Beer today, gone tomorrow: Asheville beer happenings Aug. 30-Sept. 5

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

• Following its release at the Funkatorium last Saturday, bottles of, Wicked Weed Brewing‘s collaboration with Athens, Ga.-based Creature Comforts Brewing Co., are expected to hit specialty retail shelves this week. As the name would imply, Juiceless is a fruit-forward IPA brewed entirely without fruit, deriving all fruit notes from its hop bill.
• Bolo Coconut Brown will return on draft and in 16 -ounce cans on Friday, Sept. 2, at the Burial Beer Co. taproom and specialty retailers.
• On Saturday, Sept. 3, Burial Beer Co. will release Adoration of the Mystic Lamb Session Brett fermented with 100 percent brettanomyces, dry-hopped with Galaxy hops and bottle conditioned for two months on fruit nectar. Bottles will be for sale at the indoor and patio bars. The 750-milliliter bottles will cost $14 each and will not see distribution. There is no purchase limit.

Small-batch beers

• On Thursday, Sept. 1, Catawba Brewing Co. unveils a new nitro tap at its South Slope tasting
  room. The first beer to get the nitro treatment is English Mild (4.3 percent ABV). Look for
  other Catawba beers to rotate through the nitro tap in the near future.
• Brewed in collaboration with the Pink Boots Society, Asheville Brewing Co. brings back its 5 percent ABV Apricot Gose at both brewpubs Friday, Sept. 2, at 5 p.m. Pink Boots Apricot Gose is brewed with Azacca hops, coriander seed, and pink Himalayan sea salt with apricot purée.
• Twin Leaf Brewery is releasing a Blackberry Basil Saison, a 5.8 precent ABV light pink saison brewed with fresh blackberries and African basil from Rayburn Farms.
• Boojum Brewing Co. in Waynesville releases Hop Fiend IPA on draft at the taproom and through distribution. Hop Fiend is 6.5 percent ABV, 80 IBU IPA hopped with  Mosaic, Simcoe and Citra.
• Oyster House Brewing Co. is pouring casks of Andromeda IPA, dry hopped with Down Under hops, and Grape Smuggler, a pale ale with local Concord grapes.

Special events

• Appalachian Vintner hosts Alabama brewery Straight to Ale for their first tasting in Asheville on Tuesday, Aug. 30 at 5:30 p.m. Straight to Ale will be distributing its beers to Asheville specialty retailers in coming weeks.
• In honor of the National Park Service’s centennial year, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation is teaming up with 16 Asheville-area breweries for special beer releases and fundraising events in August and September to benefit the Blue Ridge Parkway. New Belgium Brewing will donate proceeds from every Ranger IPA sold throughout September to the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. On Friday, Sept. 2, at 5:30 p.m., Burial Beer Co. will tap Triumph of Death Foraged Sumac Saison, brewed in honor of the Blue Ridge Parkway’s 100th birthday. Head brewer Tim Gormley will be on hand to speak about the beer and Burial’s new facility and connection to the history of the Parkway, with $1 from each pour of the special release going to benefit the continued preservation work of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. On Saturday, Sept. 3, Sweeten Creek Brewing will pour Busbee Black IPA, named for the mountain which cradles the Blue Ridge Parkway and Mountains-to-Sea Trail and harbors the headwaters of Sweeten Creek, with the brewery donating $1 from every Busbee Black IPA sold.
• On Thursday, Sept. 1, MountainTrue and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. will present the 2016 Wild & Scenic Film Festival on the grounds of Sierra Nevada’s Mills River brewery. The event begins at 7:00 p.m. with films starting at 8 p.m. The Wild & Scenic festival is a selection of films from the annual festival held in Nevada City, CA, which is now in its 14th year.  The festival focuses on films which speak to the environmental concerns and celebrations of our planet. This year’s festival is sponsored by Mountain Xpress, Blue Ridge Energy Systems, BorgWarner Inc., Holly Spring Farm, JAG and Associates Construction and Mosaic Community Lifestyle Realty. Tickets for this event appear to be sold out.
• Birds Fly South Ale Project in Greenville, S.C., will open Thursday, Sept. 1, with 12 taps flowing with special beers for the occasion, including a ginger pear gose, an Imperial Belgian IPA brewed with Simcoe, Amarillo and Saaz, and a juniper saison.
• Bruisin’ Ales‘ free weekly tasting takes place Thursday, Sept. 1, from 5-7 p.m. and features selections from Tröegs Independent Brewing. Samples of Hop Knife Harvest Ale, Troegenator Doppelbock, Jovial Belgian-Style Dubbel, LaGrave Belgian-Style Tripel and JavaHead Oatmeal Stout will be poured.
• Oskar Blues Brewery celebrates the return of TenFIDY Imperial Stout at its Brevard facility on Friday, Sept. 2, from 5-9 p.m. Flights of rum, bourbon and brandy barrel-aged Ten Fidy will be available, along with FIDY braised brisket sandwiches from the Oskar Blues CHUBwagon, free FIDY candied bacon and live music.
• Thirsty Monk‘s seventh annual Thirsty Fest will run Sept. 5-9 at the downtown Monk, along with one-day celebrations at Thirsty Monk’s Biltmore Park and Woodfin pubs on Thursday, Sept. 8. The downtown draft list will include: Thirsty Monk Oak Aged CocoNorm, Anderson Valley Horse Tongue Tribble Currant, Knee Deep Big Sipper, Evil Twin Aún Más a Jesús, Grimm Rainbow Dome, Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout, Sierra Nevada Why Not? tropical saison, Ommegang Soothsayer, Anderson Valley Barrel Aged GT Gose, Allagash Golden Brett, Foothills Barrel Aged Sexual Chocolate, Oud Beersel Lambiek, Alvin Omega, Great Divide Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti, Allagash James Bean; Cascade The Vine, Grimm Telekinesis, Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout, The Bruery Tart of Darkness, Weyerbacher Insanity, Almanac Dogpatch Vanilla Cherry and Epic Big Bad Baptist.