Beer today, gone tomorrow: Asheville beer happenings Jan. 9-15

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

• Bhramari Brewing Co. releases Painted Fortune Carolina Common, brewed with Painted Fortune heirloom corn, on Tuesday, Jan. 9, at its taproom. Six-packs of 12-ounce cans will be available in North Carolina bottle shops starting Tuesday, Jan. 16.
• Highland Brewing Co.‘s Southern Sixer IPA, made with six American hops varieties, returns Friday, Jan. 12, in 12-ounce bottles and on draft.
• Burial Beer Co. will host an all-sour bottle release featuring some of the brewery’s favorite offerings from its Solera program at noon Saturday, Jan. 13, at its back dock. None of the bottles to be released that day will see distribution. The River to Hell Runs Red (5 percent ABV) is an Oud Bruin-style ale aged six months in Burial’s Brunello foudres then refermented in bourbon and cabernet barrels for nine months. It’s aged 75 percent aged on raspberries, 25 percent on blueberries and bottle-conditioned. Cost for the 500-milliliter bottles is $16. The River to Hell Bleeds Black (5 percent ABV) is an Oud Bruin-style ale aged six months in Brunello foudres then refermented in bourbon and cabernet barrels for nine months. It’s 67 percent aged on raspberries, 33 percent aged on blueberries and bottle-conditioned. Cost for the 500-milliliter bottles is $16. The Separation of Light & Darkness (5.5 percent ABV) is a mixed-culture ale made with North Carolina barley and wheat from Riverbend Malt House and aged in Burial’s Brunello foudre. It’s also dry-hopped with Mandarina Bavaria and Wakatu and bottle-conditioned. The 750-milliliter bottles cost $16. The brewery’s head of wood production, Mark Goodwin, and co-founder, Tim Gormley, will also conduct special barrel pours during the afternoon.

Small-batch beers

• Wedge Brewing Co. has Calypso Pale Ale (5.2 percent ABV), made with only water, yeast, Vienna malt and Calypso hops, available exclusively at its Foundation brewery.
• Bhramari is pouring Curb Appeal Helles Lager in its taproom this week, to be joined by All the Boys Milkshake IPA, brewed with guava and graham crackers, on Friday, Jan. 12. To celebrate the brewery’s second birthday on Monday, Jan. 15, four additional beers will be tapped: Twining Bine Carolina Common, aged 16 months in bourbon barrels over locally sourced honeysuckle flowers; Pretty Ugly Stout, with foraged magnolia leaves and sunchoke; Clearly Confused Stout, made with shrimp, satsuma orange and pink peppercorn; and Cultivated Moments of Gravity Biere de Garde, a collaboration with Mad Co. Brewing that incorporates persimmon and reishi.
• Catawba Brewing Co. taps White Walnut Imperial Brown Ale (9.0 percent ABV) on Thursday, Jan. 11, at all four of its tasting rooms. Brewed with four specialty grains and British hops, the beer began as a traditional English brown ale and was then fortified by 13 pounds of locally foraged white walnut shells.
• **NEW** In addition to The Separation of Light & Darkness, The River to Hell Bleeds Black and The River to Hell Runs Red, Burial has three new releases this week. The Pain That Kills Pineapple & Coconut Gose (5 percent ABV) will be tapped Thursday, Jan. 11, followed by the latest single-hops version of Ceremonial Session IPA (4 percent ABV), this one featuring Mosaic and Simcoe Lupulin Powder, and The Prayer Belgian-style Blonde with Mango & Honey (6.2 percent ABV) on Friday, Jan. 12.
• On Friday, Jan. 12, Archetype Brewing releases its first barrel-aged offering. The Brett Saison was dry-hopped with Chinook and Saaz, then aged for almost five months in red wine barrels.

Special events

• Thirsty Monk‘s monthly Monk Beer Academy takes place Tuesday, Jan. 9, at 7 p.m., at its Biltmore Park bar and explores high gravity brewing. The meaning of the term “high gravity” will be discussed as well as the special efforts that go into producing high ABV specialty beers that remain balanced and drinkable. Preregister online or purchase tickets at the door. The $15 admission fee covers the class and cost of the tasting flight.
• On Saturday, Jan. 13, The Black Cloud hosts a Homeplace Beer Co. tap takeover. The Burnsville brewery’s Faith Healer Session IPA, Golden Heart Lager, Brown Mule Brown Ale and Coconut Porter will be available on draft.