Beer today, gone tomorrow: Asheville beer happenings Dec. 27-Jan. 2

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

• Burial Beer Co. has a dual can release on Saturday, Dec. 31, at noon. A collaboration with Other Half Brewing, I Left My Wallet In A Bed-Stuy Juice Bar Double Dry-Hopped Double IPA was brewed with loads of juicy hops and Lupulin powder. Skillet Donut Stout was made from a blend of nine barley malts, a healthy scoop of oats, milk and molasses sugars and a blend of freshly roasted Counter Culture Coffee beans. Each beer is available in four-packs of 16-ounce cans for $18.

Small-batch beers

• On Tuesday, Dec. 27, Oskar Blues Brewery taps Mountains Out of Molé Hills Stout (6.3 percent ABV), made with with dried ancho peppers, cinnamon sticks, vanilla beans and cacao nibs.
• **NEW**Burial Beer Co. has three new releases this week. Gift to the Centaur Tarragon Saison (6.4 percent ABV) – made with Pilsner, Carolina Ground Raw wheat, Vienna, honey malt and flaked wheat, plus Northern Brewer, Amarillo and Tettnang hops – hits the taps Wednesday, Dec. 28. The Prayer Biere De Tourte (6.6 percent ABV) – a Belgian-style blonde ale aged on 160 pounds of house-juiced pears and five pounds of ginger – follows on Thursday, Dec. 29, with The Earth As We Now Know It IPA (6.5 percent ABV) – dry-hopped with Equinox, El Dorado and Mosaic – on Friday, Dec. 30.
• Asheville Brewing Co. rolls out Love Ninja Raspberry Chocolate Milk Porter (5.6 percent ABV) on Friday, Dec. 30, at 5 p.m. at all of its locations. The beer is made with cacao nibs from French Broad Chocolate Lounge, Madagascar vanilla, raspberry purée and lactose. It will also be available in 22-ounce bottles.
• Lookout Brewing Co.‘s annual batch of the Champagne-like Hoppy New Beer debuts Saturday, Dec. 31, at 2 p.m. as part of the brewery’s black tie soirée celebration.
• At midnight Sunday, Jan. 1, Thirsty Monk Brewery releases Woodstove Winter Ale (7.1 percent ABV) at its Biltmore Park location. The winter warmer is brewed with freshly grated nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and a hint of vanilla bean. The tapping is in conjunction with Thirsty Monk’s fourth annual New Year’s Eve Keg Drop Celebration, during which a keg will be lowered from two stories at midnight.

Rare kegs

• **NEW** On Wednesday, Dec. 28, Appalachian Vintner tapped a keg of 2010 Bell’s Brewery Expedition Stout (10.5 percent ABV).

Special events

• Wicked Weed Brewing celebrates its fourth anniversary on Wednesday, Dec. 28, by putting some special beers on tap downstairs at its brewpub. Old Fashioned, Batch 1,000 Belgian Strong Dark Ale, Barrel Aged El Paraiso Coffee Stout, 2015 Dark Arts Wild Imperial Stout, 2015 Chocolate Black Angel American Wild Ale and 2016 Red Angel American Wild Ale will be available, as will an anniversary Double IPA, made with four malts, four different hops and four fruits (passionfruit, pink guava, pineapple and lychee). The first 400 people who purchase the anniversary beer will also have the option to buy a commemorative branded glass.