June 8th 3pm-8pm
Cost: TBD

During my first year with F3, I have noticed a few consistent trends – the want and willingness for CSAUP events, and a love of beer. With the Mountain Goat Challenge on June 8th, we take care of the CSAUP – although, for those taking on the Blue Ridge Relay, this is not utterly pointless. Still completely stupid.  Following this challenge, we will address the love of beer with a second F event at Highland Brewery.

This is open to anyone, whether you complete the Mountain Goat Challenge or not.

But let’s be honest, that Highland Gaelic will taste much sweeter after running yourself up and over a few mountains. The brewery is family friendly, so M’s and 2.0’s are welcome to attend. There will be tours available during the afternoon, a large tasting room inside and a new deck outside with live music and food trucks on hand.

For those so inclined to stay the night, Leah at Highland has reached out to local hotels and we will have a discounted rate at one nearby. I will lead a nice “shake out” trail run Sunday morning on the Mountains to Sea trail for anyone interested as well.

Let us know who’s planning to join us in the comments below.

Slim

Also, just to give the Pax a little background on Highland Brewing and what to expect from the options in their taproom, here’s a brief overview, courtesy of the Hungover Diplomat:

Highland is one of the most recognizable Asheville breweries and they may have the broadest reach, in terms of distribution, of any craft brewery in Western NC (not including the recent arrivals of New Belgium, Oskar Blues and Sierra Nevada; all of which are national brands). They enjoy a well-deserved reputation for strong year-round and seasonal beers (to me, their seasonals are actually where they’ve really made their name) and they have done some really great things to promote and emphasize environmental stewardship in the region (fun fact – all of their seasonal beers are named after mountains in the area). Their current tap lineup includes the following beers (with notes on the ones that I have tried):

  1. Gaelic Ale (flagship/signature beer) – tagged as an American Amber Ale, this is a really malty, flavorful amber;
  2. Kashmir IPA – lighter, not terribly hoppy IPA (almost more like a pale ale), sharper citrus flavors;
  3. St. Terese’s Pale Ale – relatively generic, drinkable pale ale;
  4. Oatmeal Porter – well-rounded, standard porter (to me), good roasted malts, chocolate and burnt sugar/caramel (*reminder, I’m not a porter guy);
  5. Black Mocha Stout – very nice, drinkable stout, good roasted coffee aroma and flavors;
  6. Devil’s Britches Red IPA (seasonal) – maltier, heavier version of an IPA, almost tastes like an amber; and
  7. Little Hump Spring Ale (seasonal) – bright, light, fresh pale ale, great session beer, one of my favorites from Highland.

Since we won’t be arriving until June, they may have their summer seasonal, Razor Wit, available in lieu of the spring seasonals. Razor Wit is probably my favorite Highland beer (right now) – spicy, citrusy Belgian white ale, great refreshing summertime beer. Also, they have recently released an Imperial Kashmir IPA (which I haven’t tried yet) and generally have their Tasgall Ale (for you Scotch Ale fans) available in bottles.

So there you have it, Highland Brewing in a brief, amateur nutshell. Should be a fantastic spot for this event – I certainly plan to be in attendance for the beer portion of the festivities. Cheers!

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