Beer today, gone tomorrow: Asheville beer happenings May 3-9

Posted on by Scott Douglas and Edwin Arnaudin
Image courtesy of Wicked Weed Brewing

Beer Today, Gone Tomorrow is the one-stop home for Asheville-area beer news. Check back throughout the week for updates and send your own to wncbeertoday@gmail.com.

Bottle/can releases

  • Asheville Brewing Co. Perfect Day IPA is now available in six-packs of cans around town.
  • Zebulon Artisan Ales has a double bottle release this weekend at its brewery. The 8.17 percent ABV Batch #6 East India Pale Ale (circa 1840) (for Krishnamurti) was brewed with 100 percent floor malted British Optic malt, hopped with traditional East Kent Goldings hops, aged with Brettanomyces wild yeast for 4 months then an additional month in the bottle and dry hopped with additional Golding. $14 per 750 milliliter bottle. The 6.1 percent ABV Batch #7 East India Porter (for Lemmy) was brewed with the classic English porter grain bill of Pale, Amber, Brown and Black malts, hopped and dry hopped with East Kent Goldings and fermented with a classic fruity English ale yeast. $12 per 750 milliliter bottle. Both new batches will be available in bottle shops next week.
  • Highland Pilsner, Highland Brewing Co.‘s first canned offering, is available for purchase at the brewery’s taproom as of Friday, May 6. The 5.5 percent ABV brew is made with German Hallertau Blanc hops and three other Hallertau region varietals: Saphir, Perle and Hersbrucker. A six-pack costs $9 and cans will be distributed across North Carolina next week.

Small-batch beers

  • On Wednesday, May 4, Burial Beer Co. releases The Hunt in the Forest (a 7.1 percent ABV farmhouse saison brewed with oats, rye and raw North Carolina wheat with added Georgia wildflower honey and orange peel then aged on orange peel and locally foraged spruce tips) and a new batch of Bolo Coconut Brown (a 5.6 percent ABV American brown Aae brewed with over 7 pounds per barrel of toasted coconut). On Saturday, May 7, The Conjurer Oak-Fermented Rye Bier De Garde will be tapped. This 7.7 percent ABV Saison was brewed with Riverbend Rye, transferred to the barrel directly after leaving the kettle and fermented in Biltmore wine barrels.
  • Hi-Wire Brewing will tap a small-batch gose (4.3 percent ABV) generously dry hopped with Citra at both locations on Wednesday, May 4. The base house gose (also on draft) will be one of the first two Hi-Wire beers to be released in cans on June 4.

Special events

  • The monthly Monk Beer Academy takes place Tuesday, May 3, at 7 p.m. at the downtown Thirsty Monk with a focus on goses. The free class is taught by certified cicerone and draft quality manager Jeremiah Tracy, who will lead participants on a 45-minute informative guided tasting. The lone cost is a tasting flight (typically between $12 and $17), and spaces may be reserved online.
  • Hi-Wire Brewing’s Flights & Bites takes place each Thursday at the Big Top taproom, featuring some small bites from Foothills Local Meats and a choice of any four of house beers on draft for $10.
  • On Wednesday, May 4, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Tasty Beverage Co. hosts an Allagash Brewing Co. Wild and Sour Tap Takeover. Golden Brett (100 percent brett-fermented dark golden ale); Nancy (sour red ale fermented with brett as well as 2 pounds per gallon of Maine Balaton and Monitmorrency cherries for just under a year); Tiarna (blend of a 100 percent brett-oak-aged beer and a golden ale fermented with two types of Belgian yeast then heavily hopped with Hallertau, Stryrian Goldings and Cascade); Astrid (bright golden fermented with a blend of brett and saison yeast for a year before being transferred to Scandinavian Aquavit barrels for 8 months); and Uncommon Crow (dark brett beer featuring midnight wheat that has fermented for 8 months before being aged on blackberries) will be on draft.
  • Bruisin’ Ales‘ free weekly tasting on Thursday, May 5 from 5-7 p.m. features selections from Olde Hickory Brewing Co. Samples of Ruby Lager, Redeemer imperial IPA, Weizenbock, Event Horizon bourbon barrel aged imperial stout and Carolus Magnus Belgian-style quad will be poured.
  • VIP and general admission tickets for Wicked Weed Brewing‘s Funkatorium Invitational (formerly Funk Asheville) go on sale Monday, May 9, via ETIX. The event takes place Saturday, July 16, 8-11 p.m. (with an 7 p.m. entry for VIP) in the wooded outdoor space at Wicked Weed’s production brewery in Candler. Shuttles will be available to and from the festival, which includes live music, local food trucks and over 125 sour and wild offerings from more than 50 breweries. General admission tickets are $80 (plus service fees and North Carolina tax) and VIP tickets are $100 (plus service fees and tax). Tickets can be purchased here.

Expanded hours

  • Green Man Brewery is now open 2-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, noon-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday and noon-10 p.m. Sunday.
  • Wedge Brewing Co. has bumped up its daily opening time to noon.
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