We'll be on the road let again to another beer event at the end of November. Triangle Brewing Co. in Durham, NC is hosting the 3rd Annual Black Friday Cask Festival on Friday, November 27th from 3-8pm. Tickets are currently on sale and may be purchased online here.

The ticket price includes NC cask ales (an experience worth the ticket price alone), plus food from local Durham restaurants, live music and a commemorative glass. All proceeds benefit the NC Brewers Guild (www.ncbeer.org), an organization dedicated to promoting and supporting local craft breweries.

The official sit for the event is www.trianglebrewery.com/black_friday.html, but a more current list of participating breweries may be found at the beerinator.com forums here.

We look forward to seeing everyone there!

Cheers!

We are working on yet another very limited production brew! This time it's an imperial stout...here's a brief description:

Blacker than night, stouter than stout is our imperial stout! Brewed with a lot of malt and a touch of local honey, Imperial Stout is rich and robust with deep, deep notes of chocolate and espresso. A few sips and you will think you are the Czar of all Russia! Za zdarovye. 10.5% alc/vol

That's from the bottle label which is still in the design process. That's right, even though this is a very, very limited production beer we've decided to bottle some of it. More info to come when we know an exact release date...

Cheers!

That's right, Firkin Friday will return to Amos Howards Brew Pub on US Hwy 70 SW in Hickory, NC. next Friday! We'll be delivering a fun little firkin of cask conditioned Nut Brown Ale to the pub on Friday October 30th. They'll tap it right around 6pm, so you might want to be there early - it runs out fast!

Also, Amos Howards would like us to remind you that the next night is their annual Halloween Bash. Specials and contests all night long!

To celebrate our new bottling project we had several new t shirts printed! Only 2 of the designs are ready now, but another 3 will be here soon! Piedmont Pilsner and Hickory Stick Stout shirts may be purchased at the Olde Hickory Tap Room (see our Locations for address/phone). If you're from out of town and can't get to the Tap Room for a shirt, send us an email through our comment form and we'll see what we can do! Each shirt (S-XL) is $15, with XXL available for $17.

Just 2 quick notes for you...

I had my first taste of our Christmas Ale which we've just started filtering. Yum! Very similar to previous years' editions with fresh ginger, orange zest, cinnamon sticks and local honey. The honey is really the an interesting variable - each year the bees collect from a different range of plants, creating different notes in the honey. And, on a related topic, the second note of this post...

We just received a small sample run of labels for the beers we will soon offer by bottle. As mentioned before, Ruby Lager, Piedmont Pilsner, Hickory Stick Stout, Table Rock Pale Ale and Hefe Weizen will all be bottled. But what do you know, we've decided to offer another, in a limited run. Our Christmas Ale will be available by bottle this year!

Please note that all these brews will in 22oz bottles. Currently we are only certain that they will be available at the Olde Hickory Tap Room and Amos Howards Brew Pub, but we looking into a wider distribution!

Hickory's Oktoberfest runs from October 9th through the 11th, and we'll be there! It's a hardship having to truck in our beer from 3 blocks down the road, but we love our loyal patrons and we're willing to put in the extra effort.

Joking aside, Oktoberfest is one of our favorite events. There are two beer gardens and we'll be offering several options. At the Beck's beer garden we'll have our Oktoberfest on tap. At the Klingspor stage/beer garden we'll have not only Oktoberfest, but also Piedmont Pilsner, our Hefeweizen and one other. Of course if you want to move indoors, or keep the spirit alive after the main festival shuts down each evening, you can find us at the Olde Hickory Tap Room as well. Located on Union Square, the Tap Room has more than 10 Olde Hickory beers available, including the award wining Irish Walker and Bardstownin bottles as well as our minikegs. There is plenty to do at the festival including: special activities and performances for kids and teens, food and craft vendors and several performance stages. For more information visit www.hickoryoktoberfest.com.

But that's not all! Charlotte's 11th annual Oktoberfest seems to be sold out, but we look forward to seeing all the lucky ticket holders on October 11th (it's a busy weekend!). Please note, the location has changed since the initial announcement, and it now at the Metrolina Expo. See www.charlotteoktoberfest.com for more information.

As always, please enjoy yourselves & be safe!

Cheers!