(Bend, OR) – Oodles and oodles of Deschutes news…the brewery announced among other things late last night, the release of two new beers to come later in 2008, its 20th anniversary year:

[6/26 Update: Please refer to this article for full photos. The beer is now on sale!]

Deschutes Black Butte XX - The next special reserve (think The Abyss) release; this Imperial porter (2008 is the year of the Imperial porter!!!) marks the 20th anniversary of the initial release of the original Black Butte Porter; this will be available in June on draft and in wax-tipped bottles; the beer features Bellatazza coffee, Theo’s cocoa nibs, and Stranahan’s whiskey barrels (see Oskar Blues Ten FIDY and Great Divide Whiskey-Aged Yeti). The beer has been available on tap recently. [And credit to SurlyDuff for being the first to mention Black Butte XX as the next release]

Deschutes 20th Anniversary Wit will be available as a Bond Street Series release in June to commemorate the brewery’s 20th anniversary (to be celebrated during the weekend of June 27); the beer was “brewed with zested Curacao orange peel” and spices.

Deschutes Hop Henge Imperial IPA will be next up in the Bond Street Series; everything about the original Hop Henge recipe has been reformulated according to Head Brewer, Brett Porter (kind of vague, is it reformulated from the original Imperial recipe?); the beer is scheduled to be available from April and June.In addition, Deschutes has also been busy working on the new Portland Pub for which the Grand Opening will be on May 2. The Abyss will be available on draft for the opening.

Back in Bend, there appears to be some compelling events coming up in the spring and summer. The 4th Annual Barrel Tasting on June 14 showcases a list of beers that sounds especially impressive (along with free food, tickets are $35):

The Abyss – Aged in a Combination of Pinot, Oregon Oak and Bourbon Barrels.
St. Tanith – Aged in Oregon Oak Barrels.
Black Butte XX – Aged in Bourbon Barrels.
Mr. Big Ed Brown – Aged in Bourbon Barrels.
Green Lake Organic Ale – Aged in Cabernet Oak Casks.
Mirror Pond – Aged in French Oak Pinot Noir Barrels
The Dissident – Aged in Oregon Pinot Noir Barrels.
Inversion IPA – Aged in Cabernet Oak Casks

There was a lot more covered in the most recent newsletter and I encourage you to check it out yourself.

Last but not least, Deschutes announced recently that it would be expanding distribution into Texas. This is great news for a state that hasn’t had a great reputation for incoming distribution. The regular version of the Black Butte Porter and Mirror Pond Pale Ale are available now in some areas.

[Update: Losing track of this one but guessing it will ship this winter]

(Grimstad, Norway) – The much-anticipated beer that Mikkeller and Nøgne Ø collaborated on this winter is closer to a release, but it is still anyone’s guess as to just when that will be. The ale, which will eventually be imported by the Shelton Brothers, just got label approval here in the States.

Nøgne Ø wrote about the beer on its website back in late January surmising that, “We are these days brewing probably the worlds first commericial Tyttebær Ale, and for sure Nøgne Ø’s first lambic ever.” The brewery also linked to a short video (though not in English) of them making that beer with just some of the 1000 kilos of berries that they used for it. The type of cranberry used for this lambic has several names according to Washington State University including lingonberry and cowberry. There is a sense of history tied to this particular fruit in parts of North America and Northern Europe.

At 4.5% ABV, this beer will be relatively light compared to lambics brewed by Brasserie Cantillon and others. We’ll re-visit when this beer is ready to ship.

(San Marcos, CA) – One of Port Brewing’s two newest offerings got label approval late this week from the TTB. Ordinarily, little buzz surrounds lager releases but Moon Lit Sessions has become the beneficiary of the hype surrounding other recent and upcoming Port and Lost Abbey offerings. The two breweries out in San Marcos have been in the news a lot lately. Lost Abbey just recently released its bourbon-barrel version of The Angel’s Share, which has catapulted up to the top 5 at RateBeer in just the last few weeks. Port Brewing, on the other hand, is set to release its eagerly anticipated Serpent’s Stout soon. Moon Lit Sessions has close ties to the latter, considering it was brewed from the second runnings of the Serpent’s Stout. Port has also billed this lager as one with smoked and coffee flavors.

(Santa Rosa, CA) – A surprise blog entry by Natalie Cilurzo, co-owner at Russian River, revealed this morning that Temptation would go on sale at the brewery today at 11am. This is contrary to Natalie’s latest newsletter which implied that we would have to wait until late next month for the three bottles we have discussed ad nauseam. The blog post also mentions that Beatification Batch #2 is “available when Vinnie [Cilurzo, co-owner] says so” and that Supplication is “available when Vinnie gives in.” Note that all three beers are now available for orders/pre-orders on the brewery’s website. Natalie discusses the differences between these batches and prior ones: check it out here.

All three beers are ranked in the top 50 at Beer Advocate with Temptation currently ranked at#36.