Archive for June, 2009

Beer in a pouch?
Crazy, but true! Look at that. Weird, no? “The CarboPouch by the Beverage Pouch Group is designed for artisan beermakers, letting them fill you up a six pack to go on-site, making it so the smaller brewers don’t need to buy any cumbersome beer-filling assembly line contraptions to ply their hand-made wares.” We wonder who’ll be the first in Asheville to get some of these things! It’s like a squeezy juice box for adults. Definitely wouldn’t drink out of the pouch!

Today’s beer spill
Chicago. Miller Lite. We wouldn’t call that “tragic,” but whatever.

Speaking of:
MillerCoors is sending 8,000 cases of beer to the troops overseas for July 4, as part of Pizza for Patriots (warning: horribly cheesy site music). “The organization will send more than 25,000 pizzas and a total of 8,000 cases of Coors Light and Miller Lite to the Middle East through the donations of products and services by corporate sponsors MillerCoors, Pizzeria Uno and DHL.” Mmmmm, Pizzeria Uno. You’re fattening and awesome.

Don’t kill the Amsterdam Beer Bikes!
Two accidents and everyone’s in an uproar over the Amsterdam Beer Bikes, one of the cooler ways to see the city. You get a group of 10-22 folks, a non-drinking driver, and peddle your way around the city as a portable bar. In some places, they call that genius.

Boston.com’s BeerAdvocate story
We know some that would disagree with the headline, but the story is good. For the record, we love BeerAdvocate.com. Couldn’t live without it! If you’re reading this and not a member, you should be. For shame.

India gets into craft beer?
Wow. Loves it! Craft beer will take over the world. Well, at least three-quarters, hopefully.

And, finally, the best news: NC killed the “sin” taxes! North Carolina, FTW!
From the News & Observer, the NC house shaved $154M off the budget by eliminating the “sin” taxes. “Democrats were the ones who successfully proposed removing the ‘sin’ taxes from the roster.” To everyone that wrote letters, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. $25.5M of that amount would have been beer!

Get A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ this weekend!
Lagunitas Brewing Co.‘s new limited release, A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’, is here. We just love their beer names. Check it: “Way smooth and silky with a nice wheaty-esque-ness.” It falls in the Lagunitas scale of summer session beers at a wee 7.7% abv and an A- rating on BeerAdvocate.

Don’t forget dad
Okay, so we thought Father’s Day was this weekend. Not to worry! That means you have more time to get him a super-fantastic Bruisin’ Ales gift certificate and be his favorite child for the day!

Beer Fail Predictor Says: FAIL
Dumb and dumber. Someone on Twitter yesterday commented that this beer will cut into Blue Moon. Probably not. Likely not.

Fullsteam is fullsteam ahead
Beer spies tell us that the new Durham-based “agricultural brewery,” Fullsteam, is signing lease papers today. Whee! Look for a full press release on Monday.

Have great weekend, everyone!

Even more great beers arriving this week. Some are back in stock, some new. Here’s the line-up!

ABBAYE DES ROCE Brune
ANDERSON VALLEY Summer Solstice*
GIRARDIN Gueze
NEW BELGIUM Fat Tire (6-packs)
OUD BEERSEL Framboise
ST. BERNARDUS Abt 12
ST. BERNARDUS Tripel
ST. BERNARDUS Witbier
STONE BREWING Levitation Ale*
SWEETWATER Road Trip*
VAL-DIEU Grand Cru
VICHTENAAR Flemish Sour
WEYERBACHER Blanche*

We have an exclusive sneak-peak at the forthcoming Mother Earth Brewing Co. in Kinston, NC. Pretty labels!

Follow the link to their site. They’re growing organic hops!

We’re going to just bust right out of this place if we’re not careful! We got another big and very, very special order—beers for the non-faint-of-heart, the curious, the adventurous.

The Belgian styles we’re most excited about are Switzerland’s BFM special barrel-aged releases of Abbaye Saint Bon-Chien, a Biere de Garde aged in Trousseau wine casks; the Dansk Mjod Old Danish Braggot (an 18th century recipe with hops, honey and ginger!); the Italian Montegioco Tibir (sparkling beer made with Timorasso grapes); Fantome Chocolat (saison with cocoa and chili pepper); and another brilliant Teo Musso creation, Le Baladin Al-Iksir (made with whisky yeast). Holy geez. There are plenty of goodies here to give your palatte a big, fat party. And, of course, Demon Hunter is back! Nothing says love quite like a beer with a severed head on the label!

On the domestic side, not much this week, but we’re psyched up about getting Atwater from Detroit, MI. VoodooVator, baby, yeah! And, look: Avery Brewing has a new website. The ’09 Samael’s is here—strong, malty, and sweet.

Atwater Block Cherry Stout
Atwater Block Voodoo Vator Doppelbock
Avery Samael’s 2009
BFM Abbaye Saint Bon-Chien ’06
BFM Bon-Chien Trousseau #3
BFM Bon-Chien Trousseau #5
Dansk Mjod Old Danish Braggot
Del Ducato Verdi Stout (Imperial Stout with hot chilis)
Fantome Black Ghost (Belgian stout)
Fantome Chocolat (Saison with cocoa and chili pepper)
Hoffstetten Granitbock
Italiano Cassisona (made with currants)
Le Baladin Al-Iksir
Limfjords Porter (smoked malt and licorice)
Montegioco Demon Hunter
Montegioco Rex Grue (amber ale with Clary sage)
Montegioco Tibir (sparkling ale with Timorasso grapes and pear)
Terrapin 90 Shelling
Torbata Almond 22 (ale with honey and peat-smoked malt)