Craft Beer Collective

American Craft Beer Festival 2012 Boston

Footage from American Craft Beer Festival in Boston, June 2012. Touring the grounds over two days and three sessions. Featuring Harpoon, Red Hook, Backlash, Pretty Things, Sam Adams, Big Boss, Noda, Old Meck, Duck Rabbit, Element, Twisted Pine, Heavy Seas, Mayflower, Blatant, DC Brau, Rapscallion, Leisure Time, Three Heads, Clown Shoes, The Peoples Pint, Long Trail, Otter Creek, Saranac, Kennebec, Slum Brew, Rising Tide, West Sixth, Offshore, Rouge, Oskar Blues and many more!

© 2013 Craft Beer Collective / Away Team Media

Charlotte Craft Beer Week Coverage

Congratulations to the Queen City for putting on a quality series of beer week events! Here is a round up of Charlotte Craft Beer Week coverage!

Beers & Bacon Blog Coverage of all Charlotte tap takeover.

http://www.wfae.org/ link featuring NoDa Brewing, Olde Mecklenburg Brewery & Brawley’s

Creative Loafing Article

Charlotte Examiner coverage

My photos from the Black & Blue event.

Fox News Coverage

Have you spotted some more galleries or videos from Charlotte Craft Beer Week? post them here:

© 2013 Craft Beer Collective / Away Team Media

Stone’s Greg Koch in NC

Greg Koch, CEO and co-founder of San Diego’s famed Stone Brewing Co., is making a trip to Charlotte and Raleigh for two epic events March 23-24.

Greg will be celebrating the 3rd Annual Charlotte Craft Beer Week at Taco Mac (South Park) on Friday, March 23. Besides hanging out and having a good time, he’s also bringing around 20 rare and vintage Stone beers with him, including several collaboration and special one-off brews.

From Charlotte, he’ll be heading up to officially bestow upon The Raleigh Times Bar the distinct honor of being named “Most Arrogant Bar in America.” Each year, Stone holds a weeklong nationwide competition to find the bar that can sell the most pints of Arrogant Bastard Ale, Double Bastard Ale, and OAKED Arrogant Bastard Ale. The Raleigh Times Bar took tophonors in last October’s bout, and Greg will now be presenting them with a most righteous plaque (which carries with it some pretty heavy bragging rights) and rolling out an impressive list of well-deserved treats for the evening, including a vertical tasting of 2005-2011 Double Bastard Ale vintages.

North Carolina has become the state to beat in the “Most Arrogant Bar” competition, now enjoying its third straight victory, with The Raleigh Times Bar following Charlotte hot spots Mac’s Speed Shop and Tilted Kilt, which earned the title in 2010 and 2009, respectively.

Friday, March 23, 7pm
Taco Mac | 4625 Piedmont Row Dr, Building E, Suite 115, Charlotte | (704) 972-0503
http://facebook.com/tacomac | @TMacSouthPark
http://facebook.com/CharlotteCraftBeerWeek | @CharlotteBeerWk

Saturday, March 24, 2pm
The Raleigh Times Bar | 14 E. Hargett St., Raleigh | (919) 833-0999
http://facebook.com/RaleighTimesBar | @RaleighTimesBar

Greg will also be signing copies of his book—The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.: Liquid Lore,Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance—which will be available for sale at The Raleigh Times Bar. The recently released literary tome recounts the company’s 15 year history and shares 18 homebrew recipes for Stone beers, as well as recipes forsome of the most popular dishes from their award-winning restaurant, the Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens.

© 2013 Craft Beer Collective / Away Team Media

Charlotte Craft Beer Week 2012

Press release for 3rd annual Charlotte Craft Beer Week Takes the Queen City by Storm! Charlotte, NC / February 1, 2012

Charlotte Craft Beer Week is coming up soon so make sure to clear your schedules and get ready to partake in the best craft beer week in the Carolinas! Going on from March 16th – 25th; its ten days slam-packed with beer events all around the Queen City.

CCBW was created with the intention of spreading the craft beer message. It promotes businesses that are involved with the craft beer movement, rewards seasoned craft beer drinkers with access to rare beers, fun events, and the opportunity to meet brewers, and also provides those who are new to the craft beer scene a variety of events to choose from to further their beer education. These events are crafted purposefully and incorporate all facets of beer culture.

Charlotte’s craft beer scene has exploded over the last few years”, says Darrin Pikarsky, creator of Charlotte Craft Beer Week and The Charlotte Beer Club, which boasts 1,400 members. “Five years ago Charlotte didn’t even have a brewery, now we are about to launch our fifth and sixth by this summer” says Pikarsky.

This is the 3rd year for Charlotte’s own craft beer week; a trend that is catching on throughout the Carolinas. Offering a diversity of events, each individually approved by the CCBW team, there will be something for everyone; beer-lovers, novices, and non-drinkers alike. This unique, grassroots celebration is dedicated to sharing the best locally-available beers from around the globe. Past events include Brawley’s Black & Blue, Beasts of the East vs Best of the West -a showdown of some of the best beers from both coasts, amazing beer dinners, an alley full of incredible beers and circus side show attractions at Common Market, and numerous other events and specials throughout the Charlotte area.

Brawley’s Beverage will once again host the kickoff party on March 16th at the Visulite Theater. Tickets will include entry to hear incredible music as well as samples of extremely rare beers. Be sure not to miss this awesome event.

Stay tuned to the Charlotte Craft Beer Week website for a complete list of venues, events, sponsors, beer pairing menus, and ways that your business can get involved in the festivities!

More information at: www.charlottecraftbeerweek.org / Facebook / Twitter

Our previous post 5 Questions for Charlotte Craft Beer Week

ALL 5 Qs / All Charlotte Stories / Asheville Beer Week

© 2013 Craft Beer Collective / Away Team Media

Asheville Beer Week

ASHEVILLE BEER WEEK PRESS RELEASE

The first ever Asheville Beer Week will take place May 24 through June 3, 2012. The ten days celebrating beer and Beer City, USA, will culminate at Asheville’s third Beer City Festival on June 2.

Our mission is to celebrate that nectar known as beer—to taste many different styles of beer and variations on those styles; to pair beer with a smorgasbord of delicious foods; to learn about and explore beer in all its delectable complexity; and, most of all, to have fun drinking beer in the brewery-centric mountains of Asheville, NC.

The “week” will include seminars, tastings, dinners, and special events with “beer celebrities” from around the country and the world. More than 40 breweries are slated to appear at Beer City Festival already.

Organized by a beer-loving bunch of regional beer industry folks, Asheville Beer Week will offer a variety of events and include as many bars, restaurants and breweries as possible.

If you’re interested in holding an event, please contact us at avlbeerweek@gmail.com, and we’ll send you a sign-up sheet. Event sign-ups are due by February 17, after which time, we’ll produce an official Asheville Beer Week calendar.

We’re also holding a logo contest. Submissions for the Asheville Beer Week logo also are due by February 17. The winner will receive two tickets to Beer City Fest, two tickets to Brewgrass (Sept. 15), and two tickets to an Iron Man Chef Competition to be held during Asheville Beer Week.

Facebook: Asheville Beer Week
Twitter: avlbeerweek

© 2013 Craft Beer Collective / Away Team Media

Raleigh Beer Week

Schedule for beer Raleigh Beer Week sent to us from Facebook.

Here is the most up to date schedule:

Sunday 8/28
12-4pm Raleigh Beer Week Kick-Off Beer Festival
2 types of tickets available for purchase @ etix.com
VIP $55:Gets you and 49 of your friends 1 hour of access to some of the best craft brews around. Rare, Vintage and one-off specialties from some of our favorite breweries and light appetizers provided by our culinary team.

General Admission $40: Gets you access to all of the delicious brews and light appetizers provided by our culinary team.

Terrapin Maple Knob Creek Barrel Aged Monk’s Revenge & 2010 Belgian Scotch Ale
New Belgium La Folie & Clutch
Allagash Mattina Rossa & Blonde
Dogfish Black & Red & Pangaea
Big Boss Harvest Time Cask & Sack Time & Monkey Bizz-Ness
Ommegang Aphrodite
Sierra Nevada Life and Limb 2 & Ovila Saison
Coney Island Jewbelation 15 & 2010 Rejewvenator
2010 Founders Backwoods Bastard
Duck Rabbit Elijah Craig Milk Stout & Schwarzbier
Fullsteam Pork Barrel & Rocket Science
Natty Greene’s Bourbon Barrel Aged Strong Sour & Swamp Fox
LoneRider Sundance Kid Pils & Sweet Josie Brown
Southern Tier Crème Brulee & Oak Aged Unearthly
Foothills Maple Knob Creek Porter & Sexual Chocolate
Brooklyn Backbreaker & Monster Ale
Olde Hickory Death By Hops & Hefeweizen
Heavy Seas Red Sky at Night Cask

Boylan Bridge “Brew it Forward” ESB

6-10 Flying Saucer Presents: Beer Can Chicken Patio Cook out! $20 gets you samples of 5 delicious chickens each cooked with a different canned beer and their respective beers. Consider this a hybrid event of food & beer!

Monday 8/29
6pm Rare DuckRabbit Prix Fixe Dinner
9pm Landmark Cask night! Flying Dog Snakedog I.P.A.

Tuesday 8/30
6pm: Foundation presents Beer Cocktails! Come and sample some Raleigh’s favorite beers as the base for delicious cocktails! Join us for inventive cocktails and some special beers from their cellar!

9pm: New Holland Dragon’s Milk cask at the Flying Saucer. Come and sample this rare beauty in the most perfect of forms on the bar at the Saucer!

Wednesday 8/31
6pm: Busy Bee Cafe presents: The Brewers Forum in the Hive. Join sour guru Eric Salazar for a moderated discussion on sour beers & barrel aging. Beers that will be poured that night include Eric’s Ale & Felix Love.
9pm: Landmark Tavern & Natty Greenes bring you a delicious cask of “Old Towne Brown Ale”

Thursday
6pm: Join Galen Smith & Aviator Brew Crew for a cask of Hogwild IPA conditioned with grapefruit.
9pm: Tir Na Nog Presents: Beer Prophet App Launch & Lonerider Local Beer Local Band. Come out and enjoy

Friday
6pm: Rare beer @ Landmark
9pm: Brewmasters will tap a keg of Sour Abbey Ale from Triangle Brewing Company.

MORE INFO

© 2013 Craft Beer Collective / Away Team Media

SAVOR week part 1

June 1st and 2nd at SAVOR WEEK

The highly successful Big Boss cask & draft event at Church Key brought out more than it’s share of craft beer enthusiasts, transplanted Tarheels and friends of the brewery. The venue staff could not of been more accommodating and the drinkers we’re highly enthusiastic. Churchkey has an amazing selection of beers: 5 Cask Engines, 50 drafts and 555 bottles in their constantly evolving line up including a 3 solid pages of sour ales! So I had to try some other beers while I was there including a pale ale from the brand new DC brewery DC BRAU.

The next day brewers and members of the press piled onto a bus and made the trip pout to Frederick Maryland for the FLYING DOG BACKYARD SYMPOSIUM. Some of the attendees included beer writer Greg Kitsock, staff of LoneRider, Brewers Art, Heavy Seas, Tammy from the City Paper and 100= other guests! The panel discussions are on East Coast Hop Farming and another with the topic of Belgian inspired American beers featuring brewers from Devil’s Backbone, Brewer’s Art, Ommegang and Flying Dog.

That evening it was back to the Church Key for their amazing line up of 30 beers from Short’s brewing. I tried the Carrot Cake and the Whiskey Sour. Yup, their beers are exactly what they sound like. They also have a Bloody Mary and a White Russian beer… and if you must … they make a great standard ales like IPAs, Pales, and Browns!

After that off to a place called Bourbon for a release party for new DC brewery called 3 Stars, a tasty collaboration Saison with the guys from Evolution Brewing in Delaware.

The Evolution guys joined me a few doors up the street from Bourbon to the Black Squirrel beer bar where they surprised to find one of their own beers on tap: Sprung! I was tried the Dark Horse IPA, a Michigan brewer that I had not tried before.

Last stop was a quick pint of Schlafly APA at the Big Hunt. The Hunt had a 10 or so Schlafly on tap as a special SAVOR event!

© 2013 Craft Beer Collective / Away Team Media

My SAVOR Itinerary

Here is my rough schedule of events for my trip to SAVOR in Washington DC. You can expect daily updates & photos here on the Craft Beer Collective and of course many updates from my Twitter account.

More events at http://dcbeer.com/dc-beer-events-calendar/

WEDNESDAY – Arrive in DC

CHURCH KEY 5PM – ? BIG BOSS INVASION 8 BEERS in CASKS & on DRAFT
On Cask: Big Boss High Roller IPA Big Boss Bad Penny Brown Ale
On Draft: Blanco Diablo, Hell’s Belle Belgian Blonde, D’Icer Dunkelweizen, Monkey Bizz-Ness Farmhouse, Big Operator Belgian Black Raspberry, Angry Angel Kölsch

THURSDAY
FLYING DOG back yard symposium
11:00 to 11:45 am Panel discussion: East Coast Hop Cultivation & Estate Beer Trends
12:00 to 12:45 pm Panel discussion: Belgian-Inspired American Beers
1:00 to 2:30 pm Lunch with Chef Bryan Voltaggio and music by The Fieldhands

4:00 PM Short’s brewing takeover AT CHURCH KEY 25 Drafts! + Flying Dog Reception!

FRIDAY
3:00 – 5:00 pm Brewers Association Press Conf at National Press Club
7:00 – 11:00 pm SAVOR

SATURDAY
12 Noon BREWER BRUNCH @ Birch & Barley featuring brewers and owners of Sierra Nevada, O’Dells, Rouge, Shorts, Big Boss and Boulevard

3:00 pm CIGAR CITY Takeover at CHURCHKEY

7:00 – 11:00 PM SAVOR

© 2013 Craft Beer Collective / Away Team Media

5 Questions for Charlotte Craft Beer Week

This week our 5Qs went out to Darrin Pikarsky. Darrin runs the Charlotte Beer Club and with that club they nurtured a fan base for craft beer culture in the Queen City. In it’s second year the Charlotte Craft Beer Week is set to start this Friday.

1 What sorts of new beer events have been scheduled for this year that you
did not have last year?
Our events strive to be unique. I advise the hosts to be creative. We collaborative beer dinners and another great event at Mellow Mushroom. It features Highland beers to be sampled with appetizers and a soda tasting for the kids all in a great family friendly location!

2 What Beer Week event are most looking forward to?
Probably 3 come to mind. The opening reception at Visulite, Duckworths Beer Festival and FreakFest at The Common Market. Lots of fun at each and great, rate beers!

3 What was your most memorable event from last years beer week?
Freak Fest I. I had a blast and the looks on peoples facing was priceless!

4 What do you like best about the beer scene in North Carolina?
I like that we are very young in the national beer scene and we can learn from other markets. It seems like every week there are dozens of new beers to indulge in. Lucky us!!

5 What is in your beer fridge right now?
Lost Abbey 10 Commandments. Russian River Blind Pig. New Holland Dragons Milk. And a new Charlotte Brewery’s bourbon vanilla porter (top secret stuff here…shhhh!)

Thanks to Darrin for taking time out to answer our questions. Please check out the complete schedule of events at http://www.charlottecraftbeerweek.org/events.html

© 2013 Craft Beer Collective / Away Team Media

ACBW in Asheville

Julie from Bruisin’ Ales has shared the following American Craft Beer Week events with us including a great beer dinner with Terrapin:

Spike Buckowski, Brewmaster at Terrapin Beer Company in Athens, Ga., is coming to Asheville as a guest during American Craft Beer Week. Chef Adam Bannasch of Zambra has created another fantastic 6-course beer pairing menu for the evening of Thursday, May 20

Terrapin Beer Co. Beer Dinner
Thursday, May 20—6:30 p.m.
$60/pp (incl. tax + grat)

Please call Zambra for reservations. 828-232-1060

Zambra Spanish Wine Tapas
www.zambratapas.com
85 West Walnut Street
Asheville, NC 28801-2870

Welcome Course—Terrapin Rye Pale [Pale ale with rye malt / 5.5% abv]
Spiced nuts, cheeses, housemade pretzels with honey mustard

Course 1—Sun Ray Wheat [German-style hefeweizen / 5.3% abv]
Scallop sausage with fennel, pineapple sauerkraut, crispy capers and honey toast

Course 2— Monks Revenge [Belgian-style IPA / 9.8% abv]
Local bibb salad with three graces farm feta, strawberries, bacon, croutons, buttermilk

Course 3—Hopsecutioner IPA [American-style IPA / 7.2% abv]
Soba noodles wtih poached shrimp, panang curry, cashews, pickled vegetables

Course 4—Cap’t Krunkles [Black IPA / 8.0% abv]
Venison loin confit, purple potato gratin, crispy serrano, grapefruit, pine

Course 5—Dark Side [Belgian-style Stout / 8.5% abv]
Date-stuffed beignets w/ espresso ganache, honey creme fraiche, rose petals

For our second event honoring American Craft Beer Week, we’ll be having a very special treat in-store on Friday, May 21, 5-7 p.m.

Join us for BEER FLOATS! The Hop Ice Cream Antebellum Ale ice cream with Craggie Brewing’s Antebellum Ale! If you’ve never had a beer float, this is your chance!

$6/ea and you KEEP THE GLASS!

Bruisin’ Ales
www.bruisin-ales.com
66 Broadway Street
Asheville, NC 28801
(828) 252-8999

© 2013 Craft Beer Collective / Away Team Media

World Beer Festival photos

Here are some photos from World Beer Festival Raleigh 2010. On Saturday morning I went around and took a few before everything got started. Jon and Robin contributed the rest of the photos (big Thanks) Plus I found a couple blogs with some great pictures – Enjoy!

Great photos on Giusto Gusto blog
Jake S Potter

© 2013 Craft Beer Collective / Away Team Media

World Beer Festival Raleigh preview

Tickets are sold out but if you are going please stop by and support each and every NC brewery you walk by! After that here are some interesting breweries that are not quite yet in the Triangle area at this time:

21st Amendment Brewery Canned Cali brewery – make sure you try the Brew Free! or Die IPA!!!
Great Lakes Brewing Co. I recommend the Edmund Fitzgerald Porter (soon to be available all over NC)
Moon River Brewing Co. GA brewpub is always at NC festivals but not available here! Say hello to Brew TV’s John Pinkerton while you’re there!
Skull Coast Ale Co. New SC brewery bringing their Flagship IPA
Laverstoke Park Farm Bringing bottle conditioned “Real Ale”

There are a few NC Breweries that are either not very well represented here or not available here in the Triangle such as Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery, Boone Brewing Co and Craggie Brewing.

Of course craft beer rock star and Dogfish Head owner Sam Calagione will be at the festival serving his brews at the DFH table (112) so you can expect crowds there!

In the WTF category we will see an appearance by Trader Joe’s who will be serving beers with the Trader Joe’s name on it that were brewed by other breweries that made and packaged the beer… for Trader Joe’s.

Wow.

One of the highlights of your price of admission is the very comprehensive World Beer Festival 2010 Guide (pictured above). This one is set up unlike any other guide I have seen and includes a glossary of beer terms, world beer styles profiled, a blood alcohol level chart, food and beer pairing article and several other articles that will help your experience. 40 pages in magazine format. View a PDF of the WBF 2010 guide here

Pulled directly from the guide is some common sense that beer fest noobs should consider:

A note about sequences: Everything we taste affects whatever we put in our mouths next, so bear in mind that every beer you sample will be affected by the previous sample. The best plan is to start with beers that are lighter in character, and work up to heavier beers, so as not to overwhelm the more delicate beers. Or pause, have some water, and eat something neutral—pretzels can’t be beat!

Food? there are several local bars and restaurants to choose from. You can find me at Chubby’s Tacos!

Am I missing anything? Make a comment on Facebook or Twitter or sign into this page and let me know what I’m missing

Raleigh, North Carolina, Moore Square, Downtown
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Afternoon Session: 12 PM – 4 PM
Evening Session: 6 PM – 10 PM

-Dave

© 2013 Craft Beer Collective / Away Team Media