Beer today, gone tomorrow: Asheville beer happenings Jan. 31-Feb. 6

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.

Special events

• On Tuesday, Jan. 31, Appalachian Vintner will host a tap takeover with Avery Brewing founder and owner Adam Avery from 4:30-7:30 p.m. Avery will be on hand to meet customers and talk about some of the special beers on draft, including the recently retired Mephistopheles Imperial Stout, Raspeberry Sour and the brewery’s flagship lineup.
• In celebration of International Gruit Day, Burial Beer Co. will tap two small-batch gruits brewed in collaboration with Massachusetts-based Cambridge Brewing Co. The first, The Root of Our Addiction is a 5 percent ABV gruit brewed in the style of a stout with a complex, roasty malt bill and the addition of roasted dandelion root, roasted carob, roasted chicory and maca powder and bittered with mugwort. The second, Koyt Pond Gruit with Botanicals is a tribute to the historical style called koyt beer indigenous to Holland with over half of the fermentables coming from British flaked oats and British oat malt. Brewed with Massachusetts-grown wheat malted at Valley Malt in Hadley, Mass., and North American two-row barley malt with the addition of wormwood, roasted chicory, roasted dandelion, borage, coriander, grains of paradise, heather tips and spruce tips. More information about International Gruit Day and this pre-Reinheitsgebot German style can be found here.
• Pisgah Brewing will release a new beer on Friday, Feb. 3, in advance of the brewery’s ninth annual Stout Hog Day, which kicks off at noon Sunday, Feb. 5, at the brewery in Black Mountain. Pisgah Mole Stout boasts a grain bill of five organic roasted malts with brewer’s oats, and is aged on raw cocoa nibs from French Broad Chocolates, raw Madagascar vanilla beans, raw cinnamon and fire-roasted guajillo, habanero and anchillo peppers. The taproom will offer 22-ounce bottles starting at 2 p.m. on Feb. 3, and the beer will remain on draft through the Stout Hog holiday weekend. Stout Hog Day will feature a taproom full of stouts and darks, including some of Pisgah’s finest darker brews as well as a special collection of local and sought-after stouts. Nine out of the 18 stout-dedicated taps will feature Pisgah’s own recipes, including the Great American Beer Festival gold medal-winning Chocolatized, Valdez, Mountain County Stout and the new Mole Stout.
• On Friday, Feb. 3, Asheville Brewing Co. will release a special beer brewed with Southern rock/country band Blackberry Smoke. Like an Arrow Blackberry Wheat Ale will be released at the band’s show at Asheville’s Thomas Wolfe Auditorium and at Asheville Brewing’s locations starting at 5 p.m. The band will play a special acoustic fundraising show at the The Millroom from 5-6 p.m. that same day, with all proceeds from ticket sales and a portion of proceeds from beer sales donated to the fundraising efforts of the Shepherd’s Men on behalf of the SHARE Military Initiative at Shepherd Center in Atlanta (the band’s hometown). The Shepherd’s Men annually campaign to raise resources and awareness for injured post-9/11 war veterans being treated for traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder at SHARE. Proceeds will also benefit Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. Doors open for The Millroom show at 4 p.m., and tickets are $22 (because 22 is the number of U.S. veteran suicides that occur daily). Named for Blackberry Smoke’s new critically acclaimed album, “Like An Arrow,” the 5.2 percent ABV ale is hopped with Nelson Sauvin and Mosaic to balance out the sweetness of its blackberry infusion. The beer will be sold on draft at all Asheville Brewing Co. locations, at The Millroom for Blackberry Smoke’s acoustic set and at the show at Thomas Wolfe, as well as in 22-ounce bottles at Asheville Brewing locations.

Small-batch beers

• On Tuesday, Jan. 31, Oskar Blues will tap its small-batch Rye Blonde, a 5.5 percent ABV hop-forward blonde ale with rye finished with Galaxy and Mosaic.
• On Thursday, Feb. 2, Catawba Brewing will release its Small-Batch Belgian Tripel (9 percent ABV) at all locations. This abbey-style golden ale was fermented with La Chouffe yeast, and includes additions of Belgian candi sugar and golden raisins. Brewed in Catawba’s Asheville South Slope brewhouse, this is Passport Beer No. 5 in the brewery’s rewards program for 2017.
• **NEW** Green Man Brewing has released this year’s Green Man and the Chocolate Factory on draft and in package at specialty retailers and taprooms around town. This year’s beer is an imperial breakfast stout
• **NEW** Foothills Brewing Co. has released this year’s Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout on draft and in 22 oz bottles at specialty bars and retailers. At 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4 representatives from foothills will be on hand at Barley’s Taproom with free swag and Foothills beers including Sexual Chocolate on draft both upstairs and down.