Beer today, gone tomorrow: Asheville beer happenings April 18-24

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

• Bottles of 2017 Appalachian Walker Brandy Barrel Aged Barleywine — the annual collaboration between Olde Hickory Brewery and Appalachian Vintner — are now on sale at Appalachian Vintner.
• Burial Beer Co. releases Two Dollars Pale Ale (5 percent ABV) in six-packs of 12-ounce cans on Thursday, April 20. Brewed in collaboration with Ohio’s Hoof Hearted Brewing, the beer takes its name from the film Better Off Dead and was made with coriander and lime peel and modestly dry-hopped with lupulin powder.
• **NEW** Zebulon Artisan Ales‘ Dry Hopped Brett Saison (for John Glenn) is now available in 750 milliliter bottles at the brewery and hits local bottle shops next week. The 7 percent ABV saison was aged in Chardonnay barrels for 4 months with the brewery’s house brett blend, then dry hopped with apollo, galaxy and comet.

Small-batch beers

• In addition to Two Dollars Pale Ale (available on draft for $2 a pour), on Wednesday, April 19, Burial brings back The Ocean Swallows the Sun Gose (4.5 percent ABV) — brewed with sea salts, hibiscus and rose hips and soured using oak barrels to age the beer on the brewery’s house lactobacillus. Then, on Thursday, April 20, comes Hawkbill IPA (6 percent ABV), hopped with Mosaic, El Dorado and Galaxy.
• Catawba Brewing Co. taps a Coffee Blonde (5.9 percent ABV) on Thursday, April 20. Brewed as a cream ale with lactose sugar, the beer was then aged on whole Ethiopian coffee beans and vanilla beans.
• **NEW** Wedge Brewing Co. releases DeRailed Hemp Ale (5.9 percent ABV) on Thursday, April 20. The beer is brewed with 2 row pale malt, rye malt and a small amount of black malt, then hopped with cascade to complement its 150 pounds of toasted hempseeds.

Special events

• Bruisin’ Ales‘ free weekly tasting takes place Thursday, April 20, from 5-7 p.m. and features selections from Olde Hickory. Samples of the brewery’s offerings primed for cellaring will be poured and vintage bottles of Irish Walker English-style barleywine and The Event Horizon bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout will be available for purchase.
• Highland Brewing Co. releases Runnin’ with Turkeys India Brown Ale (6.3 percent ABV) and Bring the Summer Hazy Pale Ale (4.7 percent ABV) in honor of its 23rd anniversary on Friday, April 21, beginning at noon.
• Heinzelmännchen Brewery in Sylva celebrates its 13th anniversary on Saturday, April 22, from noon-9 p.m. Festivities include a Black Forest Stout anniversary cake, root beer floats, an anniversary beer, food from Brew Dawgz Gourmet Sausages & Hot Dawgz food cart and door prizes.
• **NEW** Pisgah Brewing Co. fetes its 12th anniversary on Saturday, April 22, at 4:30 p.m. with live music from moe., The Nth Power, and Kyle Hollingsworth Band and the season’s first batch of Blueberry Wheat.