Tuesday, April 14, 2015

The DL on D&V

To all the retailers finding it harder and harder to make space on the shelves for new beers, I have some bad news for you: We've got a slew of Euros coming our way. Put the Lime-A-Ritas in the bargain bin and make room for the beers from D&V International. D&V distributes for a number of breweries, mostly Belgian in origin. Some of the more popular beers that that you may know are Duchesse De Bourgogne, the oak-aged Flemish beer from Verhaeghe, and the lineup from St. Bernardus, most notably the Abt 12, a 10% Quad that gives Westvleteren 12 a run for its money in any blind tasting. The Val Dieu beers (Brune, Blonde, Triple, Grand Cru) will make their way here as well. Expect to see Duchesse and St. Bernardus 12 on tap in bars that cater to customers of discerning taste. That leaves most of you out. Samples of Duchesse, St. Bernardus 10 and 12, and Barbe Ruby (Belgian for "sour cherry soda", I think) will be available at the upcoming Blues and Brews event. Nice to see some new beers coming our way, and even better that people are actually buying them. Will it be the same when Ballast Point beers get here? Yup, rumor has it we will be seeing Sculpin and...what else do they even make? Ok, I'll take Dorado DIPA and Victory at Sea. The rest you can leave in San Diego. I'm just hoping the price point of Sculpin, at possibly $15 or more a six-pack, doesn't leave us with a glut of old IPA. Case in point: I was just brought a sixer of Sculpin from El Paso, and found that it was canned November 12. I'm not saying that every Albuquerque store is conscientious about IPA dating, rotating stock, and pulling old beer, but come on- we've got to be better than El Paso, right?