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(Santa Rosa, CA) - Russian River Brewing is holding another surprise sale on its website starting today only for California residents. According to the blog, Russian River Redemption and Damnation are available along with its barrel-aged releases, Beatification, Supplication, and Temptation. If you missed the boat the first time around, don’t wait to jump on this as most of these beers will sell out fast. Just click on ‘Gift Shop’ and then ‘Bottled Beer’ on the website.

[Update: This will also be on sale at the brewery Thursday, July 3 from 1-5pm for $7/bottle]

(San Diego, CA) - Alesmith’s prized Double IPA hits store shelves in Southern California as early as this week and distribution to select parts of the US should take place soon after. Alesmith Yulesmith (summer) is in a tie for #49 at RateBeer and sits at #40 on Beer Advocate.

South Bay Drugs is reportedly getting in a shipment today that goes 12-15 cases deep. [ed: Considering that SBD&L ships, some of you that don't have this locally could potentially swing an order that includes Yulesmith, Stone 12th (arriving next Monday), Hair of the Dog Fred, Hair of the Dog Blue Dot, The Bruery, etc. Just be wary of the Yulesmith selling out!]

As far as other SoCal stores, I haven’t seen any yet that keep very good beer pages or show this as arriving. Alesmith also doesn’t list distributors online. If a shipment of this is coming to your store soon, feel free to leave a comment for our readers.

[7/3 Update: This Black Butte XX thread on BA is the best resource that we've seen on where people can find these beers locally. In addition, 99 Bottles in Federal Way sent out an email tonight that they had some extra cases but that they'd sell out quick.]

(Bend, OR) - The 2008/20th Anniversary Commemorative version in the Special Reserve Series, Deschutes Black Butte XX Imperial Porter, is on sale now along with Deschutes 20th Anniversary Wit, the next Bond Street Series release. Liquid Solutions is one site where bottles can be purchased online NOW (along with Hair of the Dog Fred from the Wood 2008 we might add). The beer has already made its way onto some shelves in Oregon, and will see some limited distribution in California and possibly elsewhere. It has also been on tap at the brewpubs recently.

The official release for these two beers takes place at the Bend and Portland locations this Friday. From 5-10pm, Deschutes will hold its 20th Anniversary party at the Bend Public House. The partying continues with an open house event at the Bend brewery on Saturday from 12-4pm. More details are available at the Deschutes site.

Why is this big news? Deschutes The Abyss, the last release in the Special Reserve Series, rose to the top 5 at Beer Advocate and to the top 50 at RateBeer. That certainly raises the expectations for Black Butte XX.

(Woesten-Vleteren, Belgium) - De Struise Brouwers answered the rumors out in internet land with what is really going to happen with bottles coming to the U.S. this year. There will now be 600 cases and 20 kegs of Struise Black Albert coming to the U.S. but it apparently won’t ship until early-mid August. We are guessing that many of those bottles will end up at the August Belgian Beer Festival at Ebenezer’s Pub in Maine. (That festival may be very very big this year). The brewery did confirm, however, that Pannepot Reserva and Pannepot Grand Reserva will be coming to the U.S. late next month. The full details can be found at the official blog. Notice that there is no mention of Black Jack. Hmmm…

Americans may have to wait a little longer for a taste of Black Albert but we got some info from The Cracked Kettle, based in Amsterdam, that they are well in stock. The store is also stocked with Pannepot Grand Reserva and Westvleteren 12 as of a couple days ago. They do ship to the U.S., too, so consider paying the site a visit if you’ve been hoping to try any of these beers and can’t wait any longer.