Archive for June, 2008

This morning we got a phone call from Carl Melissas, brewmaster at Asheville’s new Wedge Brewing Co., telling us that Gollum will be tapped this coming Friday. Gollum is Melissas’ (practically legendary) Belgian Strong Ale. Gollum disappeared when Melissas left Green Man Ales and we’re pretty sure there are a buttload of folks that will happy to see it return to our fair city.

We also spoke with Tim Schaller, owner of The Wedge, this week and he wants us to spread the word that the tasting room is now open Monday through Saturday.

Jolly Pumpkin has reappeared. (We’re talking to you, Scott.) Hooray that we’re seeing the Fantome Printemps for the first time, though our distributor got shafted on the Hiver, which we also requested. And, Weyerbacher has a new brew that is being released outside Pennsylvania for the first time. Slam Dunkel. Great name.

ATLANTA BREWING Red Brick Ale
AZALEA COAST East Coast India Pale Ale
AZALEA COAST Teach’s Chocolate Stout
FANTOME Saison
FANTOME Printemps*
JOLLY PUMPKIN Calabaza Blanca
JOLLY PUMPKIN La Roja
JOLLY PUMPKIN Oro de la Calabaza
MAGIC HAT Lucky Kat IPA
SCHNEIDER Aventinus 2004 Vintage*
WEYERBACHER Slam Dunkel*

Well, the computer has officially bit it. Fried. Dead. Unresponsive. As it goes, the freaky reason was that dust and gunk built-up on the heat sink, then we had a few power outages which first hit the sound card, then fried the motherboard. Sheesh. We’re buildling a new one as we speak, so hopefully the new machine will show up on the doorstep next week. It’s a little strange that we get so attached to geeky things—we’ve had the old 25″ tan monitor for over 10 years—and it was custom built by LP, our friend and Master of All Things Computer.

Please be patient with us as we get ourselves back on the Internets. We are craving Fark and The Onion.

Our computer is ill. We’ll be hopefully posting again by the end of the week.

Ashvegas gets props as an upcoming beer city
The most recent issue of national mag, All About Beer, features none other than… Asheville! But for some reason we have not received our copies yet. We’re working on it. (The article is not online.) Rumor is that a humble storefront called Bruisin’ Ales gets a mention, but that’s conjecture at this point.

Beer restaurant in China
As further proof of beer’s world takeover, a Quindao restaurant has opened with a beer theme. “The city has a beer themed restaurant where every dish and dessert is made with beer. Customers also sit around beer barrel-shaped tables while waiters wear clothes look like beer bottles.” I’d say dressing like a beer bottle is quite the dose of “flair.” [Chinadaily.com]

New craft beer store in the Twin Cities
Is it a trend? Until now only three dedicated beer stores were in existence (that we know of). Well, folks, The Four Firkins, in St. Louis Park, Minn., is having its grand opening this Saturday. They have Surly there. You can’t help but be jealous of that. [StarTribune.com]

Recession won’t affect beer
Whew! Well, that’s good news. The Nielson Company just released a report at the Consumer 360 Conference in Arizona. “The most recession-proof items are seafood, dry pasta, candy, beer and pasta sauces.” [azcentral.com]

Happy weekend, everyone!