Speaking of Local...

Tomorrow (Sunday the 1st) is the inaugural Big Love Fest in downtown Asheville.  Organized by the Asheville Grown Business Alliance and Big Crafty, the festival promises a celebration of all things local, with artists, food, and beer.  Speaking of beer, as part of the festival, Just Economics will be hosting their second annual Homebrew Festival and Tasting from 2-5 pm.  If you want to go, you must make a donation to Just Economics, and it has to happen today, because they are not allowed to sell tickets on the day of the event (should have posted this earlier this week).  This is a great opportunity to see and sample all the creative homebrewers that live in our great community.  The weather tomorrow is going to be perfect, so I hope to see everyone out there.

How Local is Your Beer?

We Ashevillians love to buy local. From our numerous small businesses to our weekly markets scattered across town, there is no shortage of love for everything Asheville. This love also extends to our beer. In Beer City, you would be hard pressed not to find several local beers on tap in just about every bar and dining establishment in town. Unfortunately, our beers are not exactly local, and presently it is impossible to brew a truly local beer on a brewery sized scale. I'm hoping that will change.

Lets take a look at the present state of brewing in the United States. Unless you live in a few choice regions in the country, all of the ingredients used to brew your beer will be coming from other places. You might get your malted barley from Europe and your hops from the Pacific Northwest. And there isn't anything wrong with that. Like a great chef, a brewer may need a specific ingredient that is not available locally to get the exact flavor profile that he or she is looking for. But I also think that there is a market for a beer that is made with 100 percent local ingredients. And herein lies the problem. North Carolina is not exactly known for its barley, wheat or hop production. Thankfully, the times they are a changing.

Look no further than the North Carolina Organic Bread Flour Project (please visit their website to donate to the cause). For years, local bread makers have been using milled flour from far away places. Recently, there has been a movement to use heirloom wheat that is grown and milled locally, producing a bread that is local from the seed to the table. If it can happen with bread, it can happen with beer. Unfortunately there is a significant hurdle standing in the way.

Beer requires more than just barley or wheat to brew. The grains have to be malted. Malting involves soaking the grains to start the germination process. After a couple of days or so, the grains are heated at just the right moment to stop the germination process to leave the grain with the right amount of fermentable sugar needed to make beer. Many years ago, most local communities in early America, as well as across the pond had their own malt house to produce malted barley. Those days are gone, and almost all the malted barley and wheat used to brew beer is made by giant malt houses, miles and miles away. Some people are trying to change this. Valley Malt, in Hadley Massachusetts, is blazing a new trail on the path to locally made beers. Working with local farmers and brewers, they are making a go at a business that has been dormant for years. The fruits of their labor were realized when Mass Whole Ale was brewed by Wormtown Brewery, the first 'local' beer brewed in Massachusetts in well over half a century.

The other half of the equation is hops. With the assistance from the Cooperative Extension of North Carolina, many hop farms are springing up across Western North Carolina. Both French Broad and Pisgah have brewed beer using fresh hops from local producers, and while small, the farms are growing in number, size and yield. One of the biggest innovations in locally produced hops is happening at Echoview Farms in Weaverville. Fresh hops need to be used within a couple of weeks of harvest. But dried hops are what enable brewers to make beer year round, and Echoview has invested in an oast, which is basically a hop kiln that dries the hops slowly to retain the flavors necessary for great beer. In addition to drying hops, Echoview hopes to invest in equipment that will turn the hops into pellets, which is the preferred hop medium for most breweries.

So how long will it be until we have a truly local beer? Well, that depends on you Western North Carolina. We already have pioneers that are willing to invest in making local ingredients necessary for beer. With hops, we are well on our way, and thanks to the fine local bakers in our region, farmers have been convinced that they can use some of their precious acreage for grain production. That only leaves one thing. Is there a maltster in the house?

Catching up is Hard to Do

So much has happened in the past couple of months in Beer City USA that it would be futile to try and sum it up. Thankfully, my friends at Bruisin' Ales, as well as edgymama at the Mountain Express have been around to keep everyone abreast of all the important beer news. I would definitely seek them out for all your Asheville beer needs.

The most talked about local beer news is undoubtedly the Lexington Avenue Brewery. It has been a long time coming, but they are finally just about ready for business. I was able to get a sneak peek at the brewery last night. What a fantastic place it is. The bar snakes around the center of the building and around the glass enclosed brew tanks. It really is a great looking place. Oh, and they brew beer. Six to be exact. They have a belgian white, a pilsner, a marzen, an American Pale Ale, an IPA, and a chocolate stout. I got to sample each beer, and they did a really great job with each style. Couple the beer with a very interesting menu and a great space, and I have no doubt that LAB will be around for a long time. So when are they going to be open? Soon. Very soon. I'm sure if you swing by over the weekend you can see how things are going there.

In a little over two weeks on January 23rd, the Winter Warmer beer festival returns this year for its third incarnation. It will feature local and regional beers, as well as food from the Lobster Trap, where local celebrity chef Tres Hundertmark will attempt to set the world record for shucking oysters (drool). I have attended the last two Winter Warmer fests, and it is always a good time. The organizers are the same folks who do the Asheville Brews Cruise, and the proceeds from this years event will go to Riverlink.

Feel like a road trip? Head down towards the beach for the Charleston Brewvival on February 27th. The festival will feature special and rare beers from breweries across the country, as well as having Greg Koch, owner of Stone Brewery, as the keynote speaker. It might be a good time to escape from the cold and check out a great city that is looking to make a name for itself in the beer world (check out Coast Brewing if you are ever down there).

Locally, there are some great beers that are out right now. Highland is celebrating their 15th anniversary with their Auld Asheville Vintage Ale. Pisgah has just released its annual Baptista Ale. Green Man is pouring a really good imperial stout. How lucky we are.

And lastly, there will be a new Asheville centric beer site launching in February. Asheville Microbreweries will feature information on local breweries, a beer forum, articles, maps and more. Hey, maybe I can take a few more months off. It will be great to have a one stop site for both out of towners and locals alike to learn and celebrate our great beer city.

Okay, that is it for now. I wish everyone a happy new year, and I hope to be around a bit more this year.

The Return of the Long Lost Blogger

Yes, it has been a long time since I have updated the ol' Asheville Beer Blog. Lets just say that 2009 was not the best of years for me. I don't like to get personal in a blog about local beer, but here goes. The fun began in March when my dad became ill and was admitted to the hospital. I spent a week in Florida, helping out my mother and spending every day in the hospital with dad. We were waiting for a diagnosis, and when I finally left to come back home we had one. My dad had vasculitis, a somewhat rare and hard to diagnose disease. But the news was initially good, as the doctors felt it could be treated. I was home for a little over a week when I got a call from my mother. I instantly knew what the call was for. My dad died on March 31st of last year. He was a 30 year Marine veteran, and was a little rough around the edges, but he had a great heart. I miss him every day.

Naturally, the year did not start off well. Fast forward to September. My brother-in-law was admitted to the hospital, and eventually was taken to ICU and went into a coma. Things did not get better from there. He died on October 3, 2009, my wife and her other brother by his side. Allan was one of the most fun people that I have ever met. He is also missed.

Oh, and to top it off, we had to put our long time beagle companion to sleep the weekend before Thanksgiving. Seriously, my life has been a country song this year.

Needless to say, I really haven't been motivated to keep up this blog. My wife and I are still dealing with the losses of our loved ones. One of the lessons you learn as you get older is how to deal with loss, and we have had a crash course this past year.

So, what now? I have never been the best person at keeping up with this blog, even without life's distractions. But I will do my best to get back into the swing of things. Starting now.

The Final Countdown

So its almost here. Perhaps the biggest celebration of the year for our local beer scene. Brewgrass started way back in 1996, when we had one brewery and one good beer bar. Things have changed a lot since then, but Brewgrass is still the annual event that everyone looks forward to. This is personally my 10th Brewgrass, and it is always a day filled with great beer, great friends, and I hear that they have great music too. This year should be no different. For a great rundown of this year's Brewgrass, as well as what to expect from WNC breweries, check out this Mountain Xpress article. As for other breweries, I will be on the lookout for Coast Brewing from Charleston, and Ham's Brewing out of Greenville, NC (some underated beer from this brewery). And I say this every year, if you are looking for tickets, check out craigslist, and if you don't have any luck there, show up early at MLK park and put on your best sad face. I always see people selling tickets outside. There will also be a raffle at tomorrow's Bruisin' Ales beer tasting for tickets. I hope to have a full writeup of Brewgrass next week.

If you are looking for some pre-Brewgrass activities, look no further than the Thirsty Monk. This Thursday night, that is tomorrow for those counting at home, there will be a cask from New Belgium brewery, a rare treat. In addition to the cask, they will also be tapping the Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout. This is not in reference to Canadian Bacon, which is neither bacon, nor Canadian (discuss). The Canadian part comes from aging the beer in bourbon barrels that were used to make maple syrup. This is an extremely rare beer that I highly encourage you folks to try. I will definitely be there. Friday at the Monk will feature a cask all the way from Rogue Brewing Company.

The other beer news for the week can be found at this Mountain Express article (thanks for doing my job Edgy Mama). Of note is the new south location of the Thirsty Monk, which I will give a full report on soon, and also the news of a new beer festival that will be held in late spring in Asheville. Tickets will go on sale at the Brewgrass festival, and at local breweries starting this Friday.

And now for a rant. I am extremely excited that we will be host to another beer festival. In my opinion, there is no such thing as too many beer festivals. But please, can you wait until we get a little closer to these beer festivals before you put your tickets on sale? Brewgrass tickets went on sale back in FEBRUARY. There are many folks who had no idea that they went on sale until it was too late. And now this spring festival's tickets are going on sale a full 8 months before the date of the festival. I have no idea what my calendar will look like in May. Obviously, my advice to you is to buy the tickets, since it will probably sell out sometime before the last leaves fall off the trees. I will give credit to the folks at the World Beer Festival who do it right. Tickets for the Durham event went on sale one month prior to the event, and they never have a problem selling out. While I'm at it, can you also limit the amount of tickets sold to one person? Four would be a good number. The more people get a chance at tickets, the better. Okay rant over, and again, I appreciate the festivals and I know they take a lot of work to produce.

Happy drinking, and we'll see you at Brewgrass.

Smoke on the Water

For two years running, Highland Brewing Company has sponsered a homebrewing competition where the winner gets to have his own brew made and sold by Highland. Last years winner was Aaron Schenk, a local homebrewer whose winning recipe was a Cream Ale. This years winner is also a local, and is familiar to many in the homebrewing scene here in Asheville. Alex Buerckholtz, owner of Hops and Vines a beer/wine/homebrew shop in West Asheville won this year's competition with his Big Butte Smoked Porter. Alex has been brewing beer for years, and this is not the first time he has had accolades for his beer. In 2006, he was a finalist for the Samuel Adams Long Shot homebrewing competition, and while he didn't win, he did get to attend the Great American Beer Festival courtesy of Sam Adams. This year, he gets to see his beer entered into the Great American Beer Festival in the Pro/Am category for his smoked porter. We wish him luck.

You can get a chance to try the beer and meet Alex this Tuesday (September 8th), when Hops and Vines will debut the beer with a special tasting that runs from 5 to 7 pm. They are also raffling off a pair of Brewgrass tickets for those folks who weren't able to get them when they went on sale back in spring.

Renovations

For those of you who visit the site, you may have noticed a freshening up around here. I decided to do a slight redesign that was spurred on by the failure of my old Google Calendar gadget. Other than the cosmetic changes, I added links to Asheville beer bars, updated the brewery list, and put in a new look for google calendar. It would be perfect if only google could figure out a way to word wrap my calendar entries. Speaking of the calendar, I do my best to keep up with it, and I have also learned how to embed html links into my calendar entries so you can easily be sent to the event's website. So for all of those readers who only look at my blog through your favorite RSS feed reader, please stop by and check it out. And if anyone has any suggestions about the site, feel free to let me know.

History Lesson

I'm a wee bit late in posting this, but the Thirsty Monk is hosting a Dogfish Head Ancient Ales Week that started tonight. This week will feature four of Dogfish Head's historical ales, three of which have never been on tap in Asheville before. The festivies have already begun tonight, as the Monk has tapped the Midas Touch, which is based on ingredients found in 2700 year old drinking vessels in Turkey. If you haven't had the Midas Touch before, it has some great mead like qualities that come from the addition of honey. This will be followed tomorrow night by the Chateau Jihau, which is based on a 9000 year old recipe found in China. Yes folks, fermented beverages have been around for a long time. Wednesday will feature the chocolate and chile flavored Theobroma poured from a bottle. And Thursday they will tap the Sah'tea, a juniper and chai tea flavored beer based on an old Finnish beer style called Sahti, which used juniper and other herbs to flavor the beer before hops came into style. Thursday night will also feature the debut of the Punkin Ale, Dogfish's spin on the ever popular pumpkin beers that show up in the fall. Oh, and there is a chance that a very special limited Dogfish beer could appear on cask that night as well (I've been sworn to secrecy on this one, but I hope they can get it).