Edgy Mama

I knew this column might create a little controversy…because being a role model for your kids pisses some people off. Sigh.

In the much more fun than working out category, I’m helping run a beer naming contest for Asheville Brewing Company on my other blog. Other WNC Brews News here.

Kids running through Splashville in front of Asheville’s City Hall. Slippery fun.

Makes this mom nervous. Just saying.

What’s happening in your worlds? Other than heat.

Had a lovely time down in Greenville, S.C., Saturday at the inaugural Top of the Hops Beer Fest. Forgot to mention on camera that Highland Brewing represented Asheville at the Festival. I’ll get better at this interview thang, I hope. See that big guy I’m talking to in the Miller Lite vest? He let me rub his beer gut. He said, “Feel it. It’s hard.” Yeah, dude.

Here are the Highland folks serving it up. Their Seven Sisters Abbey Ale was a ginormous hit at the fest.

In other news, they’ve changed the biscuits slightly at Roots Cafe, and I’m not sure I approve. They’re smaller and less light. Hmmmm. Still one of the best breakfast biscuits in town.

It’s a happy, happy week for craft beer here in WNC!

Local beer lovers, rejoice! Yes, Highland Brewing’s Cold Mountain Winter Ale is out and about. The first batch (there will be two this year) is hitting stores now in one-liter and 22-ounce bottles (find it at Green Life, Bruisin’ Ales, Hops & Vines, Earth Fare, Appalachian Vinters, Asheville Wine Market, and Weinhaus — to name a few retail locales).

Kegs of the nectar are being loaded at the brewery today and taken to Skyland Distributing, in hopes of the brew being on tap locally by this weekend. Some spots may have a keg tapped as early as Thursday! Check your usual watering holes — Barley’s Taproom, Bier Garden, and Thirsty Monk are all good bets for having new kegs tapped quickly.

Read the rest here (includes Christmas Jam White Ale and Wee Heavy-er Belgian Scotch Ale releases).

Party on!

From my bi-monthly Brews News round-up at Mountain Xpress:

Spring beer festival: If you missed out on Brewgrass tickets, you may have the chance to attend another locally run beer festival this spring.

The Asheville Brewers Alliance has committed to hosting a spring beer festival, according to alliance spokesman Mike Rangel.

The festival will be similar in scale to Brewgrass, but with a slightly different slant, Rangel says. Entertainment will consist of local rock bands and comedy acts. More beer “education” tents, hosted by local groups such as the Mountain Ale and Lager Tasters, will be on hand as well.

“We want it to have more of a carnival feel,” Rangel says.

Brewgrass organizer Jimi Rentz says he wanted to offer two annual beer festivals, but he didn’t want to have to organize more than one such event per year without significant help. So the alliance stepped in to partner with Brewgrass organizers.

“The Brewgrass guys have got the knowledge of how to run a beer festival down to a science,” Rangel says. “We’ll be learning a lot from them.”

Other than the entertainment, the two festivals will be similar, featuring 40 or more craft brewers from around the country, including all the local breweries and several local food vendors.

The event is planned for Saturday, May 29, and the festival’s venue will be announced soon. Tickets will be distributed to members of the Brewers Alliance on Friday, Rangel says, and will be on sale at Saturday’s Brewgrass. The cost is $30 per person. I assume the venue for Spring Beer Fest will be announced before tickets go on sale.

Beer gypsies, the Trollingers, me and Julie of Bruisin' Ales

It’s been eons since I wrote much about mommy’s little equilibrium enhancer. Why? Because I’ve been trying to cut back on the quantities of beer I imbibe. Before summer fest comes beer fast. Also, my beer metabolism just ain’t what it used to be. So sad.

I was equally saddened to miss meeting beer rock star, Sam Calgione of Dogfish Head brewery, last weekend. Sam was delayed in Charlotte on Friday night, and I had to get home for a tag team night with E-spouse, so I missed the guy. And I hear he’s just my type–low-key, swarthy, and brimming with beer facts. For photos and dets of Sam’s visit to Ashevegas, visit Bruisin’ Ales loverly blog.

To honor Sam, I bought some Midas Touch and took it to Atlanta with me for an impromptu beer tasting at a party Saturday night. Midas is made using an ancient Turkish recipe (I made up that it was Sumerian, but I was wrong). It’s brewed with honey and grapes, which makes it a bit mead-like. I like it, but as a dessert beer, not a sipping-at-a-party beer. Next I’d like to try the Raison D’Etre, described by Dogfish Head as a deep mahogany ale brewed with beet sugar, green raisins and Belgian yeast. Yum!

I also took some of Highland Brewing’s Cattail Peak Wheat to Atlanta (a craft beer desert whose only watering hole is Sweet Water Brewing). I heart this beer. It’s now organic. Hurrah! It’s a smooth summer drinking beer with body.

In other brew news, we, the city of Asheville, tied with Portland, Ore., for number one beer city in the U.S. Yes, we did. And to celebrate, there will be a hops-infused party at The Orange Peel on June 26, sponsored by both the Peel and Mountain Xpress. It should be a blast.

Also, I hear the Asheville Tourists are sponsoring a beer festival on August 22 at McCormick Field. That’s less than a month before Brewgrass (Sept. 19), but Brewgrass is, as always, sold out, so I guess it’s not much competition.

So that’s three local craft beer parties this summer. Oh, be still my pounding heart.

Just got a note from the Pisgah boys that they won big at last weekend’s Hickory Hops Beer Festival in Hickory, N.C.

Pisgah took 12 medals home from the Carolina Championship of Beer in Hickory out of 15 beers entered.

The winners are:

Red Devil-  Gold
Dancin’ Hobo-  Gold
Pisgah Porter-  Gold
Baptista-  Gold

Valdez-  Silver
Vortex I- Silver
Vortex II-  Silver
Solstice-  Silver

Brown Ale-  Bronze
Endless Summer-  Bronze
Pale Ale-  Bronze
Equinox-  Bronze

The Red Devil, brewed with fresh raspberries, is my personal fave, followed closely by the coffee-stout Valdez. For daily drinking, I like the Brown Ale and the Endless Summer. Congrats and keep up the rocking brewing!

Finally, the article that I obsessed over for weeks is published: read more than you ever wanted to know about pimento cheese here.

This is a shot I took of The Admiral’s yummy p.c. appetizer. Ale’s in the cheese!

Y’all know I love beer, and I have a soft spot in my heart for all things organic (even for those crusty organic farmers who’ve given me hell for telling the truth about how hard it can be to eat only locally grown food).

So I’m excited that local brew masters Highland Brewing Company are introducing their first organic beer next week. The beer, Black Mountain Bitter, is a pale ale, and should be in stores on January 12.

The beer’s touted as a classic English bitter, and the next in their line of seasonals named for local peaks.

Highland recently became only the second brewery in WNC to become certified organic (the other is my beloved Pisgah Brewing, of course–every one of their beers is organic–and tasty).

Look for the Black Mountain Bitter next week everywhere that Highland Beers are sold, including down in South Carolina, Tenn., and Ga.

Today’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a round-up of Asheville microbreweries including photos by Julie Atallah, co-owner of Bruisin’ Ales.

My round-up of WNC microbreweries, published in Mountain Xpress, is more in-depth and comprehensive. Although this is my story from 2007, as I can’t seem to find 2008 on-line. Ahhh, I found my 2008 Brewgrass story!