Beer today, gone tomorrow: Asheville beer happenings Nov. 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

• Pisgah Brewing Co. debuts Pisgah Double IPA on Wednesday, Nov. 11, at 4 p.m. in its Black Mountain taproom. The 8.1 percent ABV beer uses only whole-cone Citra and Simcoe hops and a medium-bodied grain bill and comes in at around 120-plus IBUs. It will be available in 22-ounce bottles — packaged just hours before being released to the public to ensure maximum freshness — as well as on tap. No bottle limit has been set.
• Highland Brewing Co. rolls out its 19th edition of Cold Mountain Winter Ale with a four-day release. On Thursday, Nov. 12, in the brewery’s warehouse, one-liter bottles ($15, limit one), 22-ounce bottles ($7, limit two), 12-packs of 12-ounce bottles ($21, limit one) and $50 bundles of max limits of all three options will be on sale beginning at 4 p.m. while the day’s supply lasts. Additional supplies will be available for purchase on Friday, Nov. 13, at 4 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 14, at 2 p.m. Attendees for the Cold Mountain brunch on Sunday, Nov. 15, at noon may purchase a one-liter bottle. The tasting room will also have Cold Mountain on draft throughout the weekend and, according to Highland’s Facebook page, “up to a couple weeks later.” Nearby overflow parking will be available with shuttles to and from the brewery starting at 5 p.m.
• Fonta Flora Brewery celebrates its second anniversary on Saturday, Nov. 14 at its Morganton with bottle releases of Meemaw (an Appalachian Wild Ale with High Country wild cherries; $16 per 500-milliliter bottle, limit six bottles) and Bloody Butcher (an Appalachian Grisette; $12 per 750-milliliter bottle, limit four bottles). The new Double Hop Beard Extra Hairy Mountain Man IPA will also be sold on draft and in 32-ounce growlers ($16, limit 2).
• Burial Beer Co. will be releasing a very special collaboration with Florida’s Seventh Sun Brewing on Wednesday, Nov. 18. Taking its name from a late fifteenth century painting by Hieronymus Bosch, Hermit Saints Saison is brewed with Huell Melon, Galaxy and Mosaic hops, then rested in Biltmore Estate red wine barrels and re-fermented on Petite Mansang grapes from Overmountain Vineyards before being finished with Brettanomyces and bottle-conditioned. Sales start at 4 p.m. at the taproom and will be limited to one case per customer.

Small-batch beers

• Burial Beer Co. will tap two new kegs this week, The Triumph of Death Sumac Saison and the small-batch Decoy “Lemon” Wit. Decoy, a novel take on the traditional Belgian witbier, will be released Tuesday, Nov. 10, and replaces the orange usually incorporated in the style with simulated lemon flavors produced by brewing with Tettnang, Sorachi Ace and Lemondrop hops as well as Black Lemon (technically dried limes), Lemon Thyme, Lemon Verbena, Sumac and Lemongrass. Triumph (released Wednesday, Nov. 11) is a fall saison brewed with malted 6 row barley, rye and oats along with raw North Carolina wheat, lemon peel and Motueka hops before 85 pounds of sumac is soaked in the beer post-fermentation and added back.
• Oyster House Brewing Co. has a mango cask version of its Step Papa Pale this week.

Special events

• The downtown Thirsty Monk will have an ice cream social on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 4 p.m. with various pairings of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and New Belgium Brewing Co. beer, including
  the new Salted Caramel Brownie Brown Ale collaboration between the two companies.
• On Thursday, Nov. 12, 5-7 p.m., Tasty Beverage Co. hosts brewers from the Beer Camp Across America Team “O.G. 13” for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Region. Patrons are invited to meet and drink with Bill Manley and Peter Trapani (Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.), Jason Oliver (Devils Backbone Brewing Co.), Sam Calagione (Dogfish Head Brewery), Sean Lawson (Lawson’s Finest Liquids), Carol Stoudt (Stoudts Brewing Co.) and J.C. and Esther Tetrault (Trillium Brewing Co.).

Expanded hours

• Appalachian Vintner is now open on Sundays from 12-6 p.m.
• Bruisin’ Ales is now open on Mondays from 12-6 p.m.