Four weeks ago, we asked you to help Asheville Brewing Company rename their Brown Ale, once called Scottish Ale, and then referred to as Boogie Down Brown. More than 100 of you submitted close to 300 creative and brew-inspired entries.
After much deliberation and debate, the owners at ABC decided that the new beer will be christened Stuntman Brown Ale. The other two finalists were Outlaw Ale by Sean McNeal and Beer City Brown by Geoff Hughes (Outlaw had already been registered by another brewery).
Congrats to Millie Bryant for submitting the winning name. She will receive not just the glory of naming a local beer, but two tickets to the Brewgrass Festival on Sept. 18, $100 worth of gift cards to Asheville Brewing Company and other beer-related swag. Thanks to all of you who participated. You can see all the submitted names for the beer at www.brewgasm.com. Go forth and quaff some delicious Stuntman Brown Ale on draught at both Asheville Brewing Company locales.
Pack’s Tavern and Bruisin’ Ales beer shop are hosting the Blind Eye Beer Battle on Thursday, Aug. 26, from 6 to 9 p.m. in the upstairs area at Pack’s. It’ll be the first in a series of educational blind beer tastings that will be co-hosted by these two businesses.
Bruisin’ Ales owners Jason and Julie Atallah will select the beers from local, regional and national favorites. Teams of eight will be given scorecards and blindly sample, taste and judge two flights of beer styles — porters and India Pale Ales. Three-ounce samples of eight beers of each style will be provided, along with dishes designed to complement the beers by Pack’s Executive Chef Edwin French.
Each team of eight will discuss and rate the beers. In addition to judging the brews, individual judges will also get to guess which beer they are sampling.
The overall favorite beer will become Pack’s Tavern Beer of the Month pint special. The top three people who correctly guess the most beer brands will be awarded prizes, including gift certificates and brewery-abilia. Cost is $30 per person. For reservations, call Pack’s Tavern: 225-6944.
Brews Cruise owners Mark and Trish Lyons have licensed the Asheville Brews Cruise brewery tour brand to Joel Bender, former guest services manager for the Grove Park Inn. The Lyons, who also set up a Brews Cruise licensee in Denver, will expand their business to Bend, Ore. The couple will relocate there in mid-September. Asheville Brews Cruise tours will continue as scheduled. Check the website for information. The Lyons will still help organize Asheville’s annual Winter Warmer Beer Festival, slated to take place on January 22, 2011.
Oktoberfest beers seem to get released earlier and earlier each year, which is fine by me, as they’re among my favorites.
Beating the other local breweries to the punch, Lexington Avenue Brewery has already released their Oktoberfest Marzen beer. Speaking of punch, it comes in at seven-percent alcohol per volume, and is available on tap at their brewpub at 39 N. Lexington Ave.
Highland Brewing Company releases their latest mountain-monikered seasonal, Clawhammer Oktoberfest, around September 1. It’s a full-bodied Marzen made with, of course, all German hops, that comes in at five-percent alcohol by volume. It’ll be available on tap and in 12-ounce bottles throughout the region.
Pisgah Brewing Company’s Oktoberfest beer is in the fermenter and should be on draught in their Taproom and around town by the end of September. The Pisgah folks say it was the Southeast’s first organic lager and leans toward authentic German domestic versions of this seasonal.
French Broad Brewery is clearing the decks to start brewing their Zepptemberfest, a Marzen brewed with a Kolsch yeast. All of these beers are lagers, which means they take longer to brew than ales. But look for French Broad’s take on the style regionally on tap and in 22-ouncers by the end of September as well.
At Craggie Brewing Company, head brewer Bill Drew is test batching a mix of the Doppelbock and the Toubab Brewe (a Bavarian-Style Zwickel) beers to make an Oktoberfest brew. Drew also has brewed a wheat beer with apple wood branches from Hendersonville apple orchards for the North Carolina Apple Festival in Hendersonville on Sept. 3 – 6. That beer will be available around the area and at Lexington Avenue Arts Fun Festival on Sept. 5 as well.
If you’d like to try all of these Oktoberfest-y beers and more, plan to attend the second Annual Asheville Oktoberfest. Located on Wall Street downtown (kind of like a bier garten), it’s organized by the Asheville Downtown Association and will run from noon till 6 p.m.
Thank you for the lagers, y’all.
Asheville Brewing Company’s Moog Filtered Ale was featured in a write-up in Wired Magazine this month. Wired loves the geeky science aspect of this beer, brewed to benefit Asheville’s Bob Moog Foundation and released on the anniversary of what would have been the world-famous inventor’s 76th birthday (May 27). Alas, the brew has sold out, but Asheville Brewing’s Mike Rangel says they’ll roll the filtered pale ale back out during MoogFest, on Oct. 29 – 31.
It’ll be on sale at the Asheville Civic Center and the Orange Peel throughout that weekend’s musical extravaganza. Rangel says proceeds from the sale of the beer to the Foundation total more than $5,000 so far. He expects the final donation to be $7,000 or $8,000.
Green Man will also have an Oktoberfest beer release in September.
The ADA Oktoberfest will feature Oktoberfest brews from Craggie, Green Man, Highland, French Broad and Pisgah.