Today’s an exciting day if you’re a fan of some big, black beers.  Starting today you should be able to find both the Goose Island Night Stalker Imperial Stout and the Sierra 30 – Fritz And Ken’s Ale, a 30th Anniversary collaboration stout from Sierra Nevada and Anchor Brewing.

Here’s some of the information I could dig up about each beer:

Night Stalker:
Brewmasters Notes:
A heavily-hopped imperial stout, Night Stalker is a heavyweight of a beer. It delivers a formidable punch of hops and rich roasted malt notes to the nose in a silky body that’s as dark as night.

Recipe Information:
Style: Imperial Stout
Alcohol by Volume: 11.2%
International Bitterness Units: 60
Color: Midnight
Hops: Mt Hood, Simcoe
Malts: 2-Row, Munich, Chocolate, Caramel, Roasted Barley, De-Bittered Black

Serving Suggestions:
Preferred Glass: Snifter
Preferred Serving Temperature: 40º
Cellaring Notes: Develops in the bottle over 5 years

Sierra 30 – Fritz And Ken’s Ale
Notes:
Fritz Maytag, owner of San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing Company, is regarded as the godfather of the craft brewing movement. Fritz agreed to guest brew this very special ale with us in honor of our 30th anniversary. As a nod to the robust black ales that seduced both Fritz and Ken in the early years, we bring you this Pioneers Stout, a rich and roasted ale, perfect for aging, and worth of your finest snifter. Enjoy!

Charity:
Fritz Maytag has always had a passion for knowledge. As a child in Iowa, he learned early about the wealth of information available to him at his local library. Maytag chose to donate to the Butte County Library system, which is library district local to Chico, California-home to Sierra Nevada Brewing.

Beer notes:
Style: American Imperial Stout
ABV: 9.20%

So, I’m pleased to announce that the winner for the two tickets to tonight’s Bigelo’s Valentine’s Beer Dinner is Brian Krebel! Congrats to Brian and thank you everyone for entering. Once again, if you didn’t win, don’t be too upset, I’m going to have a few more things to give away in the next few weeks.

I once again want to thank Mark from Bigelo’s Bistro for providing the tickets to this event.

Mark from Bigelo’s Bistro was kind enough to provide two tickets to their Valentine’s Beer dinner featuring Sierra Nevada beers. The dinner is on Sunday, February 14th at 4 pm and Bigelo’s is located in Edwardsville, Illinois.

If you’re interested in winning tickets that include a five courses being paired with five different beers (you will be required to pay the gratuity) email contest@stlhops.com with a subject of “Bigelo’s Valentine Beer Dinner” and tell me what your favorite beer is only available in Illinois. A couple of quick notes:

• If you’ve won something from STL Hops in the past 6 months, please be cool and let someone else enter.
• You much be 21 or older to enter.
• No multiple entries.
• If you don’t think you’ll be able to attend, please don’t enter. I’d like to make sure that people available to attend have a chance to win.

The winner will be drawn on Wednesday, February 10th at 9AM. There are still a few seats available for the dinner, you can make reservations by calling 618-655-1471.

Ah, it’s almost that time of year, the time to remind your significant other that you care for them, and by significant other, I mean beer. Bigelo’s Bistro will be hosting a Beer Dinner on Sunday, February 14th starting at 4PM.

This dinner will be pairing five courses with five different beers from the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.  The cost of the dinner will be $39 (tax and gratuity is not included).

Also on hand for the event will be Steve Thiel of Sierra Nevada.  Steve will be there to discuss the beers as well as the pairings for each course.

Tickets for this event must be purchased in advance.  Call 618-655-1471 for more information. Stay tuned next week as I’ll be giving away two tickets for this event.

So, it just happens I head up to 33 Wine Shop and Tasting Bar to meet with a few of my favorite chums, and what do I happen to see on the draught list?  None other than the highly sought after Sierra Nevada Chico Estate.

In case you don’t know, this is a beer in which every ingredient is grown right on Sierra Nevada’s property.  Very cool and very rare stuff.  You better get down here soon, because this is a 20L keg and there are some very thirsty people down here.

Sierra Nevada‘s first new year-round release in over 28 years is now available in St. Louis, according to Paul from The Wine and Cheese Place.  It’s not quite a standard IPA and not quite a double IPA, it’s what Sierra Nevada has called an “Extra IPA.”  Here some of the specs from Beernews.org about the beer:

7.4% ABV – IBU’s in the high 70′s to 80′s 

Bittering hops: with Magnum
Finishing hops: Magnum, Crystal, Chinook.
Torpedo: Magnum, Chinook, Citra

Not to be overshadowed by the new release, Sierra Nevada’s perinneal favorite American Barleywine, Bigfoot, it now in stores as well.