Weihenstephaner for everybody!

Guten Tag!

Your intrepid beer...uh...guy is off for the next two days until the madness that is the day of New Year's Eve.  I'll be visiting my in-laws in central New York, just outside of Saratoga, in a very small town called Gloversville.  Richard Russo based EMPIRE FALLS on the town, fyi.  Aside from qt with the fam, I'm looking forward to two things 1) hot dogs, meat sauce, and hand-cut fries at Tegeo's and 2) Abraham's aka Naif's, a hidden gem of a craft beer store in a very rural setting.  So I'll be stocking up on hot dogs and my private stash of beer;)

Drunk monks on the prowl...

Which also means this is probably the last blog post before the new year, so...HAPPY (pre) NEW YEAR!!!  And I figured I'd get a jump on one of my new year's resolutions which was to organize my tastings a little better.  Therefore, I bring you, "A Taste of Weihenstephaner!"

To preface - I mostly find myself talking about American craft beer or esoteric Belgian/European beer in the store.  It's easy to see why - these breweries are making some of the most exciting beer in the world.  But what you may not know is that I love German beer.  Love it.  The German brewers we carry make some of the most consistent and delicious beer in the world.  Like Weihenstephan.  They've been making beer since 1040 AD when the brewery was established by Benedictine monks as an abbey and brewery and subsequently taken over as the Bavarian State Brewery in 1803, thus reputedly making them the oldest continuously operating brewery in the world.  (That's almost a millennium, people.)  So they know what they're doing.  Today, Weihenstephan exists as both brewery and where graduates are considered amongst the elite in the brewing world.  And, thankfully for the masses, they produce +200k barrels of some of the finest German beer available in the US and specifically Vermont.  (PS - thanks to Garrett Oliver's OXFORD COMPANION TO BEER for much of the info here.  Please purchase this fine work if you have any interest in learning more about beer.)

Which brings me to my point - Weihenstephaner (the beer that Weihenstephan produces) is FANTASTIC!  My wife, aka Lady Lager Lover, and I refreshed our palates with a sampling of all this fine brewery has to offer, and here are the results:

Original, the first of two non-wheat beers.  A Munich Helles lager.  (In short - Munich Helles lagers were a response to the Pilsner rage of the 1800's.  They are slightly more malty, with an almost corn-like sweetness, and spicy hops similar to Czech pilsners but with more balance.)  This was my wife's fave, very clean and drinkable.  And, if you like this, try Victory's Lager or Stoudt's Gold Lager for an American craft version.

Kristall aka kristallweiss aka Crystal Clear - this is the first of their hefeweizens we tried.  (Btw, hefeweizen, weissbier, hefeweiss - all pretty much the same thing.)  Kristallweiss is a filtered version of a hefeweiss, so a lighter version, very strongly carbonated, refreshing and bright on the palate with mild bitterness.

(Side note - German hefeweizen has fairly universal tastes of banana, clove, and hints of bubblegum.)

Hefe-weissbier - the gold standard and one of my all-time favorites.  Buy a proper glass - a .5L or 1L that flares at the top to allow the gorgeous head of foam to develop when pouring - and go nuts.  Very few beers come close to Weihenstephaner Hefeweiss in terms of drinkability except SchneiderWeiss.

Hefeweiss Dark aka Hefe-dunkle aka Dunkleweiss, i.e. dark wheat beer - as you can probably guess, this is the darker version of the hefeweiss via the use of darker malts.  For the winter season, you can't beat this dunkleweiss.  The flavors and body of the hefeweiss deepen with a bit more bread flavor.  If you like Franziskaner, you will LOVE this.

Vitus - now we get into the first of Weihenstephaner's two stronger offerings.  Vitus has a very devoted following in our store as a number of customers have standing orders for cases.  I hadn't drank a Vitus in some time; doing so last night, it was easy to see why.  Vitus is a weizenbock, a bock being a term for a full-bodied stronger beer with a higher gravity, weizenbock being a stronger version of a dunkleweiss!  Vitus is 7.7% abv and, like the dunkleweiss is the deeper version of a hefeweiss, Vitus is the stronger, more pronounced version of dunkleweiss, though nothing here is overwhelming.  Schneider's Aventinus is another excellent version of a weizenbock.  In short, this beer is dangerously drinkable!

Lastly, Korbinian, the second non-wheat beer.  A dopplebock!  If you're not confused already, keep following - again, bocks are strong beers.  So a dopplebock is...STRONGER!  These are generally darker and more full-bodied than bocks with more alcohol.  One of the more famous is Ayinger Celebrator which is fairly universally considered the standard-bearer for dopplebocks.  Korbinian is right up there as well, full of caramel, raisin, and malty flavor and that hint of alcohol on the finish.  This is a great alternative to Spaten Optimator which has been unavailable from their distributor for some time now.

So there you have it, a blow-by-blow of one of the great breweries in the world.  All of the above beers are available in 500ml bottles.  Original and Hefeweiss are available in 6-packs as well!

That's it for me!  Enjoy these last few days of 2011 and I'm sure I'll see many of you on Saturday for your holiday shopping!  Some additional notes -

Sierra Celebration - what we have is it, and that's mostly 12-packs!  Get it before it's gone!

Heady Topper - we are getting our shipment on Friday and expect it to sell out the same day.  Stay tuned to Facebook/Twitter for updates on our next week.

North Coast Old Rasputin Barrel Aged is arriving NEXT WEEK!

Founders Imperial Stout - NEXT WEEK!

BBC Good Night Irene - NEXT WEEK!

Clown Shoes Vampire Slayer - NEXT WEEK!

Have a happy New Year's eve!!!!

Evan G.

New Adds!!!

Brand new babies:
+ Dogfish Head My Antonia 750mL
- more Dogfish Head Theobroma 750mL's
- more Dogfish Head Bitches Brew 750mL's (SOLD OUT!)
- more Dogfish Head Burton Baton 4pk
+ Rodenbach 750mL
+ Rodenbach Grand Cru 750mL (and glassware!)
+ Boon Kriek 750mL
+ Boon Framboise 750mL
+ Boon Gueuze 750mL
+ Palm 6pk (and glassware!)
- Southern Tier Krampus 22oz
+ Rogue McRogue Scotch Ale 7oz
+ Southern Tier Oak-Aged "Cuvee 3"

Sam Adams/Weihenstephaner Infinium SOLD OUT before it even arrived at our store. We had WAY more people on the wait list than bottles to fill the orders with. Sorry...hopefully next year they will brew more!

Cheers,
Jeff

Vintage Release This Friday, Adds, and other things

'Tis the season for gift giving and buying something special (sometimes for yourself, of course!), so it's time to open up the doors on our Beer Cave and release some goodies into the Rare & Vintage Cabinet! Starting Friday morning you'll see vintage goodies from Stone (Imperial Russian Stout and Old Guardian *see below*), Brooklyn Monster, the last of our Rogue Old Crustacean 2008 and bottles from the Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Series! As with all our vintage releases, these are first come, first served.

And for a couple new adds:
+ Olde Burnside (Ten Penny) Father Christmas 1 liter swingtops (in the cooler on the top shelf, same door as the growlers)
+ Stella Artois 750mL cork & caged bottles
+ Heineken 5 Liter Mini-keg gift set with 2 glasses
+ Lake Placid Winter 6 pk
- Southern Tier Krampus 22oz
- Sam Adams Perfect Pint glasses are now back in-stock

And a couple updates:
- Dogfish Head Bitches Brew is scheduled to arrive in our store this Friday
- Still no exact ETA on Sam Adams/Weihenstephaner Infinium, sorry!
- Brooklyn Monster arrives soon!
- more sour beers Friday

** Stone Old Guardian and Imperial Russian Stout Update - As some of you might have already read/heard, Stone will not be brewing these beauties in 2011 as we now know them. They have started a program called "Odd Beers for Odd Years" and will brew Belgo-versions of these classic monsters in 2011. As these are my 2 favorite Stone beers, and I suspect some of you will agree, we have purchased all the remaining inventory from our supplier! If you'd like to read more about this, check out the BeerAdvocate.com thread here. **

And if you're looking to give the gift of beer this year, why not make it even more awesome with a nice specialty glass? Check out our overflowing selection of pint glasses and specialty glassware up front by the registers! We also have gift sets that come with a glass on the gift rack between the registers.

Hoppy Holidays! (...I know, a beer pun, right?)
Cheers,
Jeff

Limited Release updates

Just wanted to give you folks some updates on a few limited releases:

- Anchor Christmas 6 packs and 1.5L magnums are due to arrive tomorrow, Friday, 12/9

- Dogfish Head "Bitches Brew," as seen on the Discovery Channel show "Brewmasters," should be arriving any day now.

- The Sam Adams / Weihenstephaner collaboration "Infinium" is on order and should be arriving next week. This is a very limited release and we have started a wait-list. Not sure about pricing yet.

And a couple keg notes:
- Hill Farmstead Edward Pale Ale 5 gallon logs now back in-stock
- Wolaver's Ben Gleason's White Ale 5 gallon logs $39 + dep on close-out!!!
- Limited amounts of Sierra Nevada Celebration 15 gal. kegs and 5 gal. logs available in-stock

And finally, more goodies coming to the Steals & Deals Room soon!

Cheers,
Jeff

Big weekend, lots of ADDS!

When it rains, it pours - but unfortunately, it still hasn't rained for real yet! This heat be damned, we're making our coolers work double time to keep the beer cold!

Lots of new goodies for this holiday weekend:
+ Dogfish Head Bitches Brew (Imperial stout) 750mL
+ Mikkeller Simcoe Single Hop IPA
+ Charlevoix Dominus Vobiscum Tripel .5L
+ Weihenstephaner Festbier 6 packs
- Southern Tier Harvest 6 packs
- Allagash Fluxus 2010, Victor 2010 and Victoria 2010 releases
+ Original Sin Cider 6 packs

And I'm proud to introduce to Vermont one of Florida's finest microbreweries: SAINT SOMEWHERE from Tarpon Springs, FL. We're secured three of their fine, Belgian-style brews:
+ Saint Somewhere Pays du Soleil (Saison with Palmetto berries and whole Hibiscus flowers)
+ Saint Somewhere Saison Athene (Saison with chamomile, black pepper and rosemary)
+ Saint Somewhere Lectio Divina (a cross between an Abbey Dubbel and a Saison)

And all of them are bottled with a dose of wild yeast for a little funky deliciousness!

Loving life!
Cheers,
Jeff

B-town's very own German Ski Chalet

This past Saturday night my-coworker Adam and I ventured forth in to the frigid cold to check out the newest beer spot in Burlington. Down at the bottom of Church St., past Manhattan Pizza but before Big Daddy's Pizza stands the newly constructed, 3 story beige-stone-faced Das Bierhaus. The first thing you notice is that there's no front door. A black iron gate bears a sign in German announcing to enter through the alley, something common in Montreal but rarely found in Burlington. ID'ed and on up the stairs, we headed to the Ski Chalet-themed 2nd floor bar. This place is packed with boisterous and happy young professionals. This is no college bar, but a respectable and clean establishment. And who do we find sitting at the bar but our co-worker Andrew! We ordered .3L Ayinger Celebrators from Colin behind the bar and set about enjoying the ambiance.

Before too long we were chatting with proud owners Nick and Chad. Nick explained that he wanted to bring a bit of the Alps to Burlington, which proved to be somewhat difficult. Sourcing delicious wurste and hand crafted suds were not readily available locally. After a lot of set backs, Nick and Chad forged ahead establishing connections with importers, distributors and all manner of beer-o-philic folks. And I'm glad they did!

I've always been a fan of the Germanic approach to beer and have long felt that most people haven't been properly introduced to how amazing German beers can be. For many years, the only beer people knew from German resembled Beck's: pale, crisp lagers in green bottles. But there are so many other styles unique to Germany that Das Bierhaus is introducing to the Burlington area: smoked beers, weizen doppelbocks and kolsch just to name a few. You can order draft beers in three traditional sizes, .3L, .4L and .5L and will have them delivered to you in the proper glassware.

My Celebrator gone, I moved on to the illustrious Schneider Aventinus and fell in love with it all over again. Delicious and creamy, smooth yet textured, it was what some would call a "religious experience."

Long story short, this place is great. If you love beer (and/or sausages), you should pay Das Bierhaus a visit and explore some exotic yet traditional suds. (I've included the current beer list below.)

Prost!
Jeff

"Die Draft Liste"
Lagers: Becks, Spaten Premium, Weihenstephan Original, Ayinger Celebrator.
Ales: Reissdorf Kolsch, Weihenstephan Hefeweiss, Erdinger Hefeweiss, Schneider Aventinus.
"In der Flasche" (bottles)
Includes selections from Schlenkerla, Pinkus Organic, Uerige, Franziskaner, Weihenstephan, Schneider, Duvel, Sierra Nevada, Stoudt's, Victory, Stone, Dogfish Head, Haproon, Long Trail, Otter Creek/Wolaver's, Rock Art and Sam Adams.

More Newbies

This just in:
+ Sierra Nevada Glissade 6pk, 12pk and 24oz
+ Chimay "Blue" (Grande Reserve) and "White" (Tripel) 11.2oz singles and 4pks!

Also, I'd like to put in my request now with Jim Koch and the Boston Beer Company for Vermont to receive some of the new collaboration between Sam Adams and Weihenstephaner (Germany)! We want the beer! (Thanks in advance, Jim!)

Cheers,
Jeff

Lots of news!

Ok, got a rather info-packed update, so I'll keep it simple:

Additions:
+ Clipper City Heavy Seas (MD) "The Great Pumpkin" Imperial pumpkin ale 22oz
+ Yanjing Beer (China) 6 packs
+ Flying Dog (MD) K-9 Cruiser Winter Ale 6 packs (First time available in VT!)
+ Bud Light Golden Wheat 6 & 12 packs

News:
+ The "Vintage & Rare" beer cabinet is open for business and stocked with goodies! It's in the Beer Room just to the left. You'll need to ask for assistance getting these delightful goodies out, so don't be shy. More beers will be added in the coming months as more of our "beer-cave aged" selections mature and we get in more rare items.

+ We've solidifying plans with Rock Art (VT) and Sierra Nevada (CA) for free beer tastings in the coming months. We're also in talks with Southern Tier (NY). More info to follow soon.

+ We received more Schneider-Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse! I think we bought the last of this year's release.

+ Thanks to your support Weihenstephaner (Germany) should be available regularly from the distributor according to a phone conversation I had recently with our rep. at Total Beverage Solutions (TBS).

Cheers,
Jeff

Back in stock!

Hey all, it's been about 6 months since these beers have been offered to us, but we snapped at the chance to bring some in. Enjoy (quickly) while they last. Hopefully we won't have to wait so long next time...

- Weihenstephaner Hefe and Lager 6pks
- Weihenstephaner Hefe, Dunkel, Kristallweiss, and Lager 500mL's
- Abbott Ale 4pk cans
- Wexford Irish Cream-style ale 4pk cans
- Old Speckled Hen 4 pack cans
- Tanner's Jack 6 packs

Sierra Nevada Torpedo is reportedly coming back in stock on Friday (8/21) and will be the last shipment before Labor Day. In other news, Merchant du Vin was out-of-stock on a few of their beers for our last order, resulting in a dearth of Rochefort, some Lindeman's Lambics flavors, and a few others. Hopefully we'll be getting a fill-in shipment and/or be offered more from the Rochefort line of beers in the near future. I've filed my request for these with the importer (Merchant du Vin) and you should too! Let them know Vermonters need their tasty(-iest) brews!

And in the "Rumor-Mill," I heard today from reliable sources that McAuslan (St. Ambroise) will be making a triumphant return to Vermont in the coming months.

Cheers,
Jeff

Wow...new beers are serious!

It's been a really good day for Vermont in the beer department. I stayed late last night making room for all the new goodies that were coming in today, and I was still late leaving today. Man...there's a lot of new goodies. So here's the skinny, ya:

+ De Struise (Belgium): "Black Albert" Royal Belgian Stout 11.2oz (The only 24 bottles available for retail sale in the state.) SOLD OUT! (Sorry...)
+ Dieu du Ciel! (Montreal): Péché Mortel, Denière Volenté, Route des Épices, Rosée d'Hibiscus, Corne du Diable (single 12oz)
+ Southern Tier (NY): Unearthly Imperial IPA 22oz, Hoppe Imperial Extra Pale Ale 22oz, IPA 6 packs, Phin & Matt 6 packs, Hop Sun Wheat Ale 6 packs, Variety 12 pack
+ Isle of Skye "Black Cuillin"
+ Weihenstephaner (Germany): Original lager 500mL and 6pk, Hefeweissbier 500mL and 6pk, Kristallweissbier 500mL, Hefeweissbier dunkel 500mL
+ Greene King/Morland Brewery (England): Ruddle's County 16.9oz, Abbot Ale 4pk cans, Wexford Irish Cream-stlye Ale 4pk cans, The Tanner's Jack 6 packs, Old Speckled Hen 4pk cans and 16.9oz
+ Pennichuck (NH): Saint Florian Dopplebock Lager 1 liter, Engine No. 5 Irish Red Ale 6 packs

Back in stock:
+ Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout 6 packs (Limited number, reserve some soon.)
+ Flying Dog Garde Dog 6 packs
+ North Coast Old Rasputin 4 packs
+ Pennichuck Backdraft Chocolate Porter 22oz
+ Hook & Ladder Golden and Brown Ale 6 packs

And we received a shipment of Arran Blonde and Dark from Scotland, but unfortunately they were past their code (out of date) so they had to go back. Bummer. Hopefully we'll get some fresh beer from them soon.

Ok, I think I got them all. Come and get it!

Cheers,
Jeff

Updates

A lot of news today. Here's one of my long update posts...not as long as last time though!

- Brooklyn Brewing tasting tomorrow...don't forget. 5pm-8pm Friday 2/27. Local 2 is in store and will be poured. More Monster 2007 is in stock (regular price).
- Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout will be back in stock next Friday. We're getting some of Southern VT's allocations.

- Fantôme and Cantillon beers were ordered but out of stock from the importer. G.Housen is going to try and order them again in March, I've been told. Keep crossing those fingers!

- Clipper City's "Heavy Seas" and "Oxford Organics" are supposed to hit our shelves tomorrow!

- Ommegang "Biere de Mars" is shipping tomorrow

- More Smuttynose Gravitation tomorrow

- Orkney Brewing has discontinued their "Dragonhead Stout." A sad day! I really loved the one case of that beer we got! Dark Island and Red MacGregor are back in stock now.

- Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA is out of stock from the brewery until early March...sorry. They didn't realize how HUGE it was going to be and have to tweak their brew schedule to make more. In the meantime, soak up some Bigfoot Ale! It's the highest IBU brew they make!

- Duvel "Green" is draft only right now, and there won't be any available to VT until way late in the year, if at all.

- Our Southern Tier order left NY today and is due to arrive in our store next Friday! And good news! The distributor has decided to stock it as a regular item! Thanks to you all for your interest in helping us secure this brand.

- No ETA yet on Weihenstephan beers...still waiting to hear.

That's all for now! Hope to see you tomorrow!
heers,
Jeff

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