New Allagash Beers

Allagash is set to release two new beers in the coming months. The first -- Saison Mihm -- will be an 8% saison with Maine honey. The second -- Old HLT -- will be a wild ale with cherries. Saison Mihm will be draft-only, whereas Old HLT will be draft-only to start, followed by a limited 375mL bottle release at Allagash's store in Portland, ME. Here's the Old HLT label:


Thanks to Beernews.org for the scoop and label.

Hill Farmstead Barrel-Aged Beers

Shaun Hill revealed on Hill Farmstead's Facebook page today that he just received some Niepoort Port barrels, and is likely to fill them with an imperial stout and a barleywine. Judging by Hill Farmstead's barrel-aged lineup to date -- as well as basically everything that Shaun has done -- the beers should be fantastic.

The was followed by news via Twitter that Shaun also got some Pappy barrels:

Joyous times are ahead.

New Fermenter for Cascade

Oregon Live recently posted a piece on Cascade's new fermenter, excerpted below. Let's hope their prediction regarding Cascade Noyeaux is correct, as the beer has received excellent ratings and sounds like another gem from Portland. The description, courtesy of the BeerAdvocate profile page:

This one-of-a-kind NW sour is a blend of Belgian strong blondes aged in white port barrels with raspberries, then blended with select barrels of strong blondes that were aged on the toasted meat from the apricot nut, or Noyeaux.

Noyeaux is currently #19 on BeerAdvocate's top American Wild Ales list. Here's the full excerpt from Oregon Live:

Ron Gansberg at the Cascade Barrel House wanted a 100-barrel fermenter (3100 gallons) in which to store the brewery's big-selling blends such as Kriek, Apricot and Noyeaux, but the diameter of such a vessel was too much for the available floor space. But if he went tall --- 18 feet tall --- he could just squeeze the tank into the taller portion of the brewery under the clerestory. That was no problem to Charlie Frye at Metalcraft Fabrication, and yesterday, Ron, Preston, Curtis and Beck raised the new tank, along with two forklifts, dollys, pallet jacks, a come-along, a dozen shackles, a few fathoms of strapping and my occasional help. It took four hours and was a shining example of brewerly ingenuity.

Hair of the Dog / De Proef

Hair of the Dog and De Proef will be collaborating on a Flanders Red as part of De Proef's collaboration series. According to an article from Willamette Week, the beer will be named Flanders Fred, in reference to HotD's own Fred, which itself is an homage to craft-beer legend Fred Eckhardt. A summary of what's expected:

Expect the result to pack a tart cherry sourness and bone-warming boozy heat. It'll be perfect for aging, too. Too bad we won’t get to try it until this summer, as Sprints won’t actually brew the batch of Fred in Belgium until March. The collaboration beer should first see release through the former Michael Jackson Rare Beer Club in June, with full U.S. release in July.

Lambic News

Cantillon recently let fans know that they are reviving the old practice of utilizing amphoras, aka clay pots, for lambic fermentation. Read the story here. Additional pictures of the practice were posted on Cantillion's Facebook page. A preview image is above.

In other lambic news, here's a tidbit on the somewhat-lost tradition of Meerts, which is essentially a table lambic made from the second runnings of a lambic mash. It's something I'd like to try brewing in the near future.

Daily Beer Digest -- 08.08.2011

The Brewers Association reports that U.S. craft beer growth is up 15% in terms of dollars and 14% in terms of volume over last year. The number of breweries in planning has also increased nearly two-fold from the same point last year.

The Chicago Tribune has an article about gypsy brewing, focusing on Stillwater.

Three Floyds got approval for its Zombie Dust label. The label confirms that the brew will be available in 12-ounce bottles. Thanks to Beernews for the image.

Alan Sprints of Hair of the Dog gave an update to the Brewing Network on his barrel-aged collaboration with Deschutes. A transcript of that portion of his talk is available via Beernews.

Daily Beer Digest -- 08.04.2011

Today is International IPA Day.

Stillwater is releasing an oak wine barrel-aged version of Cellar Door. This is part of its barrel-aged series; the brewery previously got label approval for a bourbon barrel-aged version of Existent.

Miller Lite has a problem with sales. Vortex bottle and triple hops brewed no longer effective selling points? That's too bad. Granted, this is from an advertising periodical, but I love how the article points out that the solution isn't making a better beer, but "to find marketing solutions" to the problem. Miller is on top of the problem, though, assuming "record rainfall" doesn't "limit beer occasions" in future quarters.

The Bruery has been active on Twitter lately, posting a photo of their raspberry sour blending session, as well as a photo of the groundbreaking for their new warehouse, which will hold a whole bunch of new barrels. The barrel-room expansion was discussed previously here.

Hair of the Dog's Adam from the Wood debuts on the Beer Advocate Top 100 at #94 with 21 reviews and a 4.63 average.