Beer today, gone tomorrow: Asheville beer happenings Sept. 26 – Oct. 2

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

• Bruisin’ Ales will release the third and final installment in its Golden Gloves series of 10th anniversary commemorative beers, Maple Syruption, on Friday, Sept. 29, starting at 5 p.m. Brewed in collaboration with Olde Hickory Brewery, Maple Syruption is a 9 percent ABV imperial stout brewed with maple syrup and aged in bourbon barrels. Bottle sales will begin at 5 p.m. along with a free tasting that runs until 7 p.m., followed by an after party at Barley’s Taproom. There is a one case per customer limit.
• At noon Saturday, Sept. 30, Burial Beer Co. will release three new packaged beers including an IPA and two mixed-culture saisons. Clairvoyant Metamorphosis IPA is the next installment in Burial’s Earth As We Now Know It series, brewed with Idaho 7, Mosaic, Cashmere and Blanc hops and aged on pineapple sage. This brewery-only release will be available in four-packs of 16-ounce cans. Zodiacal Light is a mixed-culture saison aged in a mix of wine, brandy and bourbon barrels and finished with chamomile and honey before bottle-conditioning. Brewed in collaboration with Seattle-based Holy Mountain Brewing Co., Zodiacal Light will be available in 750-milliliter bottles and will see limited distribution. Jealousy & Murder is one of three collaboration beers brewed with Blackberry Farm Brewery of Walland, Tenn. A mixed-culture saison made with North Carolina barley and spelt, hopped with Saphir hops and aged with brettanyomyces and lactobacillus, Jealousy & Murder will be available in 750-milliliter bottles with limited distribution.

Small-batch beers

• Catawba Brewing Co. taps its Breezy Brae Biere de Miel (6.3 percent ABV) on Thursday, Sept. 28, at all locations. This Belgian-style farmhouse ale is brewed with honey malt and a raw honey varietal from Wild Mountain Bees in Weaverville. The beer was fermented with a blend of Belgian saison yeast and brettanomyces, producing a complex flavor profile of fruity esters with a subtle earthy sweetness from the honey. Breezy Brae is a collaboration with the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy as part of the For Love of Beer and Mountains fundraiser series. Catawba will donate $1 from each pint sold in Asheville tasting rooms to SAHC, and SAHC staff will be onsite at Catawba’s Asheville South Slope location on the release day from 5-10 p.m. to answer questions and sell merchandise. A guided hike to Upper Catawba Falls is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 30. **NEW** Then in honor of National Coffee Day on Friday, Sept. 29, Catawba and Dunkin’ Donuts’ collaborative Dunkin’ Punkin Brown Ale will be tapped at all four of the brewery’s taprooms. The cold-brew, pumpkin-flavored beverage is the first beer to incorporate original Dunkin’ Donuts flavoring ingredients. $1 per pint benefits Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina.
• Burial releases two new small-batch beers on draft On Friday, Sept. 29. Billhook Hoppy Farmhouse Ale, one of the original six beers that poured when Burial opened in 2013, is a 7 percent ABV traditional saison brewed with whirlpool and dry-hop additions of New Zealand Nelson Sauvin, Pacific Jade and Southern Cross hops. Content in Wayward Berliner Weisse with Sumac is a hazy pink 4.5 percent ABV berliner weisse brewed with local sumac.
• **NEW** On Friday, Sept. 29, Archetype Brewing releases it Festbier and a new Saison.

Special events

• Oskar Blues will host its Brewers Throwdown competition on Thursday, Sept. 28, at the brewery in Brevard starting at 6 p.m. Each of Oskar Blues’ 11 brewers will release individually crafted beers, which will then be judged by attendees. The special, one-off brews will include Pumpkin Pie pumpkin pale ale, Black Eyed Blonde blonde ale with blackberries, Steven’s Shortcut Ale oak-aged scotch ale with cranberries, Margarita Gose, Guava Passionfruit Berliner Weisse, Ginger Me Timbers american wheat ale with ginger and a hibiscus saison. Local band Skunk Ruckus plays from 6-8 p.m., and food will be available from the Oskar Blues CHUBwagon.
• On Friday, Sept. 29, Thirsty Monk will host a Beer for Wine Lovers event  with Allagash Brewing Co. at its downtown Belgian Bar. The tap list will consist of specialty draft beers from Allagash incorporating various wine grapes, yeast or barrels, featuring Victor Victoria, Two Lights and Interlude Vintage 2016.
• Mills River Brewery will host its first Oktoberfest beer release and party on Saturday, Sept. 30, from 3-9 p.m. Food will be available from Big Mike’s BBQ and there will be live music.
• Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. will host its third annual Oktoberfest on Saturday, Sept. 30, from 5-10 p.m. at the brewery in Mills River. This year’s Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest, brewed in collaboration with Germany’s Brauhaus Miltenberger, will be featured alongside other Sierra Nevada brews that can be procured with beer/pretzel tickets available for sale in advance or at the festival. The celebration will also feature a chicken-dance contest, mustache competition, glass-blowing demonstration and live music. Tickets are $45, which includes a contemporary German meal provided by the Sierra Nevada Taproom, a commemorative beer stein, entertainment, shuttle and one drink or pretzel ticket.