I am starting to think the traditional spring/summer/winter/fall seasonal release cycle is being obliterated, replaced instead by a constant barrage of new stuff. Take last week and this week alone. On the prairies, TEN  different breweries are launching a new beer or have some kind of signification announcement. We are in early May. Maybe that can be called the spring release, but when taken in context the April releases (see here and here) and that we are yet to see any of the significant summer releases, I think we are in for a busy few weeks of new beer to sample.

So, in no particular order, here are the latest beer releases:

• Saskatoon’s Prairie Sun today (Friday May 16) is releasing its latest seasonal, Mad Hopper IPA. Samples and sales will happen out of the brewery all day today, so if you are in Saskatoon, bring your growler by.

• Sticking with Toon town, Paddock Wood recently offered a quiet release of Saskatcheweizen, their latest take on a hefeweizen. It will mostly be available in Saskatoon, but apparently some kegs went to Winnipeg. They are also updating followers on the status of Cherry Monkey, their 1000 Monkey Russian Imperial Stout aged in cherry oak barrels. The beer has just gone into the barrels and now sits happily soaking up flavour.

• Switching to Southern Alberta, with their expanded capacity (through a relatively new stand-alone brewery a few blocks from the original brewpub) Grizzly Paw has begun releasing a larger list of rotational and seasonal beer. Some are destined for province-wide distribution, while others are meant as exclusives for the brewpub. Today one of the latter is release. Black IPA, a Cascadian Dark Ale running 6% alcohol and about 65 IBUs, will be tapped at 4:00 today (Friday). I suspect few people will make both this event and Prairie Sun’s in Saskatoon, but if you are within driving range of either, feel free to stop by for a pint.

• Big Rock continues its dizzying pace of a couple of new beer per month. This month their annual summer Swinger Pack came out again, with two new beer –  Juniper Berry Mild Summer Lager and Cracked Pepper Wheat Ale. Both, given the nature of the mixed pack are light-bodied, summer-oriented beer, each offering the additions of the ingredient listed in their names (juniper and black pepper for those of you reading too quickly). In addition, the latest in the  Brewmaster’s Edition series is also out this week. Rhine Stone Cowboy is designed as a Kolsch, the light and fruity traditional German hybrid style. I am pretty sure no rhinestones were used in the making of this beer.

• Sticking with Calgary, the soon-to-open brewpub Last Best (see post on its creation here) announced its line-up at a launch party last week. The mainstay beer for the latest location in the Bear Hill Brewpub chain will be Last Best IPA, Show Pony Pale Ale, There Will Be Porter and Dirty Bird Black Lager. While the pub is not yet ready, the brewery is already up an running so these beer can be found at select locations around Calgary. The pub is slated to open this fall.

• On their website, Wild Rose Brewing is teasing at their next seasonal. Called 42 (after the Hitchhiker’s Guide Series – if you have to ask, you shouldn’t bother), will be out soon. From their description it sounds like it will be their take on the latest style rage, India Session Ale (see my rant about that name here). Now, Wild Rose is not using that term, so the parameters of the beer seem just fine, and mighty delicious.

• Still in Calgary (man, this is a busy city in terms of beer recently) Village Brewing has put out its latest seasonal. Village Maiden India Session Ale will be found in their summer rendition of their  mixed pack, and I suspect in kegs at selected locations as well. It is 4.6% and described by the brewery as offering strong citrus hop notes.

• Jumping to Winnipeg, Half Pints’ Queer Beer returns next week for its fourth annual run during the annual Pride Winnipeg Festival. This beer, a helles lager, is a partnership with the Pride Festival and will be available at all festival events as well as select stores and pride-friendly pubs in Winnipeg.

• Returning home to Edmonton, last week Alley Kat put out its latest Big Bottle series. Loaded Goat Maibock marks its second foray onto store shelves. As the name implies (well, screams) it is a German-style malty lager.

• I cannot be sure of the release dates, but in the past couple weeks a couple of new beer from Hog’s Head have popped up around town. Boss Hog Oatmeal IPA is an unconventional twist on IPAs, with the use of oats, which are normally reserved for darker beer. The second beer is Black Hog Down, a Russian Imperial Stout.

Finally, I should remind northern Alberta beer fans that the 2nd Annual Edmonton Craft Beer Festival is coming up fast, June 6 & 7 to be more specific, at the Expo Centre at Northlands. Last year’s edition was not jammed pack with customers, but the beer offerings and programming showed great potential for it to become a solid beer festival. I accidentally blew by the Calgary Craft Beer Festival, which was a couple of weekends ago, so I apologize to all Calgary-area beer fans who may have missed out due to my negligence. Onbeer.org’s CEO has chastised me thoroughly.

So, there it is for now. I fully expect another full slate of new releases before the month