http://www.citizen-times.com/article...nclick_check=1
If you follow the Mayan calendar, the end of the world is nigh. But that isn’t slowing down the local brewing action.
French Broad Brewing is releasing its new barley wine on Friday, and it packs a delicious punch. The nectar is 9.3 percent alcohol, so sip it slowly. For now, it will only be available at the French Broad tasting room at 101 Fairview Road. Come January, it might show up at some other spots. It will be draft only, no bottles.
French Broad brewer Chris Richards has been working on this baby for months now. It went in the tanks in late September and has been aging away. “That’s why we don’t do many specialty beers,” said French Broad owner Andy Dahm. “It ties up the tanks.”
It’s been five years since French Broad made a barley wine, but the timing is right, with colder weather and the holidays here. The brewery only made 10 or 11 barrels. “It will improve with age,” Dahm said.
Tasty Weasel
The new Tasty Weasel tasting room at the Oskar Blues brewery in Brevard promises to be a beer hot spot. The venue has all the year-round Oskar Blues beers and, as production ramps up, will serve some specialty ales only available there. The upstairs balcony space has a great view of the 33,000-square-foot brewery. Tasting room hours are noon-8 p.m. Friday-Sunday, 2-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday. It’s an easy drive from Asheville at 342 Mountain Industrial Drive in Brevard.
Altamont arrives
We’re mighty glad to see beer being made at Altamont Brewing at 1042 Haywood Road in West Asheville. This place opened as a taproom in March 2011, but is only now rolling out its new porter.
It won’t last long and will probably be gone before Altamont can release another beer, brewer Gordon Kear said. Next to come are an ESB, a stout and an IPA.
Getting wicked
Wicked Weed Brewing is just one week out from opening to the public at 91 Biltmore Ave., next to the Orange Peel. The brewery will throw a knockout opening punch, with 14 house beers, including a big hoppy West Coast-style IPA, a hoppy brown, a saison, a double IPA, bourbon barrel-aged beers and some barrel-aged sours, too.
The downstairs tasting room will have them all, with about four brews on tap in the upstairs restaurant.
This will be one of Asheville’s hottest new beer destinations, wait and see.
Linear Mode
