Join us tomorrow from 5:00-7:00pm with Paul Breeding from LoneRider!

This year, Bruisin’ Ales once again was voted #1 Beer Store in the Mountain XPress special editions “Best of WNC.” In addition, you all seemed to like our tweets on Twitter enough for another #1 for “Best Twitterer.” (Well, my tweets, since Jason doesn’t tweet, and further, calls me the “in-store nerd.”) We’re excited and happy and bursting with joy. We’re grateful. The truth is, if you didn’t drink all this awesome beer, we wouldn’t even be in business, so this award belongs to you as much as it does to us. Let’s share it and crack open a frothy beverage. We know that Asheville is the place to be and if we could, we would vote all of you #1, too.

[Photo used with permission by the awesomely talented human, Zen Sutherland.]

We’re so excited about this event, it’s a miracle that my mouth stayed shut about it. We have been wanting to do a blind tasting for ages now and it’s finally happening. Better yet, it’s just the first one. Check out the details below and we’ll see you there!

Pack’s Tavern & Bruisin’ Ales presents the inaugural Blind Eye Beer Battle

ASHEVILLE, NC—Pack’s Tavern and Bruisin’ Ales are hosting the inaugural Blind Eye Beer Battle series on Thursday, August 26, 6:00-9:00 p.m. The event will be held in the Century Room upstairs at Pack’s Tavern. This is the first in a series of educational and entertaining blind beer tastings that will be co-hosted throughout the year.

Bruisin’ Ales proprietors, Jason and Julie Atallah, will select the beers from local, regional and national favorites. Teams  of eight will be given score cards and blindly sample, taste and judge two flights of beer styles—Porters and India Pales Ales. Three ounce samples of eight beers of each style—that’s 16 beers total, eight porters, eight IPA’s—will be provided along with culinary delights to compliment the beers (and cleanse the palate) by Pack’s Tavern Executive Chef Edwin French.

Each team of eight community judges will discuss and rate the beers provided with a team captain tallying results as we go. In addition to judging on appearance, taste, and aroma, judges will also have to guess which beer they are sampling.

The overall favorite beer, based on total scores, will become Pack’s Tavern Beer of the Month pint special. As an added bonus, individual judges also have a chance at winning. The top three people who correctly guess the most beer brands blindly, will be awarded prizes from the hosts, including gift certificates and breweriana.

Only seven teams of eight will be allowed to participate for a total of 56 community judges. Cost per person is $30.

Pack’s Tavern is located at 20 South Spruce Street in downtown Asheville. Make reservations with credit card by calling Pack’s Tavern at (828) 225-6944.

Follow Pack’s Tavern on Twitter at @packstavern and Bruisin’ Ales at @bruisinales for information leading up to the event.

The poll is OPEN for Charlie Papazian’s “BeerCity, USA” 2010. Help us keep Asheville on top! Spread the word near and far about all the beer culture we have in a little mountain city.

Last year Asheville tied with Portland, OR—a city with many more breweries and many more people. But I think Asheville’s beer passion speaks for itself. We’re not resting on our laurels!

GO VOTE!

Big thanks to the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce for putting out this new radio spot on 98.1 the River, Mix 96.5, 105.9 The Mountain, and ESPN 1310 and 970. Cheers, y’all!

HUGE congratulations to our North Carolina breweries that took medals at the World Beer Cup last week!

Category 6: Spiced Beer >> SILVER: Lemongrass Wheat
OuterBanks Brewing Company
Kill Devil Hills, NC

Category 62: Sweet Stout >> GOLD: Mike Stout
Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery
Farmville, NC

Category 66: Old Ale >> SILVER: Irish Walker Barleywine
Olde Hickory Taproom
Hickory, NC

Category 69: American-style Imperial Stout >> SILVER: Sexual Chocolate
Foothills Brewing Company
Winston-Salem, NC

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The list below represents medals given to the brands of Tryon Distributors from the World Beer Cup that just took place last week at the Craft Brewers Conference in Chicago. Check http://www.worldbeercup.org/winners.html to see the entire list. (Thank you, Chris Mincey!)

All of these beers can be found at Bruisin’ Ales! Come try an award-winner!

Category 4: Rye Beer (22 Entries)

Category 5: Fruit Beer or Field Beer (86 Entries)

Category 12: Experimental Beer (51 Entries)

Category 15: American-Belgo-Style Ale (46 Entries)

Category 19: Aged Beer (20 Entries)

Category 27: Vienna-Style Lager (28 Entries)

Category 41: Belgian-Style Witbier (47 Entries)

Category 42: Belgian- and French-Style Ale (57 Entries)

Category 46: Belgian-Style Dubbel (29 Entries)

Category 48: Belgian-Style Pale Strong Ale (33 Entries)

Category 49: Belgian-Style Dark Strong Ale (46 Entries)

Category 52: Classic English-Style Pale Ale (29 Entries)

Category 61: Robust Porter (64 Entries)

Category 62: Sweet Stout (25 Entries)

Category 63: Oatmeal Stout (34 Entries)

Category 67: Strong Ale (26 Entries)

Category 79: Golden or Blonde Ale (50 Entries)

Category 82: American-Style India Pale Ale (104 Entries)

Kick-off for Oskar Blues new imperial IPA—GUBNA! Join us in the tasting room tomorrow with reps from Colorado’s award-winng, canned apocalypse brewery Oskar Blues from 5-7pm. On the flight tomorrow:

Mama’s Little Yellow Pils
“Oskar Blues’ newest beer is an uncompromising, small-batch version of the beer that made Pilsen, Czech Republic famous. Unlike mass market “pilsners” diluted with corn & rice, Mama’s is built with 100% pale malt, German specialty malts, and Bavarian hops. While it’s rich with Czeched-out flavor, its gentle hopping (35 IBUs) and low ABV (just 5.3%) make it a luxurious but low-dose (by Oskar Blues standards) refresher.”

Dale’s Pale Ale
“America’s first hand-canned craft beer is a voluminously hopped mutha that delivers a hoppy nose, assertive-but-balanced flavors of pale malts and hops from start to finish. First canned in 2002, Dale’s Pale Ale is a hearty (6.5% and 65 IBUs), critically acclaimed trailblazer that has changed the way craft beer fiends perceive canned beer.”

Old Chub
“This jaw-dropping Scottish strong ale (8% ABV) is brewed with bodacious amounts of malted barley and specialty grains, and a dash of beechwood-smoked malt. Old Chub features a skim-milk mouthfeel, semi-sweet flavors of cocoa and coffee, and a kiss of smoke. A head-turning treat for malt heads and folks who think they don’t dig dark beer.”

Gordon
“Our “Velvet M-80” is a luscious, double-red ale with a gooey aroma, a sticky mouthfeel, a malty middle and unctuous hop flavors. Gordon also sports a surprisingly comfortable finish for a beer of its hefty size (8.7% ABV, 60 IBUs). It’s brewed in tribute to Gordon Knight, a Colorado craft beer pioneer and Vietnam vet who died fighting a 2002 wild fire outside of our Lyons hometown.”

Gubna
“Emphasizing that complexity of character can arise from simple elements, this ale is made with 3 malts and 1 hop. Its light amber color and slightly spicy malt character are derived from the use of German Dark Munich Malt and Rye Malt respectively. North American 2-row barley combines with the other grains to lay the foundation for the hop onslaught to come. Summit hops are used exclusively in the boil for bitterness, flavor and aroma but it doesn’t end there. Post-fermentation dry hopping allows the 10% ABV monstrosity to gently coax the citrus rind and grapefruit aroma to join the 100 IBUs already present. This beer will greet you with a pungent citrus blast, provide a spicy yet round middle and finish with a brisk, clean bitterness.” (10% ABV)

We’re honored! Thanks, Asheville!

Let me tell you something. When you’re tired and freaking out over more snow coming this weekend, you know what helps? Waking up to RateBeer’s annual RateBeerBest 2010 to find that your store is holding tight at the #3 spot for Best Beer Retailer Worldwide. Yeah, that helps! Wow, we’ve been busting it out again in 2009, but I’d be lying if I didn’t think we might slip a spot or two with all the new openings of stores that (kinda) follow our business model. We are so incredibly honored and thank you immensely for supporting your local, INDEPENDENT craft beer retailer.

And let’s not forget all the other NC winners! North Carolina is a GREAT state for craft beer! Cheers to craft beer! Beerlanthropy®, y’all.

–The Thirsty Monk (Asheville) #41 Beer Bar
–Barley’s Taproom & Pizzeria (Asheville) #27 Beer Restaurant
–Tyler’s Taproom (Raleigh) #36 Beer Restaurant
–Mellow Mushroom (Asheville) #41 Beer Restaurant
–Highland Brewing (Asheville) #26 Brewery to Visit
–Wedge Brewery (Asheville) #43 Brewpub (confusing, but we’ll take it)
–Duck Rabbit (Farmville) #43 Best Brewery
–Duck Rabbit (Farmville) #2 Best Beer/Dark Lager (Schwartzbier)
–Brawley’s Beverage (Charlotte) #35 Retailer
–Sam’s Quik Shop (Durham) #49 Retailer