Archive for December, 2008

Just kidding! Who in the world has time for a “Year in Review?” Not us and especially not when you need beer. And, believe us when we say, you people require a lot of beer. Especially during the holidays. Perhaps you’ve stopped by and witnessed one of us prancing over boxes and people like graceful gazzelles—ok, truth be told, not graceful. We’ve both got some war wounds from running into/over/under things in the past week while trying to procure beer, boxes, or both, but we are grateful you keep coming in, because unlike Michigan, Asheville loves its beer and won’t compromise on that. Bravo!

Open beer skate, anyone?
Ah, Germany. You couldn’t accept that Oktoberfest was your way to one-up the world. Now you’ve gone and created the beer lake. If you could replicate the beer lake during Oktoberfest, then you win, hands down.

An unwanted experience
Some might like it, but this is one experience we could do without. Oh, and don’t miss the caption: “An actor explains the brewing process while stirring a steaming cauldron full of “wort”—the mash that is mixed with yhttp://www.clipart.com/east before beer is fermented.” Stay classy, Amsterdam!

No more beer with “brekky” in Oz
As of Wednesday, Queenslanders can no longer have a brew with breakfast. Instead of starting the taps at 9 a.m., hardcore beer and breakfast folks will have to wait until 10 a.m.—one entire hour later. Geez, that wait has got to kill you, right? George the Bastard is now even happier he lives in the States.

Brats and feta?
Oh, hell yeah! Sounds delish. Why do they never make a beer style suggestion in recipes? Again, it’s the arbitrary “one bottle of ale.”

Misleading headline
We’re pretty sure this won’t cure anyone. So, please don’t stop treatment and start frying up steaks in beer non-stop. But overall, it is pretty interesting and scientific. … Oh, wait. Crap.

The 1000+ laid-off ABInBev workers
Folks gave free beer and job-seeking advice to those left behind. (pun intended) What we love most about this story is that many of the laid-off workers drank Schlafly’s, a nifty little St. Louis craft brewer. Will the St. Louis brewing tradition be upheld and rebuilt in the shadow of misfortune? Let’s hope so!

Happy New Year, everyone! Cheers!

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate (or don’t). Quite a load of new things arrived during my trip to Pennsylvania for the Mom’s 60th Birthday Bash. A little respite from blogging has us refreshed and ready to go for New Year! A few new locals arrived in bottles from Asheville Brewing and French Broad, giving us loads more of our Asheville brews for folks to take home after vacationing in the mountains. And one extremely rare and special brew arrived from Scotland, Orkney’s Dark Island Reserve. Here’s the full line-up:

ASHEVILLE BREWING Old School Pale Ale
ASHEVILLE BREWING Ninja Porter
BIG BOSS Aces & Ates Coffee Stout*
FOUR + BREWING CO. Monkshine
FRENCH BROAD BREWING Gateway Kölsch
LAGUNITAS Ruben & The Jets*
LEFT HAND BREWING Smoke Jumper Smoked Imperial Porter*
LEFT HAND BREWING Snowbound*
LEFT HAND BREWING Warrior Fresh Hop*
NORTH COAST Old Plowshare Stout
NEW HOLLAND Cabin Fever Brown Ale*
NEW HOLLAND Pilgrim’s Dole*
ORKNEY Dark Island Reserve* (very limited!)
UINTA Barleywine XV

Hope everyone gets exactly what they wanted—which should include beer—and has the merriest of days!

~Julie & Jason

Thanks to Dad A. for giving us some blog fodder for today! This half is heading out on holiday tomorrow, so expect less than stellar blog postings for the upcoming week.

12 Most Common Beer Myths

It has happened. It’s official. You heard it here first. Skyland Distributing just sealed the deal with New Belgium Brewing, which means that in Spring of 2009, Fat Tire will hit WNC.

Oh, how long have we wished for this day, the day when you ask us “Do you have Fat Tire?” and we answer with an enthusiastic ”Yes.” It is, by far, THE most asked question at Bruisin’ Ales, and frankly, it makes us insane. Fat Tire is a good, solid beer, but it is not the country’s best beer. Nor is it the brewery’s best beer. As folks who’ve worked in marketing forever, until opening the humble storefront, Fat Tire is more of a symbol of fantastic promotion than brewing genius. That being said—and we’re prepared for the heat—we are extremely happy to welcome New Belgium into the fold. They are a great brewery. With many of their Belgian-style beers ranking higher than their American Amber flagship.

Trust us, if you’ve only had Fat Tire, you’ve not yet had the best by New Belgium. But that’s not a bad thing, is it?

[On a totally unrelated note: Asheville is on Google Street Maps now! Wheeee!]