Craft Beer Collective

NC Beer & Band Festival

Second Annual NC Beer & Band Festival at the Lincoln Theatre
Saturday May 12th 3-8pm

Breweries on hand will be Roth, Natty Greens, Husk, Lonerider, Olde Hickory, Carolina, Carolina, Mother Earth, Weeping Radish, Duck Rabbit, Triangle, Highland and Foothills brands.

Seven NC Bands on Two Stages
Featuring: Hobex / Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band / Simplified / Clay Pigeons / Mac & Juice

Food Truck Triangle with Valentinos, American Meltdown, Chirba Chirba Dumplings

$25 Advance / $30 Day of Show or $30 Advance for Day & Night Shows

http://lincolntheatre.com/schedule.htm

5Q: NC Hop Researcher Jeanine Davis

Hop production in North Carolina is a relatively new industry. Farmers are seeking new cash crops while the multitude of brewers in our state attempt to source out locally made ingredients more and more often. Jeanine Davis is on the NC State University hop research team and answered a few questions about their the results of their research and the problems facing growers in our state.

Tell our readers what the scope of your research with NC State has been?
The hops research at NC State University is a collaborative effort between Scott King and Rob Austin in the Soil Science Department and my program in the Department of Horticultural Science. We obtained several grants to build research hop yards on university research stations in Raleigh and in Mills River (near Asheville, in the mountains). The main objective of the current research is to identify the best varieties for North Carolina. We have ten varieties at each location. We are also looking at various cultural aspects; we have a short trellis in Raleigh and a high trellis (that we can raise and lower the top wire) in Mills River. We are also studying soil fertility; weed, disease, and insect control, and costs of production. We are also working with hop growers across the state.

Is there a history of hop production in North Carolina apart from the most recent growers? IE, pre prohibition?
There was a hop industry in North Carolina over 100 years ago. I have not been able to find out much about it online; I’ll have to hit the library stacks sometime. A friend of mine found an old ledger book from an ancestor of hers who was a hop farmer in NC long ago. She promised to photocopy some of the pages of that for me.

What results have you seen? (varieties that have done well, seasons in NC, terrior, etc)
The hops are doing surprisingly well here, considering how far south we are located! They seem to be doing particularly well in the mountain areas. Identifying the right varieties is going to be crucial for success. Cascade, Chinook, Nugget, Zeus, and Newport are good performers in many locations across the state. Our yields will never be as high as they are in the Pacific Northwest, but the reports we are getting back from brewers indicate that overall the quality is good. Our hops mature really early here; we start harvesting in July. We aren’t sure what that means for the plants in the long term. We have more disease, insect, and weed pressure than in the PNW, but we expected that and we are figuring out ways to cope. I think our success will rely on having markets that will pay a premium for high quality, locally grown, hand-harvested hops (wet or dry).

What are the challenges that North Carolina Hop growers are facing?
Our organic growers are having the biggest challenges right now fighting diseases and insects, but they are finding that some varieties are much better than others. Finding adequate labor to maintain and harvest a large yard is proving to be a challenge for some growers. We are going to have to find ways to reduce the labor needs.

What is in your beer fridge right now?
With four beer drinkers in the house with different tastes, there are new beers in the refrigerator almost every week. If I remember correctly, there are three NC breweries represented there right now: Highland, Weeping Radish, and Duck-Rabbit.

More North Carolina hop farming news

Winter & Holiday Beers

This is an update of my winter beer post from 2010. This time I’ve included label art and photos whenever they we’re available.

Here is a score card of Christmas and Winter brews in the North Carolina Beer scene with commercial descriptions from each respective brewery (except where noted).

How many have you tried?

HIGHLAND Cold Mountain Winter Ale
Our ever-changing spiced winter seasonal. A tasty brew that complements all your holiday festivities. It is typically malty in body, lightly hopped, and rounded out with spices that we vary from year to year.

OUTERBANKS BREWING COMPANY Santa’s Little Sledgehammer
A deep red Strong Ale boosted with Belgian Candi Sugar, fermented with Trappist Ale yeast and finished with ‘secret spices’! It’s smooth and creamy-rich, with a warm and
chewy texture and subtle spiciness. (10% abv.)

LONERIDER Belle Starr Dubbel
Be wary of Starr’s smile, there is something sinister behind her innocent look. Belle Starr is a Belgian-style Dubbel brewed with a rare Belgian yeast strain, caramelized beet sugar and festive holiday spices. Expect hints of dark fruit, sweet cinnamon-apple and a warming finish. ABV is 7.7%

MOTHER EARTH Silent Night Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout
Embellished with a hint of coffee and a touch of molasses, you’ll enjoy a bold, yet delightfully smooth brew. I pronounce this Barrel Aged Imperial Stout a sipper.

OLDE HICKORY Christmas Ale
Brewed with fond memories of fresh baked cakes and cookies, our Christmas Ale is made with local honey, freshly grated ginger and cinnamon and fresh orange zest. This special holiday beer is perfect for the merry season and best enjoyed in the company of friends and family.

ASHEVILLE BREWING Xmas Jam White Ale
Low-alcohol (4.5 percent ABV), Belgian-style wheat beer dosed with coriander and orange peel. This aromatic treat is as cloudy as a San Francisco morn, with vibrant carbonation and a twangy edge that hums on your tongue. (description from Slashfood)

OLDE MECKLENBURG Brewery Yule Bock
Get your goat on with this holiday special. Nothing warms you around the Christmas fire better than this super smooth, malty lager. But supplies are limited so make sure you get yours early. 7% ABV.

WEEPING RADISH Doppelbock
A very strong and rich lager; dark brown with ruby highlights. Brewed with over 50% Munich malt. A Bavarian specialty first brewed in Munich by the monks of St. Francis of Paula. (8.3% ABV)

NATTY GREENE’S Red Nose Winter Warmer
A winter warmer with a nice nutty malt / spice balance! Coming in slightly above 6% abv tastes like winter … smells like Christmas with nutmeg and ginger notes. (Craft Beer Collective – Dave)

LUMINA Holiday Ale
no description available

CAROLINA BREWERY Santa’s Secret
Our winter ale, brewed especially for the holidays, boasts a combination of six different malts all working together to produce a rich beer with a soft creamy mouthfeel. Without revealing all of Santa’s secrets, we can say that this tasty elixer contains a careful blend of coriander, cinnamon, orange and allspice. We think you’ll agree – it’s the closest thing to Christmas in a glass.

AVIATOR FrostNipper
Our interpretation of a fall seasonal beer. This beer will curl your toes and put goosebumps on your arms. A fine collection of traditional fall spices make this a great addition to the holiday season…it will make all humbugs cheery. The beer is dark in color…a bit darker than brown ale. There is a combination of Perle and Willamette hops to provide a contrasting intensity with the fall spices. The beer contains a generous amount of smoked malt. (7.3% ABV)

Just because they don’t have Santa Clause and snow flakes on their labels doesn’t mean that Foothills, Big Boss are not making winter brews:

FOOTHILLS Total Eclipse Stout
Robust full bodied stout made with roasted barley, black and crystal malts. Total Eclipse has a full mouth feel and a well balanced hop bitterness.

BIG BOSS Aces and Ates Coffee Stout
Our winter stout is brewed with ten different malts to create a complex and distinctive beer. We add organic fair-trade coffee, which is specially produced for Big Boss by coffee experts Larry’s Beans. We offer this synergistic seasonal brew for a limited time in the winter season. 8% abv

Do you have some other labels for me? CBC? Send them my way!!

WINTER & HOLIDAY RELEASE BREWS FROM 2010

Fall Beers in NC

While there is not a lot of variation in the typical Märzen, Märzenbier or Oktoberfest style it’s still a popular beer with brewers in the fall. Here are a few of those examples you can find in a beer store’s shelf near you. Also, check your local brewpub for even more options!

WEEPING RADISH

HIGHLAND

FRENCH BROAD

DUCK RABBIT

LUMINA

FOOTHILLS

OLDE HICKORY

There are only a a few Pumpkin Ales brewed here in North Carolina. Here are a couple bottled examples and please note that the Cottonwood beer is currently in production in PA.

BIG BOSS

COTTONWOOD

July Beer News

KEEP THE GLASS AT DRAFT
This past Tuesday Draft in Raleigh (formerly High Five) debuted it’s keep the glass / rare beer night with a sweet New Belgium tulip glass and six beers on draft. Here are some upcoming Tuesday specials:

Aug. 2: Highland Brewing – Barrel Aged Smoked Cherry Chocolate Stout
Aug. 9: Great Divide Brewing – Belgium Style Yeti
Aug. 18: Mash House Brewery – Belgian Style Tripel
Aug. 23: Fullsteam Summer Basil
Aug. 30: Lonerider Sundance Kid Pilsner

http://draftraleigh.com/specials/

WEEPING RADISH
Our state’s oldest craft brewery, brewpub AND farm brewery is featured profile in this Hamptonroads.com article. On a side note, Weeping Radish made a small appearance in the new issue of NEW BREWER magazine where they mentioned their 25th anniversary IPA made with their own estate grown hops.

MYSTERY BREWING
The Heraldsun.com spoke with Erik Lars Myers about his book, his brewery, saison ales and how his Mystery Brewing Company will give Hillsborough something the community can be proud of:

“You can’t have enough breweries, local breweries,” said John Scott, a part-time bartender at Antonia’s restaurant on Churton Street. “Micro-breweries are the future. They help the local economy.”

ROANOKE RAILHOUSE IN NC
Richmondbizsense.com has a short but sweet article about VA based Roanoke Railhouse who debuted locally at the Raleigh World Beer Festival:

“The brewery started production in January 2009. It was founded by Steve Davidson, a real estate agent who was helping the owner of a former Dr. Pepper bottling plant find a tenant. Davidson himself decided to take the building over and start a brewery for himself.

Two years later, their beer is carried in more than 100 bars and restaurants in Southwest Virginia as well as the Raleigh, N.C. area.”

BREW THRU
The drive in beer store known as BREW THRU sure does get a lot of press. This latest article in Encorepub.com magazine actually mentions North Carolina brands including Lonerider.

Presently, the Carolina Beach store carries 50 different craft beers and they hope to keep expanding in that department. “Just in the last couple years, we have seen customers come through who previously only drank domestics, gradually move into the more complex flavors of craft beers. It is really exciting watching the change and seeing our customers’ knowledge increase. At the store, the staff and managers continuously educate themselves, so that we can make suggestions and recommendations to customers who want to explore the world of craft beers.”

While the staff pays accolades to breweries like Heavy Seas (Baltimore, MD) and SweetWater (Atlanta, GA), they are not shy about praising many of North Carolina’s fine beers. Mother Earth Brewery out of Kinston, NC, is a top choice for Brew Thru employees. The store also carries North Carolina breweries such as Highland, Duck-Rabbit, LoneRider, Natty Greene and more. More about LoneRider when you visit the article.

BREW BERN
The Brew Bern Beer festival took place yesterday in the New Bern Convention Center. “Let’s start drinking, shall we,” said Dustin Canestorp, as the doors opened. He is a Marine and founder and general of Beer Army, which organized the event.

“There are 44 different microbrews,” said Sandy Weiss, a volunteer whose husband Dick Weiss runs the Home Brew Haus on U.S. 70 East. “Anyone paying the entry fee gets a glass” marked at two ounces for the sample taste. COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE

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.

WINTER & HOLIDAY RELEASE BREWS

Here is a score card of Christmas and Winter brews in the North Carolina Beer scene with commercial descriptions from each respective brewery (except where noted). And what a variety of styles to choose from! I was lucky enough to try 8 of these.

How many have you tried?

HIGHLAND Cold Mountain Winter Ale
Our ever-changing spiced winter seasonal. A tasty brew that complements all your holiday festivities. It is typically malty in body, lightly hopped, and rounded out with spices that we vary from year to year.

CAROLINA BREWERY Santa’s Secret
Our winter ale, brewed especially for the holidays, boasts a combination of six different malts all working together to produce a rich beer with a soft creamy mouthfeel. Without revealing all of Santa’s secrets, we can say that this tasty elixer contains a careful blend of coriander, cinnamon, orange and allspice. We think you’ll agree – it’s the closest thing to Christmas in a glass.

AVIATOR FrostNipper
Our interpretation of a fall seasonal beer. This beer will curl your toes and put goosebumps on your arms. A fine collection of traditional fall spices make this a great addition to the holiday season…it will make all humbugs cheery. The beer is dark in color…a bit darker than brown ale. There is a combination of Perle and Willamette hops to provide a contrasting intensity with the fall spices. The beer contains a generous amount of smoked malt. (7.3% ABV)

Lonerider Belle Star

LONERIDER Belle Starr Dubbel
Be wary of Starr’s smile, there is something sinister behind her innocent look. Belle Starr is a Belgian-style Dubbel brewed with a rare Belgian yeast strain, caramelized beet sugar and festive holiday spices. Expect hints of dark fruit, sweet cinnamon-apple and a warming finish. ABV is 7.7%

MOTHER EARTH Silent Night Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout
Embellished with a hint of coffee and a touch of molasses, you’ll enjoy a bold, yet delightfully smooth brew. I pronounce this Barrel Aged Imperial Stout a sipper.

ASHEVILLE BREWING Xmas Jam White Ale
Low-alcohol (4.5 percent ABV), Belgian-style wheat beer dosed with coriander and orange peel. This aromatic treat is as cloudy as a San Francisco morn, with vibrant carbonation and a twangy edge that hums on your tongue. (description from Slashfood)

OLDE MECKLENBURG Brewery Yule Bock
Get your goat on with this holiday special. Nothing warms you around the Christmas fire better than this super smooth, malty lager. But supplies are limited so make sure you get yours early. 7% ABV.

CRAGGIE Dubbelicious: A Belgian-Style “Double” Ale
Organic Barley, Rye, Wheat and Oat malts are brewed with Belgian candy sugar and then fermented with a Regional yeast strain. Our “sweet tart” dubbel is copper in color with warm herbal undertones. ABV 6.5%

WEEPING RADISH Doppelbock
A very strong and rich lager; dark brown with ruby highlights. Brewed with over 50% Munich malt. A Bavarian specialty first brewed in Munich by the monks of St. Francis of Paula. (8.3% ABV)

Outer Banks Brewing Station Xmass ale

OUTERBANKS BREWING COMPANY Santa’s Little Sledgehammer
A deep red Strong Ale boosted with Belgian Candi Sugar, fermented with Trappist Ale yeast and finished with ‘secret spices’! It’s smooth and creamy-rich, with a warm and
chewy texture and subtle spiciness. (10% abv.)

NATTY GREENE’S Red Nose Winter Warmer
A winter warmer with a nice nutty malt / spice balance! Coming in slightly above 6% abv tastes like winter … smells like Christmas with nutmeg and ginger notes. (Craft Beer Collective – Dave)

Just because they don’t use Santa Clause and snow flakes on their labels doesn’t mean that Foothills, Big Boss are not making winter brews:

FOOTHILLS Total Eclipse Stout
Robust full bodied stout made with roasted barley, black and crystal malts. Total Eclipse has a full mouth feel and a well balanced hop bitterness.

BIG BOSS Aces and Ates Coffee Stout
Our winter stout is brewed with ten different malts to create a complex and distinctive beer. We add organic fair-trade coffee, which is specially produced for Big Boss by coffee experts Larry’s Beans. We offer this synergistic seasonal brew for a limited time in the winter season. 8% abv

DUCK RABBIT Paul’s Christmas Vacation Double IPA
Last but not least is the most unlikely holiday beer in this line up and a departure for this “Dark Ale Specialist” in Farmville. This DIPA is so strong and so bitter it could send Southern California crashing into the sea! Nothing like anything in the malt driven Duck Rabbit line up! (Craft Beer Collective – Dave)

Am I missing any? Make a post on Facebook and here on the board.