Wicked Weed First Bottle Release Set For 3/1

Wicked Weed Brewing is about to join the club. One year, 2 months, 3 days (and approximately 27.4 minutes) after opening our doors, we made the leap and purchased a bottle filler. The six head filler is specially designed to fill 500 ml bottles and will be designated to bottle solely sour and wild beer. This means you will see the rarest and most interesting beer Wicked Weed makes on the shelves of bottle shops across the state. And what’s first, you ask? We couldn’t think of a better beer than our Great American Beer Fest gold medal winning Serenity 100% Brett Farmhouse Ale. This dry, refreshing, complex beer has been a powerhouse for us since we first released it in our brewpub and, based upon how it was received by the judges at the GABF, we believe you will love it too.

On March 1st we will start selling bottles of Serenity at noon, with coffee available for all you diehards who show up early; although the exact arrival time of the coffee depends on how early we can coax our staff out of bed. We will have a 4 bottle per person limit so bring your friends, parents and kids (they are good at carrying stuff, like tiny mules!) to stock up on as much as you can. Each beer will cost $10.95 for a 500ml bottle. The perk of getting in line early? The first 100 people will have the opportunity to receive a bottle signed by brewers Luke and Walt Dickinson. To continue the festivities, we will tap a keg of Serenity for those of you who are excited to drink the beer on premise, as cracking the bottles on the spot is highly frowned upon by the beer police (trust us, they are real and not fun people). Additionally, a band will start up at 1pm, weather permitting, to keep the party going throughout the day.

On February 20th at 6pm, Wicked Weed Brewing will tap Asheville’s first gluten reduced beer. Crafted for those with a gluten intolerance who are sick of drinking beer that doesn’t taste like beer, Freek was brewed with loads of hops and a similar grain bill to Freak of Nature DIPA. This ale is designed to be big, hoppy, and uniquely Wicked Weed. But why gluten reduced and not gluten free you ask? Although the FDA allows a food product labeled as gluten free to contain up to 20 parts per million of gluten, the TTB, the overarching federal alcohol body, has decided that any beer made with barley cannot be labeled as “gluten free,” but instead “crafted to reduce gluten.”

Gluten Freek was recently tested and shown to have less than 10 parts per million gluten. If this were a food product, it could be labeled gluten free, and although it is possible to make a 100% gluten free “ale” with sorghum, it cannot legally be called “beer” unless it contains barley. We believe that we are in the business of making beer and, therefore, barley, hops, yeast and water will be in every beverage we make as a brewery. What does all that legal talk mean for you? This beer is a delicious, hoppy creation, and is being tapped at 6pm on Thursday and you shouldn’t miss out. No matter the wording and the technicality of the law, as a locally based company who know where its roots lie; Asheville, this one’s for you.
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