Someone sent us this today. Seems about right.

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.

Bruisin’ Ales is OPEN as of now, but we are playing it by ear. Last time, Jason barely made it home, so no taking chances here. Follow us on Twitter @bruisinales or the Bruisin’ Facebook Page for updates on business hours, closings, openings, whatever. AND, if you’re going to stock-up on beer for the winter white stuff (and we know you are), please consider shopping at your local, independent beer store for your storm necessities priorities.

You kids be safe out there!  Looks like Asheville is a wee bit more prepared this time. I even heard trucks dumping sand (?) on our rural road this morning! School’s letting out right about now, and although the MountainXPress says downtown in “crazeee” with traffic, most of that should be over by the time the snow starts falling. Same rules apply: 1) If you can’t drive in snow, don’t drive in it, unless an emergency; 2) If you can drive in snow, be cautious, as those around you may not be as confident (so don’t be a jerk); and 3) Take your time, go slowly—getting their safely if more important than getting there quickly.

The City of Asheville is taking more precautions, including the early closing of school to get families home, and remember: The parking decks are FREE after 6pm tonight, so if you leave your car downtown, put it in a parking deck. This will allow plows and other road clearance services to happen much quicker. Have your supplies ready, too. Ice is coming with this storm, so those without buried power lines are most vulnerable. One little tip I never knew (since we have never lived on a well system before): Fill your bathtub with water in case you lose power (for those with electric water pumps). That way you can freshen up, flush toilets, have water to boil. But please don’t waste it afterward; if some remains, use it to water your indoor plants or handwash your car from all that road salt.

Cheers, y’all! BE SAFE!

Rock Art Brewery wins trademark battle for “Vermonster” over drinks giant, Monster Energy
Well, well, Monster Energy, we learned a little lesson in PR over the past week and a half, didn’t we? Early last week, Monster Energy sent a cease and desist letter to teenie, tiny Rock Art Brewery in Vermont over their beer named Vermonster. Now, they didn’t go after Brooklyn Brewery (which could possibly defend themselves) or any of the other breweries that use the word “monster” in the name. They likely planned to work their way up, setting precedents along the way if it led to court. Well, the little brewery, its fans and the craft beer industry, unleashed a firestorm of battles via e-mail, websites, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Yesterday—a little over ten days later—the drinks giant bowed out, acknowledging a loss of sales and damaged reputation. Woot! Did you help us? Want to show your support? Buy Rock Art Brewery “Vermonster” t-shirt here. Power to the people (and social media)!

Fresh hop season!
I’ll make a confession. I’m not an Oktoberfest fan. At all. I sampled the few from Germany that we can actually get, along with a bunch of domestic craft and there was only one in the entire bunch that did anything for me. It’s not that the beer is/was bad, it’s just not my style. But one thing keeps me going through those short four weeks or so: Fresh hop season. I LOVE the hop harvest. Literally, I get giddy with excitement because nothing beats sticking your nose in a glass of subtle fresh-hop ale. But again, it’s short, so get them while you can: Founder’s Harvest, Sierra Nevada Estate Harvest, Sierra Nevada Wet-Hop  Harvest, Left Hand Warrior Wet-hop, and Weyerbacher Harvest. Great Divide Fresh Hop and Sweetwater’s Wet Dream are on their way soon!

The FTC is about to put the smackdown on beer bloggers who accept beer from breweries
In other blow to blogging, after the recent affiliate issues, the FTC is going to make beer writers/reviewers disclose if they received said beer from a brewery. Beervana has a good quote: “…It ghettoizes blogs–who must make this disclosure–but leaves the mainstream press alone.” I would expect any decent blogger to let me know where the beer came from, but breweries send releases to publications all the time for review. Is there really a difference? There are many beer bloggers who also write for said magazines, so we expect this is going to be a murky issue at best. For the record, we never endorse in full review form on our blog. It’s inappropriate. It’s endorsement enough that we hand-select and stock a particular beer (if we can get it).

Boston Beer Co. and Weihenstephan to collaborate on “new beer style”
I’m probably the only person on Earth completely underwhelmed by this, but Boston Beer Co. (a.k.a. Samuel Adams) and the world’s oldest brewery, Weihenstephan of Germany, are collaborating to brew a “new beer style.” I don’t even know what that means. Reuters has the statement: “Dr. Josef Schradler, managing director of Germany’s Weihenstephan Brewery, and Jim Koch, brewer and founderof Samuel Adams, announced their partnership and plans to unveil a new style of collaboratively brewed beer next spring.” There was a big PR hoo-hah, photo-op etc., yesterday, but why all the fuss? Breweries have been collaborating for years now. I like Boston Beer Co. and Samuel Adams: They have the funding to put craft beer in front of people. Jim Koch has done amazing things for craft beer. But all this fuss over something that’s been done before (way, way before) leaves me feeling stupified. I also think this quote is contradictory: “While keeping an eye on tradition, the Samuel Adams brewers continue to innovate and explore boundary-pushing beer styles and brewing techniques.” Utopias is hardly tradition. So, what is this marriage of Reinheitsgebot and “extreme beer” going to produce? Here’s the description: “The champagne-like beer will weigh in at more than 10 percent alcohol by volume, yet remain very dry and crisp, shattering the preconceived notions of what can be done following the Reinheitsgebot Law.” Huh.

Infiltration
This is just a great blog I picked-up from someone on Twitter today. It’s creepy. And I love it!

I used the word “marvelous” today, and well, this is what happens. “Please. Hold me while I Tango.”

Greetings, everyone. Sorry for the lack of posts lately. For those that do not know, Jason’s father passed away suddenly last week and we’re still reeling from the loss. Basem was a self-made man in every sense, overcoming things in life that would have been too much for many regular people. He was our mentor—one to many—who helped us get Bruisin’ Ales off the ground. While in the beginning, he wasn’t too fond of us putting our college education (and life savings) towards a beer store, in the end, he was unwavering in his support and one of our biggest champions. His absolute favorite beer of all time was Thomas Hardy’s Ale, which he would sip and simply utter the word, “delightful.”

Words cannot describe the way Asheville has rallied around us, helping out, showing support, giving love. Mike worked all last week week to keep the beer flowing you, and for that, we are also extremely grateful. All we can say is a humble thank you from the humble storefront.There are three things I’d like to pass on to you that he taught all of us:

1. Learn something new everyday.
2. Believe in hope and peace, and reach out to all people, even to those with whom you disagree.
3. Laugh and smile every day, even the difficult ones. “Basem,” in Arabic, translates as “one who smiles.” And, that he did. A lot.

Life aside, the beer keeps coming. Some new things arrived while we were gone. Yip-skippee for wet hop season! (Will edit as I find out more):

DOGFISH HEAD Pangaea*
FOUNDER’S Harvest Ale*
LAGUNITAS Lil’ Sumpin’ Extra*
SIERRA NEVADA Harvest Ale*
‘T GAVERHOPKE Extra
TERRAPIN BREWING (Midnight Brewing Project ’09) Depth Charge* (collaboration w/ Left Hand Brewing)
TERRAPIN BREWING (Side Project #8) Pumpkinfest*
THIRSTY DOG Barktoberfest*
THIRSTY DOG Pumpkin Ale*
WEYERBACHER Harvest Ale*
WIDMER BROTHERS Reserve: Cherry Oak Doppelbock*

Not feeling so creative on the writing front today, so here is hubby’s YouTube debut. Awesome! (Whole Asheville trip write-up here.) Been Tweeting, though, because that’s sort-of brainless. Twitter can be really funny if you pull out random stuff. So here is a montage of scrumptious tidbits my fellow Tweeps shared today.

@justinthesouth: have you seen this? http://bit.ly/CTeQ

@servo3000: I need someone in Tallahassee that can carve something out of a block of cheese.

@itswendylou: @bruisinales we need to spread the gospel of #milkthistle

@RaiseYourPints: Mississippi needs your help! http://raiseyourpints.com/join

@FireflyVodka: A protest I can get behind… “Obama – Bring Back Arrested Development!”

@fullsteam: Four years ago today, we popped the cap on #beer in NC! Congrats to all. Raise a pint today!

@PasteMagazine: It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia Christmas Special http://bit.ly/1662Ga

@bruisinales Great input on @ratebeer: “Saying ‘Belgium beer’ is like saying ‘America beer’ or ‘Germany beer.’ Horribly, grammatically incorrect.”

@joeyflash: Is it weird that I’m really enjoying this rerun of desperate housewives?

@ssspoonah: When I am in a foul mood, I just need to watch this and then I’m ok again. http://bit.ly/JEvHW

@jakebible: Les Paul shall be missed. I shall shred on my uke tonight in his honor.

RIP Les Paul.