On Monday, our very own David Munro, with help from beer writer David Bardallis, picked three Hopslam poets to win one of the very first pours of our seasonal rendition of the Double India Pale Ale style for 2012 at Ashley’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

More than 30 entries were submitted, some prewritten, others crafted on napkins and coasters in the hour leading up to the judging deadline.

Here are the top three followed by a few of the many that also came to us via our social media sites (Facebook, Twitter and Google+).

Enjoy.

(If you feel inspired to put pen to paper, we would love to take a look. Email your prose here.)

hopslammed! damn... I am!
thanks, ma'am, or sir, as it were
bright hop profusion
sweet honey soothes, so divine
two grand peers entwine
what a lovely afterglow

- Fran Hull (first place)

Those tart hoppy notes
Tickle the back of my throat
Big smile on my face

The high gravity
Alcohol fruit fantasy
Gotta buy a case

- David Mickey-Pabello (second place - Hopslam brew double haiku)

Oh bountiful hops
A delight in bitterness
GET IN MAH BELLY!

- Karla Metzger (third place)

There is a brewer named Bell.
Who makes great beers really swell
When he got in a jam
He created Hopslam
And now the world is all well.

- Roy More, via Facebook

Pop the Hopslam top, into my gullet she flows, shoulda bought a case.

- Michael Troutwine, via Facebook

Slammed Full Of Hops
Malt, Grain, Yeast and lots of Love
Hop Heads Rejoice Now!

- J. Chandler Hall, via Google+

Looking for Hopslam in your area? Here are a few events to get you started on our blog (updated as we get them). You can also consult our Beer Finder.

Here is a list of some events featuring Hopslam coming up. For more information on Hopslam’s availability near you, please consult our Beer Finder.

Georgia

Feb. 3-6: Aromas Wine and Craft Beer Bar will host 10 Bell’s beers on draught including Hopslam. For more information, go here.

Feb. 11: Hopslam will be one the beers featured at the Winter Beer Carnival in Atlanta. More details here.

Illinois

Jan. 18: Hopslam tapping at Tribes Alehouse in Mokena at 4 p.m.

Jan. 23: Hopslam tapping at Bauer's Brauhaus in Palatine at 4 p.m.

Jan. 24: Hopslam night at Northdown Cafe and Taproom in Chicago at 6 p.m.

Feb. 7: Sheffield’s in Chicago will host a Bell’s multi-tap event starting at 8 p.m. Hopslam, Oracle, firkins and food specials will be featured along with many other beers on draft. For more information, go here.

Feb. 16: This Bell's specialty night at Jackney's Printers' Row in Chicago will feature a firkin of Hopslam plus many other Bell's beers. For more information, go here.

Indiana

Jan. 12: Hopslam release party at Chatham Tap Downtown in Indianapolis at 5 p.m. Winter White, Oarsman, Porter, Two Hearted and Expedition Stout will also be on tap.

Jan. 13: Hopslam tapping at Trion Tavern in Fort Wayne at 7 p.m.

Jan. 13: Hopslam release party at Bartletts Gourmet Grill & Tavern in Beverly Shores at 5 p.m.

Jan. 13: Hopslam release party at Beer Geeks in Highland at 5 p.m.

Jan. 13: Hopslam release party at Growlers in Highland.

Jan. 13: Hopslam release party at Flat Rock Tap in Hammond.

Jan. 13: Hopslam release party at Sonka's Irish Pub in Terre Haute at 5 p.m.

Jan. 13: Hopslam release party at Columbus Bar in Columbus at 5 p.m.

Jan 17: Midnight Hopslam tapping at Yogi's Bar and Grill in Bloomington.

Jan. 18: Hopslam party featuring a Hopslam firkin and on draft at 5 p.m. at Fiddler's Hearth in South Bend. Also on tap will be Hell Hath No Fury ... Ale, Sparkling Ale and Two Hearted Ale. There will also be a special food pairing menu for this event. For more details, go here.

Feb. 1: This Super Bell's party at Beer Sellar Indy will feature 20 Bell's taps including Hopslam. For more information, go here.

Kentucky

Jan. 10: Hopslam tapping at Keystone Bar in Convington at 6 p.m.

Jan. 13: Hopslam tapping at Pazzo's Pizza Pub in Lexington at 4 p.m.

Jan. 13: Hopslam tapping at The Beer Trappe between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. in Lexington.

Jan. 13: Lexington Beerworks will celebrate their grand opening with a Hopslam tapping at 8 p.m.

Jan. 28: Nine Bell’s beers will be featured at this multi-tap event including Hopslam at Beer Engine in Danville.

Ohio

Jan. 13: The Righteous Room in downtown Cincinnati will tap Hopslam for its happy hour.

Jan. 13: Hopslam tapping at Swig in Perrysburg at 6 p.m.

Jan. 13-15: "The weekend of Hopslam" at The Village Idiot in Maumee.

Jan. 13: Hopslam tapping at Ray's Place in Kent.

Jan. 13: Hopslam tapping at 101 Bottles in Kent.

Jan. 13: Hopslam tapping at Riverside Wine in Kent.

Jan. 14: Hopslam keg tapping at the Columbus Winter Beer Fest. More information can be found here.

Jan. 16: Hopslam tapping at Deagan's Kitchen and Bar in Lakewood.

Jan. 17: Hopslam tapping at Arthur's Restaurant in Cincinnati at 4 p.m.

Jan. 18: Hopslam tapping at Mike's Bar and Grille in Berea.

Jan. 19: Hopslam tapping at Chappys Tap Room & Grille at 7 p.m. in Moraine.

Jan. 20: Hopslam tapping at Lucky's Taproom & Eatery in Dayton at 6 p.m.

Jan. 20: Hopslam tapping a One Eyed Jacks in Fairborn at 7 p.m.

Feb. 2: Hopslam firkin tapping at South Park Tavern in Daytona at 6 p.m.

Feb. 10: Hopslam tapping at five Winking Lizard Tavern locations (Cleveland area - Independence, Bedford Heights, Gateway and Mentor; Columbus area - Crosswoods). Please call your preferred location for times.

Feb. 10: Hopslam firkin tapping at Cock and Bull Public House in Cincinnati at 5 p.m. (Cincinnati Beer Week event).

Michigan

Jan. 9: Hopslam tapping at Ashley’s in Ann Arbor at 4:30 p.m. The first official pour will go to the best Hopslam poem or haiku.

Jan. 12: Hopslam firkin tapping at Central City Tap House in Kalamazoo at 5:30 p.m. sharp. Other Bell’s beers will also be featured on draft along with their weekly raw bar.

Jan. 12: Hopslam auto show party at Foran's Grand Trunk Pub in Detroit starting at 8 p.m.

Jan. 12: Hopslam firkin at Slows Bar BQ in Detroit at 3 p.m. Bring your best drawing, sketch or doodle featuring Hopslam and you could win the first pour. Entries will be judged from 2-2:50 p.m.

Jan. 12: Hopslam release party at Diamond Jim's in Midland at 6 p.m.

Jan. 13: Hopslam release party at The Red Baron Food and Spirits in Burton at 6 p.m.

Jan. 17: Hopslam release party at The Meanwhile in Grand Rapids at 7 p.m.

Jan. 17: Hopslam tapping at 7 Monks Taproom and Bubba's Restaurant & Bar in Traverse City. Contact venue for more information.

Jan. 18: Hopslam release party at Northville Sports Den at 7 p.m.

Jan. 25: A Hopslam firkin will be tapped along with Bell's Black Note at 7 Monks Taproom in Traverse City at 7 p.m.

Feb. 3: Hopslam release party at Plum Market in West Bloomfield at 6:30 p.m. Other Bell’s beers will also be featured along with pizza and beer snacks. This event will also kick-off a month long Bell’s sale. For more information, go here.

Minnesota

Jan. 20: Our Bell's night at Patrick's on Third in St. Peter will feature a variety of Bell's beers on tap including Hopslam. For more information, go here.  

Jan. 24: Muddy Pig's Festival of Hops will include a rare tapping of a Hopslam cask in St. Paul at 11:30 p.m.

Jan. 26: Bell's Hopslam Cask Tapping at Bulldog NE in Minneapolis at 5 p.m.

Jan. 27: Grumpy's Bar & Grill in downtown Minneapolis will tap a Hopslam cask at noon and offer a small appetizer pairing as well.

Feb. 2: Hopslam cask tapping at Bulldog Lowertown at 4 p.m.

Feb. 3: Hopslam cask tapping at Grumpy's NE in Minneapolis at 4 p.m.

Feb. 8: Hopslam cask tapping at Buster's on 28th in Minneapolis at 2:30 p.m.

Feb. 9: Hopslam cask tapping at Bryant Lake Bowl in Minneapolis at 6 p.m.

March 24: The Happy Gnome in St. Paul will feature a cask of Hopslam at this year's Firkin Fest.

Missouri

Jan. 30: Hopslam cask at Flying Saucer in Kansas City at 7 p.m.

Jan. 31 Beer dinner/Hopslam cask at Sycamore Restaurant in Columbia at 6 p.m. (Please note, this event is sold out.)

Feb. 1: Keg tapping at Three Kings Pub in St. Louis at 5 p.m.

Feb. 1: Hopslam firkin tapping at Cicero’s in St. Louis (during their Beer School).

Feb. 2: Hopslam firkin tapping at iTAP (Soulard) in St. Louis at 6 p.m.

Wisconsin

Jan. 13: Hopslam release party at The Rumpus Room in Milwaukee at 10 p.m.

Jan. 25: Hopslam and Black Note tasting at The Malthouse in Madison at 7 p.m.

Jan. 26: Hopslam and Black Note release party at Bodega Brew Pub in La Crosse at 7 p.m.

Jan. 29: This Bell’s beer dinner will feature five courses and five beers including Hopslam at Barker’s Bar & Grill starting at 6 p.m.

Jan. 31: Hopslam tasting at Nomad World Pub in Milwaukee at 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 7: This beer dinner will feature five breweries and five different restaurants in Milwaukee. Bell’s will team up with the restaurant Tess to present a spicy shrimp soup paired with a firkin of Hopslam. More details can be found here.

Feb. 17: Don't miss this beer dinner featuring Hopslam and five other Bell's beers at The Club at Strawberry Fields in Kenosha.

To our Hopslam customers:

Recently, Bell’s issued a press release announcing “release dates” for our Hopslam Ale. Although posted in good faith, the Hopslam press release had some erroneous information. Because of the potential impact of our expansion-related construction & the holiday season on our brewing schedule, we had initially created a relatively conservative release program that focused on a set of specific roll-out dates. Fortunately, we haven’t experienced many of the timing conflicts that we had anticipated in the brewing schedule, and we’re reasonably close to matching the release calendar of prior years. Unfortunately, the newly updated & finalized roll-out timing wasn’t passed on to everyone during all the activity here at the brewery, and I only realized the error after we published the release dates from the previous plan.

There will be no hard and fast dates for the release of Hopslam in 2012, but rather, it will be released on a market by market basis as has been our policy in the past.  Because this brand has gotten so large for us, and given the production time to make it, this year the total time of release will stretch over a two month period, meaning that some markets will have product well ahead of other markets.  And, in fact, some retailers in a given market may receive product before other retailers.  We are well aware of the “fairness” issues involved in this process of distribution. However, I believe that this will be our best option.

If we were to attempt to have Hopslam released on the same day for all of our customers, then we would have to require our wholesaler partners to inventory the beer, some for up to five weeks, before they could ship it to the retail market. I found this option unacceptable as I believe that Hopslam should be consumed as fresh as possible.  While this option would be fairer to our wholesalers and retailers, it would mean sacrificing quality in the name of politics.  And in the end, Bell’s tries to deliver quality.

All of our wholesalers will receive Hopslam this year.  When they get it depends upon the size of their order, our availability and the individual trucking schedules for each wholesaler.  Shipping is NOT based on favorability.  We will do the best we can to satisfy everyone, all we ask is patience on your part while we brew, package and ship this wonderful ale, while in the meantime try to keep up with our other production.  Currently we only have so much fermenter space for dry-hopped ales and we need to keep up our Two Hearted brewing.  We are brewing over 5000 barrels of Hopslam this year and it takes us awhile to get all that brewing and dry-hopping done.

I apologize for the false information given out earlier.  The breakdown in communication lies with me and I am solely responsible for the error. Hopslam will start shipping next week to some of our smaller wholesalers, and shipping will continue through January and February.  Thank you for your consideration and understanding of this issue.

Larry J. Bell

President

Bell’s Brewery, Inc.