beernews.org

We’ve received a bunch of newsletters this week detailing new releases so we’re dedicating the return of the Friday Weekly Round-up to the new brews!

Alesmith Barrel-Aged Speedway Stout 2003 & 2006 - Just a reminder not to forget.  Bottle sales will begin at 10:00am and Jessica will start handing out tickets at approximately 9am.  Limit is one bottle for 2003 and two for 2006 though they’ll limit to one if a lot of people are still in waiting in line.  If you miss out, there is a barrel-aged Alesmith night currently in the works at O’ Brien’s Pub for next month.

Saint Arnold Divine Reserve #6 - You may have seen the press release on Beer Advocate; the beer, a Barleywine, was released at some stores yesterday and will be hitting other stores today.  Another quick-seller, it is (likely) the top-rated series of beers brewed in Texas and the rest of the Deep South.

Tyranena Scurvy - The brewery is working on bottling over 400 cases.  A release party will be held at the Blue Nile Restaurant in Minneapolis, MN on Friday, June 27.  Not clear when it will be available in stores but probably not for a week or two.

Additionally, for those in Duluth, MN, Fitger’s Brewhouse is now delivering growlers.

Captain Lawrence St. Vincent’s Dubbel - The Belgian-style Abbey Ale will be made available today at 4pm.  $10/750 mL and the current batch of 180 cases is IT for 2008.  On an aside, was Yankee Brewing News serious when it reported in its latest issue that only eight cases exist of Captain Lawrence Cuvee de Castleton, tentatively scheduled for release next month?

Struise Black Albert - Nothing new to report on this.  No official word has come out from the brewery in the last couple months on the US release since we first reported, Head Brewer, Urbain Coutteau’s projection that it would be making its way over “around June 15.”  The Belgium release got pushed back about one month or so; given what little we’ve heard, we’d expect that the beer will probably see a late June, or even more likely, July release at this point.  Just speculation though.

Events

A couple of big events this weekend:

Pizza Port Real Ale Fest: June 13-14.  What’s on tap for the 11th Annual Festival?  “From the Pizza Port site: “The VIP ONLY Casks include Green Flash Double Stout, Alpine Duet IPA, Ballast Point Tongue Buckler, Pizza Port Carlsbad Night Rider Imperial Stout, the Lost Abbey’s Angel Share Barleywine.”  From Tom Nickels’ O’Briens newsletter: “There are casks from Washington (Elysian, Big Time, Pike), Oregon (Rogue, Deschutes), Nevada (Big Dog, White Pine), Arizona (Papago, Four Peaks) and Colorado (Avery).  We have tons of great local and California beers as well including Hollister, Craftsman, Firestone, Marin, Moylan’s, Speakeasy, Lagunitas and many more.”

Washington Brewers Festival: June 13-15.  Here’s the beer lineup [pdf].  It will be a great opportunity to try out beers from some of the lesser known Northwest breweries like Diamond Knot, Big Time, and Anacortes.

(Williamsport, PA) - The Williamsport area is, perhaps, better known for being the headquarters of Little League Baseball and the site where the annual championships are played. But in two Sundays, Bullfrog Brewery will take the spotlight in this small city: the brewery has bottled a number of its beers for the first time ever and will finally release them on June 1st.

Over a baker’s dozen beers will be released in 25 oz. champagne bottles. Some of the potential highlights in the group are: Bourbon Barrel aged Old Toad Barleywine, Barrel aged Old Treehugger (Wet hopped with Mike Ecks homegrown hops), and Whiskey Barrel aged Lights Out Stout w/ coffee (Russian Imperial Stout). Out of the entire lineup, Bullfrog Edgar IPA has gained the most recognition thus far though some of the beers appear to be debuting. The double IPA was named after American poet, Edgar Allen Poe. The full list can be accessed at the official site.

The brewpub earned a gold and a bronze medal back in the 2004 World Beer Cup, though neither beer has been noted as part of this release.

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(Harrisburg, PA) - Tröegs Brewery, most infamous for its top-notch Nugget Nectar IPA, will be holding a special event on A, celebrating the end of Prohibition 75 years ago. On April 11, recognized beer author, Lew Bryson (click on “Seen Through a Glass” on the blogroll to the right), will be at the brewery to discuss Prohibition and promote his book about Philadelphia breweries. Tröegs will be chipping in to the festivities with the launch of Scratch #11 (thus skipping 9 and 10) in a firkin and its previously sold out barley wine, Scratch #4. Scratch #4, a.k.a. The Flying Mouflan, has actually pushed Nugget Nectar for Tröegs’ highest-rated beer crown. You can read more about it (ingredients, etc.) and the other beers in the Scratch Series over at Tröegs website.

Russian River will be bottling jarring its Blind Pig beer in Prohibition era-style Mason jars and selling them for $7 a pop, $3 for refills on April 7.

Rock Bottom brewpubs nationwide will be promoting a Brewer-for-a-day contest for patrons on April 7.

To see what your local watering hole/brewery is doing to mark the event, visit the Brewer’s Association’s official page on the event (scroll to the bottom of the home page for the link).

(Denver, CO) - Great Divide Brewing will soon launch new versions of two of its most critically acclaimed beers. Great Divide will release whiskey-aged versions of both its Yeti Imperial Stout and Old Ruffian Barley Wine. Great Divide launched an Oak-Aged version of its imperial stout some time ago and it became a staple in the brewery’s product line (and a top 50 beer of the world). Both of these beers, however, are labeled as “Limited Edition” and may not be around for long. The beers are aged in Stranahan’s Whiskey barrels for nine months. Some may remember Stranahan’s for providing the whiskey barrels for another fellow Denver brewery’s beer. Oskar Blues’ Ten FIDY Imperial Stout aged in whiskey barrels was on pace for top 50 status as well but didn’t garner enough reviews to actually place. Old Ruffian and Yeti rise to 12.7 and 12.2% ABV respectively with this aging.