Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
There may be no other such highly anticipated beer on the big Asheville beer scene as Highland Brewing’s Cold Mountain Winter Ale. Its fan base has been building steadily over the past several years. Why? Because it’s damn tasty.
Oscar Wong, Highland’s owner, gave me a quick update on the creation of this year’s batch of Cold Mountain during this past weekend’s Oktoberfest. Here it is:
First off, Highland plans to brew 50 percent more Cold Mountain this year than last. If I remember correctly, Wong said the brewery would shoot for something on the order of 600 barrels (bbls) of the beer this year.
The Highland’s staff will come together on Wednesday to decide this year’s flavorings, which in past years have included everything from raspberry and vanilla to orange and cinnamon (not all together – this is just a sample of individual flavorings; the beer usually is a combination of four flavors, though). Each year builds off the previous year, with a couple of flavors changing.
The rules are that the Highlands crew will come to work at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, having brushed their teeth at least one hour before and having not had any coffee or eaten anything at least one hour before. It’s all about arriving with a clean palate. They’ll then start sampling their brewmeister’s concoctions to start whittling down the winning recipe.
The Highlands crew may decide on Wednesday what the best combination is, or they may go into Thursday and Friday, but Wong says the deadline is the end of the week.
So there’s a little behind-the-scenes look at how the lovely Cold Mountain Winter Ale comes together. If you want to learn more about how the Highland crew makes beer in general, definitely check out one of their weekly tours, every Friday starting at 4 p.m.
