Le Baladin dinner gets some ink
Thanks to the Citizen-Times for giving our upcoming five-course Le Baladin Italian beer dinner some ink in the paper and online. Have you made reservations yet? It’s filling up. Call La Caterina 254-1148. Cost is $60/pp, inclusive of tax and gratuity.

Avery in the news
The Beer Guy ran his story yesterday from the interview with Adam Avery while at our humble storefront last week. There’s also a Podcast here.

French Broad updates
Drew is cranking out the new brews over at French Broad Brewery. The Alt is quite literally flying out the door, having taken the place of the Marzen for the winter months. Next week, just in time for Thanksgiving, look for FBB’s very first hand-bottled brew—Wee-Heaviest. This cranked up Belgian Scottish-style ale clocks in at 9% abv. We tasted it, still uncarbonated, and it’s going to be a hit. They’re also going to release a Flander’s Abbey Ale and a stout for the colder months.

Pisgah with a cork and cage
The rumor mill is spinning with the word that Pisgah’s Belgian Noël, Baptista, is going to be packaged in true Belgian style this year in a 750ml bottle with a cork and a cage. There’s nothing quite like popping that cork. Also, Equinox is back for the fall and winter, so if you didn’t know, come and get your growler.

Highland Cold Mountain is coming
Highland Brewing Co. is bottling today! We’ve been told it’s going to hit the distributor quite possibly tomorrow (Friday). We should see it hit the shelves by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. If you want to pre-order, call the store 828-252-8999. We’ve got a waiting list. Seriously!

Get Festive
Sweetwater’s Festive Ale is arriving tomorrow. The brewery would really like to bring it to Asheville this year on draft. Ask your favorite local taproom or bar to add it to the tap lines this holiday season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we always travel with BeerFly print-outs, it was a pleasant surprise to meet Scott and Michael of Ted’s Butcher Block at the High Cotton dinner. Ted’s was already on our list. They seemed excited to meet us and Scott even reads our blog—wow!!!—so we gratefully accepted the invite to drop by today before leaving town. This amazing little market café is a gastonomic dream with world cheeses, wine, a small but top-notch beer selection, a butcher’s counter and a sandwich menu that is nearly impossible to choose from. (We went with the New Orleans panini and had no regrets.)

While we waited on paninis and shopped, Michael broke-out something from his personal stash—the brand new Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence, brewed for Ommegang’s tenth anniversary. What a treat! It’s made with Belgian chocolate and having not really had any coffee this morning, it was the perfect thing to have before lunch for a little kick. Sweet and bitter at the same time, we loved it so much that we’re going to be making some calls this week to get the scoop. This is a must-have beer for the holiday season.

At Ted’s, we were able to expand our vintages of Thomas Hardy’s, as well as add a few things to the beer cellar with Coopers Vintage Ale, De Troch’s Chapeau Framboise, Satan, some Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza and a few of the new-label Koningshoeven Quadrupel (a brew we can no longer get for whatever reason). It was a tidy little beer haul and nifty little place. We look forward to their visit to Ashvegas so we can reciprocate!

Finally, before heading home, we rounded-out the beer run with a stop at Whole Foods in Charleston, where we scored four brews from the portfolio of Cisco Brewers in Nantucket, including the Bailey’s Ale, Moor Porter, Captain Swain’s Extra Stout, and Celebration Libation. A quick run into Green’s in Columbia netted us some New Holland Black Tulip and Dragon’s Milk, as well as a sweet stash of 3 Monts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later that evening, we attended the Brooklyn Brewery beer dinner with Garrett Oliver at High Cotton, part of Maverick Southern Kitchens. High Cotton is a lovely restaurant down by the Old Market on East Bay and this is the second time Garrett has hosted for them. It’s a good fit, after chatting briefly with Patrick Emerson, Maverick’s wine and beverage director. Garrett is a big proponent of Slow Food, saying that brewing is part of the movement by cultivating hand-crafted beer over time.

We really enjoyed the braised beef and vidalia soup with gruyere—a southern version of traditional French onion soup. Paired with the East India Pale Ale, all the flavors just exploded. Our favorite course was the white fish, which was wrapped and steamed in banana leaves with rice and spiced curry sauce. This was paired with Local 1 and to no surprise, it was delectable. The spices paired perfectly with the sweet notes of Local 1, creating nice contrast. Even the one glitch in the dinner—a spoiled Brooklyn Brown keg—was turned into a learning experience with a quick-on-his-feet, Jason Gavin (our southern rep for Brooklyn) running to some nearby local accounts to pick-up the bottled version. More glasses were brought to the table for Garrett’s lesson in how beer spoils! Everyone learned something, we still got the beer for the course, and no one even cared. The final dessert course—a Black Chocolate Stout float—was a mouthful of fluffy, chocolatey foam complete with pralines. We are still full nearly 24-hours later.

(Yes, we know. Another Garrett picture. But this one has Jason in it, so please let it slide.)

Mark your calendars: Jason Gavin of Brooklyn Brewery is coming to Bruisin’ Ales for an in-store tasting on Dec. 6. He’s bringing brews that will make this tasting particularly special. More news on that coming soon!

We just got back from a two-night stay in Charleston where we went to conduct some research and development while educating ourselves at the Brooklyn Brewery beer dinner at High Cotton with Garrett Oliver. This is quite possibly the absolute worst part of our jobs, going to new beer places and meeting new beer people. That was a joke. It’s our favorite part of the job, which we take seriously enough to travel in search of beer and breweries and education. (Even the sister-in-law conducted a covert operation at Michigan’s Founders Brewing Company while on business this week to procure some Kentucky Breakfast Stout and we hear they are nice folks up there!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First stop was the fresh-as-a-baby Coast Brewing Company, owned and operated by Pop the Cap SC’s own Jaime and David. (David still brews for nearby Palmetto Brewing Company, too.) Coast is a “green” brewery with reused equipment of beautiful copper kettles, organic ingredients, a biodiesel-powered boiler, and a plan for recycling that includes feeding spent grain to “happy cows.” Even their hand-crafted tap handles—shaped like surfboards and branded with the “C” from their logo—are made from discarded wood. Coast has only been up-and-running about six months, but they’ve already got three full-time brews being picked-up all over Charleston. First was 32/50 Kolsch, which thankfully we were able to taste before the keg sputtered on empty. The sample straight from the tank was a real treat, too—unfiltered with all the yeast just swimmin’ in there. (We love that.) Second, a personal favorite, was the Chocolate Rye Brown, a classic brown ale with just enough hop on the end for a fresh finish. Last was the HopArt IPA, a sneaky 7.7% abv with plenty of hop flavor to keep your tastebuds whirling. There’s also a new Russian Imperial Stout just four days young in the tank, but the subtle flavor of smoked barley is peeking out from behind already. Even better, their friend Les, of Gravity Distributing got us a fresh oven-baked artisan pizza from EVO called the Pork Trifecta. That is the best pizza name ever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While we were visiting, a certain Garrett Oliver showed-up, much to our surprise and luck, so we hung around there and got some photos of Garrett, Jaime, David and Jason lurking around the brewery together. Some might think that a guy of Garrett’s stature would be too busy to make this little visit, but take that as a lesson: You’re never too big for a little beer. (And, if you’re wondering about the Texas Pete bottle… we got talking about hot sauce and Garrett had never had the stuff, so David gave him some to take home.) These folks are great fun—and they love what they’re doing—so, next time you head to the coast, visit Coast in the old Navy yard and check ‘em out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the last few months, more and more people have been asking us to help them put together private tasting flights, catered parties and corporate beer dinners. They’ve been so successful and we’ve had so much fun doing them, that we just want to shout it to the world: We personalize beer events! (We’re especially excited for the group from Volvo that is having a beer dinner at the quaint Chef in Motion.)

We can help you organize a fun night in or a sophisticated night out, complete with pairing suggestions and tasting notes. Celebrate your love of beer this non-denominational-winter-holiday at a customized beer event with your friends and family, or staff and co-workers. For details, call the store and ask for Jason.

Not sure what a beer dinner is like? Join us for the upcoming Le Baladin Italian beer dinner at La Caterina on November 13.

Now is also a wonderful time to tell us what you’re serving on Turkey Day, so we can match and pre-order the perfect Thanksgiving brews. Add flair to the holiday table with a unique beer!

Beer + holidays = YUM.