Wicked Weed Brewing Co

Wicked Weed’s Menage-a-Freak To Tap Again

Wicked Weed Brewing (Asheville, NC) will be releasing their Menage-a-Freak triple IPA at the end of May. You may have known this beer as Freak of Nature. Melange is so popular, fans beg for this beer to be a regular release.

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Posted in Headlines, Videos, Wicked Weed Brewing Co

Wicked Weed’s “Funkatorium” Opens October 10th [VIDEO]

Wicked Weed Brewing (Asheville, NC) will open their second location you’ll come to know as the “Funkatorium” on Friday, October 10th. This new house of funk takes the sour and wild ales Wicked Weed has been creating to a full “wild” experience.

The Funkatorium will feature its own tap room with 16 taps and two hand pumps, showcasing Wicked Weed’s sour and farmhouse style ales. In the future, patrons will be able to purchase bottles from a special cellar list. Along side the funky beer lineup, food will be available on site, featuring different fare than found at the brewpub nearby.

…We want drinkers to come to the Funkatorium to see and touch the barrels, learn the smell of a wood cellar and really become intimate with this amazing style of beer. I can’t think of anywhere else on the East Coast where people can enjoy 16 different brett or sour beers while gazing at the 500 barrels from which those beers came.” Walt Dickinson, Head of Brewing Operations

Above is a Beer Street Journal exclusive video preview of the Funkatorium with Wicked Weed’s Abby Dickinson. Find the Funkatorium on 147 Coxe Avenue in Downtown Asheville.

If you go:
Wicked Weed’s Funkatorium Grand Opening
October 10th, 4pm.  
147 Coxe Avenue,  Asheville, NC

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Don't Miss This, New Releases, Wicked Weed Brewing Co

Wicked Weed Lusus Naturae Celebrates Tasty Beverage

Wicked Weed Brewing (Asheville, NC) has announced a new hop-meets-funk offering, Lusus Naturae. The brew a hoppy imperial IPA, finished with Wicked Weed’s house strain of Brettanomyces. Brewed in collaboration with Tasty Beverage Company in Raleigh, North Carolina in honor of their third anniversary.

Lusus Naturae is a dry, North Carolina Double IPA brewed with thoroughbred Riverbend Malt and 30 lbs of fresh-off-the vine Cascade wet hops from Echo View farms. It is dry hoped with over 3 lbs per barrel and finished with our house Brettanomyces strain. Drink this hoppy goodness fresh or lay it down to bring out the funk.

Wicked Weed Lusus Naturae will be able 500 ml bottles across North Carolina. 

Style: American Wild Ale
Hops: Cascade

Availability: 500ml bottles
Arrival: 8/29/14

8.4% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Headlines, Videos, Wicked Weed Brewing Co

Inside Look at Wicked Weed’s New “Funkatorium”

Wicked Weed Brewing (Asheville, NC) has made a sour name for themselves the first 18 months of being open. The brewery’s sour and wild ales are in high demand across Asheville.

Wicked Weed has come to a cross roads with the rising demand of their traditional ales, and the growing love of sours. The solution? The Wicked Weed Funkatorium.

Just a few blocks from Wicked Weed’s current location is a new warehouse that will house up to 1000 barrels of various wine and liquor barrels for the brewery’s expanding sour program.

The Funkatorium will have it’s own taproom featuring a special cellar bottle list, and 16 taps that are almost all sour offerings. Chef Cardiff Creasey will be creating a specialty small bites menu to compliment the Funkatorium sour lineup.

Beer Street Journal spent the afternoon with Wicked Weed’s Abby Dickinson in the Funkatorium for an exclusive first look.

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Don't Miss This, New Releases, Wicked Weed Brewing Co

Wicked Weed Launches Hipster Nouveau & New Series

Wicked Weed Brewing (Asheville, NC) is launching a new beer, and a new series on Friday. The series? – Terra Locale. The beer? Hipster Nouveau.

The brettanomyces forward saison, Hipster Nouveau, is finished with 75 pounds of rhubarb. Hipster is also brewed with River Bend Malt as collaborative effort between Wicked Weed and Fonta Flora Breweries. Walt Dickinson on the new series:

“We wanted to take a style (saison) that is super important to who we are as a brewery and take it back to its agrarian roots. We used grains that are less modified and more controlled because they are grown in our area. We used local produce because it’s in season and readily available just down the road. In keeping with tradition we untallied wild yeast and only brewed small batches…” 

Wicked Weed Hipster Nouveau releases on Friday, June 20th at the brewery in Asheville.

Style: American Wild Ale (w/ Rhubarb)
Availability: 500ml bottles, Draft.
Release: 6/20/14

6% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in New Releases, Wicked Weed Brewing Co

Wicked Weed Creates “World Cup” Beer Lineup

Wicked Weed Brewing (Asheville, NC) has created a new draft only line up for the world cup.

Starting the week of June 12th, head brewer Luke Dickinson will unveil weekly beers inspired by traditional ingredients or beer styles from countries around the world. One of the releases in a “Chicha Ale,” only the brewery isn’t going to chew the ingredients like Dogfish Head did on their tv show Brew Masters.

“I was inspired by the idea of the whole world coming together for one event,” said Luke. “The World Cup gives us a unique opportunity to showcase beer styles from around the world and celebrate them in an interesting way.”

The first beer in the lineup (below) taps at 4 pm on June 12th at the pub in Asheville, NC.

Week of June 12th:

Country of inspiration:  Brazil
Concept:  To create a Caipirinha inspired ale
Ingredients of interest:  Sugar cane rods and lime zest from 30 pounds of limes

Country of Inspiration:  France
Concept: A saison brewed with French hops, French yeast and French mushrooms, Chanterelles
Ingredients of interest:  French Aramis hops, French saison yeast, and Chanterelles sourced from France

Week of  June 19th:

Country of Inspiration:  Mexico
Concept:  A light, spicy beer brewed with cilantro.
Ingredients of interest:  Anaheim, Fresno and Habanero chilies, and cilantro.

Country of Inspiration:  Germany
Concept:  Traditional Bavarian Hefeweizen made with two uncommon German hops.
Ingredients of interest:  Mandarina Bavaria and Huell Melon hops and Bavarian Hefeweizen yeast

Country of Inspiration:  Australia
Concept:  A 7% ABV ale brewed with 5 types of New Zealand or Australian hops and Lemon Myrtle.
Ingredients of interest:  Orbit, Green Bullet, Wakatu, Pacific Gem and Pacific Jade hops and Lemon Myrtle.

Week of June 26th:

Country of Inspiration:  England
Concept:  An English bitter brewed with yeast brought back from Everards brewery in the UK when the Dickinson brothers brewed there last February.
Ingredients of interest:   East Kent Golding hops, Everards Brewery house strand of yeast and Maris Otter barley.

Country of inspiration:  Peru
Concept:   Wicked Weed’s take on the local alcohol Peruvian Chicha with numerous traditional spices.
Ingredients of interest:   Corn and barley base with spearmint, cinnamon, clove and lemon zest.

Country of Inspiration:  Ethiopia
Concept: Brew a beer based on Tej, a honey wine that originates in Ethiopia made with gesho root.
Ingredients of interest:   Gesho root and 300 pounds of Orange Blossom honey  and Wild Blossom honey.

 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Seasonal Return, Wicked Weed Brewing Co

Wicked Weed’s Menage-a-Freak To Tap Again

Wicked Weed Brewing (Asheville, NC) will be releasing their Menage-a-Freak triple IPA at the end of May. You may have known this beer as Freak of Nature. Melange is so popular, fans beg for this beer to be a regular release.

“The first year we released this beer people were in love. We kept getting asked again and again if it would be a regular release but that, unfortunately, is something we can’t make happen,” said Luke Dickinson, Head of Brewing at Wicked Weed.

Menage-A-Freak is hopped at a rate 6 pounds per barrel, which is double the IPA hopping average in the U.S. There are 95 pounds of beer-absorbing hops used in Wicked Weed Melange-a-Freak so a 17 barrel batch turns into 13 barrels. That’s a good bit of loss, making each release a real small batch.

Look for Freak on tap on Saturday, May 24th at 12 noon.

Style: Imperial IPA
Availability: Draft only

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Brewery Expansions, Headlines, Wicked Weed Brewing Co

Wicked Weed To Become Sour Destination [PICS]

Wicked Weed Brewing (Asheville, NC) will be opening a new barrel house and sour tap room in Summer, 2014.

The brewery has been barrel aging, souring, and blending wild ales about 20 minutes from the current location and not open to the public. A new 12,00 square foot facility has been chosen to house the barrelhouse, and will also feature a sour tap room with 10-15 taps.  As Wicked Weed’s bottle offerings grow, the facility will have a beer cellar.

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“We wanted to have a place where people could see the barrels, learn about the art of barrel aging and give them a place to drink the beers we love so much,” said Walt, Head of Brewing Operations and Wood Cellar Manager. “Im excited to let people really feel what a barrel house is like.”

No official date has been chosen for the opening, but is expect this summer. The new location is located at 147 Coxe Avenue in the South Slope region of downtown Asheville.

pics via Wicked Weed

by Reid Ramsay