Asheville Beer Week 2013 Review
The Asheville Beer Week was a fabulous success for the 2nd year in a row. This past rollicking event was to celebrate all things beer. Our awesome city embraced and showcased breweries from all over. The week long events included tastings, dinner with beer pairings, beer education, and live music. We had so many delicious flavors to celebrate in such a short amount of time.
Brusin’ Ales did tons to help get this event together and kudos to all the volunteers that helped wrangle this event! Oowee Products was the official sponsor for the event so we crafted some limited edition “Asheville Beer Week 2013” leather pint sleeves. 
We kicked things off at the Mill Room for the VIP launch party. We enjoyed delectable treats from Mela, tunes, great folks, and of course, great beverages. The next day the Wedge hosted a event with Just Economics called “Just Brew It”. There was a fantastic turn out and lots of homebrew awards.
l am a self proclaimed, picky little bitch (PLB) about most things and beer is no exception. The Wicked Weed had some pretty deliciously, fruity Saisons and they all delivered a punch. Luckily, they serve some tasty items to nosh on to help maintain an upright position. My favorite Thirsty Monk event was the Allagash/NewBelgium tap takeover. This is where I found my love for New Belgium’s Trippel. Alagash’s Four was interesting and I’m not sure what to say about their Interlude beer. I think they were just using us as a tasting ground for that one. The Hops and Vines had some interesting tastings. My favorite was the Trappist 10, it scored 100% in Beer Advocate! http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/207/645 It’s a power player at 11.5%. It definitely passed my PLB test; I liked it so much that I bought a couple to cellar as well as to drink up during our spring Asheville evenings. I think I need to visit Brusin’ Ales to get more!
The Saturday events started at the RiverBend Malt House where the founders were giving a tour and describing the grains and all the nitty gritty of malt house life. Then, comes the long awaited Asheville Beer Festival! Although, I love the dark beers, I started with Saisons. I tend to enjoy the higher gravity beers more but in a festival one needs to maintain, so I sampled the lighter libations as well. I had some really great beers and some mediocre beers. The one stand out in my mind was Catawba Valley Brewing Company’s King Coconut Porter. Whoa! Toasty coconut, chocolate taste bud explosion in my mouth… Your mouth will love it too! Good stuff. We got to talk to the brewer and he definitely puts his loving care into making this beer. The last beer that left an impression on me was Wicked Weed’s Triple. It packs in some serious flavor! After the festival we jumped in a cab home and settled down in the back yard to enjoy the rest of the day in our beer bliss.
