Highland's Organic Seasonal Debut!

After many requests over many years, Highland will release its first organic beer--Black Mountain Bitter--during the week of January 12.   A style of Pale Ale, Black Mountain Bitter will be lightly hopped with traditional British hop varieties to balance the malt sweetness yet encourage it to tend toward the dry side.  We recently received our organic certification from Clemson University after undergoing a rigid inspection and two-month compliance process.  Although this represents a big step for Highland, the idea of an all organic product is consistent with our corporate ethos and embrace of natural traditional brewing methods. 

Black Mountain Bitter is the latest in our line of seasonals named after mountain peaks in Transylvania County in Western North Carolina.  In the spring, we released our first seasonal beer--Shining Rock Lager, followed by our summer brew--Cattail Peak Wheat,  and our fall offering--Clawhammer Oktoberfest.   Our ever-popular Cold Mountain Winter Ale was released in mid-November. 

The Latest in the Imperial Series

I n 2006, we began a tradition of releasing an imperial version of one of our brews each September at Asheville's Brewgrass Festival.   First was Imperial Gaelic followed by Imperial Kashmir IPA.  This year's offering was Imperial Black Mocha Stout,  rich with coffee and chocolate notes.   If you missed the sale held at the brewery on 9/21, you can still stop by and purchase some.  The cost is $10 per 22 oz. bottle (cash or check only), and there is no limit on the number of bottles that may be purchased.  Photo identification is required.  Click on the contact/tours tab on the left for directions to the brewery.

Congratulations to the 2008 Highland Cup Winners:

Best Of Show First Place went to Aaron Schenk for his cream ale, which he recently brewed at Highland's facility.   Schenk's Cream Ale will be released about

September 1st in 22 oz. bottles (in the local Asheville market only).

Alex Buerkholtz  won Best of Show Second Place for his Centennial Stout, and Aaron Schenk also won Best of Show Third Place for his Dusseldorf Alt.

For a complete list of winners, click on the MALT link below and go to the

2008 Awards page.

maltsters.org/OnLineHigh2008.htm

The 2nd Annual Highland Cup to be held March 28, 2009!

Check back here for a new list of restrictions!  Lagers and ales will be accepted, but no fruit beers, meads, and ciders.

We congratulate Larry Brock, Professional Highland Games Athlete, on his 2007 achievements:

2007 U.S. National Champion

2007 World Hammer Champion
2007 World Stone Putt Champion
2007 SAAA U.S. National Champion

www.brockthrow.com

Award Winning Brews - Our Black Mocha Stout won a silver medal in the American style stout category at the 2008 Great Americal Beer Festival held in Denver October 10-12!  In August,  the United States Beer Tasting Champion-ship named Highland's Shining Rock Lager the best Bock in the Mid-Atlantic/ Southeast region!   Our Kashmir IPA, St. Terese's Pale Ale, and Gaelic Ale were also rated "exceptional" in their categories.  Visit www.usbtc.com for

a complete list of categories and winners.

We also won several medals in the 2008 Carolina Championship of Beer.  Our St. Terese's Pale Ale and Black Mocha Stout won silver medals; and our Oatmeal Porter, Kashmir IPA, Gaelic Ale, and Imperial Kashmir earned bronze.

Our Black Mocha Stout brought home a silver medal in the prestigious Brewer's Association World Beer Cup 2006 International Beer Championship.  The competition drew 2221 entries from 540 breweries in 56 countries. 

The Beer Guy's Words - We invite you to visit the Asheville Citizen-Times "Beer Guy" pod cast page at

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=PODCAST and the Take 5 entertainment site, which includes the brew of the week and the Beer Guy column, at www.take5online.com.