This Friday, September 3, we’re pairing up with The Hop Ice Cream for more BEER FLOATS!

This week’s event is a benefit for our charity, FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway. FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway is a non-profit, volunteer organization that is dedicated to preserving and protecting the Blue Ridge Parkway, a national treasure. FRIENDS programs focus on preservation, protection and education. The monies we raise go directly to the Asheville Chapter, which is one of the most traveled (yet least funded) portions of the 469-mile scenic roadway.

$5.00/pp for three different beer floats!

• Antebellum Ale Ice Cream with Craggie Brewing Antebellum Ale
• Aztec Chocolate Ice Cream (with cinnamon & cayenne pepper) with Young’s Double Chocolate Stout
• Southern Comfort Ice Cream with Weyerbacher Insanity Bourbon Barrel-aged Barleywine

If you can’t join us, please consider an online donation to FRIENDS.

Firstly, big thanks to Pack’s Tavern for letting us use the beautiful Century Room (upstairs at the restaurant) to co-host the inaugural Blind Eye Beer Battle. While we definitely had some kinks in the process, overall the night was a gaggle of fun for about 40 beer people in attendance. This first BEBB featured a selection of local, regional and national brands of IPAs and Porters, eight in each category, with a pairing menu to die for.

We hope to do another in Fall!

The highest-rated IPAs: 1) Sweetwater IPA 2) Terrapin Hopsecutioner 3) Bell’s Two Hearted Ale
The highest-rated Porters: 1) Smuttynose Robust Porter 2) Founder’s Porter 3) Highland Oatmeal Porter

The upcoming Blind Eye Beer Battle we’re co-hosting at Pack’s Tavern just got even better with the release of the food pairing menu. The event is a blind beer tasting of IPA’s and Porters. Cost per person if $30. Make reservations with credit card by calling Pack’s Tavern at (828) 225-6944.

IPA’s

• Lamb Kabobs- seasoned ground lamb formed around and fried with a cucumber dipping sauce
• Sweetbreads- poached in IPA and seared, orange and chili pepper reduction with grilled black pepper peaches
• Sausages and Grilled Granny Smith Apples with Lusty Monk Mustard
• Rosemary Corncakes with Grapefruit Syrup
• Ginger Granita (shaved ice palate cleanser)

Porter’s

• Cheese Board- Cabrales, Humboldt Fog with Local Honey
• Papperdel with lamb and mushroom ragout
• Scallop with Arugula and Blackberry Couli
• Coconut Granita

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.

We’re into our second week of welcoming Sprecher Brewing Company from Milwaukee at the humble storefront and the brand is killing it. Many people are either from the area and happy to see it in their new locale; others know the reputation of one of America’s oldest craft breweries and couldn’t wait to try it again. So, for those of you that haven’t yet tried Sprecher beers, we’re having another special Friday Tasting this week, 5:00-7:00pm. Join us in the tasting room with the folks from Next Generation Beer Company—the newest distributor in Asheville.

What we’re sampling:

Black Bavarian: “This intensely dark Kulmbacher style lager has a superb malt complexity with the distinctive flavors and aromas of coffee, caramel and chocolate.” [Schwartzbier | 5.78% abv]

Abbey Tripel: “A Belgian Trappist triple yeast culture balanced with the finest imported pale barley, Belgian aromatic malt and oats, gives this golden ale a fruity bouquet and a light refined taste.” [Belgian-style Tripel | 8.41% abv]

IPA2: “This traditional ale was originally brewed in England for the British troops stationed in India. Double dry-hopped,it has intense hop flavors and aromas delicately balanced with a potent, yet delicious, malty sweetness.” [Imperial IPA | 7.5% abv]

Russian Imperial Stout: “Once brewed in Britain for the Russian Czars, this tremendously rich and thick ale uses a profusion of burnt and caramel malts. A massive mouthful of dark roasted malt and coffee flavors finishes with hints of chocolate, caramel & licorice.” [Russian Imperial Stout | 8.5% abv]

Don’t forget to pick up one of the Special Releases as well. We have both the Scotch Ale and the Bourbon barrel-aged Doppelbock.

A Public Apology: June 24th, 2010 from stonebrew on Vimeo.

In the constant struggle to make room for beer, we are having a big-ass SALE on all beer books! There are some great ones here covering brewing, beer guides, cookbooks and history. Take your pick!

• He Said Beer, She Said Wine
• Extreme Brewing
• The Brewmaster’s Table
• The Good Beer Book
• Beer Drinkers Guide to Munich
• Stephen Beaumont’s Brewpub Cookbook
• Good Bottled Beer Guide
• A Beer History
• Prost: The Story of German Beer
• Cooking With Beer Season By Season
• Bartender’s Beer Cookbook
• Travels With Barley
• Man Walks Into A Pub
• Ambitious Brew
• I Love You More Than Beer (novelty)

Spike Buckowski, Brewmaster at Terrapin Beer Company in Athens, Ga., is coming to Asheville as a guest during American Craft Beer Week. Chef Adam Bannasch of Zambra has created another fantastic 6-course beer pairing menu for the evening of Thursday, May 20. Won’t you join us?

Terrapin Beer Co. Beer Dinner
Thursday, May 20—6:30 p.m. Welcome
Six Paired Courses
$60/pp (incl. tax + grat)

Please call Zambra for reservations. 828-232-1060

Welcome Course—Terrapin Rye Pale [Pale ale with rye malt / 5.5% abv]
Spiced nuts, cheeses, housemade pretzels with honey mustard

Course 1—Sun Ray Wheat [German-style hefeweizen / 5.3% abv]
Scallop sausage with fennel, pineapple sauerkraut, crispy capers and honey toast

Course 2— Monks Revenge [Belgian-style IPA / 9.8% abv]
Local bibb salad with three graces farm feta, strawberries, bacon, croutons, buttermilk

Course 3—Hopsecutioner IPA [American-style IPA / 7.2% abv]
Soba noodles wtih poached shrimp, panang curry, cashews, pickled vegetables

Course 4—Cap’t Krunkles [Black IPA / 8.0% abv]
Venison loin confit, purple potato gratin, crispy serrano, grapefruit, pine

Course 5—Dark Side [Belgian-style Stout / 8.5% abv]
Date-stuffed beignets w/ espresso ganache, honey creme fraiche, rose petals

Happy American Craft Beer Week, everybody!

It’s our favorite week of the year: American Craft Beer Week! Yup, an entire week devoted to our favorite beverage of all time. Join us on Thursday night for the Terrapin Beer Co. dinner co-hosted by Bruisin’ Ales and Zambra with guest Brewmaster, Spike Buckowski. We’ll be celebrating on Friday, too, with an in-store event for beer floats—Craggie Brewing’s Antebellum Ale + The Hop’s Antebellum Ale ice cream.

Check the Mountain XPress round-up of Asheville events (thus far).

For our second event honoring American Craft Beer Week, we’ll be having a very special treat in-store on Friday, May 21, 5-7 p.m.

Join us for BEER FLOATS! The Hop Ice Cream Antebellum Ale ice cream with Craggie Brewing’s Antebellum Ale! If you’ve never had a beer float, this is your chance!

$6/ea and you KEEP THE GLASS!