Hopheads, Sierra Nevada went the extra mile for you—quite literally—with their newest release, Southern Hemisphere Harvest. Seems they just weren’t happy with one fall hop harvest per year, so they traveled to New Zealand in the Southern Hemisphere and got a crop o’ hops. This is the newest addition to their Harvest Ale “family.” We’ve been to New Zealand. It’s exceptionally green there. We imagine these hops have to be fantastic. What a great idea.

Read the full press release here.

“Our newest addition to our Harvest family is Southern Hemisphere Harvest. This is the first time we know of that an American brewer has put out a beer with fresh-picked hops from the southern hemisphere. The inaugural ale will debut in late April and will feature fresh Pacific Hallertau, New Zealand Motueka and New Zealand Southern Cross hops, all from New Zealand.

Like our Celebration Ale, the fresh hops in this beer are dried right after being picked then shipped immediately to Chico for brewing so that they retain their peak aromatics and flavors. To ensure the freshest hops possible, we went to the added expense of flying these hops from New Zealand to Chico so we could brew with them the week after they were picked.”

[Images: Sierra Nevada / newzealand.com]

We finally got out of town this weekend. We love Asheville, but having been achored here since November, we decided to head down to Athens, Ga. for the Classic City Brew Fest at The Foundry. KP and Ed were there, furiously taking notes. (Thanks, Ed, for hooking us up with tickets!) Bob was there, as was Don, Chris, Lisa from Southern Brew News, Sandi from Highland, and of course, the guys at Terrapin Brewery. Highlights? The new Jolly Pumpkin E.S.Bam, a deliciously hoppy Belgian with some funk that is the trademark of JP brews. We also had a firkin of Heavy Seas Loose Cannon, which was pretty wicked. The best though was seeing Devin from Dogfish Head, who was running 90 Minute IPA through the Randall using mint, basil and coffee. Holy cow! It sounds so wrong, but oh so tasty. Rather remarkable.

There’s also an amazing new beer bar in Athens, called Trappeze. That is a must stop.

On the way out, we hit Five Points Bottle Shop, because even though we own a humble storefront, there is always something you will find. Sachin is great and treated us well. We walked out with five boxes of goodies. (Yes, indecisiveness is a huge issue.) Among the bounty is an old North Coast Silver Jubilee; Avery Thirteen; Cantillon St. Lamvinus; JP E.S.Bam; Ellezelloise Saison 2000; Drie Fonteinen Schaerbeekse Kriek (made with the best cherries in the world); Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueze; Draco (made with blueberries); and Taras Boulba to name a few.

A short trip over to the brand-spanking-new Terrapin Brewery was worth the stop. It’s huge! (There’s an event upcoming there this spring, which we’ll post more on later.) We took them a Bell’s box o’ goodies, and in return, we got special tastes of Oak-aged Rye Squared and Spike’s second Side Project, which is a subtlely smoked lager, straight from the tank. There’s also a bunch of new Terrapin merchandise we picked-up. Very cool tees, hats and even some of these, so you can make your own “Dirty Turtle.” Avoid shipping costs and get yer Terrapin gear at Bruisin’ Ales.

A sneak-peak at Highland’s new seasonal
Highland Brewing Company posted their new seasonal on the website sometime recently—Shining Rock Lager. “This shining example of our spring seasonal has a complex malty body which is enhanced with traditional spicy noble hops. This Bock is a medium body lager with a smooth, crisp finish. A creamy head tops this fine Bock with the usual Highland twist on style.” It’s spring, so we expect to have it soon!

Solstice and Hellbender’s imminent arrival
Fans of Pisgah Brewing Company are going to be happy in the next week or so—Solstice and Hellbender are arriving in bottles. (Solstice is going to be year-round, too!) We had the lucky opportunity to try both this past weekend—both bottle-conditioned. To us, Solstice tastes like a different beer, but for the better. And Hellbender is, well, Hellbender—an English-style barleywine that could very likely take you on a bender to hell.

Rabid Duck released on April 6
Duck-Rabbit Brewery will release Rabid Duck this coming Saturday at the brewery way out there in Farmville, NC. We just got the barleywine not too long ago, so expect a few more weeks until we see bottles.

Southern Beer Society names Bruisin’ Ales Beer Store of the Month
This new southern beer forum honors us with a little blurb and some linky love on their site. Thanks, guys!

Heading to the Classic City Beer Fest this weekend?
Athens, Ga. is holding its Classic City Beer Fest on Sunday. We really like Athens and we’ve never been to this one, so we’ll see you there. We’ll be the people with the shameless self-promotional t-shirts on.

Beer will be rockin’ next weekend in Hickory
April 12 is Hickory Hops in Hickory, NC. Now in its sixth year, this little fest is a nice way to experience the best of the beer from our fair state.

Not much going on today, beer-wise. When we can actually drag ourselves away from the beer forums and sites in under an hour, that means a slow news day. So, here’s what is going on:

Pennsylvania beer update
Wegman’s got the okay to sell beer at the grocery store. (If you’re from the Commonwealth, you understand how awesome this is.) Oh, but then the beer distributors sued.

Time flies
The world’s first Chief Beer Officer has been at it with Sheraton for a full year now. Has it been that long? He must be busy, because he’s looking for a Best Brews Summer Intern.

Feds just axed passengers’ rights
A federal appeals court just ruled that airlines no longer have to provide “food, water, clean toilets and fresh air to passengers stuck in delayed planes.” How considerate. And in unintentionally hilarious timing, American Airlines grounded 200 flights today for safety checks.

Asheville news
Asheville is primed for “upscale” hotels in the downtown. Just what we need! How about a little more parking, eh? And while we like a small, independent, boutique-style hotel, “upscale” sounds a little bit like “overpriced.”

Some crack head assaulted a local police officer with a crack pipe.

The Biltmore is offering locals spring passes for the annual Festival of Flowers. “The pass allows unlimited daytime visits from April 5 until June 30 for $59.”

NYTimes pulls through on this one
If you read this blog, you know that Eric Asimov—well-known and respected as he may be—is not my favorite beverage writer. But here he tackles the (sure to be debated) topic of how to teach your kids to be responsible consumers of alcohol. Cheers to that. Growing up in my neighborhood, Mr. K. let his son and friends have some beer for high school graduation under the watchful eye of parents at home. I distinctly remember thinking he was the coolest dad ever, though I was only fourteen and did not partake. Grandpa Earl used to let me have a sip of his wine on Thanksgiving, though. That was cool. (Disclaimer: Bruisin’ Ales does not advocate breaking the law or serving your kids alcohol in any form. We’re just sayin’.)

We met Azalea Coast’s brewer, Ethan, at Empire’s trade show at the Grove Park Inn on Tuesday. Azalea Coast is another North Carolina craft brewery making its debut in WNC. Located in Wilmington, we’re happy to support our in-state breweries with a little shelf space. Now in from Azalea Coast is Teach’s Chocolate Stout, IPA, and Fokker Ale. The one that really blew our socks off at the show was the Navigator Lager, which was 10.0% abv. Look out, Samichlaus.

Our other favorite Coast Brewing Company, also has a stout named for Edward Teach called Blackbeerd. Coast is now hand-bottling and Ted’s Butcherblock is releasing it in Charleston soon along with the Hopart IPA. Road trip!

Finally, our beer spies tell us that Big Boss Brewing of Raleigh will be here very soon. Big Boss, formerly Edenton, has rebranded, rebrewed, and rejuvenated. Pretty impressive ratings, too.