This year’s Hop in the Dark CDA. 6.5% abv, 70 IBUs, and if you’re interested they also have a homebrew version of the recipe online: just remember to get the same results they do, you need to cold-steep the black barley overnight to extract the color without the astringency. And you should toast your own oats too.

Redhook’s Long Hammer IPA in cans. The accompanying paperwork is amusing; there’s a photo of a crushed Long Hammer can stuck to a… wall of gum I guess. And the release says:

Where do you crush Redhook?
Redhook’s Long Hammer IPA cans were specially designed to weigh much less being packed out than packed in, which means beer drinkers can enjoy Redhook in lots of new places – especially those where bottles aren’t allowed. In recent weeks, Redhook has been making his way to some of those places, crushing Long Hammer cans, and sharing photos with Facebook fans along the way. Sure, not all of those places are ordained by city officials for beer drinking, but it’s a lot easier to hide the sound of cans clanking together than bottles. And hey, while Redhook isn’t looking for trouble, he’s not opposed to it either.

Clever and just subversive enough to catch the eye.

I reviewed Long Hammer IPA five years ago, but of course now that I have cans you know that means a side-by-side review with the bottled version! And interestingly, the stats on this have changed: five years ago it was 6.51% abv and 38.5 IBUs; now, it is 6.2% abv and 44 IBUs. Interesting.

This weekend it was Deschutes Brewery‘s 2012 edition of Twilight Summer Ale, a perennial favorite.

I should have opened one up this weekend (after getting back from the Brewfest), it was so nice out. But there are more nice days coming.

A wooden box (made from recycled/reclaimed wood I believe) with shredded used coasters as the packing material. Inside were two bottles of the Stout and a tulip snifter:

These are the latest in their Alchemy Project series, high-end cellarable beers of which three will appar this year. This Stout is 9.3% abv and it sounds to me like it’s their KGB Russian Imperial Stout (or a similar variation) aged on raspberries. (Which sounds fantastic to me any way you slice it.)

Lemon Shandy. Something I didn’t really see coming (though I didn’t see the [white] Wheat IPA coming either), but yes, I’m intrigued. I really haven’t had much experience with Shandies—I think last year Deschutes Brewery had a really nice one on at the Pub, strangely enough, and I really liked it—but in a weird bit of synchronicity I recently came across Leinenkugel‘s Summer Shandy here in Bend. So of course now I’m thinking, “Shandy Shootout!”

Oh, and incidentally a “shandy” is a “beer mixed with citrus-flavored soda, carbonated lemonade, ginger beer, ginger ale, or cider” (but I usually associate it with lemonade).

Three cans of Kona Brewing’s Longboard Lager, along with a tri-fold that tells how to convert the empty can into a pinhole camera, which may well be the most creative insert yet. The Brewery is sending these out as part of their can rollout for PR.

Of course, I’ve already extolled the virtue of cans, so I think I’ll grab some bottles of Longboard Lager and do a side-by-side tasting and review to keep things interesting.

Three bottles of Chainbreaker White IPA right off the bottling line. (Actually I don’t know that they are “right off the line” but it sounds good so I’m going with it). Chainbreaker is the new year-round bottled addition to Deschutes’ core lineup (something they haven’t added to in a while, since Green Lakes Organic Ale I think), and I’m interested to see how the beer is after bottling—I’ve tried it on draft, and it’s a tasty brew.

A bottle each of Pitch Black IPA, Nelson Imperial IPA, and the new Oatmeal Porter, along with a sample bottle of “Bro-Oats” (oats that have been custom roasted specifically for Widmer by Briess Malting) and a Widmer goblet.

The three bees are together as representing the “Series 924″ offerings, which are “special, but accessible, high-end craft beers” named after the Widmer brewery address of 924 Russell Street in Portland. Pitch Black and Nelson are year-round beers while Oatmeal Porter is the first of three limited-edition beers coming out this year.

I’ve had the first two, of course (though apparently I’ve only reviewed Pitch Black IPA and not Nelson Imperial IPA), and I’m excited to try the Oatmeal Porter largely because of the custom-roasted oats angle. (Yes, it’s a beer geek thing.)

This is slated to hit the shelves nationally on the 6th (Monday), and at first blush—it’s rather interesting and actually not bad at all. I’ll be drinking more and writing up review notes for it this weekend sometime.

(And no, I don’t automatically turn my nose up at macro-brewed brands remember—I’m a beer geek, not a beer snob, and I’m always interested in trying new beers—whether from A-B or the newest nanobrewery down the street.)

Some details from the press release:

The newest full-time addition to the Shock Top family, Shock Top Wheat IPA is a unique hybrid style that brings the refreshment and smoothness of a wheat beer and marries it with the crisp, hoppy bitterness of an India Pale Ale (IPA).

To create the new beer, brewmasters started with Shock Top’s signature recipe, adding citrusy Cascade and Magnum hops and dry hopping the beer for several days to give Wheat IPA the rich, hoppy aroma that is the signature of IPAs. Containing 5.8% alcohol by volume (ABV), Shock Top Wheat IPA will be sold nationwide in six- and 24-packs of 12-ounce bottles and on draught.

Which interestingly puts it at about the same level as Deschutes‘ Chainbreaker White IPA (just recently announced as the newest year-round addition to their bottled line-up).

More soon.

As in the past, the package came in large, handsome wood box filled with shredded used coasters for packing material. They also included a prepaid packing slip to make it easy to send the box and material back, which is fairly forward-thinking (the previous two packages also did this).

(Sorry for the sketchy photos, apparently my camera(phone) work needs work…)

These both sound like exciting beers to try, so I’ll have reviews and notes posted soon.