Craft Beer Collective

AUGUST NC BEER NEWS

Here are some of the better stories to make their way around the North Carolina beer world.

Asheville Scene in WSJ
Asheville, a Blue Ridge Mountain town of 75,000, has 10 breweries, with two on the way. That can’t compare with the 40 in Portland, Ore., but it stacks up to other beer havens like Milwaukee and Boulder, Colo., which both have fewer than a dozen. “Asheville is definitely on the map and well recognized in the craft-brewing industry,” says Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association in Boulder.

Full story on: online.wsj.com

Nantahala Brewing Company
Nantahala brewer Chris Collier explains his story and why North Carolina is a great place for beer in the south:

“Basically, the reason I went to North Carolina is threefold: You can self-distribute, we can have a taproom and sell off-premise, and as you grow your business, you can write your contract anyway you want,” Collier said.

Collier estimates North Carolina has more breweries and brewpubs than the rest of its Southern neighbors combined.

“That is not coincidence,” he said.

Brewers pay expensive excise taxes — about $25 per keg — on their beer, but it is a price that allows them to operate their businesses with relative freedom

READ THE WHOLE STORY HERE

CONGRATS TO Jason McCammon
The Hendersonville, N.C., resident, who will turn 30 in a couple of weeks, now has something else to celebrate besides the milestone birthday.

His award-winning home-brew — a German-style dark lager called Monkey’s Uncle Munich Dunkel — has been released commercially by Olde Hickory Brewery and is available at a few Asheville-area bars and restaurants.

In late April, McCammon’s beer won a Best of Show gold medal at the Olde Hickory Pro-Am home-brew competition, beating out 130 other entries from the Southeast.

COMPLETE STORY

FOOTHILLS EXPANSION
Video from WXII shows Foothills staffers at brewpub and new production facility in Winston Salem.

http://www.wxii12.com/r-video/28781866/detail.html

Brewmaster Jamie Bartholomaus said the brewery has purchased a building off Stratford Road to start bottling its beer. The expansion allows production to move from a 7,000-square-foot space to a 48,000 square-foot-space. The current facility can produce two 22 ounce bottles each minute. The new facility, which will be operational within the next six weeks, will boost production to about 100 bottles per minutes, owners said.

MOTHER EARTH TOUR
Micro Beer Reviews posted this video of the Mother Earth Brewery:

BELT LINE BREW TOURS
Crossdrinker.com posted this video of Beltline Brew tour outside the beltline tour of Durham, featuring Bull City Burger, Fullsteam & Triangle brewing.

TASTY BEVERAGE OPENS
Sean Pratt of Cary, graduated from Cary High School in 2002 and then went to NCSU, graduating in 2007. While studying in Sweden he fell in love with craft and specialty beers. He partnered up with Johnny Belflower (Rocky Mount Senior High School and Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida).

After years of planning they have opened a new shop called Tasty Beverage Company at 327 W. Davie St. Suite 106, in Raleigh in the historic Warehouse District of Downtown Raleigh.
carycitizen.com

© 2011 Craft Beer Collective / Away Team Media

Bringing you the craft and culture of beer in North Carolina --> Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, Asheville, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Wilmington, NC and beyond

Contact us at dave (at) away (dash) team (dot) com

TWIN CITY TAPS FEST

PRESS RELEASE FOR TWIN CITY TAPS FESTIVAL IN WINSTON SALEM ON AUGUST 13:

Nearly Two Dozen North Carolina Brewers Lined Up for Twin City Taps

Twin City Taps has enlisted 21 breweries that will be on hand to pour craft beers and talk about them during the Aug.13 beer festival at BB&T Ballpark. Participating breweries as of July 25 include: Aviator Brewing Company, Big Boss Brewing Company, Carolina Blonde, Carolina Brewery, Craggie Brewing Company, Foothills Brewing, Four Friends Brewing, French Broad Brewing Company, Fullsteam, Green Man Brewery, Highland Brewing Company, Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery, Loes Brewing Company, LoneRider Brewing Company, Mother Earth Brewing Company, Mystery Brewing Company, Natty Greene’s Pub & Brewing Company, Olde Hickory Brewery, Red Oak Brewery, Roth Brewing Company, The Duck- Rabbit Craft Brewery, The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery, Weeping Radish Farm Brewing “We’ve lined up some of the best regional beer producers to be at Twin City Taps,” Josh Neelon of Twin City Taps said. “Just this week, additional breweries have signed up to come to Twin City Taps, so the list of great craft brewers attending our event is likely to continue to grow.

“Twin City Taps is featuring only craft beer brewers from North Carolina to assure that the quality of the beer served will be outstanding,” Neelon added. “Similar to the exceptional quality of the beer, we want the overall experience at Twin City Taps to be a great one. To that end, we’re selling a maximum of 4,000 tickets to ensure that all guests have easy access to parking, restrooms, food and most importantly of all, cold beer.”

Musical performers slated for Twin City Taps include: Possum Jenkins, Old Southern Moonshine Revival, Da Stateside Lion Reggae Band and Brickfoot Down.

General admission tickets to Twin City Taps are $35, and VIP tickets are $55.

For more information or to purchase tickets please visit www.TwinCityTaps.com, call 336.714.6871 or go to the box office at BB&T Ballpark.

© 2011 Craft Beer Collective / Away Team Media

Bringing you the craft and culture of beer in North Carolina --> Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, Asheville, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Wilmington, NC and beyond

Contact us at dave (at) away (dash) team (dot) com

Asheville says thanks (video)

In this video Asheville beer people says “thanks” to everyone who voted their city as Beer City USA. Asheville won the title three years in a row in the yearly poll conducted by the examiner.com.

© 2011 Craft Beer Collective / Away Team Media

Bringing you the craft and culture of beer in North Carolina --> Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, Asheville, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Wilmington, NC and beyond

Contact us at dave (at) away (dash) team (dot) com

Craggie video tour

Stumpled upon this video tour of Craggie Brewing and thought I’d share it with you:

http://craggiebrewingco.com/home/?p=1201

Craggie Brewing Co

Forums | Brewery Maps | City Maps

© 2011 Craft Beer Collective / Away Team Media

Bringing you the craft and culture of beer in North Carolina --> Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, Asheville, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Wilmington, NC and beyond

Contact us at dave (at) away (dash) team (dot) com

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

© 2011 Craft Beer Collective / Away Team Media

Bringing you the craft and culture of beer in North Carolina --> Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, Asheville, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Wilmington, NC and beyond

Contact us at dave (at) away (dash) team (dot) com

Craggie’s old timey beer

Craggie finds inspiration in old recipe according to this article on SlashFood:

In a region better known for heirloom tomatoes and heritage pigs, a small craft brewery is reaching back to an 1840s recipe for its next beer.

Craggie Brewing Co. in Asheville, N.C., plans to start producing its Antebellum Ale later this week, following a few successful test runs that surprised even brewmaster Bill Drew.

“I wasn’t a big fan of brewing this, but I actually really like it,” admits Drew, who found his inspiration in a trio of beer recipes included in a business plan for a 1930s Statesville brewery helmed by his co-owner’s distant relative. While it’s almost certain Maj. William Allison never bottled the beer – his enterprise floundered in the face of a legal challenge from Chattanooga’s Southeast Brewing Company — a hand-written note indicating the beer’s century-old antecedents intrigued the Craggie team.

The original recipe calls for spruce, molasses, ginger and “a gill of yeast.” Since the beverage didn’t include hops or grain, co-owner Jonathan Cort admits it’s a stretch to classify it as a beer — although he eagerly explored the possibilities of marketing Craggie’s product as a gluten-free brew.

“It may have been similar to a whiskey,” Cort says, speculating that the elixir might have been prepared to appeal to Southern palates.

But Drew points out that molasses, a sugar byproduct, wouldn’t ferment with the ferocity of refined sugar, sorghum skimmings or fruit juice. “Technically, the drink would be like a kombucha,” he says. “It was one or two percent alcohol, so it wasn’t liquor or beer.”

The beverage was probably a sort of mountain root tea, the Native American-influenced remedy that 19th-century teetotalers remade as root beer.

Craggie’s ale – a pale ale spiked with molasses, ginger and spruce — likely wouldn’t please the Temperance movement, which counted aspiring brewer Maj. Allison among its members. “He never drank a drop of alcohol in his life,” Cort says. “He just saw an opportunity to provide North Carolina with beer.”

Source: http://www.slashfood.com/

http://craggiebrewingco.com/

© 2011 Craft Beer Collective / Away Team Media

Bringing you the craft and culture of beer in North Carolina --> Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, Asheville, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Wilmington, NC and beyond

Contact us at dave (at) away (dash) team (dot) com