Beer today, gone tomorrow: Asheville beer happenings Oct. 1-7

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 and can releases

• Oskar Blues Brewery‘s SCIPA (6.5% ABV), a brut-inspired IPA made in collaboration with jam band The String Cheese Incident, is currently available at the brewery’s taprooms in four-packs of 16-ounce cans and on draft. Brewed in celebration of the band’s 25th anniversary tour, the beer features Mosaic hops in the whirlpool and Enigma, Simcoe, Citra and Strata during the double dry-hopping process. It’s also available at select String Cheese Incident tour dates.

Small-batch beers and ciders

• Highland Brewing Co. is currently pouring Supernova (8.6% ABV), a DIPA hopped with Galaxy, Citra, Amarillo and Mosaic hops. It will be joined by Bonbon Stout with Raspberries (9.6% ABV), aged in bourbon barrels for eight months, and Boom, Fist Bump (4%), a table beer fermented in neutral barrels with Brett and refermented with pear juice, on Friday, Oct. 4 (aka Barrel-Aged Beer Day), and Wet Hop IPA (7.6% ABV), brewed with fresh Cashmere hops from Hop Head Farms in Michigan, as well as Centennial and Cascade, on Sunday, Oct. 6.
• Burial Beer Co. is currently pouring ICED Foudre-Aged Ice Lager (4.5%), a collaboration with Modern Times Beer; Asymmetrical Anguish Mild Ale with Coffee Bean (3.3% ABV); and Impaled by Indoctrination IPA with Fresh Hops (7.2% ABV), which utilizes fresh wet Chinook and Cashmere in an extended hop soak after whirlpool and is dry-hopped with Citra and Idaho 7.
• Catawba Brewing Co. taps Baklava Bock (8.4% ABV) on Thursday, Oct. 3, at all four of its locations. Inspired by its namesake Greek dessert, the beer was made in collaboration with Weaverville’s Honey & The Hive. $1 per pint sold in Asheville will be donated to Bears Bees + Brews, a project dedicated to educating and raising awareness for regional wildlife conservation.
  
• Lookout Brewing Co. releases Tiramisu Nights White Stout on Friday, Oct. 4.
• **NEW** Wicked Weed Brewing‘s annual Pickin’ and Pullin’ event on Saturday, Oct. 5, at the Funkatorium includes the tapping of seven pumpkin beers: Smokin Pumpkin Porter (Smoked Porter); Pumpkin Up the Volume (Pumpkin Ale); Chai Pumpkin Stout (Blonde Stout); Madame Pumpkins Ginger Saison; Barrel-Aged Xibalba (Imperial Pumpkin Ale with cacao nibs, chiles and spices); Pompoen (Barrel-Aged Sour Ale with pumpkin and charred ginger, aged in rum barrels); and 2017 Incandescent (Barrel-Aged American Sour Ale fermented with smoked pineapple and jalapeño).
• **NEW** Oskar Blues‘ Osktoberfest celebration takes place Saturday, Oct. 5, and features such Oktoberfest specialty beers as the brewery’s Osktoberfest and Marzen Lager, plus Three Weavers Brewing Co. Seafarer Kolsch. They’ll be joined by Hellbender Helles on Sunday, Oct. 6. Proceeds from sales of the beer will support The Pisgah Conservancy‘s Hellbender Project, the continuation of efforts to protect and improve habitat in the area’s streams and rivers.

Special events

• The Whale hosts its second yearly Oktoberfest celebration on Saturday, Oct. 5, beginning at 3 p.m. All 20 taps will feature German lagers and American beers inspired by old-world märzens. More information is available here.