that which is new and rare...again...

'eyyyyyyyyyyyyy,

OK, so one day I promise I will post with more regularity with things like tastings, product reviews, interviews, and all that jazz.  Unfortunately, ambition far exceeds spare time, especially when I'm moving to a new house this weekend!  But, in the interest of y'all folk, here's a quick list of the MANY new beers we received this week:

Lagunitas - Wilco Tango Foxtrot 22oz bombers and Imperial Red 6packs.  

Founders - nothing new but getting a limited amount of Double Trouble back in stock.  Remember to call ahead and place your pre-order for Kentucky Breakfast Stout which releases on March 15th.  2 bottle limit per person.

MacTarnahan's Spine Tingler 22oz, a belgian-style tripel from Oregon.

Jolly Pumpkin Maracaibo Especial and Weizen Bam, a brown ale made with cocoa and a wheat from our oak aging friends in the midwest.

Mikkeller - I mean...we got a LOT more Mikkeller back.  YAY!  Including, Black Hole, I Beat yoU, Invasion IPA, Hoppy Easter, Hop Burn High, Green Gold IPA, more Draft Bear, and more!

De Ranke Guldenberg, an extremely highly rated tripel.

Sierra Nevada CANS!!!!  12 packs of Pale Ale and 4 packs of Torpedo (which is fantastic).

Blue Point - a brewery from Long Island that's very popular back in NYC.  Bombers of Toasted Lager - their flagship, Pale Ale, and RastafaRYE.

There are also some great sales going on.  Moinette Brune - gets 90+ on RateBeer in both overall and style, De Koninck 4pks - Jason Alstrom says it's one he'd keep in his fridge, and Rogue XS 7 oz I2PA, McRogue, and YSB which are being discontinued.

There's lots more new stuff which I'll post once I'm able to price and put them on the floor.  Until then...

Cheers,
Evan G.

DFH @ FT&G = YUM IMHO

Greetings beer lovers!

The REAL Pliny...

...who is wise but not as delicious.

Sorry (again) for the long wait in between posts.  The wife - who did not like being referred to as Lady Lager!  needs a new nickname...  - and I just returned from San Fran and wine country where we sampled some of the finest wines in Sonoma and Napa, ate our faces off at Bouchon, and - yes - visited Russian River for a taste or three of the famed Pliny the Elder.  Well, listen up all ye who asketh after the Pliny and bemoan thine lack of access to the Pliny...Pliny is amazing; Pliny is wonderful; but Heady Topper is equally as amazing and delicious.  So while I was delighted to finally try the freshest Pliny possible, I was once again reminded how lucky I am to work in beer in Vermont!

Speaking of VT being awesome, I want to give some major love to Jeff and the folks at the Farmhouse who have an EPIC tap takeover coming up tomorrow starting at 5 pm - DOGFISH HEAD, 18 TAPS.  WHAAAA?!?!?!?!  We're talking 60, 90, Burton Baton, Hellhound, the new Ta Henket, BITCHES BREW (yup), and many more, not to mention some delicious sounding dinner selections like Winding Brook Farm Pork Loin with juniper Braised Jericho Settlers' Farm cabbage, 60 Minute Fish & Chips with preserved lemon, and a beer float!  YUM!!!!  I'm heading there as soon as we close the store tomorrow so feel free to belly up at the bar with your boy.  Kudos, El Jefe - this looks delightful.

Speaking of DFH, we rode the FT&G wave and snagged ourselves a couple of specialty 5 gallon kegs, Burton Baton and Shelter Pale Ale for delivery soon, the former being amazing, the latter being something I don't recall seeing in the general market for some time.  BB is $175 and Shelter is $99 - email thebevy802@gmail.com to reserve!


Speaking of...speaking of beer, I had an epic session with some friends and some of the boys of the Bevie - Oliver, Dave, and our sadly departing Nick, a long-time fixture who is leaving our northern mountains for the sun and slack of California.  I've greatly enjoyed my brief time hanging with Nick and we're all sad to see him go:(  But he's going on a high note, 'cause check this sh*t out!

Don't try this at home.  We're professionals.

What?  Yeah, that's a Pliny and a Goose Island Matilda.  Heady Topper AND Chinooker'd?!  Yup.  You scared that we broke out the Rochefort 10?!  You should be.  But for realsies, it was a large group of people all sampling beers in moderation, as we of course always recommend when it comes to alcohol.  Wait, what's that hidden in the back?  The new Clown Shoes Vampire Slayer?!  YES!  It was delicious, as was the Sierra Bigfoot 2010, BBC Good Night Irene, Epic Armageddon IPA, Jolly Pumpkin Luciernga, White Birch Hop Session, Lawson's Red and Double Sunshine.  Yeah.  It was awesome.

So now that me and the mrs. are back, I'm hoping to do some more streamlined sampling for 2012.  We'll see how that goes:)  For now, I'm super psyched about the great beers we've gotten in recently which we've posted on Facebook and Twitter.  And we're looking forward to Dogfish's T'weason, their gluten-free beer, and Lagunitas in the not-too-distant future.  I've been told that Lagunitas Holiday Leftovers, formerly Lagunitas Sucks, is coming, and if you haven't tried Lagunitas Sucks then you should be darn excited.

More to come!  And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for the blog, please either post a comment or email me at thebevy802@gmail.com.

Thanks y'all!
Evan G.

Updates on a lot of beers

So a long time ago, I started talking about all the goodies that were on their ways into Vermont...and about 1/3 of them actually showed up on schedule. The good news was, of course, that about twice as many beers showed up unannounced! So no problem, right? Wrong. I'm still waiting on a lot of breweries and Import porfolios and so are a lot of you. I'm going to try to answer a lot of the questions that I've been asked in the past month about when things are "supposed" to be coming. ::deep breath:: Here we go:

From Brooklyn Brewing (NY), "Local 2" will be released from the brewery in March and should make it's way up here soon after. "Black Ops," their Woodford Reserve Bourbon barrel-aged stout, will be released "soon," but in PAINFULLY limited quantities...like 36 bottles for the whole state of VT. We'll do our best on this one. Maybe we'll have a lottery for dibs on it. Once I have it in-house, we'll revisit the subject.

Lagunitas (CA) was supposed to launch in Vermont late last year, but is looking to send their beers in early/mid-March.

Victory Brewing (PA) is the one I get the most questions about. It's only about 4 months late. There hasn't been any official word from the brewery in a while, but Scott Anderson at G.Housen suspects that they're looking at a March launch. If you want to help out, send some emails to Victory and tell them you'd like to see their beers here ASAP! Be polite and say please and thank you!

The B. United International Inc. portfolio has hooked up with G. Housen! No word yet as to when we'll start seeing things like Hitachino Nest (Japan), Birreira Baladin (Italy) and Ola Dubh (Scotland), but this is a HUGE accomplishment and will flesh out the Vermont beer selection with lots of obscure craft brews from all over Europe and Japan.

Artisanal Imports has finalized it's deal with G. Housen and their high-quality products should start arriving in early/mid-Feb. On that list is St. Bernardus, Urthel, Koningshoeven (the only Trappist brewery not in Belgium), and Deus (the champagne-method beer)! Can't wait!

The "Heavy Seas" and "Oxford Organics" series from Clipper City Brewing (MD) should start shipping to Vermont late Jan/early Feb.

Uinta Brewing/Four Plus (UT) held off on shipping because of liscencing fees with the gov't. They have to renew their fees in April, so we're hoping that the beer will follow shortly thereafter. They wanted to get a full year out of the fees instead of just the last few months. I understand their concerns and look forward to sampling the brews from this 100% wind-powered brewery!

And Left Hand Brewing (CO) is on the horizon, hopefully for 2009! Nothing official yet, but talks have been started with one of the VT distributors. So yeh. Good times.

Southern Tier (NY) has entered into a deal with one of our suppliers. But here's the catch: We were handed a Pre-Sell sheet for the Southern Tier portfolio of current offerings. I asked when the next opportunity would be to replenish supply and the word that came down the line thus far is that the distributor has no plans to re-order from Southern Tier. This is being pitched as a one-shot deal, and I find that completely unacceptable! I hope that this is bad information or that they change their minds, but if not, we might have to take the struggle to the streets! If you want to pre-order cases (cases, mind you) of Southern Tier beers, please send us an email or call the store.

Weihenstephaner (Germany) is also being offered now by the same distributor, and in the same fashion. So it looks like we'll have this really awesome beer for a hot minute and then things will be uncertain as to when we can restock. ::sigh:: Same thing, if you want to order solid cases of anything from Weihenstephaner, give us a jingle.

Sierra Nevada (CA) released their Torpedo IPA in 6 packs...we'll be getting them this coming Tuesday! Year-round release.

And lastly, from Stone Brewing (CA), the 2009 edition of Old Guardian (22oz) and some 2008 Imperial Russian Stout (12oz singles) are headed this way in the near future. Keep your eyes posted for these, because they are SUPER limited again.

This week we received shipments of Otter Creek Russian Imperial Stout (22oz), Wolaver's All-American Ale (6-packs), Magic Hat Hi.P.A. (6- and 12-packs), Saranac Imperial IPA (6-packs).

And OH YEH! 800 cases of close-out beers and kegs will start arriving at the Bevy this Tuesday! HUGE deals, I mean H-U-G-E! Stop in to check that out.

I'm sure I forgot something, but that's a lot of info to process. Enjoy responsibly!
Cheers,
Jeff