Updating the bottled beer selection at Rich O's.

Yesterday I completed a major upgrade of the bottled beer menu at Rich O's, with the aim being to stock more and better American microbrews, leaning heavily toward the most flavorful side of the style ledger.

First, some background.

Generally, our regular, daily bottled list comprises around 200 selections, including everyday beers, vintage beers, ciders and meads. Another 15 to 20 beers rotate seasonally, by availability, or owing to my personal interest in feauturing them, and these choices are written on the blackboard -- not included in the printed beer list.

The printed beer list is checked and updated roughly on a quarterly basis. I look for beers that are not selling well, and close them out if there appears to be no hope for repositioning. To be honest, you never know how well a beer will do. As with any product, there is a magical, mysterious consumer matrix that incorporates price, quality, image and intangibles, and aspects of it can be buffed and polished to some extent, not always successfully.

There are times when one must punt. I've tried in vain to develop a following for Shipyard's (Maine) ales, and largely failed. I'll let them rest for a while, and maybe try again next year.

Obviously, given the perishable nature of beer, stocks must rotate. Something less than a third of the beers we keep in stock are ones that must move quickly -- for example, lighter beers, pilsners, lower gravity lagers, and the like.

However, the majority are beers designed to be kept for a while (at least), and among these are some that will keep for a long time. Among these are higher gravity beers and bottle conditioned beers.

Without further ado ...

Here are this week's microbrewed additions:

Avery "The Beast" Grand Cru
Avery "The Czar" Imperial Stout
Avery "The Reverend" Quadrupel
Founders Dirty Bastard
Founders Red's Rye
Great Divide Hercules Double IPA
Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout

Coming in mid-November:

Rogue XS I2PA
Rogue XS Old Crustacean Barley Wine
Rogue XS Russian Imperial Stout

New imports:

Broughton Black Douglas (Scotland)
Christian Drouin Poire (French pear cider)

Moving from seasonal/rotating to full-time duty:

Glazen Toren Saison d’Erpe Mere
Uerige Doppel Sticke

A new wave of guest bottles is about to break:

Avery "The Kaiser" Imperial Oktoberfest
Bell's Wheat Two (and others in the "wheat project" to follow)
Breckinridge "Small Batch" 471 IPA
Founders Black Rye
Great Divide Hibernation Ale
Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja

Previous guests/seasonal/rotating, and still available:

BBC Hell for Certain
Cassissona
Oaken Barrel Saison
Rogue Chipotle Ale
Shipyard Pumpkinhead
Stone 05/05/05 Vertical Epic
Stone 9th Anniversary Ale