Archive for the ‘Beer Places’ Category

On Thursday, April 1, we’re participating in a uniquely Asheville event in lieu of our regular tasting: The Terrapin Beer Co. Asheville Pub Crawl. John Wetzel from Terrapin Beer Co. will be leading the crawl, starting at 6:30 p.m. that evening beginning at The Bier Garden. The brewery has done several crawls in Atlanta and their hometown of Athens. Deets:

Join us on a crawl of downtown Asheville, visiting five great beer spots! Bier garden, Mellow Mushroom, Bruisin’ Ales, Barley’s Taproom and The Thirsty Monk! Each stop along the way will have a Terrapin beer selection. Cost is $30/pp and includes beer at every stop and a Terrapin Beer Co. t-shirt.

Pre-registration and payment at Bruisin’ Ales is required to participate. CASH ONLY.

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.]

Jimi Rentz, owner of Barley’s Taproom in Asheville, gave us a really awesome opportunity: Our own tap downstairs! The Bruisin’ Ales Tap will be a regular feature from here on out of rare, limited, cool, and delicious brews outside the local/regional circle. Mixing a little variety into your local brews… first up? Dogfish Head Red & White! We’re hoping it will go on the beginning of next week!

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

Asheville’s neighbors in Hendersonville will be getting their own craft brewery this spring—Appalachian Craft Brewery. Currently operating in Fletcher, Appalachian Craft will will be moving to a spot in the 7th Avenue area of downtown which will include a tasting room, flat-screen TV’s and an outdoor patio. Though we don’t see Andy and Kelly often, we’re super happy for this husband and wife team. Moving to Hendersonville is smart and will definitely be more of a draw for beer people. Full story from the Times-News here. Hendersonville Epicurean also has an update (reprinted with permission):

Hinted at previously, announced today in the Hendersonville Times-News is that Appalachian Craft Brewery is in final negotiations to lease a space in the “7th Ave area”. They’re planning a facility that includes a production space, a tasting room and an outdoor patio.

The above Logo is not real, it’s been edited by Hendersonville Epicurean because I’m so excited they’re moving to Hendersonville! Yippee!!

It looks like the brewery is working on their website, so bookmark it for future reference.

Owners, Andy and Kelly Cubbin, currently have their wholesale facility located in Fletcher and have been quoted as looking forward to the move because, “We think Hendersonville is a great town and is a great place to move our business and family,” and “We think this is something Hendersonville needs.”

Appalachian Craft currently produces Black Bear Stout, an India Pale Ale and Copperhead Amber Ale. They’re planning at least six beer varieties in supply once it moves, including seasonal and specialty beers.