We really thought this was going to be a slow week, but turns out that there are a few new things after all.

DUCK RABBIT Rabid Duck*
GREEN FLASH Hop Head Red*
PLANK Bavarian Hefe-weizen

Dieu du Ciel is a tiny micro-brewery in the heart of Montréal, Quebec. The most famous of their beers is Péché Mortel—or “Mortal Sin”—an extremely rich coffee imperial stout. Péché Mortel is one of the few beers to receive an A+ rating on BeerAdvocate and a 100pt score on RateBeer. You can read more about it here. Péché Mortel is sent to the US in small batches of 50 cases (or less) only a few times a year. Get it while you can!

Explore the rest of the line-up as well. We just love the beer names and, maybe more, the label art.

DIEU DU CIEL Péché Mortel (Mortal Sin)
DIEU DU CIEL Dernière Volonté (Last Will)
DIEU DU CIEL Corne du Diable (Devil’s Horn)
DIEU DU CIEL Route des épices (Spice Route)
DIEU DU CIEL Rosée d’Hibiscus (Pinkish Hibiscus)

Hopheads, Sierra Nevada went the extra mile for you—quite literally—with their newest release, Southern Hemisphere Harvest. Seems they just weren’t happy with one fall hop harvest per year, so they traveled to New Zealand in the Southern Hemisphere and got a crop o’ hops. This is the newest addition to their Harvest Ale “family.” We’ve been to New Zealand. It’s exceptionally green there. We imagine these hops have to be fantastic. What a great idea.

Read the full press release here.

“Our newest addition to our Harvest family is Southern Hemisphere Harvest. This is the first time we know of that an American brewer has put out a beer with fresh-picked hops from the southern hemisphere. The inaugural ale will debut in late April and will feature fresh Pacific Hallertau, New Zealand Motueka and New Zealand Southern Cross hops, all from New Zealand.

Like our Celebration Ale, the fresh hops in this beer are dried right after being picked then shipped immediately to Chico for brewing so that they retain their peak aromatics and flavors. To ensure the freshest hops possible, we went to the added expense of flying these hops from New Zealand to Chico so we could brew with them the week after they were picked.”

[Images: Sierra Nevada / newzealand.com]

Happy May Day and a warm welcome to Highland Shining Rock Lager! We’re kicking off the new seasonal at the tasting today. See you there!

Other things, new and back in stock, arriving today are:

FULLER’S E.S.B. (back)
FULLER’S London Porter (back)
FULLER’S London Pride  (back)
FULLER’S Vintage Ale  (new!)
GÖSSER Dark (new!)
HIGHLAND BREWING Shining Rock Lager* (seasonal)
ROGUE Imperial Red (new!)
SCHNEIDER Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse* (limited!)
VICTORY Whirlwind Wit* (seasonal)
WEYERBACHER Blanche* (seasonal)

This is the time to get both the Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen Weisse and Schneider-Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse. Try them side-by-side and compare the basic recipe with American and German hops, respectively.

Oh, happy day! This series of brews has been looking for a home for some time now, but it’s here. De Proef, headed by creative brewmaster Dick Naudts (aka The Prof), has put out a series of brews called the Brewmaster’s Collection. Five of the six offerings were selected for Michael Jackson’s Rare Beer Club. (We gushed about Signature Ale last year, which is a collaboration between Naudts and Port Brewing/Lost Abbey brewer, Tomme Arthur. “A complex hybrid of aggressively hopped west coast IPA, combined with traditional Belgian brettanomyces fermentation.”) Only one of the brews in the series didn’t make it this week, Lozen Boer Abt, but we should have it soon.

DE PROEF Signature Ale
DE PROEF La Grande Blanche Imperial White Ale
DE PROEF Reinaert Flemish Wild Ale
DE PROEF Saison Imperiale
DE PROEF Zoetzuur Flemish Ale