Beer today, gone tomorrow: Asheville beer happenings Jan. 22-28

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

• Noble Cider debuts The Earl Grey (6.9 percent ABV) in 500 milliliter bottles, on Thursday, Jan. 24. It features bergamot citrus blended with black tea and fermented with cider.
• Burial Beer Co. releases Tearing Flesh from Bone DIPA (8.2 percent ABV) on Friday, Jan. 25. The beer is double dry-hopped with Mosaic and El Dorado and finished with a dose of Mosaic cryo powder. It will be available in four-packs of 16-ounce cans for $18 and on draft.
• On Friday, Jan. 25, Highland Brewing Co. releases Imperium (8 percent ABV), its Russian imperial stout brewed with vanilla, toasted coconut and fair trade coffee beans from Methodical Coffee in Greenville, S.C. It will be available on draft and in six-packs of 12-ounce bottles. A bourbon barrel-aged version (12.5 percent ABV) of Imperium will also be available on draft.
• **NEW** Zebulon Artisan Ales releases Dry Hopped Sour (for Timothy Leary) on Friday, Jan. 25. The 7 percent ABV beer is brewed with Riverbend malt, fermented with a mixed culture and dry-hopped with five pounds per barrel of Galaxy, Vic Secret, Citra and Amarillo. It will be available in  750 milliliter bottles for $12 each and on draft.
• **NEW** Hi-Wire Brewing unveils German Chocolate Cupcake 10W-40 Imperial Stout (8 percent ABV) on Friday, Jan. 25 at both of its Asheville taprooms. Inspired by German Chocolate Cake, the beer will be available in four-packs of 16-ounce cans and on draft. It will see limited distribution.
• Oskar Blues Brewery launches Can-O-Bliss Tropical IPA, the first in its year-long rotating Can-O-Bliss IPA Series, with a release party on Saturday, Jan. 26, at 5 p.m.. The beer is hopped with Mosaic, Azacca, Galaxy, El Dorado and Idaho 7 and will be available in cans and on draft.

Small-batch beers and ciders

• UpCountry Brewing Co. taps Planet of the Ape-ricots Grisette (5.5 percent ABV), made with 12 pounds of apricot purée per barrel, on Wednesday, Jan. 23, at its West Asheville taproom and on Thursday, Jan. 24, at its Brevard taproom.
• Asheville Club hosts the release of Sanctuary Brewing Co.‘s Tongue Snuggler Scotch Ale on Thursday, Jan. 24, at 5 p.m. The beer features malt exclusively from Riverbend Malt House, representatives from which will be in attendance for a hot steep demonstration to connect its locally sourced ingredients to the finished product.
• Catawba Brewing Co. taps a Belgian Pale Ale (5 percent ABV) on Thursday, Jan. 24, at all of its taprooms.
• **NEW** Sanctuary celebrates is fourth “Beerversary” with staggered releases over the weekend. On Saturday, Jan. 26, Coconut Cumin Bourbon Barrel-aged Stout (10 percent ABV) and Maple Vanilla & Cinnamon Bourbon Barrel-aged Stout (10 percent ABV) will be tapped. Then on Sunday, Jan. 27, the aforementioned Tongue Snuggler will make its brewery debut, along with Cherry Vanillla Bourbon Barrel-aged Stout (10 percent ABV); Mole Bourbon Barrel-aged Stout (10 percent ABV); Baril de Frambois (6.2 percent ABV), a sour brown ale aged in white wine barrels for one year, then fermented on local raspberries for one month; and Bourbon Barrel Brewspiracy (10 percent ABV), a Belgian-style Tripel aged in bourbon barrels and made in collaboration with documentary filmmaker Kip Andersen.
• On Sunday, Jan. 27, Ginger’s Revenge releases a Dark Chocolate and Orange Peel ginger beer.

Special events

• The Whale showcases beers from Fat Orange Cat Brewing Co. on Tuesday, Jan. 22. Five kegs of hazy IPAs from the East Hampton, Conn. brewery will be available starting at 6 p.m.
• Asheville Brewers Supply hosts its monthly Brewers Social on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 6-9 p.m. Attendees are invited to bring some of their latest labeled homebrew creations to share. Complimentary pizza from Asheville Pizza Co. will be provided.
• **NEW** Tickets are now on sale for the Pink Boots Society’s third yearly Bière De Femme Festival, which will take place at Highland Brewing on Saturday, March 2. The event features more than 35 one-off beers made specifically for the festival by women beer professionals from each participating North Carolina brewery. Tickets are $45 general admission and $75 VIP, which includes early entry to the festival, snacks, canned and bottled beer not available in the main area and access to a heated VIP area. All proceeds go toward scholarships to help women in North Carolina and beyond improve their lives by giving them education and marketable skills in the beer industry.