As I try to recover from last weekend’s Beerapalooza ^[1] festivities, it’s time to look forward to Seattle’s busiest beer season. Over the next six weeks, the events are nonstop. First out of the gate is the 4th Annual Real Strong Beer Festival at Collins Pub ^[2]. Several strong beer styles will be represented, including barleywines, imperial stouts and double IPAs. As with their American Belgian Fest ^[3], Collins will offer glasses of each beer for $5 or sets of 3 for $14. There will also be special menu items available to pair with the beers.

Collins owner Seth Howard was kind enough to take a few minutes to write out the list of beers for me. One that really caught my eye was the Oskar Blues Ten Fidy Imperial Stout, a beer from Colorado that people have been raving about lately. This is the first time I’ve seen it in Seattle. Other highlights include the Deschutes The Abyss (also an imperial stout) and various vintages of barleywines dating back to 2004 from breweries like Anchor, Moylans, Full Sail, Rogue and Hale’s. Here’s the entire list:

Anchor Old Foghorn ‘06 & ‘07 (barleywine)
Avery Hog Heaven (barleywine)
Avery The Reverend (Belgian-style quadrupel)
Boundary Bay Old Bounder (barleywine)
Deschutes The Abyss (imperial stout)
Full Sail Old Boardhead ‘05 (barleywine)
Great Divide Old Ruffian (barleywine)
Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws (barleywine)
Hair of the Dog Fred (strong ale)
Hale’s Rudyards Rare ‘05 (barleywine)
Heads Up Brewing 9MM IPA (cask-conditioned in a firkin)
Left Hand Widdershins (oak-aged barleywine)
Moylans Old Blarney ‘06 (barleywine)
North Coast Old Stock (barleywine)
Oskar Blues Ten Fidy (imperial stout)
Rogue Morimoto Imperial Pilsner
Rogue Old Crustacean ‘04 (barleywine)
Speakeasy Double Daddy IPA
Stone Double Bastard (strong ale)
Stone Old Guardian (barleywine)
Winthrop Barleywine ‘04

The festival starts this Friday, February 22nd and will run until the beers are gone, which should be about a week or so. I plan on being there early and as often as my liver function will allow. Yes, these are big beers with a lot of alcohol–even one or two can put a serious dent in your sobriety level. So take a bus or bring a designated driver whom you can tempt and taunt mercilessly as you sample these delicious beers.