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
- Burial Beer Co. has its biannual release of Skillet Donut Stout (8 percent ABV) on Friday, Dec. 28, at noon. It will be available in four-packs of 16-ounce cans for $18. Also out that day is The Savages of Ruminating Minds IPA (7.2 percent ABV), triple dry-hopped with Mosaic, Motueka and Idaho 7. Four-packs of 16-ounce cans cost $16.
- Sideways Farm & Brewery rolls out Molasses Cookie Porter (4.9 percent ABV) on Friday, Dec. 28. All purchases of the beer this weekend come with a molasses cookie, made according to the 100-year-old family recipe that also inspired the beer.
- On Saturday, Dec. 29, Catawba Brewing Co. releases the newest beer from its barrel program, BA #4 Apple Pie Barleywine (12 percent ABV). The brew was aged for 32 months in bourbon barrels and features additions of Carolina apples, cinnamon and brown sugar. It will be available in four-packs of 16-ounce cans for $18.
Small-batch beers and ciders
- UpCountry Brewing Co. releases Bonus Cup Coffee Stout (5.9 percent ABV), made with cold-brewed coffee from Counter Culture Coffee, on Wednesday, Dec. 26.
- Oskar Blues Brewery taps Great Overall Pale Ale (5.5 precent ABV) on Thursday, Dec. 27.
- Catawba releases Eisbock (8.6 percent ABV), which its press materials describe as “Germany’s answer to the Belgian Quad,” on Thursday, Dec. 27.
- In addition to offering its packaged products on draft the same day as their release, Burial will have variants of Skillet on tap. Then on Monday, Dec. 31, comes I Used To Be An Athlete DIPA (8.4 percent ABV), a collaboration with Brooklyn’s Other Half Brewing, double dry-hopped with Sabro, Citra, Vic’s Secret and Simcoe, and To Streak Blood Across My Brow DIPA (8.5 percent ABV), double dry-hopped with Galaxy.
- On Friday, Dec. 28, Highland Brewing Co. taps Give ‘Em Helles, Katie! (5.1 percent ABV), a German-style Helles made by brewer Katie Smith as part of Highland’s Brewer Series.
Special events
- Bruisin’ Ales is home to a free tasting of the latest releases from Laguinatas Brewing Co. on Friday, Dec. 28, 5-7 p.m. In addition to complimentary samples of the new beers, the brewery’s Willettized Coffee Stout will be available to purchase on draft and in bottles.
- Wicked Weed Brewing celebrates its sixth anniversary on Friday, Dec. 28, at 6 p.m. at its original location and the Funkatorium. Check the brewery’s Facebook page for details on special tappings and vintage bottles.
- Thirsty Monk hosts its sixth annual New Year’s Eve Keg Drop Celebration on Monday, Dec. 31, at its Biltmore Park location. A golden keg will be lit up and descend two stories at midnight while a keg of Must Love Coconut IPA is tapped.
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