Beer today, gone tomorrow: Asheville beer happenings Aug. 28-Sept. 3

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

• UpCountry Brewing Co.‘s UpCo Mountain Lager is available in six-packs of 12-ounce cans starting this week at the taproom and in its Asheville distribution footprint.
• On Friday, Aug. 31, Highland Brewing Co. releases POW! (10.5 percent ABV), a triple IPA hopped with Mosaic, Amarillo, Citra, El Dorado, Centennial and Simcoe Lupulin powder. It will be available on draft and in six-packs of 12-ounce bottles in the tasting room. It will see limited distribution starting the week of Sept. 3.
• Sideways Farm & Brewery releases Copper Farmhouse (6.4 percent ABV) on Friday, Aug. 31. The  farmhouse ale is made with Riverbend’s Munich malt, was fermented with the same in-house yeast blend used in the brewery’s Golden Strong Ale and is bottle conditioned using local wildflower honey. It will be added to the brewery’s guided tastings and poured exclusively from bottles in the tasting room. Limited bottles will also be available for purchase.
• Burial Beer Co. has a triple release on Saturday, Sept. 1. A Violent Voyage to Impermanence DIPA with Wine Grapes (8 percent ABV), made with Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris grapes and double dry-hopped with Enigma, Citra and Azacca, will be available in four-packs of 16-ounce cans for $18. Heaven Becomes Me Dry-Hopped Sour Blonde Ale (7 percent ABV), fermented in wine barrels with house saccharomyces and brettanomyces, aged in oak for nine months with house mixed culture and dry-hopped in steel with Galaxy, will be available in 500 milliliter bottles for $12. Ceremonial Session IPA with Mandarina (4 percent ABV), paired with Mosaic hops in the kettle, will be available in four-packs of 16-ounce cans for $12.

Small-batch beers and ciders

• In addition to its aforementioned packaged offerings also available on draft, Burial has two new releases this week. Structure Melt and Diffuse Oatmeal Pale Ale (5.2 percent ABV), hopped with Styrian Wolf and infused with strawberry leaf, raspberry leaf, rooibos and honeybush teas, will be tapped on Wednesday, Aug. 29. Then Monday, Sept. 3 brings the return of Culture Keepers Festbier Lager (5.8 percent), a German-style festbier brewed with Athens, Ga.’s Creature Comforts Brewing Co.
• **NEW** Catawba Brewing Co. taps a Czech Pilsner on Thursday, Aug. 30.
• **NEW** On Friday, Aug. 31, at noon, Brevard Brewing Co. brings back its Octoberfest.
• **NEW** In honor of Hendersonville’s Apple Festival this weekend, Sanctuary Brewing Co. is bringing back its Apple Pie Saison (6.6 percent ABV) on Friday, Aug. 31. The beer is made with American Farmhouse Ale yeast and honey crisp apples from Hendersonville’s Sky Top Orchard that were allowed to ripen and naturally fall from the tree.

Special events

• Archetype Brewing Co. hosts “Brett who? Blind tasting with the brewers at Archetype” on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 7-8:30 p.m. Steven Anan and Erin Jordan will lead participants through a variety of the brewery’s beers and help them describe flavors and aromas using industry lingo. Tickets are $20 and available online.
• **NEW** The Whale offers “10 very hard to procure taps from the elusive Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co.” on Thursday, Aug. 30, 6-10 p.m.
• Oskar Blues Brewery celebrates the return of Ten FIDY Imperial Stout on Friday, Aug. 31, with flights of five variations of the beer. The Brevard taproom’s flight will consist of 2018 Ten FIDY, Bourbon Barrel-Aged Ten FIDY, JAHvanilla Barrel-Aged Ten FIDY, Rye Whiskey Barrel-Aged Ten FIDY and Vanilla & Sugar Maple Wood Aged Ten FIDY.
• **NEW** The tap list curated by The Whale for the Heavy Mountain Music & Beer Fest on Sunday, Sept. 2, at The Orange Peel is live online. Admission tickets are $35 and available online and at the Orange Peel box office. Eight ounce pours are $4 and 12-ounce pours are $6.
• Thirsty Monk presents its ninth annual Thirsty Fest, Monday, Sept. 3-Friday, Sept. 7 at both of its locations. The annual selection of the bars’ best reserve kegs highlights beers rarely poured in Western North Carolina. The full tap list will be announced through Thirsty Monk’s Facebook page and live tap lists will be available on its website throughout the week.