Odds and Suds

Sorry for the lack of blog posts lately. If my life were just drinking beer, I would post every other day. Let me take a moment to think about a life that just involves drinking beer...........

Okay, done. Friday, January 23rd marks the one year anniversary of the opening of the Thirsty Monk. I can recall how excited I was that a Belgian beer bar was opening in Asheville, and I can say in hindsight that I have not been disappointed. To be honest, part of me was worried that we might not be able to support a beer bar that was strictly devoted to Belgian styles, but thankfully I was wrong. Shame on me for underestimating Asheville's thirst for great beer. In a years time, the Thirsty Monk has thrived and expanded upstairs to include some great American craft beers in addition to their fine Belgian selection. Hopefully y'all can get a chance to stop by on Friday night to help them celebrate their Anniversary, and they will be featuring beer specials and giveaways. If you can't make it tomorrow night, you might want to swing by on February 4th for a very special pint night featuring a cask version of the Highland Black Mountain Bitter.

I hope everyone got tickets for this year's Winter Warmer Beer Festival, which is happening Saturday afternoon at the Haywood Park Hotel ballroom in downtown Asheville. I checked for tickets two days ago and they were still available, and I had every intention of giving everyone a last minute heads up, but alas, tickets are sold out. I will be there with figurative bells on, so I hope to see everyone there.

On February 5th, the fine folks at Bruisin' Ales are having a mead tasting from a local meadery, Fox Hill Mead. I'll be honest, I have had very few meads but I am looking forward to trying a couple out, and that fact that they are local just makes it even more appealing. Hopefully I can get educated a bit more about meads. I also think this should count towards the number of Asheville breweries, which keeps growing every year it seems.

Speaking of new Asheville breweries, the Mountain Express just ran an article highlighting one of our local music studios, Echo Mountian, and their ties to what will be Asheville's newest brewery, the Lexington Avenue Brewery. It looks like they might be opening later in the spring, with an IPA, a white ale, a stout, a pilsner, and a marzen among others. I am excited to see a couple lagers in the mix, and am looking forward to trying all their wares in the near future. The brewer for LAB will be Ben Pierson, a former brewer at Green Man who will be making his return to the Asheville brewing scene. Come to think of it, this will be the third brewery that will have featured a former Green Man brewer (Extra points for the person who can name the other two).

That is all for now. Hope to be back with a post game report on the Winter Beer Fest next week.