I had the pleasure tonight to listening to Tim of Winexpert talk about wine tonight. To quote Wil Wheaton, quoting Homer Simpson "I am not going to lie to you Marge..." I am not much of a wine aficionado. In fact wine peasant is generally my style. That said he does a great presentation filled with information in a very accessable style. The beergeek in me hopes to learned something from his presentation style which he has down perfect. If you want to learn more about homewine making I whole-heartedly recommend you catch his touring road show if you get the chance. If you aren't into wine making but enjoy wine still catch him, you'll thank me later.

I helped to teach another Beginner Homebrew class at Tir Na Nog through American Brewmaster tonight. It was fun getting to share your passion for homebrewing with others. In comparison with the more advanced classes we seem to get asked more questions, which helps explain the process better. Also the experience speaking in public again is good practice on a certain level it has become more relaxed and natural. The advanced topics are more work to prepare, but the beginner are more of a set format.

Beer blogger? Beergeek? Find a way to share that love with others, it will pay off.

News
The new Tap House for Aviator has opened. It's located at 600 E. Broad St. in Fuquay Varina, NC 27526. Mark has mentioned they would like to have cask tastings as regular part of the Tap Room experience on the weekends once they get settled in the new location. Tours at the brewery will continue on Saturdays.

Mother Earth has started brewing, no word when to expect their arrival in the Triangle, but soon for sure.

In case you missed it, North Carolina had two breweries win at the Great American Beer Festival. Check out all the winners here.

Calendar
Bruery Release Party
Sept 30th - 6pm
Busy Bee
Raleigh
Tonight North Carolina's debut of the Bruery's beers. All the way from California for just you to find.

Carolina Beer Dinner
Oct 1st
Carolina Inn
Chapel Hill
Call for details

World Beer Festival - Durham
Oct 3rd 12pm-4pm, 6pm-10pm
Old Bulls Stadium
Durham
Tickets are sold out, but if it's like last year you may be able to find tickets at the door. Link

Backyard Beer Festival
Oct 3rd
Fullsteam Brewery (726 Rigsbee)
Durham
Can't find a WBF ticket maybe Sean will let you into his beer festival where he will showcase the local homebrewing community.

Victory Beer Dinner
Oct 6th - 7pm
Brixx Pizza
Brier Creek
$35 for a ticket, details can be found here.

Duck-Rabbit Marzen Release Party
Oct 8th - 6pm
Flying Saucer
Raleigh

Lone Rider Tour
Oct 10th 1-2pm
Lone Rider Brewery
Raleigh

Big Boss Tour
Oct 10th 2pm
Big Boss Brewery
Raleigh, NC

Triangle Brewey Tour
Oct 10th 1pm
Triangle Brewery
Durham

Octoberfest Beer Tasting
Oct 15th 6:30-9:00pm
Brixx Pizza
Brier Creek
$5 for four samples with 8 different Octoberfest beers on hand. Breweries to be featured include Foothills, Paulaner, Stoudt's, Spaten and more.

Lighthouse Beer Festival
Oct 17th - 1pm-5pm
Wilmington
Link

Carolina Annual Oktoberfest Celebration
Oct 17th - 5-9pm
Carolina Brewery
Pittsboro
Featuring limited edition Oktoberfest t-shirts, pint glasses and 25oz mugs and of course plenty of food and drink. Admission $5

Lone Rider Tour
Oct 23rd 6-7pm
Lone Rider Brewery
Raleigh

Aviator Cask Night
Oct 24th
Aviator Tap Room - 600 E. Broad St
Fuquay Varina
Featuring a couple of special casks that have been aging.

Congratulations to all of this year's winners. Every day these people represent the future of America's brewing, go support them. You can find the winners here.

More specifically congratulations to my friends in Arizona.The Four Peaks Brewing won a Silver for their Kilt Lifter, a Scottish Style Ale, frankly one of the first beers in the state I expect to gain eventual national attention. Thunder Canyon Brewery won two awards with their Countdown Honey Brown getting a Gold for Specialty Honey Beer and Roadrunner Red Lager received a Silver for their American-Style Dark Lager. Last certainly not least my friends at Beaver Street Brewer in Flagstaff. They won for a Gold for their Big Rapid Red their Ordinary or Special Bitter and a Silver Hopshot IPA their American-Style Strong Pale Ale. With these beers in their arsenal it's a promising start to their Lumberyard Brewery operation to open later this Fall.

More locally congrats to Foothills Brewing for a Bronze on it's beer Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout, it's been wowing beer fanatics locally and on beer lists for years it's now had a chance to shine nationally. Always congratulations to Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery for it's Gold for it's Baltic Porter and it's Bronze for the Barrel Aged Baltic Porter just goes to show how North Carolina is flexing it's brewing muscles as well. I'll have to ask Paul if he has any of those around the next time I see him, we need to get them on tap in the Triangle somewhere.

Between their up coming Beerfest and a conversation with a friend I have been thinking about the Carolina Ale House this week. I have had the chance to stop in on occasion and the experiences have left me with this thought, what a wasted opportunity.

It's your typical sports bar but with a decent beer bottle list, the taps however are filled with mostly the light lager crowd and a few usual suspects of national craft beers you could find in any bar in the country. Change out the local college colors on the wall and you could be really sitting in a bar in Boston or Phoenix.

In an age when North Carolina is becoming national recognized for it's growing craft beer scene this seems a shame. I can understand the need to meet consumer demand and I can see keeping a couple of lager taps. That said the rest of the taps could be used to showcase all the great beers North Carolina is producing from Foothills to Old Mecklenburg, Big Boss to Lone Rider, to nearly 40 others. There is a world of options being brewed in their own backyard. Yes they may need to run some beer classes to educate their regular customer base, but there are plenty of people willing to help in that regard including myself. Carolina Ale House live up to your name, it's a great time to make the local crafted beers shine.

News
Duck Rabbit is looking for brewer.

Mother Earth Brewing may start brewing in the next few weeks.

Events
IPA Showdown
Aug 25th 6:30pm
Flying Saucer
Raleigh
$15 gets you into the ultimate West Coast vs East Coast showdown. 9 beers enter, none hopefully leave.

Beer Dinner - Foothills Brewing
Aug 25th 7pm
Busy Bee Cafe
Raleigh

Carolina Brew Fest
Aug 29th 4-6pm and 7-9pm
Carolina Ale House - Briar Creek
Raleigh

3rd Annual Cask Ale Tasting
Aug 29th 6:30pm
Rigsbee Hall
Durham
$40 gets you into this special event with 12 casks from such breweries as Highland, Triangle, Duck Rabbit, Foothills, Aviator, Top of the Hill, French Broad, and Lone Rider.

Beer Dinner - Foothills Brewing
Aug 31st 7pm
Broad Street Cafe
Durham
$30 for a great dinner and beer how can you beat the value on this event?

Beer and Chocolate
Sept 3rd 6-8:30pm
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
Raleigh
$25 gets you into this tasting hosted by Julie Johnson Editor of All About Beer. It sounds like a great lineup so check it out.

High Country Beer Fest
Sept 5th
Boone

Big Boss Tour
Sept 9th 2pm
Big Boss Brewery
Raleigh, NC

Triangle Brewey Tour
Sept 9th 1pm
Triangle Brewery
Durham

Asheville Brewgrass Festival
Sept 19th
Asheville

LoneRider Brewery Tour
Sept 25th 6pm
Raleigh

World Beer Festival
Oct 3rd
Durham
Tickets go on sale Sept 8th.

Octoberfest Beer Tasting
Oct 15th 6:30-9:00pm
Brixx Pizza
Raleigh
$5 for four samples, they will have 8 different Octoberfest beers, four on draft, four in the bottle. Breweries from around across the globe and NC.

This week is the 4th Anniversary of Pop the Cap. For those not familiar with it, the effort raised the 6% ABV restriction to 15% on beer, while not perfect it was a huge leap forward for giving North Carolinians access to IPAs, Belgian styles, and barleywines to name just a few beers. I was talking with a native this week, when he first tested for the BJCP, before the lift of restrictions he had to travel as far away as New York to get access to some styles. In fact he said the first time he ever had a Doppelbock was when he brewed one.

My how things have changed with a bustling beer community of over 40 breweries and more in startup mode or planning. These vibrate small business are making a big impact on diversity in the local beer market. One thing I wasn't confident about when I moved here was how vibrant the beer culture was going to be given how many breweries were in the Triangle area. While there were some good pubs, the number of breweries was the same Flagstaff. Fast forward a year and the number of local breweries has more than doubled. While North Carolina hasn't one high accolades nationally yet, I now know it's a matter of time, not quality.

It shows in the eyes of brewers. As evidence...

If you want to see the passion of brewers speak with them about their craft. It shows in people like Mark Doble at Aviator, Mike Morris at Big Boss, er soon to be Natty Greens Raleigh, and Ian Vangundy at Lone Rider as a few examples. And there are so many more I haven't mentioned or had the chance to meet yet.

At least once a week I see or hear of something that reminds me that the local beer culture is exploding and the state is on the cusp of a beer mecca in the making. I feel very fortunate to get to be here and witness it happen. All of this made possible by all the hard work of those associated with Pop the Cap, so thank you everyone.

Michael Morris, brewer at Big Boss, has been selected to be the lead brewer at Natty Greene's expansion location into Raleigh. When I spoke with Mike about his pending move in the North Carolina brewing community he was very excited by the prospect. A detailed interview with Mike will follow soon but with him at the helm I am confident of the new location's success. If you have been visiting the Horniblows Tavern the last year like I have, you may have noticed Mike's hand in some of the more tasty experiments they have been brewing up. I don't want to give any of his secrets away, but he already has plans for the beers at the new location.

Congratulations to Mike and Natty Greene's.

Back in a saddle edition, my move is over so back to regular posting...

News
News on the beer tax front Fullsteam has the details.

Seasonal Taps
Aviator
One Hundred IPA
Thunder Berliner Weisse

Big Boss
Monkey Business Belgian Farmhouse Ale
A Little Behind Alt Beer
Super Chief India Brown Ale
Blanco Diablo Belgian Wit
Bottom's Up Belgian Pale Ale

Boylan Bridge
Summer ale

Carolina Brewing
Belgian Tripel
Summer Wheat

Calendar
Duvel Green Release Party
July 8th 6pm
Busy Bee
Raleigh

Brooklyn Brewing Tasting at Sitti
July 9th 5:30pm to 8pm
Sitti Courtyard
Raleigh
$10 will get you samples of Brooklyn’s Summer Ale, Lager, Local 1, and Local 2.

Triangle Pub Crawl
July 11th 6pm
Starts at Bull McCabes
Durham

Big Boss Tour
July 11th 2pm
Big Boss Brewery
Raleigh, NC

New Belgium Beer Dinner
July 14th 7pm
Nana's
Durham
The dinner will be five paired courses plus a reception beer, and is at the price of $45.00 per person plus tax.

Rogue 3rd Annual Beer Dinner
July 16th 6pm
Melting Pot
Raleigh
$49 per person
4 courses of Fondue paired with 4 Fantastic Beers

Triangle Beer Tour
July 18th 1:30pm
Triangle Brewery
Durham, NC

News
Lone Rider and Fullsteam get mentioned in this recent TV article (yes it's the text of the piece only, no video)

Fullsteam has found a location.

Seasonal Taps
Aviator
Saison de Aviator
Thunder Berliner Weisse
One Hundred India Pale Ale

Big Boss
Monkey Business Belgian Farmhouse Ale
In the Mood Porter
A Little Behind Alt Beer
Super Chief India Brown Ale

Boylan Bridge
Summer ale, someone send me a review if you get a chance to sample it

Carolina Brewing
Spring Bock
Wiggo
Summer Wheat

Calendar
Beer & Cheese Tasting w/ Jason Gavin from Brooklyn Brewery
June 23rd
Flying Saucer
Raleigh

Foothills Cask Night
June 24th 5pm
Tyler's Taproom
Apex
Dry hopped IPA

Wilmington Brewgrass Festival
June 27th 2pm
Downtown Wilmington
Wilmington

Beer Dinner
June 30th 7pm
Busy Bee
Raleigh
Busy Bee is teaming up with Don Richardson and Allgood Brands for the 3rd of their monthly beer dinners. But act fast because only 7 seats were remaining for Tuesday's dinner.

Tasting at The Flying Saucer: Belgium vs. North America
June 30th 7pm
Flying Saucer
Raleigh

Triangle Pub Crawl
July 11th
Starts at Bull McCabes
Durham

Big Boss Tour
July 11th 2pm
Big Boss Brewery
Raleigh, NC

News
You may have noticed a lack in posts, between moving to another house locally and the upcoming Parsec Awards my time is committed at full until early July at least. If anyone is interested in guest blogging about beer feel free to contact me, otherwise expect the site to slow down for a few weeks, but I will be back.

Big Boss' unique packaging gets attention in this post.

When Sean told me about Fullsteam's smoked t shirts I thought it was simultaneously it was the most awesome and silly idea ever. Go buy some and support the brewery.

A reminder about the Brew it Forward contest Lone Rider is sponsoring. Homebrew, locally made craft beer and supporting local charities, everyone wins!

Calendar
Cask Night with Triangle Brewing
June 12th
Broad Street
Durham, NC

Triangle Beer Tour
June 13th 1:30pm
Triangle Brewery
Durham, NC

Carolina Brewery Tour
June 13th Noon and 1pm
Carolina Brewery
Pittsboro, NC

Big Boss Tour
June 13th 2pm
Big Boss Brewery
Raleigh, NC

Big Boss Beer Dinner
June 16th 6:30pm
Brixx Pizza
Raleigh, NC

American Brewmaster Palate Training
June 16th - 7pm
Tir Na Nog
Raleigh, NC
Learn to improve your understanding of beer with me teaching a class understand the flavor and characteristics your favorite fermented beverage.

Brooklyn Beer Dinner
June 17th - 7pm
Porter's Tavern
Raleigh, NC
$45 for this beer dinner

Hops for Pops High Cuisine Dinner
June 18th 6:30pm
Carolina Inn's Crossroads Restaurant
Chapel Hill, NC

Monkey Business Big Boss Cask at Flying Saucer
June 18th
Flying Saucer
Raleigh, NC

Lone Rider Tour
June 20th 1pm
Lone Rider Brewery
Raleigh, NC

From their roots the LoneRider guys were homebrewers, so it makes sense that one of their first special projects returns to their own start in brewing. They are hosting Brew It Forward, a homebrew competition to select and brew a North Carolinian's beer.

The contest runs June 1st through July 25th?. It will cost $6 for entry and will feature a festival for entrants on August 1st. You can find details here.

I have been asked to participate on the judging panel, so obviously I won't be submitting any of my beers to the contest. It looks like it will be a great opportunity to support homebrewing, North Carolina beer, and local charities.