Beer today, gone tomorrow: Asheville beer happenings Aug. 2-8

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.

Small-batch beers

•  Burial Beer Co. will release three new draft offerings this week in addition to a fourth to be tapped in conjunction with a dual can release on Saturday, Aug. 6. The first, A Profound Sense of Courage Lychee Wheatwine, available Tuesday, Aug. 2, was brewed with honey malt; toasted, white and flaked wheat and almost 2 pounds of lychee per gallon.  Next, on Wednesday, Aug. 3, Burial we’ll be pouring a collaboration it did with Brooklyn-based Transmitter Brewing. The Crossing of Cosmic Frequencies Farmhouse Pale Ale was brewed with New York malted spelt and pineapple sage from Burial’s urban garden then hopped with Ella, Cashmere and Hallertau Blanc. Finally, Sugar Hiccup Sparkling Saison will be tapped Thursday, Aug. 4. This light summer saison was brewed with Riverbend pilsner, flaked wheat, and honey malt then refermented with a pound of fresh, whole strawberries per gallon.
• Oyster House Brewing Co. currently has casks of Zeus IPA and Chocolate Moonstone Stout.
• Asheville Brewing Co. will have Berry Blondes, a sour blonde fermented with apricots, blueberries and raspberries, on Friday, Aug. 5, at 5 p.m. on draft only at both the Merrimon and Coxe Ave. brewpubs.

Special events

• Thirsty Monk will host August’s Monk Beer Academy on Tuesday, Aug. 2, at 7 p.m. at the downtown Monk. This month’s class will focus on yeast and fermentation and will be taught by draft quality manager and certified cicerone Jeremiah Tracy. Reservations can be made here.
• This week’s free tasting at Bruisin’ Ales will feature North Coast Brewing Co. on Thursday, Aug. 4, 5-7 p.m. Samples of Scrimshaw Pilsner, Prankster Belgian-style Golden Strong, Old Rasputin Imperial Stout, Grand Cru and Old Stock Cellar Reserve 2013 will be available, and rumor has it that Xpress beer writer Scott Douglas may break out his Old Rasputin costume for the occasion.
• On Friday, Aug. 5, Highland Brewing Co. will host a release party for this year’s batch of Clawhammer Oktoberfest Lager from 4-9 p.m. at the brewery. This free event will include traditional German food, music from Lagerhosen and Clawhammer on draft with $1 from each pour donated to the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy.
• Green Man Brewery celebrates the 70th birthday of the NC State Minerals Research Lab – the oldest establishment on the South Slope – on Friday, August 5 with a collaboration beer brewed with geologists Jon Simms and Bob Baldwin. May the Quartz Be With You is an American Amber Ale, made with flaked oats and Pale Chocolate Malt, with real quartz specimens in the mash. From 2-4 p.m., the Minerals Research Lab (180 Coxe Ave.) will host a tour and presentation open to the public, and then at 4 p.m. the celebration moves to Dirty Jack’s to debut the beer.

Bottle/can releases

• Zebulon Artisan Ales‘ Thai Basil Witbier (for Terry Riley) is now available at specialty bottle shops. The 5.6 percent ABV Belgian-style wit was brewed with 10 pounds of locally grown basil from Rayburn Farms.
• Burial Beer Co. will release two new cans during its inaugural Dock Sale on Saturday, Aug. 6, beginning at noon. Burial’s flagship Surf Wax IPA has been packaged for the first time and will be on sale in the brewery’s first 12-ounce cans with a limit of two six-packs per customer. The second can, Prismatic Eye Double IPA, a collaboration with Other Half Brewing, was brewed with North Carolina-grown six-row barley, hopped with Citra, Summer and Centennial and fermented with Burial’s house yeast strain. Prismatic Eye will be also available on draft and in four-packs of 16-ounce cans with a limit of one case per customer. Both beers can be purchased individually and will not be distributed beyond the brewery. Cans will be sold from the back dock in Burial’s lower beer garden on the Millard Avenue side of the brewery with the line forming on Millard Avenue by the double gates.
• On Saturday, Aug. 6, Twin Leaf Brewery will re-release MDXXI Mexican Chocolate Stout, an 8.2 percent ABV stout brewed with cocoa nibs, cinnamon, arbol chilies and chocolate malts originally released for the brewery’s first anniversary in early 2015. MDXXI will be available on draft and for sale in 500-milliliter bottles in the Twin Leaf taproom at 144 Coxe Ave. beginning at noon.