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,......

If you have not made it into Beveridge Place Pub in West Seattle for their Barleywine Bacchanal yet, it's not too late. Tonight, they will be tapping three different vintages of the Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine ('04, '06 & '07), which enables you to see exactly how this beer changes over time. At 9.7% alcohol, it shines after a few years. The contrast between the '04 and '07 should be very interesting. Stay away......

Starting tomorrow, the next month is going to be a whirl-wind of good beer: REAL Strong Ale Festival at Collins Pub - 2/22 to 2/28 Elysian Winter Beer Festival - 2/23 Barleywine Bacchanal at Beveridge Place Pub - 2/29 to 3/8 Hard Liver Barleywine Festival at Brouwer's - 3/15 Washington Cask Beer Festival - 3/22 Throw in the Seattle releases of Full Sail Bourbon Aged Porter(Mar 1), Oskar Blues Ten Fidy(Mar 1) and the......

Does anyone remember when Full Sail Black Gold Bourbon Aged Imperial Stout came out in early 2006? That was the last Bourbon aged beer distributed by Full Sail, and wow...what a beer it was. It was a big stout with tons of flavors imparted by the barrel, and it remains one of our Top 10 Beers of All Time. Step forward to February 2008, and Full Sail is doing it all over again with......

We stopped in at the Bellevue Whole Foods today to pick up a breakfast burrito with bacon (best on-the-go $5.49 breakfast in town) and a salad for lunch (to balance out the bacon) when we happened to walk past the beer aisle at 8am. OK, so maybe we didn't walk by on accident; we check out their beer selection every time we stop for breakfast and often end up buying a few bottles next......

This marks the start of a new weekly "Beer of the Week" post that we intend to do for 2008. Tune in every Friday to see what we've been drinking. When Deschutes releases their 2nd batch of The Abyss at a bottle shop near you on this upcoming Monday, January 14th (estimated; ask your bottle shop for sure), they won't need our help to sell out this beer in record time. The Abyss was......

This time of year we start seeing fewer and fewer IPAs coming out. But, there are still quite a few interesting ones showing up around town. If you're someone who loves to bitch about how out of control American brewers are getting with their IPAs, just move on to another article. Lagunitas Hop Stoopid - With 100+ IBUs of pure citrus hops, this one is definitely for us hopheads. It is considered an Imperial......

This upcoming Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the annual Phinney Neighborhood Association Winter Beer Taste. 26 different breweries will be there to pour some of their outstanding Winter beers to get us ready for the upcoming season. Admission includes 10 samples and are $27 for the public in advance, and tickets at the door are $30. We've been told that this event usually sells out in advance, so it sounds like a good......

Some of you may be interested in checking out the newly opened Tap House Grill in downtown Seattle. Although we have had issues with service, beer quality and availability of beers on their list at the Tap House in Bellevue, we are still hoping the Seattle location works out. With 160 beers on tap, it should not be hard to find something you want. The new Seattle location is in the old Planet Hollywood building......

Just last week we were walking through the beer aisle at our local QFC, cruising for those cute little Full Sail "Session" bottles when our heart skipped a beat. Could it be? Oh sweet Bacchus, that's a six-pack of Snow Cap! We cradled it in our arms and cried silent sweet tears of joy while the woman next to us with the two kids dragged her wee ones by their arms past us, staring. Someday......