Love or hate it, it’s here! The 32nd Bele Chere weekend.

We are open limited hours for Bele Chere this weekend—12-5pm on both Friday and Saturday. Support your local breweries at the tent or come on down to the shop for a cold one. If you are at the festival and planning to have your brew on the street, you are required to have a wristband.

We will also have bottles of water for $2.

The store will be open Sunday regular hours, but please remember Sunday is alcohol-free at Bele Chere.

Our friends at The Happy Hour Guys made for the Short Pour Fest at GABF this year. Cheers!

The Asheville Brewers Alliance now has a website! This is now your go-to place for all things beer-related in Asheville. Full calendar included that links from Asheville Brew.

[NOTE: Press release from the Asheville Chamber of Commerce. Enter to win a trip to Asheville & Brewgrass Festival.]

WIN CRAFT BEER VACATION GIVEAWAY

~ Asheville celebrates craft beer title with beer-cation travel giveaway ~

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (May 27, 2010) – More than 19,000 votes and hundreds of heated comments and blog posts marked a neck-n-neck tie-breaker for the title of “BeerCity USA 2010” in an online poll celebrating American Craft Beer Week.  In the end, passion for the small, but mighty, brewing culture of Asheville, North Carolina surpassed brewing giant Portland, Oregon. Last year, the East Coast vs. West Coast battle ended in a tie between the two cities.

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“Beers experienced from breweries in both cities, I can attest to, are worth the journey to these American beer Meccas.  In fact beer enjoyed in most American cities is worth the journey.  Beer drinkers are on notice: You can leave home now–better beer awaits,” said Examiner.com poll host and founder of the Association of Brewers Charlie Papazian.

Win a Craft Beer Vacation

In celebration of the city’s first outright title of BeerCity USA, Asheville has launched a beer-cation giveaway. Win a free night’s stay at the Asheville Renaissance and pair of coveted tickets to Asheville’s biggest annual beer festival, Brewgrass. Tickets are currently sold out for the popular event with a line-up of national and regional bluegrass acts. Enter to win the craft beer travel getaway at ExploreAsheville.com.

About Asheville: Brewtopian Society

Known for its scenic beauty, music culture and robust art scene, Asheville’s reputation as a haven for brewing and culinary arts is growing. With a population of just over 70,000, Asheville is giving bigger cities a beer-run for their money with nine diverse craft breweries–more per capita than any city in the nation.

On any given day, about 50 local beers can be enjoyed on draft and in bottles. Asheville is home to a world-renowned specialty beer store (Bruisin’ Ales, rated #3 retailer worldwide by RateBeer), five annual beer festivals, a regular “Beer Guy” column in the local paper, and a growing array of local beer-flavored food products. (Highland Black Mocha Stout ice cream, anyone?) Asheville Brews Cruise offers an insider’s look at Asheville’s rapidly evolving microbrewery scene complete with designated driver.

Beer Links

• BeerCity USA – Examiner.com poll results
• AmericanCraftBeerWeek.org
• BrewtopianSociety.com – guide to Asheville’s craft breweries via FoodtopianSociety.com

Follow @AshevilleTravel on Twitter.

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)

[UPDATE: The poll is getting tight and Portland has a small lead. Tell your family, friends, even enemies to vote ASHEVILLE!]

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!

The beerlanthropists are in much need of a vacation far, far away in a land of sunshine, beaches, ocean, no television, no cell service, many books, and fruity cocktails. (Okay, no fruity cocktails, but maybe mojitos.) We are leaving the humble storefront in the capable hands of Reggae Mike and Brother Joe, who will be your fine purveyors of beer while we are away.

PLEASE NOTE: We are not shipping from May 1-8. We will resume shipping (and checking shipping orders sent to orders /at/ bruisin-ales /dot/ com) on Tuesday, May 12 on our return. You may, however, place an order over the phone to get it in the queue. Thanks for your patience.

Cheers, everyone! Please send sunshine! See you in a week (or so)!

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.

2010 Charleston Brewvival from chrys on Vimeo.