New Belgium in Asheville
New Belgium opened its gleaming new brewery in Ashville, North Carolina last week. The brewery also celebrated its 25th anniversary. With the explosion of new breweries over the past decade or so, and the availability of an amazing amount of outstanding craft beers, it’s important to not forget the breweries that helped get the craft beer ball rolling.
I remember stuffing my carry-on backpack with bombers of Fat Tire (back when you could bring liquids on flights) when flying back from ski trips in the Rockies. New Belgium, Lakefront and Sprecher were big influences during my formative craft beer years, and brewing pioneers like these still deserve my business. Cheers to New Belgium for 25 great years.
Competing Flavors
At the risk of sounding like a complete moron to you certified beer judges out there, I had an interesting impromptu home tasting of a couple of great beers last week. I started with a tasty Laurelwood Workhorse IPA – a generous gift from Katelyn, a friend who brought it back from Portland. It was a deliciously piney and bitter West Coast IPA. I followed that up with a Transient Cromulent American Pale Ale. The big, East Coast inspired juicy hop flavor came through in an amazing way. Cromulent was the perfect follow up to the more bitter Workhorse. Combining these two brought out flavor profiles that I may have missed while tasting them on their own.
Barley Pop of the Week
Summer is winding down. Sadly, I didn’t discover Oskar Blues’ delicious Passion Fruit Pinner until now. I knew it was out there, but I just never picked up a six-pack. I’ve been a proponent of Pinner, one of the best session IPAs out there, for a while. But, the addition of a hint of passion fruit flavor takes this beer up a notch. It’s refreshing, slightly bitter and a perfect beer to sip during the last few remaining warm days of summer.
Quick Taps
CraftBeer.com posted a great Pumpkin-free Beer Guide to 2016 Fall Seasonals. What made it even better is that they mentioned both Milwaukee Brewing Company and Ale Asylum.
Brew Guru is the American Homebrewers Association’s new app. Check out how it can help you find the perfect beercentric spots for you.
Events Brewing
Monday, Aug. 29: Pair beer from Lakefront, O’so, Surly, Potosi, New Glarus, Point, Hinterland and Door County with delicious food bites at the Bar Bites Beer Bash at Story Hill BKC (5100 W. Bluemound Rd.) starting at 6 p.m. The cost is just $50 and reservations can be made by calling 414-539-4424.
Tuesday, Aug. 30: If you haven’t tried beers from Good City Brewing yet, head to The Malt Shoppe (813 N. Mayfair Rd.) at 5 p.m. They’ll be pouring a few of the new brewery’s creations.
Tuesday, Aug. 30: Draft & Vessel (4417 N. Oakland Ave.) is hosting Two Brothers Brewing and while drinking their brews you can play Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots. It’s true. Challenge your friends to one of the best kids’ games ever made.
Wednesday, Aug. 31: Oskar Blues is taking over the taps at Ray’s Growler Gallery (8930 W. North Ave.) at 5 p.m.
Wednesday, Aug. 31: The weekly meeting of the Milwaukee Beer Society tackles the wide world of sours at Best Place (901 W. Juneau Ave.) starting at 6 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 1: Upland takes over the taps at The Malt Shoppe at 5 p.m. Not only do you get to sample brews from one of the Midwest’s best, but you can also enter for a chance to attend an exclusive Upland sour tasting on Sept. 26.
Saturday, Sept. 3: Try delicious brews from Surly Brewing at Discount Liquor Milwaukee (5031 W. Oklahoma Ave.) and Discount Liquor Waukesha (919 N. Barstow Ave.) from noon to 3 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 3: New arrival beers are the subject of the weekly sampling at both Three Cellars locations (7133 S. 76th St., Franklin and N72 W13400 Lund Lane, Menomonee Falls) from 1 to 4 p.m.
