New Belgium Brewing’s “Clips of Faith” Beer and Film Tour Visits Asheville on September 9

It’s New Belgium’s style of show business: An outdoor evening with artistic beers and films, all to benefit Asheville on Bikes

Fort Collins, Colorado, August 24, 2011 – New Belgium Brewing, maker of Fat Tire Amber Ale, is bringing its Clips of Faith beer and film tour back to Asheville on Friday, September 9. This is the second year for Clips of Faith, a festival that is traveling to 18 cities this summer and fall, showcasing independent films by New Belgium’s filmmaking friends. The outdoor event will highlight some of New Belgium’s most esoteric beer offerings while providing a great way to unwind under the stars.

The selected films include comedic shorts, adventure documentaries and music animation. The top three films are about lizard wrangling in the dead of the Wisconsin winter, a talking beer bottle sketch comedy and a miniature day on a tremendous mountain.

“Clips of Faith is all about showcasing creativity. Our Lips of Faith beers are some of our most unique creations and it’s fun to share that with our friends (or soon-to-be friends) around the country,” said Christie Catania, Clips of Faith Manager-at-Large. “It’s a great way to enjoy the warmer seasons – under the stars, drinking New Belgium beer (some new, some old favorites) and watching a great collection of short films.”

New Belgium will serve seven Lips of Faith beers and seven popular classics and food from local vendors. One of the beers that will pour is PIPA (Pamela’s India Pale Ale), which is a Lips of Faith beer created by a contest winner from last year’s tour. The contest allows interested attendees to sample a blend of three unidentified New Belgium beers in a cup. Whoever comes closest to guessing the blended beers and their percentages gets entered into a drawing to win a trip to New Belgium where they can brew the beer of their dreams with the technical support of New Belgium brewers.

Google is having a national competition for communities to “win” a Google fiber-optic network. Thus began the Asheville Google Fiber Network Initiative. We’re now on the tail end of the first round—Friday, March 26. Will you help us to bring Google Fiber to the Asheville community?

Asheville is already prevalent on numerous lists for travel—historic sites, the Blue Ridge Parkway, food, music, the arts, and craft beer. Imagine: Super-sexy high-speed internet access for businesses large and small. A wide network reaching even the most rural of communities, bringing us together. An school system as a network pioneer offering the best in education, plugged directly into the community. Musicians working at lightning speed. Our diverse, active and creative arts organizations benefiting for the über-hip HATCHfest, TEDx, the 48-hr Film Project, Twestival. A bigger and booming addition to Asheville’s high-tech sector. Live-streaming of Asheville’s very cool, consistent calendar of events and fundraisers. Maybe we could stream from Brewgrass or LEAF Fest? LAAFF? BeleChere? And think of the possibilities this has with tourism? I know, it’s the “dirty t-word,” but tourism is a big part of who we are. And for many, it pays the bills. But we’re warm people and we open up the mountains year-round and invite people to share in our world for just a week (or a day). I say: It’s time to show the world in REAL TIME who we are.

The GoogleAVL page is up with lots of helpful information. Please refer there for any questions, then click on the big, red “NOMINATE ASHEVILLE” button and tell Google why they need to bring Google Fiber to Asheville, North Carolina.

We’ve done all five. Will you?

1. Nominate Asheville. This is really, really, important.
2. Ask your friends to nominate Asheville in a sincere, really-do-it, kind of way.  This is also important.
3. Put a badge on your website to show your support for bringing Google Fiber to town.  Now you are doing something extra.
4. Publicly endorse Asheville’s effort to attract Google fiber.  You have become cool.
5. Write about why you want Google fiber in Asheville using your web site, your blog, or a youtube video. You are radically cool.

• The Asheville Brews Cruise has spots open all week long. If you haven’t done proper tours of our local breweries, the Brews Cruise is a great option to learn about the brewing craft, sample beers, and best of all, have someone drive you around safely.
• Check Barley’s Taproom this week for specials, especially the Bruisin’ Ales tap.
• The Thirsty Monk is having Rogue Week at the bar downtown with 8 taps of Rogue Ales on draft. This is your chance to become a member of Rogue Nation!
• The Universal Joint in West Asheville is running weekly pint specials. Check daily.

Wednesday, March 17

• Craggie Brewing Company releases its long-awaited Meet Your Maker Barleywine. If you came to the tasting at Bruisin’ Ales in February, you were lucky enough to get a sneak peak. Now the beer is ready, so head over to the Craggie Public Room tonight for the release. The Jig Is Up will also be playing traditional Irish Music from 8pm-midnight with no cover.
• Wedge Brewing Company‘s brewer Carl Melissas is doing a nifty experiment at the brewery tonight, checking the temperature of beer the old-fashioned way—which is where we get the old saying “rule of thumb.” And free corned beef and cabbage tonight from 5pm until they run out!
• French Broad Brewery has $1 off all growlers purchased at the brewery today.
• Green Man Ales, at Dirty Jack’s and Jack of the Wood, is unveiling a “new, dark, creamy, beefed-up, utterly blissful Irish Stout”! Starting at 12pm, live music all day.

Thursday, March 18

• Asheville Singer-songwriter Utah Green plays the French Broad Tasting Room with no cover charge.
• Sol-Roots with guests Woody Wood and Galen Kipar are playing the LAB venue. Also, with receipt, get $10 off the new Buzzed Home service!
• It’s infusion night at Asheville Brewing on Coxe Avenue! Go check out what beer their filtering thru which wacky flavors.

Friday, March 19

• Highland Brewing Company’s Tasting Room will be open Friday, March 19 from 4-8pm with music from East Coast Dirt and food available from Kyte’s Catering. All beers are $3.
• The Screaming J’s are playing at Pisgah Brewing Company in Black Mountain at 8pm.
• “Ring in The Spring” Party at Oyster House Brewery (inside the Lobster Trap). Kick the winter blues with beer specials, live music, free food, a spring costume contest and giveaways.

Saturday, March 20

• Alt-country/Americana performer Dave Desmelik will perform at the French Broad Tasting Room. No cover.
• Garry Segal & The To Dye For Band play at Jack of the Wood at 9:30pm. A blend of traditional and original country, bluegrass and blues. Garry’s soulful voice and expert harmonica playing is matched by peddle steel, guitar and an infectious rhythm section.

Sunday, March 21

• Catch a movie at Asheville Pizza & Brewing on Merrimon for just $3/pp. Beer, pizza & movies? Yes, please.
  

Monday, March 22

• Monk(day) Monkfest at The Thirsty Monk downtown. $6 gets you three 6 oz. samples of the craft beer of your choice!
• Join Quizzo at Jack of the Wood tonight. Voted Asheville’s #1 trivia game in the Mountain XPress “Best of 2009.”

Bruisin’ Ales Gift Certificates: Have a fussy father? Let him pick his own bounty! Good for anything in the store—beer, tees, hats, books, glassware and more!

Splurgers of the Finest Kind:

Le Baladin Xyauyu (Italy)—One of the best barleywines we’ve ever had. Truly fantastic. Fruity, sweet and boozy, this is the perfect after-dinner beer. Serve in a snifter at room temperature. Especially sentimental, as the beer is named for brewer Teo Musso’s daughter’s imaginary friend. Awwww. [13.0% abv]

Cantillon Saint Lamvinus (Belgium)—Beer or wine? The most exclusive of the Cantillon fruit lambic line, St. Lamvinus is a lambic made with Merlot grapes aged in oak barrels. Serve at room temp in a red wine glass. For a lighter variety, try Cantillon Vigneronne, made with Muscat grapes and aged in oak. [5.0% abv]

Malheur Dark Brut (Belgium)—Sparkling beer! Skip the normal bubbly and toast to Dad with the beer world’s version of Champagne. Malty, sweet, and tart. Want a lighter version? Try the Malheur Bier Brute. [12.0% abv]

De Molen Storm & Averij (Netherlands)—A Belgian-style Imperial IPA. Big fruity hop aroma with a little yeastiness of orange peels, mango,pine-needles, peaches, hay and wet grass. Super yum. [8.0% abv]

T-shirts/Miscellany:

Beerlanthropy Tees—We’re all beerlanthropists around here. Is your Dad? With a center-back small Bruisin’ Ales logo.

Brewery Tees & Baseball Caps—A wide variety from your favorite breweries.\

The Brewmaster’s Table—The original beer & food pairing book, written by Garrett Oliver, brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery.

“Beer Y’all“—Get Dad the DVD about beer in North Carolina. Good stuff.

Beer Soap & Shampoo—Really. It’s awesome stuff.

Mix It Up:

At Bruisin’ Ales, you can make your own sixer or box of single craft beers. Perfect for the Dad who wants to try a bunch of one style or several varieties!

Bye-bye, old eye sore!
Scrutiny Hooligans reports that the ugly-ass electric sign at Pack Place is coming down. “The sign will be removed in the next few weeks because the electronic equipment that produced changeable text and graphics no longer works, and repairs would be too expensive, the head of Pack Place’s board said Wednesday.” So, go make the most of it and use the Pack Place Sign Generator before it’s too late!

Beer tasting: Be there!
Don’t forget! Magic Hat at the humble storefront tonight from 5-7pm. We’re tasting the Summer Scene sampler.

It’s just “Beer Y’all!”
The premiere of “Beer Y’all” is tonight at Asheville Brewing on Merrimon Ave. We still have $5 tickets available at the store. ($7 at the door) Come for the tasting and let’s go see a movie!

Re: Federal Beer Excise Action Alert
Sin taxes are the new black! More on the stuff we posted yesterday. This time from The American: “Hate the Sin, Tax the Sinner?” Great read. “It’s time to stop this nonsense. Whatever economic or social benefits one can dream up from the sin tax, we must also realize that the decision to tax must be weighed against the social benefits for reducing the behavior by slow and deliberate persuasion and voluntary action. When it comes to public policy, the preferred method of discouraging sin should fall under the category of alternative, mediating institutions, notably family, church, and school. That would leave government officials more time to focus on the sins they can really do something about—their own.”

So, how are you all feeling today? No reports of headaches at the humble storefront today. Must be because of all the tequila we didn’t drink. Just a bunch of work, ads, and other stuff. So, a few updates:

SOLD OUT
The Dogfish Head Mountain Weekend is officially SOLD OUT. No more tasting tickets and no more reservations at Zambra for the brunch. Sorry, folks! You can see Sam at the Thirsty Monk on Saturday, May 17 from 7-9pm. (We think Pint Night is going to be scary-packed, but it’s FREE. Maybe bring a helmet.)

Movie: Beer Y’all
The guys behind the new NC beer film “Beer Y’all” just dropped off some tix at the humble storefront for our valued customers. Only $5/ea for the premiere at Asheville Pizza & Brewing on Merrimon Ave. on May 21, 9pm. ($10/ea at the door) Come get yours and save $5!!

Another local brewery on Facebook
French Broad Brewing has just added a Facebook page. Go become a fan!

More Donkey Punch headed this way?
Sweetwater Brewing sent out a “tweet” today saying: “Donkey Punch Barleywine in a 22oz bottle slated for mid-June.” (Hate the name, not the beer.)

“Weird-Ass Beer of the Week”
San Fran apparently thinks that Hansenns Artisanal Strawberry Lambic (Oudbeitje) is “weird-ass.” It’s actually really tasty. We have some (for less $$ than in the article). Come try it.

[Image: Allposters.com]

New movie, Beer Y’all, will premier at Asheville Pizza & Brewing on Thursday, May 21.

Synopsis: Beer. Rock & Roll. North Carolina.

In July 2008, seven friends spent nine days touring 27 North Carolina microbreweries and brewpubs and playing rock & roll. Beer Y’all is the movie they shot during the trip. Follow the film at http://beeryall.com

Beer Y’all premieres in screenings across North Carolina and on DVD in May 2009.

About that time Dave Quinn, co-owner of Pisgah Brewing Co., showed up and chatted a bit, so that inspired us. Let’s go on a tour! We’re grateful our brewers are so accessible to people. Really, really grateful. We hopped on down to chat with John Stuart of Green Man, then Drew Barton of French Broad, and finally Tim Schaller and Carl Melissas of The Wedge. Good times! Look for the vlog post to appear early next week.

Brian’s got a really good round-up from Beer Wars, regarding the not-always-loved three-tier system. (We cover it briefly in the interview.) You should really read it. The laws of distribution around the country are often confusing, sometimes antiquated and usually frustrating. But it is what it is. *sigh*

Out of the interview, we learned a few things just by hanging and chatting. South Carolina stores can fill growlers but breweries can’t do samples. (Talk about ass-backwards.) Pisgah has made a special beer for the LEAF Festival—an amber, so fans of Fat Tire will love this local brew. John Stuart brewed his awesome Impy Stout to honor his 20th year of brewing. Drew and French Broad just signed-on with Empire Distributors and now have statewide distributing. Yay! The Wedge showed-off the awesome John Payne metal work and told us about their plans to show Thunder Road again this summer, but they’re going make an addition and have someone go around with a camera and do a side-by-side of Asheville then (in the movie) and now. Cool!

The Brewers Association Top 50 List
It’s that time of year again when the Brewers Association reports on the Top 50 Craft Brewers and the Top 50 Overall Brewers. All numbers are based on sales volume from 2008.

Life after Anheuser-Busch
The St. Louis Business Journal sheds some light on the happenings on some former top execs at A-B. Since InBev took over, many have left and moved on to other things while some are planning their next moves. “Other former brewery employees are taking more time before making their next move. Nearly all of Anheuser-Busch’s 17 former strategy committee members have left the company. Roughly 2,400 salaried employees, or about 40 percent of Anheuser-Busch’s local workforce, took early retirement buyouts or pink slips in December and January.” The report claims that the departure of these folks are spurring “a wave of entrepreneurship” in St. Louis. Maybe there is gold at the end of the rainbow? In other news at AB-InBev, the Rolling Rock brand is being shopped around and could possibly end-up right where it started: Latrobe, Pa. Production of the beer has dropped by nearly 50% since 2003. [via Appellation Beer]

“Does my butt look big in this beer?”
One of the things that’s been on the horizon in the beer industry is nutritional information like those found on nearly every food product bought in your local supermarket. Since beer is food, this only makes sense. Joe Sixpack writes a great article about calories in beer, highlighting a new book by beer writer Bob Skilnik, “Does My Butt Look Big In This Beer?” Check these (somewhat alarming) stats: “Pull a bottle of Victory Prima Pils from the fridge, and you’re enjoying a hoppy, full-flavored lager for just 171 calories. Reach for Victory Golden Monkey instead, and you’re looking at 281. Care for a stout? A bottle of Guinness is just 125 calories. You could drink three of them before you reach the 400 calories in a single bottle of Bell’s Expedition Stout.” Ack! 400 calories in Expedition Stout? The book itself catalogs over 2,000 different beers worldwide and their caloric content.

In related news of the anterior…
The UK is riled-up over an “advert” for Courage beer (above), which portrays a man sitting on a couch and a woman standing in a too-tight purple dress, presumably asking the above mentioned question “Does my butt look big?” And the statement, “Take courage, my friend.”  THREE people complained and the ad was pulled. Do you find this funny? Offensive? We file this one in the “Who Cares?” drawer. After all, the dude isn’t much to look at either. Hell, the couch is sagging! [via blogs.news.com.au]

Hopefully, you all paid your money to The Man by today. If you’ve been living on Jupiter: Today is Tax Day. Nobody really likes Tax Day, so as a little perk to you, dear readers, the next two folks to come in and spend just $10, mention this blog post, gets a FREE ticket to BeerWars LIVE tomorrow night!

Tickets are gone, sorry!