Beer today, gone tomorrow: Asheville beer happenings Sept. 6-12

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

• On Friday, Sept. 9, at 6 p.m., Hi-Wire Brewing releases Pink Drink (4.2 percent ABV) in 16-ounce cans. Four-packs of the tart wheat ale with lemongrass and raspberries are available for $12 at Hi-Wire’s South Slope Speciality Brewery and will see limited distribution in mid-September.
• **NEW** Wicked Weed Brewing La Bonté Plum (6.5 percent ABV) is available at the Funkatorium and Brewpub and will be in limited distribution next week. The Brett Farmhouse Ale is open fermented with Wicked Weed house Brettanomyces culture, blended with a portion of its golden sour and with a half pound-per-gallon of Italian Plums, then aged in the brewery’s foeder until it’s ready for package.

Small-batch beers

• **NEW** Burial Beer Co. has three new releases this week. The Head of Medusa Black Saison (6.2 percent ABV) debuts Wednesday, Sept. 7, and is brewed with a malt bill of Riverbend pilsner, rye and wheat, flaked oats and honey malt and hopped with Northern Brewer and fresh Cascade. Thursday, Sept. 8 brings The Brazen Serpent Lemongrass Saison (4.3 percent ABV), brewed with lemongrass from Burial’s urban garden and hopped with Southern Cross, followed by Pallbearer Oaked Black Rye IPA (6.66 percent ABV), aged on Bourbon soaked oak spirals, on Saturday, Sept. 10.
• Catawba Brewing Co. releases Liquidlogic Fest Bier (5.3 percent ABV) on Thursday, Sept. 8. The Oktoberfest Märzen is a collaboration with local kayak manufacturer Liquidlogic. It will be available only in Catawba’s three tasting rooms (Asheville South Slope, Asheville Biltmore Village and Morganton) and at the Gauley Fest whitewater paddling event, to be held Sept. 15-18 in Summersville, W.Va.
• Green Man Brewery releases Native Berry Berliner Weisse on Friday, Sept. 9. The beer was made in honor of the 100th birthday of the National Park Service and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation.
• **NEW** On Saturday, Sept. 10, Lookout Brewing Co. releases Sour Town Brown Ale and Bloody Nectar Sour Ale. Sour Town Brown is a sour version of Lookout’s Dark Town Brown, fermented with its house sour yeast, and Bloody Nectar Sour is a blonde sour aged since January with blood orange zest and spiked with South Carolina white nectarines in July.
• **NEW** One World Brewing releases Wet Hop American Summer IPA and Wet Hop Saison on Saturday, Sept. 10. The first two offerings in its seasonal wet hop series are made the same exact grain and hop bill and use exclusively North Carolina grown Chinook and Cascade hops picked and pitched within 24 hours from field to kettle.

Special events

• The monthly Monk Beer Academy class at the Downtown Thirsty Monk takes place Tuesday, Sept. 6, from 7-8 p.m. and focuses on Brettanomyces. Draft quality manager and certified cicerone Jeremiah Tracy leads the informative guided tasting. The class is complimentary and the tasting flight typically costs $12-17. Space is limited, and spots may be reserved online.
• Bruisin’ Ales‘ free weekly tasting on Thursday, Sept. 8, from 5-7 p.m., features selections from Left Hand Brewing Co. Samples of Oktoberfest, Extrovert IPA, Rye on the Prize Imperial Red Rye Ale, Wicked Juju Imperial Herb Spice Ale and Wake Up Dead Nitro Russian Imperial Stout will be poured.
• Tasty Beverage Co. taps a keg of Fullsteam Brewery 9-Volt Sour IPA (6.5 percent ABV) on Thursday, Sept. 8, at 5:30 p.m.
• On Friday, Sept. 9, at 5 p.m., Bruisin’ Ales begins selling a limited quantity of bottles of Serpent, a collaboration between Brooklyn Brewery and Thornbridge Brewery. The Belgian-style golden strong ale was aged on Oliver’s Cider and Perry lees in empty Four Roses bourbon barrels for over a year before being bottle-conditioned and aged for another year. Samples of additional Brooklyn offerings will be poured until 7 p.m.
• Hi-Wire Brewing‘s inaugural Oktoberfest: Bavarian Games & Beer takes place Saturday, Sept. 10, from 1-7 p.m. at its Big Top location. Admission is $15 and includes a Hi-Wire Oktoberfest stein and a 32-ounce fill. Additional stein fills will be $6. Brats, pretzels, gingerbread cookies and more will be available from Foothills Local Meats. Team and individual events occur throughout the day — registration on-site — including a brat toss, stein hoisting, grain sack tossing, tricycle racing and ring tossing. The event concludes with a hot dog eating contest featuring hot dogs made by Foothills from locally raised meats. The entry fee is $20 and includes a commemorative T-shirt. The contestant who eats the most dogs in five minutes receives a $200 cash prize. Advance registration is required for the contest.