tidbits

Hi everybody!

Happy 2012!!!  Hope you all had a happy and safe new year's eve.

I'm enjoying a Founders Imperial Stout and finally getting a moment in front of the computer.  I've been slow to blog these past few days because, as many of you have witnessed, we've been a little busy at the Beverage Warehouse!  The holiday shopping crush was really intense and really fun.  Lots of people coming in from far and wide to clean out our shelves for their holiday gifts and parties.  New Year's day came, then it was right back to work.  (No rest for the weary!)  We reorganized the ENTIRE beer room over the course of a few days - no small feat when you have literally hundreds of beers to move!  The goal was to make the room more navigable and accessible - American bombers all together, cider/cider bombers/gluten-free having it's own prominent section, craft 4,6,12 packs all together, etc.  As always, ask me or any employee if you have trouble finding anything.  And please leave comments with your thoughts and suggestions.

As for the rest, just some notes about recent arrivals -

Founders Imperial Stout is here!  This is absolutely hands-down one of the great imperial stouts out there. Unlike imperial Russian stouts, this is big, boozy, and BITTER.  90 IBUs, 10%+ abv.  This can be aged but is 100% delicious right now.  That said, you may be wondering when Breakfast Stout/KBS arrives?  The answer is, you'll know when I know and KBS is always released by Founders mid-March! :)  That said, Lady Lager (aka my wife) did bring me back a Breakfast Stout from a recent business trip in Philly, so ha ha ha;)

It's been a flood of Sixpoint lately.  We now have Crisp and Diesel, their pilsner and stout, and we're giddy for the forthcoming Resin, their 12 oz canned double IPA that sounds like a hop monster.  Stay tuned for details.

Old Rasputin XIV has arrived in extremely limited quantity.  I've got my bottle stashed in the man cave gettin' all aged and pretty.

Green Flash's Rayon Vert (Belgian pale ale) and Double Stout also arrived.  (Ignore that Double Stout says black ale on the four-pack.  It's a friggin' stout and it's delicious.)

The Alchemist/Stone collaboration More Brown than Black touched down on Friday and the masses came a'buyin!  I had many a pint thanks to El Jefe (aka Jeff) and the crew at the Farmhouse and it was love at first sight.  It was...well...a dark Heady Topper, and who wouldn't love that??  Still a few cases left for latecomers.

Many of our MIA German breweries have made their triumphant debuts or returns.  Franziskaner, Julius Echter, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Lammsbrau, and Bitburger to name a few.

Dogfish Head's Ta Henke is arriving soon.  Another in the ancient ales series, this one with a yeast strain that they captured in Egypt.  Weird?  Yeah.  It's Dogfish.  That's what they do.  We're psyched.

Ass Kisser's new Vanilla Pale Ale is now available in four-packs.

I had the pleasure of sampling Slumbrew's IPA, straight outta Summerville, MA.  The IPA was a bitter bomb and will definitely appeal to the VT hop junkie.  IPA and their porter will be available in 22oz bombers.  Coming mid-to-late January.

Clown Shoes Vampire Slayer and the limited White Birch beers should be coming this week.

And last but not least, expect Sierra Nevada's Ruthless Rye very soon and Hoptimum soon thereafter.  Cans of Pale Ale and Torpedo will touch down (hopefully) in March.  You know how much I love Celebration so I'm definitely looking forward to Ruthless Rye.

I'm slowly slipping into a food coma thanks to Farmhouse Tap and Grill's fantastic Sunday night $5 mussel and sausage plate and Hill Farmstead's new Society & Solitude double IPA.  Before I go, big shout out for this week's Trapp Lodge event on Wednesday night which will have many Trapp beers on draft including Funky Dunky which I'm dying to try.  And seriously, the Sunday night deals are the best.  For $10 you can get a hefty plate of mussels and sausage and an amazing draft beer like Trapp Helles Lager.

Sayonara!

Evan G.