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Thanks, Patrick Orr

It’s going to be all Odell Brewing Co. beers on tap all day Saturday at Bier:Thirty in Bown Crossing, including pilot batches of some of the Fort Collins-based brewery’s newest libations, Footprint golden ale and Saboteur brown ale.

Hey Boise beer nuts and fellow hop heads — the much anticipated “Enjoy by 2.15.13” IPA from Stone Brewing has finally arrived in Boise.

If you want to buy a 22 ounce bottle of this sublimely fantastic India Pale Ale, my suggestion would be to do it right away. Like right now. Take a lunch or extended break and go to the Boise Co-op, or Bier:Thirty, or wherever your favorite bottle shop is, and get some. (Both of the aforementioned stores are selling it for $5.99 a bottle, which is a small price to pay for a bottle of world class brew.

I doubt the limited supplies of “Enjoy By 2.15.13” will last very long — especially after you drink one and decide you need to buy a few more.

Fans of Stone Brewing’s annual release of theVertical Epic Belgian Ales are in for a major treat Wednesday at Bittercreek Alehouse.

Bittercreek will have nine versions of Vertical Epic on tap Wednesday, covering the years of 2004 to 2012, with a bonus keg of the 2010 version aged in a french oak barrel. Bier:Thirty in Bown Crossing and the Boise Co-op will be selling a set of 6 years of Vertical Epic in bottles, covering the years between 2006 to 2012.

I’d just like to thank everyone who sent me an email — and story to go with — for our Sam Adams Utopias 2012 giveaway earlier this month.

Now comes the fun part for our six Utopias winners — getting to drink a complex and rich brew that is so radical it’s not even sold in Idaho. (Apparently, our state can’t grasp how a beer can be 29 percent alcohol by volume.)

Just weeks after the most excellent Stone Brewing Co. brought over 50 beers to Boise for a special event, the legendary Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is doing a similar deal at Bown Crossing this Saturday.

The Sierra Nevada Tap Takeover is a one day affair, with all five eating/drinking establishments in Bown Crossing (Boise Fry Co., the Tavern at Bown Crossing, Locavore, Flatbread Community Oven, and Bier:Thirty) having Sierra beers on tap between 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.

There will be at least 24 different Sierra brews on tap to try. A $20 ticket gets you 20 3-ounce pours. You walk from place to place trying what you like. All five restaurants have excellent grub, so make a day of it. Saturday’s weather forecast is for a sunny 74 degree day. Strolling around Bown on a sunny day, drinking Sierra beers, and eating killer food — sounds pretty sweet, doesn’t it?

I’m bummed for local beer nuts who weren’t able to get to the Bittercreek Alehouse
or Bier:Thirty this past weekend for the Stone Brewing Total Tap Takeover. It was just an epic good time for Boise’s craft beer lovers.

The beers were varied and innovative, the vibes were all good, and the atmosphere electric at both places. Stone CEO and co-founder Greg Koch stood up on the bar at both places and praised Boise imbibers for their good taste and urged them to continue to proselytize for others to drop the fizzy yellow beers made by major brewers for artisanal craft beers.

As promised in my column in Scene
today, here is the tentative-but-pretty-much-nailed-down list of Stone Brewing Co. beers which will be available next weekend during the tap takeover events at Bittercreek Alehouse and Bier:Thirty.

Summer may have just begun but it’s not too early to think about the defining event of the year for we craft beer enthusiasts — the Great American Beer Festival in Denver from Oct.11 to 13.

Tickets for the GABF go on sale for the general public Aug. 2. My advice, if you are planning to go,is to buy tickets as soon as they go on sale. All four sessions (55,000 tickets!) sold out in less than a week last year.

The much anticipated Stone Smoked Porter with vanilla beans should be in your favorite craft beer store this week if it hasn’t shown up already.

The summer of 2012 feels like the summer of Stone, doesn’t it? The buzz over the vanilla bean porter is palatable in town, especially for anyone who has tried it at a festival or something (I had a glass at the R&R Public House a few months ago) and knows how the mad beer scientists at Stone deftly balanced vanilla flavors with the malt roast of the regular porter, which is a world class beer.