Knoxville Craft Beer Week is just around the corner. The week is filled with great tastings, special casks, barrel aged beers, visits from brewery reps, brewers, fun physical activities and will culminate with the Knoxville Brew Fest on the 29th. The inaugural Knoxville Craft Beer Week was last year and while we had a pretty sweet time, a group of like minded-craft-beer-Knoxvillians gathered together and proclaimed that we could rock it out even more. What’s the mission of this motley crew? I’m glad you asked:

The mission of Knoxville Craft Beer Week is to promote the availability, diversity and enjoyment of craft brewed beer to the Knoxville Metropolitan community through education, camaraderie and responsible fun.

And there is plenty of fun to be had. Check out the Events page for more details and be sure to follow Knoxville Craft Beer Week on Facebook and Twitter.

Make sure you’ve got plenty of Wheaties and rest now my friends, we’re in for a fun ride. Cheers!

If you’re interested in the program, South College will be hosting an open house at their campus on Lonas Drive on Thursday, July 18th at 6:30pm with Marty Velas, Brewmaster extraordinaire.

Cheers!

The Lucky 13 is advertised as a Mondo Red Ale and they are correct there.  The color is a nice copper color sporting a nice white lacing.  At first pour you are greeted with a fantastic caramel malt aroma followed by spicy and herbal hops.  The flavor is even better with a great spicy hop tang followed by toasted caramel and woodsy flavors.  The ABV on this bad boy is kicking at 8.6% but the perfectly balanced flavors hide this very well and create a very drinkable brew.  I am absolutely loving this beer and I believe I just might kill the whole bottle tonight.

Final snobs: Go get this beer.  Perfectly balanced, high ABV and cheap price make this a winner all around.  Stay snobby my friends.

Don

I hope this fine June weather is treating you nicely. While the season would dictate a lighter, perhaps a more fruit-esq beer, to me a stout is a year round selection. Many like to pair it with deserts or end a flight of beers with one. I’ll take one anytime or anywhere – especially when the word imperial comes first.

Up on deck tonight is a Lagunitas Imperial Stout I picked up at Corks Wine & Spirits. As we mentioned before, these guys are still new but they continue to add to their beer selection which is coming along very nicely – great job guys. What I’ve always liked about Lagunitas is that they make good beer and it won’t break the bank. Even before they were in the magnificent land of orange, I could pick up a bomber in North Carolina or Georgia for around $5 – hard to beat that. For some reason I either never saw the imperial stout or overlooked it because of it’s tasty brother, the Cappuccino Stout.

This beer has great roasted notes right off the back with just a touch of coffee. On the tongue it is velvet smooth and the roasted notes quickly give way to soft sweet hints of cocoa and coffee. It lingers on the palate for a while letting you savor the flavor. This beer kicks in at 9.9% ABV which will sneak up on you as it’s very, very tasty.

Final snobs: If we had a “bang for the buck” category, this would be a strong contender for the gold medal. at $4.99 this is a steal of an imperial stout and it’s very good to boot.

Cheers!

I have been eyeing this beer for some time now and finally with some goading gave it a shot. I’m not usually too big on Belgium beers but I have to say, it is an interesting brew.  The aroma gives you the telltale Belgium yeast followed by citrus and earth.  Mouth feel  is crisp and well carbonated.  Taste is what I feel is the interesting part.  First sip I am getting a very earthy flavor followed by bitter orange flavors the melt into grassy undertones.  There is a strange metallic aftertaste that I can’t quite put my finger on where it might have come from.  The bottle possibly?

Final snobs: At any rate I have to say this did not excite me.  The aftertaste is tough to get by. However, as I said earlier, I’m not big on Belgium beers.  It could be just me but if I put this up against the Belgo IPA from New Belgium Brewery I would have to go with Belgo.  But as I have said many times “taste is in the eye of the beerholder.”

I’ll be the first to admit, it’s been WAY to long since we’ve done a genuine beer snob post on here. However, tonight is the night! On deck this evening we have Ommegang Hennepin. Now, I’m not all too familiar with Ommegang and when it comes to saison’s, I’m still a novice but the best way to learn is to try and then try again. This particular brew came from the new Corks Wine and Spirits over by the fancy new Publix out in Turkey Creek. We met up with Ryan Megar this week to check out the new place and talk beer for a bit. First off, Corks doesn’t feel like your normal liquor store with it’s open floorplan, pretty slick looking concrete floors and reclaimed barn wood constructing the cashier’s desk right in the center. While they’re only about a month old, they are working hard to bring in good beer, so be sure to stop in from time to time.

Back to the beer, while we were perusing the selection Ryan stated that if God came to earth and brewed a beer, it’d be Hennepin – uh, sold! My natural tendency is to shift more towards the darker and/or hoppier brews but I do know there’s more to beer than that, so here I sit with my nose in the glass sucking in the scents of banana, orange, and honey. (The Mrs. says mango too but let’s not frou-frou this beer up just yet.) Now, as you can see in the pic, this is an unfiltered beer and when you’re not paying attention to what you’re doing, you’ll get a three finger head as pictured. Also note it’s bottle conditioned so don’t pour too hard unless you like yeast.

This beer hits the tongue with a great sweetness and lingers softly as the hops begin to come through finishing with a bitter lingering that makes you thirsty for the next sip. At 7.7% ABV you don’t have to hold back too much. This is actually a very good beer and would be great on a hot summer’s night or for Sunday brunch. Actually, I’ve been talking about doing beer and waffles for some time after visiting the Cafe Hollander in Milwaukee a year or so ago, this may be my waffle beer.

As for the name, well, according to the bottle Father Hennepin was the Belgian Missionary who discovered Niagara Falls. This beer pays homage to that discovery.

Final Snobs: If you’re looking for a nice saison or just something a little different, give this a shot. Thumbs up from this beer snob.

Cheers!

For many who have wanted to make a career of brewing beer, to get the proper credentials they’ve had to head west or north to the lands they call “Chicago.” I’m happy to share that’s no longer the case. You can learn to become a brewmaster right here in fabulous Knox-Vegas Tennessee!

The fine folks at South College have teamed up with Marty Velas of Smoky Mountain Brewery to create a world class curriculum that will not only help you craft tasty beer but also learn the science of brewing. Check out the info below directly from South College for more information and then go get your No. 2 pencils ready, school will be in session shortly. Cheers!

South College officially announces the first comprehensive brewmaster program in the South.

This certificate brewing program is patterned after the curricula at Siebel Institute in Chicago and University of California, Davis. Dr. Todd White of South College and Marty Velas of Smoky Mountain Brewery have collaborated to establish the Professional Brewing Science (PBS) program, which will train the brewing student in the theory of brewing in the classroom and also provide extensive training in the brew house, to thoroughly prepare the candidate for a successful career in brewing beer. Pre-requisite classes begin this summer with the core program commencing in the Fall.

In addition to Knoxville, this program can also be completed in Asheville, as Highland Brewing Company will provide the brew house training.

For more information call South College at 865.251.1800; Dr. Todd White of South College at 865.251.1861.

Spring is upon us! That means spring seasonal beer, brews on patios across our fair state, mowing the grass (boo), post-mowing the grass beer (yea!), and Hops for Hope! For the last three years we’ve been proud to be a part of Hops for Hope which is one of a few fundraisers that New Hope Blount County Children’s Advocacy Center puts on each year to raise funds for the center. New Hope is a friendly, safe place for child victims of sexual and physical abuse. If you’ve ever walked in their door, you can tell it’s just that. While we never want to see a child go through any type of abuse, New Hope is there to minimize the trauma if it does occur. They’re all for kids – we can all raise a glass to that!

The event: Hops for Hope is on Friday, May 3rd, 6pm at Dancing Bear Lodge in Townsend, TN. A $60 ticket gets you access to a stellar array of food (I’ve seen the menu, double thumbs up) and beer from many of your favorite breweries including; Smoky Mountain Brewery, Saw Works Brewing Company, Depot Street, Olde Hickory, Highland Brewing Company, Goose Island and Calfkiller Brewing. There might be one or two other surprises in the mix as well.

While the stellar beer is my primary motivation for attendance, the silent auction is always great and usually has multiple beer-related items up for grabs including many from the attending breweries themselves.

Music will also be provided by Pistol Creek Catch of the Day and the Backstreet Delilah’s.

If you’re concerned about transportation home, no worries. Scooter Guy of Knoxville will be on hand to take you home. As a matter of fact, the back of your ticket will have details on how to go ahead and setup a ride. We definitely want everyone to be safe so be sure to check this out!

For tickets, drop by New Hope or give them a shout at 981-2000. We hope you’ll join us for an awesome night among some great people – it’s for the kids! See you there!

The highlight of this year is that Wicked Weed Brewing will be in attendance and this is their first Tennessee festival appearance.  I had the chance to tour the brewery in Asheville and meet with the owners/brewmeisters Luke and Walt and share a beer or two.  These fellas brew with a home brewer mentality that they brew what they enjoy drinking themselves and using the same percentages to brew 100 gallons as it takes to brew 5.  The beers are more costly due to the high amounts of ingredients but you definitely get what you pay for.  These fellas are on the top of my list of favorite brewers so I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us.

From what Aaron has told me you will have over 100 different beer types to sample ranging from an apple pie ale to I believe a peanut butter an jelly ale.  Who says you can’t drink your lunch??  Still 100 beers from the likes of  Saw Works,  Wicked Weed,  Moccasin Bend, Calf Killer (another Don approved brewer), Oskar  Blues, Greenman and many more just rocks.  For a list of the attending brewers and their websites go here.

Also to give you a little more beeriety there will be somewhere in the range of 40 or so different homebrewers either with entries in the Iron Brewer competition, where the brewer gets a set recipe to brew with and is able to add one secret ingredient to hopefully walk away with prizes and bragging rights (and you vote on this), or serving their delicious libations from their own stand.  And when I say 100 different beers all the stuff that these fine brewers bring is not counted in that estimate so there you go.

Three other cool things I have to mention is 1. The Peoples Pint Glass Swap that will be going on early in the festival so bring your pint glasses and maybe you can trade for something you feel is even cooler than the one you let go,  2. bring your dancing shoes so you can cut some rug to the bands that will be jamming all day and 3. a photo booth will be churning out free pics so wear your Sunday best.

Alrighty folks to sum up you can grab the VIP tickets for 52.50 and drink from 12:30 – 6:30pm and enjoy free food in the VIP tent  or you can get the Reg tickets for 32.50 and guzzle brews from 2 – 6:30pm.  Get the tickets now and you get a limited supply of a Thirsty Orange pint glass on top of sampling over 100+ different beers from pro as well as home brewers, food, music, voting for The Iron Brewer, photos, festival shenanigans, Aaron streaking at 6:25pm and much more.  Hopefully I will see you at the Johnson City Mellow Mushroom parking lot and you might get in on a The Brew Mob video interview.

Cheers and stay thirsty my friends.

I hope this wet and dreary Saturday in fabulous Knox-vegas finds you warm with a beer in hand – perhaps while watching some March Madness. While there is certainly a LOT going on in the world of craft beer these days, especially in the ole Volunteer state, I thought I’d go back to our roots with a quick post on a tasty craft beer.

I first got wind of this beer several weeks back and while I think it has finally made it’s way into the orange state (red and blue states – don’t hate!) I was able to pick this brew up in North Carolina at Bruisin’ Ales for a whopping $5 a few weeks back. Due to travel, life, taxes and lunar phases, I’ve just gotten a chance to crack it.

First off, $5 for a 22oz. imperial IPA sounds like a steal to me. However, perhaps I’m getting old and should have started that sentence with a bit of Grandpa Simpson, “In my day…”

So, the beer: nice floral aroma to this one, nothing particular stands out but it does have a nice hop aroma to it. On the tongue, it doesn’t overpower at all, very drinkable, maybe a little too drinkable at 8.5%…I’ve gone through half of my glass in just this paragraph. It’s certainly not sweet like some of it’s higher ABV counterparts but not overly bitter either. Apparently this brew is known for it’s “hop burp“…which…wait….yeah, ok, I see what they’re saying.

Final snobs: Good beer, great price. Not the best Imperial IPA I’ve ever had but not the worst either. Think I’d categorize it as the most dangerously sessionable IIPA I’ve had. It’s also hard to be in a beer family where you have accomplished older IPA siblings like Ranger and Belgo who I might go to first in a game of pickup basketball but Rampant is growing on me.

Cheers!