NC Beer Month: North Carolina Sweet Sixteen IPA Beer Bracket

By Dathan Kazsuk | April 24, 2017
Twitter: TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | Instagram: trianglearoundtown

Sure the NCAA Final Four is over, and our very own UNC Tar Heels are now the champs.Yay! And in honor of the trophy coming back to North Carolina, and being that April is NC Beer Month, we at Triangle Around Town decided to do our own tourney! A beer tourney!

We called this one our NC IPA Sweet Sixteen! It's easy to figure out. We pitted 16 North Carolina IPAs, from the mountains to the coast to compete in this challenge to the road to our own Final Four.

Since Jen doesn't like IPAs we put her in charge of the bracket. She compiled the bracket to this blind tasting by pairing one brewery against another. But unlike the NCAA our bracket is totally a toss up. Those heavy hitters, such as Wicked Weed or Burial could be ranked anywhere from No. 1 to 16 – so this is a true tasters challenge.

Each of the five participants in judging, including Dathan, were all responsible for getting IPAs from different NC breweries (bottles or cans – no growlers or crowlers allowed). All beer was purchased from local Raleigh bottle shops. Other than Dathan, no other participant knows what the other 12 beers were for this challenge. Jen poured the two breweries squaring off into small Dixie cups. The five judges then picked a winner, and that winner moved to the next round. Unlike the Final Four, we decided our winner in one evening. 

The judges for the challenge were Dathan Kazsuk, John and Charnell Trembeczki, Jason Emory and Matt Lill. With a little over 9,600 unique beers under our belts in terms of unique check-ins on Untappd, we decided to have some fun with this tournament.

Round 1:
• Trophy Brewing's Cloud Surfer vs Fullsteam's Rocket Science
  Winner: Trophy (5-0) 

• Greenman's Trickster vs Lonerider's Hoppy Yi-Yay
  Winner: Greenman (5-0)  

• Deep River Brewing's Mango Tango Foxtrot vs Southern Pines' Suit and Thai
  Winner: Southern Pines (3-2)

• Wicked Weed's Hop Burglar vs Foothills' Terrain IPA
  Winner: Wicked Weed (4-1)

• Burial's Surf Wax vs Catawba's CLT
  Winner: Burial (3-2)

• Ass Clown's Brewer's IPA vs Appalachian Mountain Brewery's Long Leaf
  Winner: Appalachian Mountain Brewery (4-1)

• Hi-Wire's Maneater IPA vs Weeping Radish IPA
  Winner: Hi-Wire (3-2)

• Triple C's 3C IPA vs Big Boss High Roller with Blood Orange
  Winner: Big Boss (5-0)

Round 2: 
• Trophy Brewing's Cloud Surfer vs Greenman's Trickster
  Winner: Trophy (4-1)

• Southern Pines' Suit and Thai vs Wicked Weed's Hop Burglar
  Winner: Wicked Weed (4-1)

• Burial's Surf Wax vs Appalachian Mountain Brewery's Long Leaf
  Winner: Burial (4-1)

• Hi-Wire's Maneater IPA vs Big Boss High Roller with Blood Orange
  Winner: Big Boss (4-1)   

Round 3 (Final Four):
• Trophy Brewing's Cloud Surfer vs Wicked Weed's Hop Burglar
  Winner: Trophy (4-1)

• Burial's Surf Wax vs Big Boss High Roller with Blood Orange
  Winner: Big Boss (3-2)

Round 4 (Championship Battle):
• Trophy Brewing's Cloud Surfer vs Big Boss High Roller with Blood Orange
  Winner: Trophy (5-0) 

Congrats to Raleigh's Trophy Brewing for its Cloud Surfer IPA. Sorry we don't have any trophy to hand out to Trophy, but we'll celebrate by drinking some of its beer this weekend! 

Editor's Note: We already discussed our next battle will be an Elite 8 of some of our favorite barrel-aged stouts from our cellars.  

SAVOR: Corkscrew and Brew 5K at Chetola Resort

Over 240 runners and walkers participated in the Corkscrew and Brew 5K at Chetola Resort in Blowing Rock.

By Dathan Kazsuk & Jennifer Primrose | April 22, 2017
Twitter: TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | Instagram: trianglearoundtown

The last time we ran a 5K was Thanksgiving of 2016. And today, on the second day of our adventures here in Blowing Rock, we signed up for the Corkscrew and Brew 5K run/walk at Chetola Resort. We were't ready for the 5K back in November, and we weren't ready for the 5K today. But we did it anyway.

But unlike the Gobbler's Run we do each year in Wake Forest, the Corkscrew and Brew run involves wine and beer – our favorite. The goal was simple. Run, or walk, 3.1 miles and make 4 stops along the way where you drink a 4-ounce pour of red wine, white wine or beer. Jen decided to drink Timberlake Resorts 2013 Meritage Red Blend, while Dathan drank beer from Appalachian Mountain Brewery along the way.

What we perhaps did not plan for was that we were in the mountains and hence, a hilly course! This added to the challenge of the day. The course snaked around the resort – up hills, down hills, a nice jaunt by the lake. According to our iPhone's Health app, during the course of the trail we climbed a total of 29 flights of stairs. 

Around the length of the course, members of Appalachian State's football team helped keep everyone on course, and talked to fans at several of the "drinking" stations. 

The run, which brought in over 240-plus participants, was a fundraiser to raise money for the family of 3 year old Luke Sponds, who has spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy. Proceeds from the run will help his family purchase a service dog to aid Luke's socialization and interaction.

Luke Sponds sits on the shoulders of an 
ASU football player after the race.

NC Beer Month kicks off with Casks on Fools

Crank Arm's 4th Annual Casks on Fools kicked off NC Beer Month.

By Dathan Kazsuk | April 2, 2017
Twitter: TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | Instagram: trianglearoundtown

April 1 ended up being a perfect day to drink beer, no matter where you were. The weather was just amazing – but we decided to kick off our adventure into NC Beer Month at Crank Arm Brewing Company for its fourth annual Casks on Fools event. 

For $10 you received a souvenir glass and four, 5-ounce drink tickets. Additional tickets were also available for $2.50 with proceeds going towards the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as well as the NC Craft Brewers Guild.

After receiving our cask program with all that was available to sample, we looked through the 19 different NC breweries to figure out what we wanted to try first. We quickly decided on D9's Witless – a peachy sour brewed with house yeast and bacteria. We both liked this beer, and while Jen finished off the rest of the beer, I made our next selection.

Next was Carolina Brewing Company's Mango Habanero Hop Roar West Coast Style IPA. Jen's not a fan of IPA such as myself, but she loves beer that has a little heat to them. And although this could have had a little more heat to it, it was still a good beer. The mango left a nice fruity nose to the beer while the extra Citra hops in the cask added a balance to the fruit.

By now Jen wanted a stout, and we selected Bull City Burger and Brewery's Jack Tar Dry Irish Stout with Amarena Cherries. A very slight taste of cherries could be found in what we both thought was a very thin and weak stout. This was our least favorite of the day. But we had one more ticket. Can we leave Crank Arm with a winner?

It was a toss up between Foothills Jade IPA with pineapple and mango or Lynwood Brewing Concern's Lucifeous sour beer. Since we already had an IPA with mango, we went with Lynnwood. Luciferous was a barrel-aged sour with apricots put in the cask. We both liked this one - but in the end, our favorite was D9's Witless.

Jen looks over the list of casks beers.

If you are interested in seeing everything that was offered at Casks on Fools, take a look below:

• Aviator – Chocolate cream stout
• Big Boss – War Hawk, dry hopped with El Dorado
• Bombshell – Lady in Red with pumpkin spice
• Brown Truck – Belgian dubble
• Bull City Burger and Brewery – Jack Tar Dry Irish Stout with Amarena cherries
• Carolina Brewing Company – Hop Roar West Coast Style IPA, on mangos, habaneros and Citra hops
• Crank Arm – Tandem Double IPA with blood orange and orange zest 
• D9 – Peach sour brewed with house yeast and bacteria 
• Deep River – Bitter Unicorn Tears with Mosaic hops 
• Foothills – Jade IPA with pineapple and mango 
• Fortnight – ESB with East Kent Golding hops
• Fullsteam – Steak Knives, imperial stout aged in bourbon with a set of steak knives
• Gizmo – Stawberry Kiwi Gose
• Haw River – Newlin's Original Belgian Oatmeal Pale, dry hopped with Crystal and Galaxy hops and strawberries 
• Lynnwood Brewing Concern – Luciferous, barrel-aged sour with apricots
• Mystery – Hornigold, a 6-gallon oak cask which traveled in a car for 4,000 miles, to recreate IPA's that traveled from England to India
• Neuse River – La Belge aDorée, strong golden ale aged on dried chamomile flowers and organic lemon zest   
• Raleigh Brewing Company – 4th Anniversary Ale, Scotch Barrel-Aged Wheat Wine with dates 
• Trophy - Special Session IPA on tangerine peelss