Deschutes Black Butte XX and More

This summer is turning out to be a great one for special beer releases. If you're tired of the same old summer beers, give one of these a try.

Deschutes recently released the Black Butte XX, an imperial version of their popular Black Butte Porter that was brewed for their 20th anniversary. It is made with coffee, cocoa nibs (from Theo), and was aged in bourbon oak barrels. This was distributed in limited quantities, but the QFC on Broadway had some left last week. Whole Foods and Thriftway may also still have some available. The Collins Pub had this on tap as of Friday night.

We stopped into the Columbia City Alehouse last week for a pint after buying some goods at the local farmers market, and their chalkboard was advertising the new beer in Baron Brewing's Grimm Brothers series of "Big Beers": the Rumpelstiltskin Rauch Doppelbock. Other better beer stores should have this any day now. If you missed the first installment of the Grimm Brothers series, we also spotted the Seven Swabians Eisbock at Uber Tavern this weekend.

Hale's recently released "25," a Belgian ale made to celebrate their 25th anniversary. It was on tap this weekend at the Barking Dog in Ballard, and it should be available at the brewery and select bottle shops. It's interesting that a brewery known for producing primarily English-style ales would choose a Belgian brew for their anniversary beer, but that's cool with us.

The Bridgeport Stumptown Tart has been available in 22 oz. bottles for a while now, but QFC still had a few cases on the floor. This Oregon Marion Berry infused Belgian Style Ale is lightly hopped and aged in French Oak Pinot Noir Barrels.

The Prodigal Sun IPA joins Sunspot and Son of Spot in the history of "sun related" IPA special releases from Full Sail Brewing. If you're a hop-head, this one's for you.

Thanks to djeucalyptus on Flickr for the photo.