Wine 101 raises money for Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation

LOCAL FEATURE

By Dathan Kazsuk | Sep 17, 2014

Twitter: @TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | Instagram: @trianglearoundtown

It appears that Wine 101's two locations in Raleigh and Wake Forest made a considerable amount of funds going towards the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation on Sept. 11.

The two stores combined for $621 that day on select glasses of wine and pints of beer, while raising a total of $1,485 for the foundation. Wine 101 owner Joe O'Keefe mentioned that a generous donor will also match the funds. With that being said, it looks like close to $3,000 will go to the foundation, which honors Siller, who put his life on the line to save others on 9/11.

Falls River Wine & Beer Club members were on hand at both locations, enjoying wine and beer while helping raise money for this patriotic organization. Bravo to the club members who came out that evening to support the club, the foundation and Wine 101.

Be sure to check out the Tunnel to Towers 5K Run/Walk on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 8:30 a.m. at PNC Arena in Raleigh. Wine 101's O'Keefe and James Wood will be taking part in the run, as well as Jennifer and myself.

To learn more about this organization and how you can get involved by checking out the links below.

https://www.crowdrise.com/T2TTheTriangle
http://thetriangle.eventbrite.com/

Magnificent Mile Race takes over Raleigh

LOCAL FEATURE

By Jennifer Primrose and Dathan Kazsuk | Sep 14, 2014

Twitter: @TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | Instagram: @trianglearoundtown

On Friday, Aug 22, 2014, I was presented with the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS. I politely declined the challenge but pledged to donate to organizations and participate in fundraising events to support causes near and dear to my heart through the end of the year. My first was to participate in the Magnificent Mile on Sunday, Sept. 14.  Unfortunately, due to a sick feline family member, I had to miss the race to care for my 18-year old cat at home. However, Dathan did participate in the race and here is his blog:
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We try to help out as many charities as we can each year. It’s a small little motto we live by. From helping the animals at the SPCA to staying up all night for the American Cancer Society. From beads of sweat dripping from our brow after a 5K run on Thanksgiving, to getting dressed to the 9’s for a night out with celebrities. It’s something that makes Jen and I feel good about ourselves.

This year alone we’ve gone to events to help raise money or awareness for the Stephen Siller Foundation, Frankie Lemmon School, Watauga Humane Society, SPCA of Wake County, the American Cancer Society and several events which raised money for the Jim “Catfish” Hunter chapter of the ALS Association. The latter of which is on Sept. 14 when I took part in the Magnificent Mile Race in downtown Raleigh.

Related : Wine 101 raises money for the Stephen Siller Foundation

The Magnificent Mile Race was inspired by Sarah Witt (right).

Finding a cure for motor neuron disease is the main goal behind this race, and the beneficiary of 2014 was the local ALS Association. Recently I took part in the ALS Ice-Bucket Challenge, when my friend Cameron called me out. Hailing from California, I decided I wasn’t going to use water since my home state is going through a major draught … so I used a case of Milwaukee’s Best beer.

But for this race, all I had to do was jog a mile. That beats dumping bad, cold beer on my head! There with several friends from the Umstead Park United Church of Christ, we enjoyed the day leading up to our Recreational Mile Run/Walk.

During the competitive men’s race, someone completed the mile in 4:12. Wow! How can that be? Seriously? How do people run a mile that fast? For me, I finished in 10:11, and I thought I could have done it in 9:30 … but such is life. I crossed the finish line.

Members of the Umstead Park United Chruch of Christ pose for a photo.

It was also nice to hear that since 2006, the organization has raised more than $450,000 before this year’s run, and had some big name Triangle sponsors such as Quintiles, Lenovo, CASL and The Q Shack. I also have to hand it to the Umstead Park United Church of Christ which had close to 100 members either running or volunteering at the event.

This will be another event to add to next year’s calendar of charitable giving. And if you’re looking for a nice family friendly outing, you should look into it as well.

Raleigh Beer Week Comes to a Triumphant End

By Dathan Kazsuk | Sep 1, 2014
Twitter: @TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | Instagram: @trianglearoundtown

This past week, in case you missed the memo, was the Raleigh Beer Week celebration. From Sunday, Aug. 24 through Sunday, Aug. 31, participating breweries, restaurants and bottle stores featured a slew of beer-related events that brought beer connoisseurs out in droves. 

With 37 events spread throughout the week, it would be impossible to make all of them – and I’m not too keen on blowing out my liver in a week of binge drinking! So we selected a few of these events to check out.

Sunday, Jen and I along with our friends Gary, Gina, David and Rachel had our own event in our backyard. Jen and I recently got back from a trip through Ohio and Michigan, so we brought back a majority of beer that you can’t pick up in any bottle shop here in North Carolina. With an assortment of food in the likes of chili verde burritos, chips and salsa and several different cuts of salami we sampled everything below:

• SummerBright Ale - Breckenridge Brewery, Denver, Co.
• Traverse City Cherry Wheat - Atwater Brewery, Detroit, Mi.
• Soft Parade - Short’s Brewing Co., Bellaire, Mi.
• Bean Flicker Blonde - Odd Side Ales, Grand Haven, Mi.
• Chomolungma Honey Nut Brown - Jackie O’s Pub & Brewery, Athens, Oh.
• Trainwreck Ale - Mountain Town Brewing Co., Mt. Pleasant, Mi.
• Cane and Ebel - Two Brothers Brewing Co., Warrenville, Il.
• White Rajah - The Brew Kettle, Strongsville, Oh.
• Huma Lupa Licious - Short’s Brewing Co., Bellaire, Mi.
• Foray - Deschutes Brewery, Bend, Or.
• Bodhi DIPA - Columbus Brewing Co., Columbus, Oh.
• CEO Stout - Right Brain Brewery, Traverse City, Mi.
• Decadent Dark Chocolate Ale - Atwater Brewery, Detroit, Mi.
• Tres Blueberry Stout - Dark Horse Brewing Co., Marshall, Mi.
• El Chavo (Habanero, Margo Hard Cider) - Blake’s Hard Cider Co., Armada, Mi.

It looks like a lot of beer, but between 6 people it was only a little over 3 pints.

Some of the most popular that night were Short’s Soft Parade high-gravity fruit beer, Dark Horse’s Tres Blueberry Stout, Deschutes’ Foray, Blake’s El Chavo cider and by far the favorite … Columbus Brewing Company’s Bodhi DIPA.

So that leads us into Monday and Casks for a Cure at Big Boss Brewing Company. Jen and I like our beer and wine, but its even better when our drinking goes towards a good cause. This year, proceeds from our $10 cash donation went to benefit the ALS Association - Jim “Catfish” Hunter Chapter. 

Around 10 experienced home brewers shared some of their beer with 300 people and raised $6,000 for ALS.  The event also featured a handful of people taking the ice bucket challenge later in the evening. 

NC Beer Guys Glenn and Dave were a hit with the Hot Pistol beer at Big Boss.

On Tuesday, we took part in “The Magnificent Michigan” invasion at Tasty Beverage. This featured several beers by three great Michigan breweries. Founders, was featuring its KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout) along with Backwards Bastard Scotch Ale. New Holland featured the Dragon’s Milk reserve with toasted chilies, and its barley wine, Pilgrim’s Dole. And Bells featured the Wedding Ale and Baron Von Nordwestlich.

But I must say I wasn’t happy with the outcome. We arrived right at 5 p.m., when the event was suppose to start, only to see the line was already out the door. We waited in line for 30 minutes just to order our drink – and then I see we were actually in 1 of 3 lines which slowly snaked its way to the bar. The bar, already cluttered with guests sitting at stools, made it even more difficult to order your beverage, and at the 30 minute mark, I heard the words none of us should have heard within the first 60 minutes … “KBS has kicked!” 

Really? I know KBS is a decent stout, but 30 minutes entire keg kicked? I might have to call FOUL on that one! 

After a pretty chaotic ordeal just to get less than a pint of Dragon’s Milk and Backwards Bastard we walked over to Crank Arm Brewery, where we enjoyed the peace and quiet of sitting at a table and ordering up a couple pints of beer which were readily available.

With long lines inside and a crowd forming outside, Tasty Beverage 
was popular place on Tuesday.

We laid low on Wednesday and didn’t hit up any events. And on Thursday we went to BottleMixx to sample the True Myth Cabernet from Paso Robles. We love our beer, but we also love California Cabs as well! 

Saturday, we made our way to BottleMixx, but this time for the “All Over the NC Map.” There we met up with some friends and Jen and I sampled 10 of the beers on draft by sharing 2 flights! Listed below was our line-up for the afternoon.

• Wicked Weed Brewing Co. - Freak of Nature Double IPA
• Ponysaurus Brewing Co. - Fig Saison
• Steel String Craft Brewery - Zupfen Gose
• Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. (Mills River) - Raincheck Spiced Stout
• Deep River Brewing Co. - Rhubarb Berliner Weiss
• Fullsteam Brewery - Paw Paw Belgian Style Strong Ale
• Sub Noir Brewing Co. - Flanders Red, Citra Dry Hopped & BBA 
• Mother Earth Brewing Co. - Silent Night BBA Imperial Stout 2013
• Highland Brewing Co. - 20th Anniversary Saison
• Big Boss Brewing Co. - Zombie Belgian Style Ale

Our favorites were Mother Earth’s Silent Night, Deep River’s Berliner Weiss and Fullsteam’s Paw Paw Belgian. Next on our agenda was to head downtown to Trophy Brewing to grab a couple bottles of Flanders Red, but we saw photos on Facebook, which showed a line already forming out the front door and down the sidewalk. Guess we’ll miss out on that one. Wait! Nope! That’s not the case! We arrived around 5:30 for dinner and some drinks, and asked one of the bartenders if they had any left, and sure enough six bottles were sitting in a box behind the bar. That made it easy … two for me, two for David and two for Gary. We sure lucked out, and didn’t have to wait in any line!

BottleMixx is one of our favorite beer shops in Raleigh, and they didn't disappoint in 
"All Over the NC Map."

On the final day of beer week, we decided to end our week-long excursion by going to Lonerider for it’s Seven Shades of Betty. I’m not a huge fan of Shotgun Betty, but a lemon-zest, sour, watermelon, raspberry and habanero versions of the hefeweizen all sounded rather intriguing. 

The event was scheduled from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., but by the time we arrived at 4:30 p.m. all 7 versions of Shotgun Betty were ran dry. Really? I was highly disappointed that a brewery the caliber of Lonerider wouldn’t have enough to go through most of its 5-hour event. A friend of mine told me he overheard a Lonerider employee say they were only expecting 50 people! We ended up ordering a couple other beers, and decided to end our week at Trophy Brewing Co. We’ve never been left hanging at Trophy … plus we needed dinner.

As soon as we took a seat at Trophy we knew what we wanted. Jen and I shared a pint of all three of the special release beers for the day: Maker’s Mark Barrel-Aged Best in Show, the 2013 Apple Brandy Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout and the 2013 Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout. We were not left upset by a single one of them. Throw in a Best-Dressed Pizza and I ended Raleigh Beer Week on a high-note.

Now it’s time to let my liver recover … at least for a couple days!

Nine Inch Nails & Soundgarden Perform at Charlotte's PNC Music Pavilion

The crowd starts to fill up at the PNC Music Pavilion in Charlotte for 
Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

By Dathan Kazsuk | Aug 11, 2014

Twitter: TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | Instagram: trianglearoundtown

Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden recently played the PNC Music Pavilion in Charlotte to celebrate some historic milestones. For Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, it's been 25-years since he released the critically-acclaimed masterpiece, Pretty Hate Machine in 1989. And for Seattle's Soundgarden, it's been 20-years since the release of the 1994 hit album, Superunknown.

So when I saw that NIN had a link on their Facebook page for $20 tickets to the Charlotte performance on Aug. 7, I jumped on the opportunity to buy a couple tickets for Jen and myself. 

Taking a half-day off work that day ... I came home and got ready for the night.

Am I ready for the two-and-a-half hour drive to Charlotte? Not really. But let's do it!

Traffic wasn't bad at all. I was shocked. It was 5:30 p.m. heading into Kannapolis ... traffic is very sparse on Highway 85.

Do you think we can hit up NoDa Brewing Company before the show? Let's check the GPS. Twenty minutes away from the concert and close to downtown Charlotte. No, we'll pass this time. Let's get to the show.

Arrived at the PNC Music Pavilion with no problems. Easy to park. Some idiot hits the side of my car getting out of his car in the parking lot. No damage, so it's not all good ... but good. Let's see how this crowd will be tonight.

Made it inside with no problem and found our way towards the front of the lawn. Wow! $11 for Bud Light! I'm not buying that! Then 5 minutes later and $22 out of my wallet, we're sitting on the lawn with a Bud Light and Bud Light Lime!

First band takes the stage. Dillinger Escape Plan. Didn't know who they were until the singer announced it half way through the set. OMG ... the band was horrible! The music was 30-minutes of the lead singer screaming at the top of his lungs while one of the guitarists jumped around like a fool. I look over at Jen. She must be thinking, "What the Hell did I get myself into?"

Luckily the band only played for half-an-hour. Thank you, Lord ... the noise is now over! Next is Soundgarden. This should be pretty good. Chris Cornell and gang played some of their radio-friendly hits such as "Black Hole Sun," "My Wave," "Spoonman," and "Fell on Black Days." Thirteen songs total. The sound, in my opinion, wasn't that great. Should have been better for a band with the caliber of Soundgarden. "Just wait until Trent comes out," I tell Jen. "The sound will be amazing." Oh yes! It was.

The band I came to see takes the stage. Trent walks out and starts the show with "Copy of A" on just one keyboard. One-by-one, the rest of the band comes out to their instruments. The crowd goes crazy. Looking over at Jen, I'm thinking she'll enjoy this performance. She did!

NIN performed 17 songs that night. "Sanctified," "Came Back Haunted," "Closer," "March of the Pigs," "Eraser," "Wish," "The Hand that Feeds" and "Head Like a Hole" were some of the favorites. I really enjoyed the part of the set that featured "Disappointed," "Find My Way" and "The Great Destroyer." You can't beat that. Such diversity!

Even though I liked Soundgarden, I wish they weren't there and NIN could have performed a 2-hour set that night and done more of my favorites like "Suck," "The Day The Whole World Went Away," "We're in this Together," and "Somewhat Damaged."

The concert ends and I prepare myself for the two-and-a-half drive back to Raleigh. I think we might have had a contact "high" from all the weed smoke around us ... so tried to stop at a Cracker Barrel. Say what? They close at 11 p.m.? Not fair! Yawn. 1 a.m. by the time we get home. My cat, Sleestak wakes me up at 7 a.m. At work by 9 a.m. I’m tired! Next up, Keith Urban at Walnut Creek shortly after I get off work. 

Fuquay-Varina newcomer – Draft Line Brewing

By Dathan Kazsuk | July 6, 2014

Twitter: @TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | Instagram: @trianglearoundtown

It seems as if the Triangle is becoming a hot bed for up and rising breweries – especially as of late. One of the newest breweries to enter the scene is Fuquay-Varina's Draft Line Brewing. With Aviator Brewery holding down the Fuquay fort for years, and the all women-owned Bombshell Brewing in the neighboring town of Holly Springs recently celebrating its 1-year anniversary, Draft Line has some catching up to do.

On June 28, Draft Line opened its doors to the general public to an amazing success. The brewery stated on its Facebook page that they handed out over 2,400 wristbands and served over 4,500 glasses of beer. And at $5 a pop, that's an amazing accomplishment for day one.

Jen and I arrived around 5 p.m. and met some friends as we tried pint after pint. We started with the Wilbon American Wheat Ale (5.3%ABV). The beer had subtle hints of orange peels that made this a perfect summer brew. We followed that up with the Graft Pale Ale (5.3%ABV). Then we sampled the SinglePath IPA (6.6%ABV) and the Deep Plunge Porter (5.6%ABV). My friend, Gina, tried the Hemmngs Pilsner (5.1%ABV) as well as the RiverSteam Scotch Ale (7.5%ABV), which she enjoyed. Between the four of us there that afternoon, we tried all six of the beers Draft Line has to offer.

I must admit that I wasn't disappointed in any of the Draft Line beers that afternoon, but I was expecting a little more. With so many craft beers springing up in North Carolina alone, I'm always searching for a brewery to awe me with its ingredients. If you're going for a porter, try adding coconut or curry. If you are aiming for a wheat beer, why not add peaches or Hibiscus flowers.

Draft Line does have the potential, and should keep up with the other breweries sharing its beer with fellow beer-drinkers like me. The next time we're in the F-V, we'll be sure to stop back at Draft Line for another pint or two.