Beer today, gone tomorrow: Asheville beer happenings Sept. 14-19

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

• Burial Beer Co. has released two new packaged offerings, Scythe Rye IPA and Gang of Blades Double IPA. Both are currently available in four-packs of 16-ounce cans at the brewery with a one-case limit on Gang of Blades. Scythe will see distribution, Gang of Blades will not.
• Green Man Brewing will host a special dual-bottle release of two of its most sought-after barrel aged sours, Bootsy and Maceo, on Sunday, Sept. 18, at the Greenmansion. Supplies are extremely limited, with customers allocated only one bottle of each beer. Both bottles must be purchased. As was the case with the last Snozzberry release, the line will form early at the back door of the brewery, and Melt Your Heart food truck will serve breakfast sandwiches. Numbered wristbands will be distributed at 1 p.m., at which time customers will be admitted to the production floor. Greenman cans will be available for purchase and consumption in line for $2, cash only. No outside bottles are allowed on the production floor. All wristbands will be clearly numbered, and the opportunity to purchase bottles will be granted in order according to these numbers. Customers not in line when their number comes up will not be able to purchase bottles. Credit cards will be accepted for bottle sales. The draft list has not yet been announced, but promises some special surprises, including the unveiling of a future package release. Bootsy and Maceo will not be on draft on Sunday, but a limited amount of Bootsy will be available upstairs at the Greenmansion for on-premise consumption only on Friday, Sept 16, at 7 p.m. A small quantity of Maceo will be available on Saturday, Sept 17, at 7 p.m., also onsite-only.
• **NEW** On Sunday, Sept. 18, at 1 p.m. at its South Slope Specialty Brewery, Hi-­Wire Brewing has a dual bottle release. Batch #7 of its Single Barrel Series is an Oak Fermented Mosaic Wheat Ale with Brettanomyces (5 percent ABV), brewed with a single, 1 pound per barrel hop addition of Mosaic and oak fermented in a red wine barrel with a specific blend of brettanomyces that exhibits tropical fruit flavors before being bottle conditioned. Only 120 bottles were filled and they will not see distribution. Also available is Sour Heady Porter, an Oak Fermented Wild Ale with Raspberries (8.5 percent ABV). It was oak fermented in a red wine barrel for 8 months before being bottle conditioned. $15 per bottle.

Small-batch beers

•  In addition to Gang of Blades, Burial will tap six new beers this week with four special small-batch offerings debuting on Saturday as a part of the brewery’s Farewell to Summer celebration. On Wednesday, Sept. 14, The First Miracle Early Harvest Saison, a 5.6 percent ABV saison brewed with Riverbend pilsner malt, spelt and flaked wheat and tempranillo grape juice from Overmountain Vineyard will be tapped. Thursday, Sept. 15, will see the debut of the Resurrection Pulpit Speltenbier, a modernized interpretation of a wit bier brewed with spelt as the primary base malt instead of wheat. Finally, on Saturday, Sept. 17, four beers crafted from flowers and herbs from Lady Luck Flower Farm will be on offer starting at noon. Tulsi Basil Saison, Yarrow Saison, Shisho Gose and Wildflower Blonde Sour will all be pouring alongside a food pairing menu from Salt & Smoke Kitchen.
• On Thursday, Sept. 15, Catawba Brewing Co. releases this year’s Hyper Monkey Java Stout, an American stout brewed with chocolate and crystal malts and infused with a seasonal coffee from Dynamite Roasting Co.
• **NEW** Asheville Brewing Co. added peach puree and a special blend of roasted and fresh peppers, including Habeneros and Jalapenos, to its Escape Artist Pale Ale to create Hot Fuzzz (5.5 percent ABV). The draft only beer will be released on Thursday, Sept. 15, in conjunction with a 7 p.m. screening of Edgar Wright’s action/comedy Hot Fuzz at its Merrimon Ave. theater and will also be available at its Coxe Ave. brewpubs.
• **NEW** Starting Friday, Sept. 16, Hi-Wire Brewing is pouring Boysenberry Black Currant Berliner Weiss (5.2 percent ABV) at its South Slope Specialty Brewery. Pink Drink tart wheat ale with lemongrass & raspberries (4.2 percent ABV) is also back on draft.

Special events

• **NEW** The lottery for Zwanze Day tickets is open until noon on Tuesday, Sept. 20, and can be accessed via the embedded link or through Fonta Flora’s Facebook. Brasserie Cantillon Zwanze Day will take place at Fonta Flora Brewery on Saturday, Oct. 1, marking the first time this event will be held in North Carolina. Zwanze Day is an annual international release party for Cantillon’s extremely rare Zwanze lambic, this year an innovative take on a framboise. Fonta Flora is one of only 60 locations worldwide to host the event. More details will follow as they become available, but mark your calendars now — this is a big one.
• The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation’s continuing Find Your Pint series will see three events at local breweries benefiting the Parkway this week. On Thursday, Sept. 15, Hi-Wire Brewing will donate 15 percent of all sales to the BRPF for the brewery’s weekly Nonprofit Night. On Friday, Sept. 16, Asheville Brewing Co. will release Blue Ridge Blueberry Breakfast Pale Ale, a brew incorporating local blueberries, with $1 from every pint sold going to the BRPF for as long as the batch lasts. Finally, on Saturday, Sept 17, Wicked Weed Brewing will tap an American wheat ale brewed with blackberries, dandelion root and yarrow leaves with proceeds being donated to the BRPF.
• On Thursday, Sept. 15, the downtown Thirsty Monk will host a tap takeover featuring beers from World Beer Cup and Great American Beer Festival award-winning Blackberry Farm Brewery of Walland, Tenn. Regional sales manager Kyle Morgan will be on hand.
• Asheville Brewing will be featured in a special beer dinner at Chestnut restaurant on Thursday, Sept. 15. Tickets are $75 each, which includes dinner, beer, tax and gratuity. Reception starts at 6:30 p.m. with dinner served at 7 p.m.
• **NEW** Bruisin’ Ales‘ free weekly tasting on Friday, Sept. 16, from 5-7 p.m. features selections from Big Boss Brewing Co. Samples of Monkey Bizz-ness Belgian-style ale, Horse Fly barrel-aged wheat ale, Bourbon Barrel Tavern Ale, The Big Operator ale with raspberries and cacao and Ace & Ates stout with coffee will be poured.
• The 20th annual Brewgrass Festival will take place on Saturday, Sept. 17, from 1-6 p.m. For details, read Edwin Arnaudin’s writeup here.
• We Can So You Can, a documentary focused on Boone-based Appalachian Mountain Brewery, will screen at Jack of the Wood on Monday, Sept. 19, at 5:30 p.m. AMB brewers will be on hand, and proceeds will benefit local nonprofit Trips for Kids WNC.

Jobs

• White Labs is now accepting applications for administrative and production jobs at its Asheville facility. Job listings can be found here, and more details can be found in Scott Douglas’ next Beer Scout article in the Sept. 21 issue of Xpress.