flowing in. We've gotten a couple of incredible sour beer in over the last couple days which are perfect warm weather sippers. A handful of summer seasonals are also in stock so check the list below for the full run down of new brew.

The cafe draught list is also tipping towards the easy drinking side of things as the weather heats up. A couple of highlights on today's list include Heater Allen Isarweizen, Deschutes Red Chair IPA, and New Belgium La Folie. Never fear though, we've still got a wide range of styles, including a couple heavy hitters like Stone Imperial Russian Stout and Hopworks Bourbon-aged Noggin Floggin Barleywine for those who are gluttons for punishment.


New American Craft Beers:

• Leinenkugels - Classic Amber: A 100 percent malted lager, “Leinie’s Classic” features Leinenkugel’s own unique blend of two-row and six-row malts and four varieties of hops. A blend of Pale, Caramel, and Munich malts offer a complex flavor, with four different hops (Cluster, Cascade, Mt. Hood, and Hallertau) to balance the malts.
  
• Cascade Lakes - Paulina Lake Pilsner: Sweet, bready malt character meets crisp noble hops in this classic style. Toss a couple of bombers in the cooler and take some fishing.
  
• New Belgium - La Folie: Say what you will about Fat Tire, La Folie proves that New Belgium can brew, blend, and barrel age with the best of them. Former Rodenbach brewmaster Peter Bouckaert and crew keep watch over a multidude of foeders (huge oak barrels) filled with several vintages of La Folie. When the time comes to bottle they blend various batches together to create a harmonious, complex whole that's sure to put a pucker on your face. We only received a few cases, so please try and limit yourself to 3 bottles.
  
• New Belgium - Biere de Mars: The other new arrival from NBB this week is their delicious Biere de Mars, a New World take on the classic spring beers from the French/Belgian border region. New Belgium's version includes lemon verbena and "unidentified flying yeasts" to create a earthy, citrusy, brew with "crusty bread" malt character and a dry finish.
  
• Fish Tale - Organic Blonde: Fish's summer release is an easy drinking blonde ale brewed with a touch of rye for a delicate spiciness and just enough hops to give it a crisp, very refreshing finish.
  
• Sierra Nevada - Southern Hemisphere Harvest: This twist on the "fresh hop" craze features fresh hops from New Zealand that are dried, flown from NZ to Chico, and thrown into the kettle in less than a week. It's a major undertaking to be sure, but the reward is an off-season fresh hop beer bursting with grassy and floral hop aromas. Look for the fat 24oz bottle with the bright blue label.
  
• Elysian - Avatar Jasmine IPA: This delectable northwest IPA has a healthy dose of dried jasmine flowers to give it a unique floral nose and dry finish.
  
• Flying Dog - Canis Major 8 Pack: This great little package includes four of Flying Dog's big beers - Gonzo Imperial Porter, Double Dog Double Pale, Horn Dog Barleywine, and Kerberos Tripel - in 7oz nip bottles. They're perfect for when you want some strong, flavorful brew but don't want to commit to a 22oz bottle of something that's 10% or higher. Which begs the question, why do so many breweries put their monstrous beers in big bottles?
  

New Imports:

• Schneider - Hopfen-Weisse: This collaboration between Brooklyn Brewing and Schneider is a hopped-up take on the classic Schneider Weisse. Smooth and creamy bodied with a defined herbal, grassy hop character, this is one easy drinking summer brew.
  
• Belhaven - Scottish Stout: (commercial description) This deluxe stout is brewed for a full roasted chocolate flavour with a hop character that complements a blend of three different malts. Drink, savour, and enjoy!
  
• Whistler - Classic Pale Ale: Visitors to Whistler/Blackcomb (or Vancouver, BC in general) will surely recognize the distinctive labels. I haven't had a chance to try either of the Whistler brews yet, but you can click the links and see what other folks think.
  
• Whistler - Black Tusk: (commercial description) Obsidian black with a creamy, tan coloured head. Aroma: Subtle, malty aroma Palate: A dark, bold English-style mild ale. Expect a mild bitterness with notes of chocolate and a roasted coffee finish. Finish: Delightfully subtle with a refreshing, lingering finish.
  

Returning Favorites:

Russian River - Consecration: We got another small load of this incredible strong sour ale yesterday. I don't recall which batch we received last time, but for those who are keeping track this is batch 002X3. We've also got a fair amount of Pliny the Elder and Blind Pig IPA in stock at the moment.

That's all for now. Don't forget to drink plenty of water while you're out enjoying the sun. It's going to be really toasty this weekend, and your body will need all the hydration it can get.

Here's a few beers that you might be interested in trying (These should all be available at Belmont Station.) :

Oregon Trail Bourbon Porter--The old timey bourbon bottle label does this warming big beer justice. This is the second year Corvallis' Oregon Trail has produced this annual brew. Dark brown with a prevalent flavor of bourbon up front, other subtle notes come forth after the beer settles in your pallet. Creamy vanilla to chocolate is evident in this 9.1% beaut. This beer should age well as last year's did.

New Belgium Springboard Ale--Before trying this beer, I must admit I was a tad skeptical of it for a few reasons. You see, I am not the biggest fan of New Belgium beers for the most part. Fat Tire never really did it for me (though I must admit to being quite fond of their 1554 Dark Ale). This coupled with the fact that I had never experienced a beer with Goji berries, wormwood or other Chinese herbs. Now this isn't the same (arromatic) wormwood used to make absynthe, that would be toxic lunacy. Infact, this beer turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise. As the bottle warmed up some, the bitterness induced by the ingredience became more noticable and the complexity of the beer became more apparent. The color was very pale and there were lager-like flavors in this crispy concoction. It was slightly citrusy and those who like adding lemons or oranges to their hefeweizens might consider doing the same with this one.

Marin Mt. Tam Pale Ale--The commercial description of this beer reads "This pale ale has a bright golden color, a medium body and a smooth taste." Ok, so it doesn't sound so exciting. But let me tell you, this beer is well constructed. The description is in fact logical and founded, but what I found with this gem is that it is composed of an almost perfect balance of Northwest hops that provide a citrus flavor, grainy malt leave with a miniature touch of carmel malts that make it almost (dare I say) perfect. Especially for a hop head who is getting burnt on monsterously big IPAs, this pale is sharper and bolder than something like Deschutes Mirror Pond or Full Sale Pale. I might even go as far as to call it a golden hoppy ale or a mini IPA. The color is a beautiful array of orange-yellow with a foamy white head. I gotta have another one now!

Deschutes Hop Henge--Everyone in Portland has been gaggling about the idea of a new Deschutes ale house or brewery coming to town. When I first moved to Oregon nearly ten years ago and discovered the microbrews of this fine state, I was extremely impressed with the beers of Deschutes. Mirror Pond, Black Butte Porter, Obsidian Stout, etc. Lately I've not been as big on their beers either because the bottle conditioned beers have disappeared or because a new brewery seems to be popping up almost daily to challenge my views and palette. Either way, a recent trip to the Deschutes Bond Street location in Bend reaffirmed my early opinion of the brewery. It kicks ass! With the Abyss Imperial Stout out of stock at Belmont Station, the newest arrival is this imperial IPA, Hop Henge. Over 8% ABW and very IBU-ed up, this is a gentle beast in a season of doublebarrel assaulting hopped brews (See the next beer to catch my drift). If your not a hop head, this beer is not for you, but if you are a head, you can't beat this beer, especially for a pricetag of under $4 for 22-oz.

Fishtale Ten Squared Barleywine--My co-worker Chris summed it up when he described this beer. 10 % alcohol+ 10 hops= 100% delicious. This deep amber hued beer from the organic Fish of Olympia, WA makes Moylan's Hopsickle come off like a sessions beer. Not really, but it is one maganormous gigantuan universe of hops. Depending on who you talk to, there's so many differnt flavors prevalent in this brew of brews including mango, lemon, grapefruit, menthol, and crackers. It's not likely to mellow out anytime soon do to the absurd quantity of hops and the high alcohol level. It is recommended that you take your time with this guy and share it with a friend or three.

Avery and Russian River Collaboration Not Litigation Ale--This is one interesting story. This Belgian Strong Ale is infact two beers from two breweries combined. As the name suggests (Collab not Lit) Avery and RR each had a nice brew called "Salvation". Instead of running to court over the rights to its nomenclature, the two forced linked up and put forth this big badboy. Now I must admit, that I am nowhere close to being a guru of beer, especially Belgian styled American ales. In fact, I think the American Belgian-styled beers are usually too funky and unbalanced for my liking. And while this one is both funky and unbalanced, for some reason, it was quirky enough and quaffable enough to work for me. With a deep and rich chestnut bruin color, this beer is fruity, sweet, malty, dry, rich, and sensually complex as hell. That's all I can say. Sorry, but you are just gonna have to pick one up for yourself (while supplies last) and make your own call. Love it or hate it, this beer is definitely one of a kind.


That's all I have in me for now. Come by the new location of Belmont Station--4500 SE Stark (SE Stark & 45th Avenue) and grab your own preferred pleasure.