Asheville Brewing: Ashe Villain (USA: Black IPA: 6% ABV)

Visual: Deep brown black, slightly greyed dash of a head.

Nose: Passion fruit and dried apricot. Toffee mixed with fresh hoppiness. Malt chocolate drinks.

Body: Good bitterness and smooth textured. Slightly milky with lime and kiwi floating throughout. Lime jelly. Chocolate.

Finish: Hops. Kiwi fruit. Growling bitterness and grapefruit. Coffee beans.

Conclusion: The first black IPA I tried whilst in the USA and boy was It a stonker! The smoothness and thicker texture work great together, there is a real hop bitterness but it still feels smooth and easy drinking; A very hard combination to do, but one they manage here with seeming ease. The only other two examples I can think of that do similar is Bristol Beer Factory’s Indian Ink, and Brewdog’s now defunct Equity For Punks 2011.

The main body runs less tart than a lot of the examples of the style, with the fruit leaning more towards juicy kiwis than sharp grapefruit. Whilst I logically know there is no such thing as a session BIPA I would happily give it a go with this one with all the smoothness it brings to the flavours.

The usual coffee flavours are also quite restrained giving a good background for the beer to work from, it’s one that lets the flavours seep in rather than kick them out instantly. In fact with the mellow coffee and juicy kiwi it reminds me of some of the connoisseur coffee I’ve found in the coffee houses around Bath.

Nowhere near the harsh levels of, say Bashah, this plays in the same rarefied area as EFP 2012, but that softness of the fruit flavours makes it stand out as a beer on it’s own.  Seriously drinkable, and well worth having. With EFP2011 now gone I can’t compare the two, but from memory I would say it either matches or possibly surpasses that, making it one of the best Black IPAs I have had and the first beer on the road trip of awesome to get included in my “My favourite list” great work.

Background: Found during the road trip of awesome, at Asheville (shockingly). The company also seems to be called Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company, because they also do pizza. It’s all pretty straightforward.  I tried it at their Coxe avenue brew house and had a great time there, the bartender was funny, and offered a sample of a jalapeno infused golden ale (nice, but OUCH!), and was cool about the whole beer review thing. The customers were great as well and pointed me to a beer map of Asheville which came in very useful. Seriously I could do a full week at that place and not have tried half the different breweries beers.  Of all the Asheville breweries this was probably my favourite, and I was very disappointed I couldn’t get the crew to go there for pizza and beer as I would have loved to go back. If anyone from the place reads this, please find some way of getting your beers to England, I will buy and drink them I promise! Thanks to everyone for making me so welcome.

So, we have been in a huge fundraising tornado over the last couple of months! We’ve been meeting with investors and discussing new campaigns and marketing strategies. We are really excited about our process! We’ve even had a sit down with a nationwide natural food retail chain about them carrying out product once it is to market. {Can you even IMAGINE how big our smiles are right now?}

In all of this we have decided to give the kickstarter another whirl. We may also launch other independent campaigns with other crowd funding sources and are also, of course fundraising on our own website as well at bluekudzusake.com .

How can you help? Head on over to the kickstarter or to our website! And please, share share SHARE the information, the links and the love. We really are breaking some new ground here on the east coast and can really use everyone’s support.

Thanks as always for following our journey and we’ll raise a glass with you soon enough.

Kanpai!

Cat, Mitch & Mary

PS – Did we mention that we got our first shipment of merchandise yesterday? Shirts and Stickers GALORE! Thanks to Brent Baldwin and the guys over at Image 420 in West Asheville! The shirts are AWESOMESAUCE! Keep your eyes peeled at the Asheville Citizen Times Marathon for Team Blue Kudzu!!!!!

You know you want one!

Suffice it to say, we did not reach our goal. Not that we didn’t start a fire! We reached just under $10,000 in pledges and frankly that is pretty exciting. People from all over the country; friends, family, complete strangers, professionals IN the sake community reached out TO us! We’ve attended professionals club luncheons, given a presentation for the local rotary club and had several press interviews. All while continuing to brew some new recipes. It has been a really great experience despite the final outcome of the campaign. So, after a couple days of licking our proverbial wounds we decided that while the kickstarter may have been unsuccessful, that is NOT to say that WE will be unsuccessful. WE DO. WE move forward!

So, we have added a paypal button to our very own website where these same people and more can join our grassroots efforts in bringing sake to Asheville!! Maybe even YOU reader! Will YOU contribute to our dream? We are offering the same reward structure as we did with kickstarter only the delivery timeline is based on levels of funding received (i.e. – Every $5000.00 received will mark a shipment of benefactor awards) Please, take a few minutes to check out our blog here on wordpress and follow it right on over to our website at BlueKudzuSake.com. There you will learn about our personal story, our dream to bring sake to the Eastern seaboard, and how YOU can help This American Dream come true!!!

Thanks for following our journey and of course, feel free to shoot us a message if you have any questions! Info@BlueKudzuSake.com

So, the kickstarter fundraiser has been a little lack luster though, we do seem to be gaining community buzz and press.  We were asked to speak at the breakfast meeting for the Asheville Rotary Club. Our first real presentation! We got quite a bit of really great feedback about the project itself and attendees were quite impressed with our question and answer session afterwards. “Probably the most questions we have had following a presentation in at least a year” (said Jeff Richardson- the Assistant City Manager of Asheville).  How great?!

Look, we know we have a pretty unique plan in place and while the kickstarter might not be everything we had hoped for monetarily, it isn’t going to stop us. The experience alone has been more than worth it…and we still have a week to go before that chapter ends. If nothing else, the kickstarter campaign has allowed us to make some really incredible connections in the “sake world” and given people curious about our endeavors a point of reference for our plans. I certainly feel that it has been successful simply for that alone!

We also met with our graphic designer, Brent Baldwin to move forward on some branding projects for Blue Kudzu. Brent is fantastic (in case you were unaware). Brent is responsible for such logo designs as the Brewgrass Festival, The Asheville Independent Restaurant Association’s “Small Plate Crawl”, the branding behind the band Albatross Party as well as the artist behind “American Crow” (a graphic novel) and “Hair and Therapy” (a web comic) both produced by he and his wife Tiziana Severse. His resume goes on however you get the idea.

We also had a really positive interview with a local publication (nope, no teasers here! You’ll just have to keep your eyes peeled) that wants to chronicle our journey to opening. OK! Sure!!! We LOVE that idea!!!

However, if you’d like to read up on other articles and blogs about Blue Kudzu Sake I’m including some links below. I would like to take this opportunity to thank these publications for their efforts in helping us get the word out on our venture! So far this journey into bringing sake to Asheville has been more than positive! I, personally am looking forward to the next several years of being an integral part of the Asheville brewing community.

For any of you coming across this blog and are interested in learning more about Blue Kudzu Sake, click on over to our kickstarter page. And if you would like to communicate with us directly, feel free to email info@BlueKudzuSake.com

• Asheville Beer Blog
• Blue Ridge Now
• Ashvegas Blog
• Ask Asheville Blog
• Mountain Xpress

We are pretty excited really.  Today marks a one year milestone to a goal we’ve been brewing on for quite some time.  Next year, this weekend you will be able to find locally brewed sake from Blue Kudzu Sake company at the acclaimed weekend-long event.

What else is going on? Well, we started a new batch of sake this week.  Moto is a brewin! Bubble bubble toil and trouble I like to say. We launched our official website, Blue Kudzu Sake. We’ve also had a few interviews with local magazines so keep your eyes peeled in upcoming issues for info on your favorite American sake brewers.

Now, Mary has been on a family vacation this week.  Long overdue and well deserved! Bravo Mary!!! Mitch and I however, we had a really exciting meeting with an investment group and things are looking crazy bright and this roller coaster of a business is about to hit the end of the slow ramp…It is about to get REAL!

At any rate, if you haven’t yet please take a leap over to our kickstarter page for videos and information on our project, plan and sake itself.  If you happen to have a few bucks you could throw our way to show your support, we would be more than grateful and have some pretty great rewards for those that do. Hope everyone stays safe and happy this Bele Chere and be sure to look for our tent next summer!!!!

Kanpai!

Cat

Mountain Xpress

Bold Life Magazine

Blue Ridge Now

Start by getting your $2 wristband which allows you to drink in the street, yes, I said drink in the street! There is something so exciting about being able to do something that is typically illegal. Anyway, I have to back up by saying we actually started the day by running in the Bele Chere 5k which thankfully started at 7:30am (thankful because it was already 78* at that time and the sun was just started to hit its stride). The race was really challenging for a 5k with all of the hills in downtown AVL. Greg finished in just over 21 minutes and I in 28:45 which is great for me especially with the hills.

Back to the beer, after getting your wristband you can purchase craft beers such as Pisgah, Asheville Brewing Co or Highland for $5 a glass and Bud/Bud light were $4. It was 95*+ when we were there in the afternoon so water was essential. The artists were great, lots of jewelry, clothing, pottery, photography, etc… One of the more unique items were these kids hoodies that had fur on the inside of the hood and little horns to make them look like monsters, I had never seen anything like it.

I must make note, there were a lot, I mean more than usual, people preaching with mega phones and huge signs about God and how we are sinners and we should come to their side. I find this type of tactic in recruiting a bit mortifying, uncomfortable and inappropriate. It was over the top but freedom of speech is exactly that; just letting you know what to expect.

Karaoke and fussball were available in the streets sponsored by businesses and there were lots of great street performers. The food was abundant. Lots of local restaurants featuring their unique dishes along with the standard carnival/festival food. There was even a donut burger, the donuts were the buns; I didn’t attempt one of those.

We had a great time and beat the heat by stopping in one of our favorite bars, Jack of the Wood, for a Catawba Cream Ale and some air conditioning. I would go back next year for sure!

When: Wednesdays starting June 22 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Where: 36 Montford Avenue, behind the Asheville Chamber of Commerce

The brand new Montford Farmer’s Market opens next Wednesday in (guess where?) Montford from 2 to 6. Located in the roomy parking lot behind the Asheville Chamber of Commerce/Visitor Center at 36 Montford Avenue, this new market is just off Interstate-240 at the Montford exit. It was established by many of the vendors from the Wednesday Coop Market, and because the parking lot is bigger ~ expect new faces, new farmers and craftspeople in addition to many familiar farmers, bakers and vendors. It sounds like there will be a local brewer in attendance on a regular basis as well; this week that’s Asheville Brewing. The new market location will be super convenient for me, and I can’t wait to check it out. Try to come out on Wednesday, especially if you live in Montford…and welcome the market to your neighborhood. Congratulations and best wishes to the Montford Farmers Market!

The Wednesday Coop Market, a downtown favorite for many years, will remain a fixture in the Build-It-naturally parking lot just above the French Broad Food Coop. That market will also be adding new farmers and vendors, to replace those who are moving to Montford. I know that Jakes Farm will be one of the new faces at the Wednesday Coop Market and it’s exciting to see this market evolving too. Here is a vendor list as of Friday:  Freshly Baked Breads in Pat Battle’s Clay Oven, Carolina Wild Seafood, B&L Organics, Dave’s Raw Honey, Jake’s Farm, Lady Luck Flowers, Oak Moon Goat Cheese, Wildwood Herbal, Roots & Branches, Zuma Coffee, Mota Mushrooms, Mamacita’s, Carolina Bison, and Everyone Cooks. Cheers to my friend Joel who will be selling Zuma Gold Cookies. They’re killer ~ so definitely try one!

I hope you will attend both these markets or one of the other Wednesday markets like the Weaverville Tailgate Market, and support our hardworking farmers. Our local farmers and other vendors provide us with such fabulous local food choices; lets support them at these markets so we can continue to have the privilege of eating incredible local food.

Remember to look for fresh-dug potatoes!

For more information about the new Montford Farmers Market, contact Nicole Delcogliano at nicoleandgaelan@yahoo.com. Also be on the lookout for a Montford Farmers Market Facebook Page sometime soon. You can currently visit the Wednesday Coop Market on Facebook.

P.S. Remember the West Asheville Market is tomorrow(Tuesday).

P.S.S. At the Weaverville Market this Wednesday, Brenda Dillingham will have fresh chicken breasts and leg quarters, white broad breasted and bourbon red.

Great Salad Makings at the Market!