Beer today, gone tomorrow: Asheville beer happenings Nov. 20-26

Posted on by Edwin Arnaudin
Image by Scott Southwick

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

  • Highland Brewing Co. releases Black Watch Double Chocolate Milk Stout (8 percent ABV) on Friday, Nov. 23, at its taproom. It’s brewed with over 100 pounds of cacao nibs per batch and will be available in six-packs of 12-ounce bottles and on draft.
  • Burial Beer Co. releases Virtue of Patience Bourbon Barrel Aged Barleywine (12 percent ABV) on Friday, Nov. 23. Aged for 15 months, the beer is available in 16-ounce single cans for $9 and will additionally be sold on draft. The day will also see the release of various vintage Burial bottles.
  • On Friday, Nov. 23, Catawba Brewing Co. releases Peanut Butter Chocolate Stout at all four of its taprooms. The beer is brewed with Chocolate Malts and Midnight Wheat, and conditioned on locally-sourced cacao nibs, whole roasted North Carolina peanuts and Madagascar vanilla beans. It will be available in six-packs of 12-ounce cans and on draft.
  • **NEW** Hi-Wire Brewing releases Peach Sour (6.9 percent ABV) on Saturday, Nov. 24, at noon at both of its Asheville locations. The mixed culture sour blonde ale was barrel-aged on one pound per gallon of fresh peaches for 19.5 months. 750 milliliter cork-and-caged bottles cost $18 each.

Small-batch beers and ciders

  • Sanctuary Brewing Co. released seven beers over the weekend: Bourbon Barrel Stout (9 percent ABV), which was matured for one year in bourbon barrels, then blended with a young stout; Cranberry Orange Berliner Weisse (5.2 percent ABV); Winterfell IPA (6.2 percent ABV), hopped with Cascade, Chinook and Centennial; Weekend Joe Imperial Stout (10 percent ABV), brewed with locally roasted Sweet Gypsy Roasters coffee beans; Breakfast Joe Imperial Stout, brewed with coffee, cinnamon and vanilla and aged on oak staves (10 percent ABV); Cookies-N-Cream Porter (6.8 percent ABV), featuring an addition of Double Stuffed Oreos; and Baril De Frambroise (6.2 percent ABV), a sour brown ale aged in white wine barrels for a year, then aged on local organic raspberries for nearly month.
  • Burial is currently pouring Our Celestial Endings White Mocha Sour Ale (6 percent ABV), a 50/50 blend of stainless-aged brett saison and oak-aged, mixed culture blonde ale which was then infused with coffee. It will be joined on Wednesday, Nov. 21, by Tessellation of Space Moroccan Coffee Imperial Stout (10 percent ABV), a collaboration with Greeley, Colo.’s WeldWerks Brewing Co.
  • Asheville Club hosts the release party for the Whistle Hop Brewing Co. and Miami-based Nelsito’s Brew collaboration El Tamarindo Lager on Tuesday, Nov. 20, at 6 p.m. The event also features live music by an Afro-Cuban drummer.
  • Wedge Brewing Co. releases Vadim Bora Imperial Stout (8.2 percent ABV) at its Studios location on Wednesday, Nov. 21.
  • On Wednesday, Nov. 21, Mills River Brewery releases GFY Ale.
  • UpCountry Brewing Co. releases Salute Your Schwarz! Schwarzbier (5 percent ABV) and Pint of Ghosts Barleywine (10.5 percent ABV) on Wednesday, Nov. 21.
  • **NEW** Eurisko Beer Co. and The Whale have teamed up to make Kollabörator Doppelbock (8 percent ABV), which will make its debut at The Whale on Thursday, Nov. 22, at 6 p.m., and will be tapped at Eurisko on Friday, Nov. 23.
  • Catawba taps a Schwarzbier on Friday, Nov. 23, at all of its locations.
  • In addition to the regular version of Black Watch, Highland taps a bourbon barrel-aged version of the 2017 Black Watch (10.3 percent ABV) on Friday, Nov. 23.
  • Sideways Farm & Brewery releases Mulled Barley Wine (12.2 percent ABV) on Friday, Nov. 16. The beer is made with Christmas Basil from the farm and cinnamon sticks, then aged on local rum-bathed oak spirals and bottle conditioned using local wildflower honey. It will be available in small pours only or in bottles for members of Sideways’ Community Supported Brewery program.

Special events

  • On Tuesday, Nov. 20, at 6 p.m., The Whale taps what the event description calls “a wide array of specialty beers” from Firestone Walker Brewing Co. and Barrelworks. “Expect some one off and rarities mixed in with one of our favorite beers ever, Pivo Pils.”
  • Appalachian Vintner will start selling Goose Island Beer Co. 2018 Bourbon County Brand Stout (BCBS) on Friday, Nov. 23, at noon. A line is likely to form outside before then. Bottles will be sold on a first come, first served basis with limited decided based on the number of people in line. No pre-sales will be offered. 2016 BCBS will be available on draft and the first 20 guests will be able to purchase a super limited supply of bottles of 2013 BCBS Barleywine. Then at 4 p.m., custom Vortex Doughnuts Vintner Reserve doughnuts will be available to purchase and pair with draft pours of Prairie Artisan Ales’ Bomb! Deconstructed Chocolate Imperial Stout, Bomb! Deconstructed Coffee Imperial Stout and Double Dunk Oreo Imperial Stout.
  • Tasty Beverage Co. hosts its Black Fridayfest on Nov. 23. On draft will be Fonta Flora Brewery‘s 2017-2018 Jitterbug Appalachian Wild Ale with Local Plums, Darwin’s Forehead Salted Brown Porter and an Olde Hickory Brewery collaborative imperial stout brewed with local honey and aged on vanilla that, according to the event description, is “so exclusive it isn’t even named yet.” Kegs of Brewery Bhavana‘s Kveik IPA and Pithy IPA will also be tapped.
  • On Friday, Nov. 23, at 6 p.m., The Brew Pump taps a keg of Founders Brewing Co. Kentucky Breakfast Stout.
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About Edwin Arnaudin
Edwin Arnaudin is a staff writer for Mountain Xpress. He also reviews films for ashevillemovies.com and is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association (SEFCA) and North Carolina Film Critics Association (NCFCA). Follow me @EdwinArnaudin
View all posts by Edwin Arnaudin →

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