(Chico, CA) – BeerPulse caught up with Sierra Nevada Brewing‘s Product Development Manager, Bill Manley, to see how 2012 is going so far.

The brewery is operating near “full bore” right now.

Last time we caught up in October, the company had just announced the addition of Ruthless Rye IPA as a new seasonal. Manley says Ruthless sales are up 50% over last year’s spring seasonal, Glissade Golden Bock. They’ve already produced and shipped all of the Ruthless for the year so what is out in the market is all there is left. Summerfest Lager is not far behind and Tumbler Brown Ale will return in the fall.

Hoptimum Imperial IPA started shipping a couple weeks ago. The beer was previously only available in big bottles but the company replaced them with 4-packs this year. They’ve already doubled production projections for 2012,increasing output of 400 barrels in 2011 to 3,000 barrels this year. The plan is for the brand to be available into August.

Though the branding isn’t official, Hoptimum is part of what the brewery is internally calling the High Altitude Series. Imperial Stout 4-packs will follow Hoptimum in the fall and Bigfoot will return next winter, for the first time, in 4-packs.

Sales for Pale Ale and Torpedo Extra IPA cans have been going “gangbusters” so far. The brewery completely ran out of all packages of Torpedo at the brewery last week.

Next in the Ovila Abbey Ales series is Belgian Strong Golden Ale in 750s. Ovila Dubbel will return to shelves in 4-packs of 375ml bottles after bottle-conditioning completes (ongoing).

Brux Domesticated Wild Ale, the much-anticipated collaboration with Russian River, is on target for July release. Manley explained that the company purposely kept things quiet around the brewery while working on this beer as a quality control measure. 1,000 barrels of the beer are currently bottle-conditioning.

The Beer Camp variety pack (3 bottles x 4 styles) will be released in August. No announcements on styles yet.

The barrel-aged offerings mentioned last fall are on the backburner (read: fall at the earliest). No further info at this time.