Drink Seasonaly: Devil's Britches from Highland Brewing

Yesterday someone asked me the question:

"What is your favorite beer?"

How in the world does someone answer that question? I guess a lot of people have a go-to beer or a favorite style. For me it seemed like trying to pick a favorite child.

I thought about it for a minute but I didn't really have a definitive answer I could provide. So I answered the only way I could.

"I like seasonal beers."

Seasonal beers, for those who aren't familiar with the term, are batches of beer breweries make that are only available for a limited time. Typically these are styles that fit the current weather or are brewed for holiday seasons.

Many of the local Asheville breweries create seasonal beers throughout the year, but the one I think has nailed it is Highland Brewery. Arguably Asheville's biggest brewery, at least before some of the big guys move in, Highland does brew some of the area's beer staples. Their St. Therese's Pale Ale is a refreshing beer that is available year round. Gaelic Ale is also an easy drinking red that you can get just about anywhere. But I believe Highland's best work is their seasonals.

Anticipation is palpable as far away as Atlanta for the release of the popular winter beer Cold Mountain. I also love their Oktoberfest, Clawhammer. Last year, in late spring, Highland introduced an amazing pale ale with hops that tasted like sunshine called Little Hump. I honestly couldn't get enough of the stuff. I bought bottles from the store and ordered pint after pint in any bar I found it in. I have been assured that it is going to be back this year and that it was a staff favorite last year. Turns out it was also award winning last year.

Highland has done it again with their late winter/early spring seasonal available right now called Devil's Britches. Like all of their beers, this one is named after local mountain. Devil's Britches is a rich red IPA brewed with a couple of hops varieties that I had never heard of - but both are named for Greek Mythology (Apollo and Calypso) so I can't find anything wrong with them. The result is a malty beer with hops that don't try to knock your taste buds off your tongue with each sip.

And yes, when I realized that I wanted to blog about it, I went and got a bottle out of the recycling bin to get a photo of it. These are the sacrifices I make for my art.

Because it is a seasonal this beer won't be around for ever. I'm finding myself ordering it out at every chance I can get knowing that might be my last opportunity. If you like malty beers with a little kick of hops but not too much, you might want to check it out for yourself before it is gone.

The Second Best Beer in Asheville

There is one small problem with declaring The Best Beer in Asheville. It is that the next time you have something as delicious you feel as though you are cheating on the other beer.

I didn't mean to, Heresy Brown. It just happened. I'm sorry.

Last summer, we spent a lot of time at Wedge Brewery. It is such an easy summer place to be. The old warehouse in the river arts district right on the bank of the French Broad is the perfect place to enjoy a cold beer on a hot day. We would sit on the patio and be all carefree. I would wear my hippie skirts and tank tops and think to myself "I belong in a place like this." 

Then we went away for the winter. We spent two months bundled in layers of clothes as we enjoyed the company of friends and family for the holidays. By the time we got back, I had kinda forgotten about Wedge. 

The other day, Matt reminded me. It was a really cool day. Both cool as in awesome and cool as in cold. We spent some time visiting with Joe of Tennessee Tiny Homes while he was in Asheville on his tri-state tour. Besides beer, tiny houses are my other favorite thing. We were there for about an hour and half talking with Joe and another local tiny house enthusiast. We started to get hungry, though, and Matt said "Lets go down to Wedge." 

I was all like, "I totally forgot about Wedge on a count of it being winter and everything."

My goofy grin and an Iron Rail last summer.

So we said our goodbyes and headed down to the RAD to enjoy some beer.

It was freezing cold that day and not at all the kind of day that would bring someone out to the riverfront. The place wasn't packed but it had a fair amount of business for a cold February day. We bellied up to the bar and ordered "Two Iron Rails, Please." 

And that was when I remembered. This beer is SO delicious. Kind of Heresy Brown delicious...but I forgot about Iron Rail when I declared that Heresy Brown was the best beer in all of Asheville. Oh no!  

By the way, Iron Rail is an IPA. It is hoppy but not painfully so. It is really easy to drink. 

I felt caught. Like I was committing a horrible sin. I can't possibly say one beer is the best in the whole city when this other beer makes me feel so joyful at the same time. Can someone be PolyBeerMorous? Can I really love both of them at the same time? 

Asheville kind of makes us a little PolyBeerMorous. There is so much great beer in this town and new ones coming every day. By the way, I made that word up: PolyBeerMorous. You won't find it if you Google it. I know, I tried. 

So I want to raise a glass to ALL of the great beer in Asheville. Or, alternately, I want to raise a glass OF all of the great beer in Asheville. Don't worry, I'll call a cab.

Sweeping Declaration: I know the Best Beer in Asheville

Okay, okay...I know. Beer taste is entirely subjective. You might prefer stouts or you might like hyper-hoppy double IPAs. That means making a sweeping declaration like The Best Beer in Asheville is really completely meaningless. That isn't going to stop me from saying it.

A couple weeks ago, Wicked Weed was unleashed on a pretty saturated Asheville beer scene. A couple of things could have happened. Either it wasn't all it was cracked up to be and would become a footnote on the pages of Asheville Beer History, or it would be awesome.

Spoiler - it's awesome.

The restaurant and casual bar upstairs is a great place to grab a pint and eat some delicious food. I might recommend the Caesar Salad which is made with Napa cabbage instead of romaine lettuce which makes it so much better that your average Caesar Salad. Downstairs is the practically steampunk themed bar serving half pints of some more experimental brews. After 4pm the place starts to get mega-crowded both upstairs and down so get there early if you can.

Which brings me to my Sweeping Declaration.

I am about to say it. Buckle up.

The best beer in all of Asheville is Heresy Brown Ale from Wicked Weed Brewery. 

You really need to try this beer. It is a dry hopped brown ale and the blend of malty goodness and the perfectly balanced hops is exquisite.

There is no other shoe to drop, either. Try anything else at Wicked Weed and you will likely be impressed. Most of the things they brew and serve are delicious. In fact, I shouldn't say most. I haven't had a beer there that I didn't like. I even had to admit that some of the styles that I don't normally like were very well done. If you want something more like a Trappist beer try the Abigail Dubbel. If you want an easy drinking beer with a surprising amount of complexity try their lowest alcohol offering; Sir Ryan the Pounder. But if you want something really special and you like hops and malt, seriously consider the Heresy Brown Ale. 

Oskar Blues in Brevard

Oskar Blues Brewery, out of Colorado, has recently opened a facility near Asheville in Brevard, NC.

The coolest part - they offer a TROLLEY that picks you up in downtown Asheville and takes you all the way to the brewery then brings you back to town as soon as the brewery closes. What awesomeness is that. They are doing this on Saturdays and it leaves from behind Thirsty Monk off of Coxe at 5pm. Drops you off in the same spot.

So it is pretty awesome to get a ride out to the brewery and not have to drive but on top of that their beers are delicious. My favorite was the G'Knight, an imperial red ale. Yum.

I started drinking it before I remembered to take a photo of it.

Beer and Now: The Future!

Hello Beer and Now readers! I'm sorry there hasn't been much content here lately. I have big plans for the site though, so stay tuned.

I'm afraid I have been spending quite a bit of time focusing on tiny houses. See, I started writing for two tiny house blogs and I have my first book due out in March. You can check out my other site, 120squarefeet.com for more information about that.

However, I intend to revive this blog a bit not only writing about beer making, which I will be doing again soon, but also about the Asheville beer scene. There is so much awesome beer and related beer culture in this city that I should be writing about here. I hope to be able to pay some attention to this blog even while everything with the tiny house writing is going on.

In the meantime, here are some beer related photos for your viewing pleasure.

Delicious Dogfish Head beers from a pint night at Thirsty Monk in May.

A tiny taste of Asheville Brewing's Summer beer, District 12 back in May. Look at my tiny orange! 

And then the Asheville Summer Beer Festival

Mmm... bacon and beer.

And we went to the Oktoberfest celebration downtown. It was Fall and I could finally wear my beer hat! 

And Matt got this tiny beer at Thirsty Monk.

And, finally, I had this delicious Cold Mountain while sitting on the patio of the Grove Park Inn overlooking Asheville.

I'm glad you've stuck around. Be prepared for some new content and possibly big changes here at Beer and Now! 

Writing about beer quite a bit...just not here

I have been doing quite a bit of writing about beer, thanks for asking. Fortunately for me those posts are going up at Beer City Guide instead of here. So If you're looking for great new beer content from me, go there and check it out. While you're there, check out some of the other stuff. It is all good.

I am really enjoying these opportunities to check out breweries in the Asheville area. I've been able to review old favorites as well as brand new operations in the area.

Seriously, go read them. I might cry if you don't.

In the tiny glasses laid before me were the Porter, the ESB, a cask ESB, the IPA, and their summer seasonal Wheat. Our bartender, Autumn, declared the ESB the best beer but said that IPA was most popular. She did concede that it was popular for potentially all the wrong reasons – everyone (*cough* hipsters *cough*) wants to try IPAs even if they don’t like them. The ESB has been my favorite since I discovered it, though. It is a delicious example of a bitter beer with just the right caramel notes. I was surprised to find myself unimpressed with the cask ESB, however. I thought the regular tap was more complex while the cask tasted strongly of the caramel and chocolate with less hops coming through.

International Beer Blogger

The reason I have included a link over on the right for the Beer and Now UK is because I am writing for them!  This is super exciting for me mostly because of the way it happened. I was just minding my own business when I got an email from Andy in Manchester saying they just started a website called Beer and Now and whilst Googling their name they came across this site. He loved what I was writing about and asked me to do some blogging for them. It took a while to get things rolling, but now you can check out my posts there.

Laura hails from the source of some of our favourite beers, the good old US of A so she is perfectly positioned to keep us up to date with all of the latest and greatest beer related developments across the pond.