Wicked Weed Brewing is partnering with Pints for Prostates to launch Funk Asheville:
A Gathering of Wild & Sour Beers to be held May 30 from 7-10 p.m. as part of the 3rd Annual Asheville Beer Week. The event will bring some of America’s top brewers of barrel-aged sour beers to Asheville and will create an experience beyond just a beer festival.
Funk Asheville will be held in downtown Asheville at the Wicked Weed Funkitorium, a new 12,000-square-foot barrel aging facility located at 147 Coxe Ave., just 3 blocks from the brewery. This will be the first event at the newly-remodeled facility. In addition to barrel-aged, sour and wild beers, Funk Asheville will feature unique entertainment and an art installation, celebrating all things funky in Asheville.
“Sour or wild beers have become the cutting edge of American craft beer. Sours have really caught the attention of beer fans and some of America’s best up and coming craft brewers are doing incredible things with the style,” said Walt Dickinson, Head of Brewing and Wood Cellar Manager at Wicked Weed Brewing. “Funk Asheville gives people in the southeast a chance to see what the best and brightest brewers are doing with American sour and wild beers.”
Tickets for Funk Asheville are $80 with a $5 service charge and go on sale on April 15 at Noon via Etix. A total of 500 tickets will be sold to the public for the event, which will be held on the eve of the popular Beer City Festival. VIP tickets for Funk Asheville are $100 with a $5 service charge, and will provide access to guests for an hour preview including food provided by Wicked Weed, music, and the opportunity to hang with the brewers. As part of the event, a silent auction benefiting Pints for Prostates will be held featuring unique beer experiences and collectible items.
“Our mission is to reach men through the universal language of beer and this is the second year in a row that Pints for Prostates will host an Asheville Beer Week event,” said Rick Lyke, founder of Pints for
Prostates. “Our message to men is simple: Get tested. Live longer. Drink more beer.”
Invitations to brewers to pour wild and sour beers at Funk Asheville have been issued and commitments are starting to arrive. A complete list of breweries and beers expected at the event will be announced shortly, however we have a preliminary list of confirmed breweries including New Belgium, Perennial, Green Man, Trophy, Yazoo, Natty Greene’s, Oskar Blues, & Green Bench.
Sour and wild beers embrace a wide range of historic brewing styles still popular today in Belgium, France and Germany, including lambic, Flanders red, gose, gueuze, Berliner weisse and saison. The use wild yeasts like, Brettanomyces, and bacteria, like Lactobacillus, add varying degrees of sour notes to the beer, which are often enhanced through barrel aging and bottle conditioning. American craft brewers have expanded the range of these beers to develop distinctive sour and Brett-style beers.
Funk Asheville is another reason for beer lovers to visit Asheville. It helps to anchor the final weekend of Asheville Beer Week with the Beer City Festival, making this one of the most exciting two days in craft beer in the United States.
