2020 first made it stateside in January with only 9,600 bottles shipped to the U.S, and as far as I know, only 120 made it to Seattle. Don't think you'll be able to snatch up a decade's supply; this was the last one available at The Beer Junction.

It pours a deep, rich, dark crimson hue, almost black from some angles, but vivid red in a certain light. The one-finger head is off-white, receding slowly until a dense vestigial single layer remains. A beautiful beer.

The nose is sweet malts with dark fruit undertones: plum, currant, some grape, perhaps. Caramel and toffee round it out, with a bit of booze singeing the nostrils.

On the tongue, it's initially lighter than expected; a brilliantly delicate blend of dark fruit, toasted, sweet-but-smoky malt, and a slightly bitter whiskey flavor explode on the tongue all at once. It dries out your mouth, but the finish doesn't wear out its welcome.

This beer is scarily drinkable. It's intense, but fairly light and smooth. If you manage to get your hands on one of these, pace yourself!

A

Thanks to James Bottorff, the brains behind this here website, for snagging me a sample. If only I could have waited 10 years.

Glueh Kriek comes from that pot right behind my glass. It's an "oak aged blend of Bing and Sour pie cherry sour red ales steeped on spices fresh from Grenada and wild flower honey," and it is truly tremendous. I've never had anything quite like it. It's sweet, sour, spicy, rich, and fruity all at once, and the heat amplifies all the flavors and melds them together beautifully.

It's worth a trip down to Portland just to check this place out: the Cascade Brewing Barrel House, a veritable treasure trove of nothing but barrel-aged sours, with 16 taps and two offerings straight from the barrel.

If you don't trust my A+, just take a look at a few of the descriptions:



In addition to the Glueh Kriek, I sipped on a glass of '09 Vlad the Imp- aler. It's a big gun (10.3% ABV), but beautifully delicate. That's what you get when you combine quads, age them in Bourbon barrels, do some more chemistry, then age them again. Wow.

Where It's From: Seattle

Where I Found It: Brouwer's Cafe, Fremont

Style: Belgian Dubbel

ABV: ??

The Damage: $5 /pint

This is the 9th installment in a great series by Seattle-based Big Al Brewing which uses recipes submitted by homebrewers.

#9 pours a deep reddish-brown with an amber tint and a minimal head. The nose is sweet caramel malt and a bit of dark fruit and spice.

The sugary malt is certainly the force to be reckoned with on the tongue, followed up by a splash of spice (cinnamon? allspice?) and a healthy yeasty, fruity finish.

The mouthfeel is right for the style, moderate texture and carbonation. Overall a balanced brew, but a little sweeter than I usually go for.

B

Where it's From: Chico, CA

Where I Found It: Fred Meyer

Style: Imperial Helles Bock

ABV: 8.3%

The Damage: $11 / 750 mL

Pours a hazy golden-amber color with a head that recedes to half a finger and sticks around for a bit. The nose is a bit floral, a bit sweet, not too heavy in any one direction.

A touch of honey hits the tongue first, then as droplets settle in the back of the mouth, a bit of floral hoppiness comes through. A clean, earthy flavor with maybe a hint of apple. The finish is a persistent slight bitterness and a twinge of the 8.3% ABV.

The mouthfeel is moderately creamy with mid-range carbonation.

B+

Coffey is the executive chef at Seattle's Madison Park Cafe. He also happens to be Washington state's only Cicerone.

"I don't remember exactly how I stumbled onto it," Coffey told me. "I really just wanted to share my love for beer with people."

Like the sommalier in the wine world, the Cicerone, which means "guide," is a certified expert on beer styles, serving, storage, everything there is to know about beer.

"You can probably go from casual beer drinker to certified Cicerone in six to eight months," said Ray Daniels, the Chicago-based beer industry veteran who created the intensive program in 2007.

"I got tired of going into places and being given beer that was poorly-kept and poorly-served," Daniels said.

Around 180 people around the country have passed the grueling 6-hour Cicerone certification exam to date. So why is Coffey the lone Washingtonian?

"The beer world is pretty well-established here in the Northwest," he said. "People here have been doing it here for 20 or 25 years. They don't really want or need or care about the piece of paper."

But that might be changing. Drew Gillespie, the general manager at Pike Brewing Company in Seattle, is requiring all his employees to take the "certified beer server" exam, the first step to becoming a Cicerone.

"It's invariably a matter of time before there are more," Gillespie said. "I thought, what could be better? We're trying to be an icon for beer, and by that standard, our employees should know more about beer than the average person."

But don't think you can just knock back a couple on the weekend and get certified.

"It was a lot of drinking, but a lot of cracking the books and studying," said Coffey, who says certification was a personal goal, and he plans to keep his day job in the kitchen.

"It's very fulfilling, and a hell of a lot of fun," Coffey said.

To learn more about what it takes to become a Cicerone, check out the program's website.

The 2nd annual Belgianfest is on tap Saturday at The Workshop at Magnuson Park in Seattle. More than 25 breweries will pour more than 50 Belgian beers.

When: Saturday, January 22; Noon-4p and 5:30-9:30p

Where: 6310 NE 74th Street, Seattle

The Damage: $30 here, $35 at the door.

-----------------------------------------------

Here's a complete list of what's on tap:

Anacortes Brewery

1) Dark Water Dubbel ABV: 8.2%

2) Anacortes Sour Brown ABV: 9.1%

Anacortes Belgian Trippel Ale aged for 51 weeks in a wine barrel (Merlot) with Brettanomyces anomoulis. All Bairds Pilsner Malt and 150# Cane Sugar. Hopped with Saaz hops.

Big Al Brewing - Seattle

1) Belgian Tripel ABV: 9% - a pale golden Belgian-style strong ale featuring the warm spicy flavors of a Belgium yeast complimented by a crisp, light peppery rye finish.

2) Local Hero #9 Belgian Dubbel ABV: 7.7% - Rich caramel-chocolatey malt flavors, soft warming alcohol, with an inviting balance of flavors from the uses of Belgian yeast; dark fruit esters and spicy pnenois.

3) Kriek

Big Time Brewery - Seattle

1) Trombipulator 2010 ABV: 10% - A Northwest interpretation of a Belgian tripel, Trombipulator was 1st brewed to commemorate Big Time's five hundredth brew. A very big and pale beer, it weighs in at 18 degrees Plato (1.072 Specific Gravity), and is very heavily hopped.

2) Saison Grisette - Farmhouse Ale

Black Raven Brewing - Redmond

1) Pour Les Oiseaux ABV: 6.2% - Four grain farmhouse ale/saison aged in French oak white wine barrels with brettanomyces.

2) Seasonal Farmhouse IPA ABV: 7.7%

3) La Petite Mort (cask version) ABV: 8.8% - Cask version of our seasonal strong abbey brown ale with additional ingredients such as rum soaked oak chips, black mission figs, porcini mushrooms and cocoa nibs.

Boundary Bay Brewery - Bellingham

1)Big Belgian Ale ABV: 6.6% - Light in body, medium hoppiness, earthy and spicy with a Belgian yeast finish.

2) Boundary Bay Tripel - A strong, pale golden, medium bodied ale. Is mildly spicy with a medium hop bitterness. The aroma is of fruit, Belgian Abbey yeast and alcohol. It is a complex beer with a warming flavor and a long dry finish.

Der Blokken Brewery - Bremerton

1) Belgian Gold ABV: 8.5% - Der Blokken's first Belgian is light and golden in color with light-fruit & hopp aromas. Fermented with Duvel yeast, this ale finishes at 1.018

Elliot Bay Brewing - Burien & Seattle

1) Belgian Black IPA ABV: 6% IBU: 60 - Cask Conditioned Dry-hopped Belgian Black Ale

2) Brett von Boorian ABV: 4.75% IBU: 30 - Blend of sour beers barrel-aged for 22 months

3) Imperial von Boorian ABV: 7.25% IBU: 70 - Dry-hopped Belgian Strong Pale Ale

4) Red von Boorian ABV: 5% IBU: 20 - Delightful Belgian-style Red Ale

Elysian Brewing - Seattle

1) Bete Blanche ABV: 6.9% - Deceptive and delicious Belgian-style Tripel. A twist on the French expression "Bête Noire".An extremely drinkable, blonde and somewhat treacherous.

2) Bete Noel Belgian-style Ale ABV: 8.5% - The dark side of the holidays, as treacherous as its paler sister. Brewed with Pale, Munich, Castle Aromatic and roasted barley and black malts, with amber Turbinado sugar added to the kettle.

3) Toro Oro Yerba Mate Tripel ABV: 7.2% - Brewed with organic pale and pale demerara sugar. Bittered with German Northern Brewer and finished with Czech Saaz and Amarillo hops.

4) Yuzu's. Sour Belgian-Style Golden Ale ABV: 4.5% - made with 100% pale malt, Turbinado sugar and Belgian Golden ale yeast. Bittered with Magnum and finished with Styrian Goldings hops. Organic dried lemon peel is added at the end of the boil, and yuzu juice is added both pre- and post-fermentation. Aged in a wine barrel for 8 months, inoculated with Roeselare and Lactobacillus.

5) Groaning Board Trappist-style Table Beer ABV: 5.3% - Brewed with organic pale, C-15, C-60 and Munich malt; bittered with UK Fuggles and finished with Czech Saaz.

6) Backhanded Compliment (Belgian-Style IPA) ABV: 6.2% - Brewed in the tradition of American IPAs , but with Belgian yeast. Organic pale, Munich, Cara-Hell and Cara-Vienne malts and bittered with Chinook and finished with Amarillo and Citra hops. Fermented with Westmalle yeast.

Fremont Brewing - Seattle

1) Mystere de Tonneau - The latest in our Mystery series. This one has spent some quality time in the wood in the company of critters.

2) Blood Funnel-Saison - with blackberries and peppercorns.

Georgetown Brewing - Seattle

1) Donkey Deux! ABV: 7.9% - Belgian-style Dubbel brewed with Pilsner, Munich, Special B Malts and 110 lbs of Belgian candi sugar. Fermented with traditional Belgian yeast, conditioned over 3 months, then bottle-conditioned. Dubbel Donkey is big on classic Belgian flavor!

2) Georgetown Braggot ABV: 8.5% - Our version of this less-than-famous style of mead is technically a bottle-conditioned ale using local blackberry honey fermented with a Belgian yeast strain. We add Northern Brewer hops, and the malt bill includes Munich, Pilsner and Special B malts.

Hale's Ales - Seattle

1) IX Gold-Belgium Strong Golden Ale ABV: 9% - Strong Belgian style ale. Light in color. Brewed with Pilsner malt, carapils and C40. Turtinado Sugar in kettle. Hopped with Goldings. 2010 NABA award in category.

2) Quadruppel - Belgian Quadruppel aged in brandy and bourbon barrels for one year. Four different yeast strains. Four different sugars in boil. Flavors of fig, brown sugar and port

Issaquah Brewhouse - Rogue - Isssaquah

1): Cask of Menage-a-Frog ABV: 9% - Dry-Hopped Edition - Our award winning Belgian-style Trippel dry-hopped with Amarillo Hops.

2) Cask of Menage-a-Frog: Berry Edition ABV: 9% - Our award winning Belgian-style Trippel infused with Marionberries

Lazy Boy Brewing - Everett

1) Belgian Golden Ale - Belgian Strong Ale made with traditional malts, hops, and a unique strain of yeast to create a flavor packed experience.


Naked City Brewery - Seattle

1) Gilda American Wild Ale ABV: 8.5% - Belgian Style Dubbel aged 6 months in a Merlot barrel. Gilda is reminiscent of the Flanders Red Ales of Belgium. Slightly sweet and pleasantly tart with plenty of wine character from the French oak barrel.

2) Saison De La Ville Nue ABV: 6.5% - Belgian Style Saison brewed with 8% Rye Malt. Subtle banana notes from the unique yeast strain balanced with a biscuity dryness contributed by the rye.

Odin Brewing - Seattle

1) Odin Pearl White Ale ABV: 5.1% - Sweet and spicy Belgian hybrid Wit. 15 IBU's

Paradise Creek Brewery - Pullman

1) Paradise Hoe Style: Belgian Wit ABV: 5.9% - With notes of orange, banana and clove, this crisp yet creamy wit is a refreshing change to all of the heavy winter beers. It is not too early to think spring is it?

Pike Brewing - Seattle

1) Pike Monk's Uncle Tripel Ale ABV: 9% - Big, full-bodied and complex with a yeasty nose, fruity esters and malty dryness. Hints of honey, spice and exotic fruit play with the senses. Powerful, yet gentle.

2) Pike Tandem Double Ale ABV: 7.5% - Rich, round and complex, with flavors of fruit, freshly baked bread and treacle. Deep and dark like a porter, yet surprisingly satisfying, smooth and sensual; semi-dry without bitterness.

Ram Brewery - Seattle

1)Biere de Mars ABV: 7.6% - An aromatic and flavorful, orange hued Belgian style farmhouse ale with a soft, subtly sweet malt profile and a classic, fruit & spice, yeast profile.

2) Sour Disel - A sour brown hued ale aged in a old Bordeaux barrel.

RedHook Brewery - Woodinville

1) Dubbel Hook ABV: 8% - A traditional Belgian Dubbel. Reddish brown hue (27 SRM), low hops (25 BU), high ABV (8%). We fermented in an open vessel using high gravity Trappist yeast, then transferred to kegs, krausening for natural carbonation (cask conditioned). Dubbel Hook's character is balanced more toward the phenol (clove) side as opposed to isoamyl acetate (banana). It was brewed using 2-Row, Belgian specialty malts, sugar, and noble hops.

Scuttlebutt Brewing - Everett

1) Belgian Winter-Belgian Dark Strong Ale - This is an Abbey version of our 10 Below Winter Ale. The rich chocolate flavors are balanced with the fruity esters generated by the yeast.

2) Tripel 7 ABV: 9% - Delicate clove & whit pear flavors give way to a hint of apricot. Light in body, the beer is a model of deception at 9% ABV.

Silver City Brewery - Bremerton

1) La Fat-Belgian Inspired Scotch Ale ABV: 9% - Silver City's "FAT Scotch Ale" fermented with Belgian ale yeast noted for creating big, spicy phenol character. La Fat goes through a secondary fermentation with a proprietary blend of micro organisms on French oak for 14 months. The result is a dark, complex ale that combines classic Belgian characteristics with Scotch Ale like toffee and caramel notes with hints of oak and peat.

2) Katy Saison ABV: 6% - A simple but honest of interpretation of the style. A pale beer with 10% wheat and firm hop bitterness. Finished with Sterling, Hersbrucker, and Williamette hops. Our Saison gets its name from the street where our new production facility resides in burgeoning Bremerton.

Snipes Mt. Brewery - Sunnyside

1) Twangzister #3 ABV: 8.5% - A three year old Belgian strong aged in a bourbon barrel with house cultures and obnoxious amounts of Montmorency cherries, blended with a non-infectious Belgian strong that was fermented with two strains of Belgian yeast and Belgian candy syrup.

Snoqualmie Falls Brewing - Snoqualmie

1) Triskaidekaphobia-Belgian Tripel ABV: 8.6% - Reminiscent of the Millennial Madness we created 10 years ago, Triskaidekaphobia is a great balance of crisp clean malt, lemony hops and spice.

2) 2010 Belgian Wit ABV: 5.0% - Since we had the belgian yeast propigated, Rande decided to make a classic Belgian Wit. Corriander and orange peel makes our version spicy and refreshing.

3) 2010 Spring Fever ABV: 6.8% - brewed with pale, Munich, C-15, C-40 and crystal malts, coriander and Belgian Ale yeast.

Three Skulls-Baron Brewing - Seattle

1) Three Skulls Belgian Trippel ABV: 9% - A traditional Belgian Trippel brewed with Belgian candy sugar and aromatic hops

Two Beers Brewing - Seattle

1) Crooked Belgian Wit - Brewed with dried orange peel and fresh ground coriander

2) Cask Dry Peeled Crooked Belgian Wit

But spring is in the air in the Seattle beer world. As the Washington Beer Blog reports, three local breweries have already announced the advent of their spring seasonal selections for 2011.

Here are the highlights:

Yesterday, Pike Brewing Company announced the return of its Pike Double IPA, a "reflection of Washington State terroir. Our state is a veritable 'hop nirvana'; we are the World’s second largest hop producer," says the company's release. At 80 IBU, it is hopped with Yakima Valley Columbus, Centennial, Chinook, and Cascade, and dry hopped with Washington Amarillo and Palisades.

On Dec. 28, Pyramid Breweries once again busted out its Outburst Imperial IPA. Also checking in at 80 IBU, its "bold profile offers an aroma reminiscent of the Northwest hop fields at harvest time, along with spicy overtones of fresh citrus," says the company. Outburst will be available from February to March.

Finally, even before the Christmas holiday, on Dec. 22, Elysian announced a new spring brew hitting shelves Feb. 1, BETE BLANCHE Belgian-style Tripel. "Brewed from Pale malt with Belgian candy sugar in the boil. Bittering with German Northern Brewer and finished with Styrian Goldings hops: fermented with Belgian Ale yeast. 7.5% ABV."

I've been slacking a bit, but it's the perfect time of year to pick up the pace. What's your favorite holiday brew? Let me know in the comment section below.

Full Sail Wassail

Where it's From: Hood River, OR

Where I Found It: Bottleworks, Wallingford

Style: Winter Warmer (See below)

ABV: 7.0% IBU: 56

The Damage: $7.95 / 6-pack

Pours a rich reddish nut brown with moderate opacity and a minimal off-white lingering head. The nose is caramel malt up front, cinnamon and other indistinct spices. A hint of citrus hops on the nose.

The first sip is bready and the caramel's there, but it's much more bitter than I expected (perhaps because the name reminded me of the traditional fruit juice and ale cocktail); the hops are followed by a brief spicy bite and a moderately dry, bitter finish.

The mouthfeel is smooth and just creamy enough, light to moderate carbonation. The 7% ABV is well-masked. This is not quite a winter warmer, in fact it's hard to classify. A great brew, though.

B+

It officially kicked off at 5:30 this evening, but don't fret if you, like me, didn't make it on opening night. The annual holiday celebration at Hale's Ales (4301 Leary Way NW, Seattle) continues Saturday with 2 sessions from 12-4pm and 5:30-9:30pm.

Tickets are $25 at the door, including a tasting cup and six 5 oz. beer tastes. Additional samples are $1.50 each.

The Washington Beer Commission's website promises tasty treats from Theo Chocolate, and cuisine from Hale's to complement the brews of the season.

A sampling of what I'm looking forward to:

• Black Raven 2010 Bourbon Barrel la Petite Mort - Quite possibly the best beer name ever. If it sails right over your head, click here.
• Elysian Valhalla Christmas Ale
• Schooner Exact Hoppy the Woodsman - Bourbon barrel-aged winter, 9%
• Silver City Old Scrooge English Strong Ale - 8.5%
• Snipes Pumpkin Death - An American stout with "250 pounds of burned and vandalized pumpkin burned on an open cherry wood flame." Wow.
• Airways Brewing Hot Chocolate Ale - Brown ale with cocoa and ancho chiles. 7.5%

Here's the full beer list.

Where it's From: Belgium

Where I Found It: Bottleworks, Wallingford

Style: Belgian Strong Pale Ale

ABV: 9.5%

The Damage: $18 / 750mL

I was lucky enough to enjoy this triple-hopped treat with my Thanksgiving hors d'ouvres (see, I take my own suggestions).

I'm all for the extravagant presentation (gold foil, fancy faux signature label), but at $18, it's in dire need of a special occasion. My only regret is leaving the Duvel tulip glass it came with at home on Turkey Day.

The first pour looks a lot like Dad, original Duvel: golden with effervescent clarity and a pile of frothy but firm head. A bit of haziness follows as she fills up and the pillowy head slowy recedes, leaving excellent lace.

Floral, citrus, and herbal hops bite you on the nose; lemon peel and earthy spices emerge as well. A bit of clove, lemongrass, and pepper, perhaps. Some sweet, pale malt leads off on the taste, then the citrus hops: grapefruit peel, and yeasty spice, with a bit of breadiness, and a dry, somewhat boozy finish.

The mouthfeel is creamy and effervescent at the same time, much like the original. Overall, the combination of Saaz, Styrian, and Amarillo hops makes for a brew with everything that makes Duvel great, but a ton more complexity.

A