Beer today, gone tomorrow: Asheville beer happenings May 10-16

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

• Highland Brewing Co. releases the latest installment of its Warrior Series on Friday, May 13. Mosaic Rye IPL, an 8 percent ABV India pale lager brewed with North Carolina rye from Riverbend Malt House and hopped with three pounds per barrel of Mosaic hops, will be available in four-packs of 12-ounce bottles and on draft.
• Starting Friday, May 13 at 5 p.m., Asheville Brewing Co. Ninja Latte milk coffee porter – brewed with locally roasted beans from Mountain Air Roasting – is available in 22 ounce bottles and on draft at all of the brewery’s locations.

Small-batch beers

• Burial Beer Co. will be releasing three draft offerings this week. The first, 1980 TRG, is a 6 percent ABV gruit brewed with dried green peas, white and green peppercorns, heather flower, elderflower, chamomile, apple blossom and white willow bark. 1980 TRG was brewed in secret to honor the birthday of head brewer Tim Gormley, and is available now at the brewery. Happy birthday, Tim! Next up, on Thursday, May 12 the brewery will tap Blade and Sheath American Farmhouse Ale, a 6.4 percent ABV farmhouse ale brewed with a rustic malt bill of flaked oats and wheat and hopped with Calypso, Mosaic and Rakau hops. Finally, on Saturday, May 14, Burial releases Inner Tube, an American light lager brewed in collaboration with French Broad Brewing Co. Inner Tube is crafted with flaked corn, lightly hopped with Saphir and lagered resulting in a crisp, easy drinking river beer. Look for this beer on draft at Hi-Wire’s How Do You LagerFest and in cans later this summer.
• MountainTrue and French Broad Riverkeeper will release the first brew in their Riverkeeper Beer Series at Oskar Blues Brewery on Saturday, May 14, at 5 p.m. following a section paddle of the French Broad. Oskar Blues’ collaborative session pale ale was brewed with malts from Riverbend Malt House and water from the French Broad watershed, with proceeds of draft sales going to French Broad Riverkeeper and special prizes for paddlers donated by Eagles Nest Outfitters.

Special events

• Thirsty Monk will be featuring Highland Brewing Co.’s spring and summer seasonal lineup at its downtown location on Thursday, May 12, starting at 4 p.m.
• Bruisin’ Ales‘ free weekly tasting 5-7 p.m. Thursday, May 12, features selections from Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Samples of Otra Vez Gose and Summerfest Lager will be pouring alongside three offerings from the brewery’s Ovila line of Belgian-style ales, including its Abbey Saison brewed with sage, Abbey Brown brewed with mandarin and cocoa and Abbey Quad brewed with cherries. All samples are free of charge, and bottles will be available for purchase.
• Fifth Season Gardening Co. has moved its TapTalks discussion series to 6-7 p.m. Thursday nights. The May 12 tasting and discussion will focus on sour beers. Samples are free of charge, and no RSVP is necessary.
• Hi-Wire Brewing will host its inaugural How Do You LagerFest? noon-8 p.m. Saturday, May 14, at its Big Top facility. The festival will feature lagers from 17 local, regional and national breweries alongside food from Foothills Deli. Coverage of the details from Scott Douglas can be found here.
• Hops & Vines hosts a free pilsner tasting on Friday, May 13 from 5-7 p.m. Samples from Highland Brewing Co., Pisgah Brewing Co. and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. will be poured.
• In support of National Bike to Work Week, which runs from May 16-20, several local breweries will be hosting bikecentric events in the coming days. on Monday, May 16, Wedge Brewing Co. will offer bike tuneups from The Tacoed Wheel mobile bike repair shop and a special screening of the 1979 film Breaking Away. One dollar from all draft sales of the brewery’s India Blonde Ale and Witbier will be donated to bicycle advocacy organization Asheville on Bikes and greenway nonprofit Friends of Connect Buncombe. Subsequent Bike to Work Week events will be held on Tuesday, May 17, at Hi-Wire Brewing; Wednesday, May 18, at Highland Brewing Co.; Thursday, May 19, at Wicked Weed Brewing and Friday, May 20, at New Belgium Brewing. Further details of these events can be found in next week’s BTGT.

New and notable

• Prairie Artisan Ales Birthday Bomb! is on specialty retail shelves now, brewed in celebration of the third anniversary of the brewery’s hugely popular Bomb! Imperial Stout. Like traditional Bomb!, this variant is a 13 percent ABV imperial stout aged on coffee, cacao nibs, vanilla beans and chili peppers, but this version incorporates hand-made caramel.
• Avery Brewing Co. Expletus, release number 36 in its highly acclaimed Barrel Aged Series, is on specialty retail shelves now. As with the previous releases from the series that have found their way onto Asheville shelves, Expletus is a barrel aged sour packaged in 12 oz. bottles. This iteration is a 5.9 percent ABV sour ale aged in Tequila barrels with cherries added. Production was limited to 1134 cases.

In the news

• Wicked Weed Brewing took home two medals at the World Beer Cup last weekend in Philadelphia. La Bonté Pear tart farmhouse ale won bronze in the Brett Beer category and Red Angel barrel-aged American sour ale was awarded the bronze for Belgian-style sour ale.

Expanded distribution

• Green Man Brewery expands its distribution footprint to Georgia next month, adding accounts in Athens, Augusta and Gainesville. Green Man’s flagship beers will primarily be sold at off-premises retailers in six-packs through the brewery’s partnerships with wholesale distributors Leon Farmer and Co. in Athens and Gainesville and J&L Ventures in Augusta. With this addition, Green Man beers will be available in five states throughout the Southeast after expanding distribution into Tennessee in 2012, South Carolina in 2013 and Georgia in 2015.