Charleston Brewvival
We had a blast last weekend at Charleston Brewvival. First a first go at hosting a beer fest, we’ve got to say that our friends at COAST Brewing and Charleston Beer Exchange really blew it out! Firstly, Brewvival was not an invitational open. “Opens” are festivals throughout the year to which breweries are invited. Breweries can send whatever beers they want and it often costs nothing more than just travel expenses. These are the many, countless festivals nationwide that a brewery can take part in, so who goes to what can often be last-minute or just basically a crap shoot. (Much of it depends on city’s and festivals’ reputations.) Brewvival was an “invitational”—an organized, planned festival where the organizers actually bought the beer. In other words, these were hand-selected brews of the rarest and hard-to-find kind. We had so many things we never had before, and in some cases, may never have again. And the fest was not for the newbie or faint of heart either—many strong brews with much food and water required. The cost of $50/pp was a little hefty for some wallets, but as the saying goes, you get what you pay for and at Brewvival, you definitely got that and then some! We almost wish Brewgrass would switch to this type of fest even if it means the cost goes up a bit. Asheville would dig it!

Up above is Jason & I sharing a beer with Greg Koch from Stone Brewing Company. And we also got to meet Patrick Rue from The Bruery! More pics on the Bruisin’ Ales FB Page. We’re sad to say we forgot the camera, so you gotta deal with the crappy Blackberry phone pics…

New this week… errr, rather last week
We didn’t even get the New This Week up before we left. We’re sorry. Here you go!

BREW DOG Divine Rebel Barleywine (collaboration w/ Mikkeller)
BREW DOG Storm IPA
BREW DOG Tokyo*
FLYING DOG Raging Bitch Belgian IPA 20th Anniversary Ale*
FOUNDERS Double Trouble IPA* (back in stock)
HOPPIN’ FROG Hop Dam Triple IPA*
PINKUS Münster Alt
THE BRUERY Saison de Lente*
THIRSTY DOG Cerberes Belgian-style Tripel
WEYERBACHER Heresy Oak-aged Imperial Stout*

[UPDATE: Thanks for Uncle Jedi for clarifying my wording. Some days I just have the dumb.]