Every Sunday mid-afternoon, we bring you a little Southern-Fried Sunday: beer from us! Barbecue from the Olde North State food truck! And bluegrass (mostly…sometimes we stray from the theme to bring in some blues, alt-country, or songwriters).

Today: it’s The Free States, a Carrboro-based bluegrass quintet, mixing “singer/songwriter heritage with traditional bluegrass sensibilities.” The music kicks off at 4pm.

Old North State will be on-site serving up ‘cue, ribs, and much much more from 3 to 6pm!

Would you like some beer recommendations? The El Toro cream ale and Carver sweet potato lager we brewed this week are both super-fresh…about as fresh as beer can get. Both are delicious right now – El Toro is so very easy to drink, with just a touch of that retro adjunct-y-ness from the (gasp) corn grits.

Hogwash hickory-smoked porter is back and a little less smoky than usual — we’re still dialing in our smoker. So if you want an introduction into smoky beers, try a Hogwash. It’s great with Eastern-style barbecue!

If you want a hop fix, you’ll have to try one of our many NC guest taps…we’re short on both Fullsteam and a house-brewed IPA. I’d recommend Foothills‘ India Brown Ale or our newest guest tap, NoDa Rye Z’d from Charlotte-based NoDa Brewing.

Next week, we’ll post a calendar of upcoming Olde Timey Funday music on our Facebook fan page. For now, you can check our events schedule on our website.

Cheers!
Sean

Check out the delicious-looking menu for this Tuesday’s beer dinner at Weathervane in Chapel Hill! This time last year, we had a fantastic beer dinner at the restaurant, which is affiliated with the great Southern emporium A Southern Season. We’re pleased to introduce a few additional beers to the mix this year, and excited to play host to a large crowd.

Unfortunately, the crowd is so large that the dinner is sold out. So unless you have a reservation or just enjoy reading menus, you may not want to read further. Stay tuned for more events like this…

The trifecta of inappropriate? (half-clothed kids drinking booze while on a car. Oh AND no seat belts!?)

Oh, is it New Years? I dunno…we do a lot of events throughout the year, and it’s kind of fun to sit back and support the revelry and creative new year’s events going on in our neck of the woods. Jeff and King are whooping it up at Motorco, which looks like a blast. Mystery Brewing in Hillsborough has a big beer party.

But for those of you who would like to enjoy the new year in a more relaxed manner, we’re ready for you. Have an 11-ounce glass of Paw Paw Belgian Strong — as champagne-like as it comes, and only $4 a glass. Ring in the new year with a slice of Klausie’s Pizza or an OnlyBurger (both trucks will be at Fullsteam until late in the evening). Play some ping pong; beat up Joe Pesci in Lethal Weapon 3 pinball.

For some of you…for some of us…a casual reflection on the march of time is just the ticket. Come on by. Or use Fullsteam as a gathering space before or after the New Year’s craziness.

Just be safe, please. Have a game plan ahead of time — one that involves walking, a cab, or a designated driver.

Leaning on the bar throughout this past year, I know 2011 has been less than kind to a few of you. We hope today allows you to think back to some of the goodness of this past year. May we all anticipate Great Things in 2012.

Happy New Year.

Sean

THE FINAL 2011 SATURDAY SOCIAL (December 31)

On-tap at Fullsteam:

Worker’s Compensation session beers ($2/$4)

• Fullsteam
• Working Man’s Lunch

Apothecary / Forager

• First Frost winter persimmon ale (9.1% ABV, $5 a half-pint)
• IGOR bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stout (8.1%, $5 a half-pint)
• Champagne-y New Year’s special: Paw Paw Belgian strong ale (8.8%, $4 for 11 ounces)

NC Guest Taps, too! Wow, nice selection, eh?

• Foothills Torch Pils (Winston-Salem)
• Aviator Frost Nipper (Fuquay-Varina)
• Craggie Antebellum Ale (Asheville)
• Triangle Golden (Durham)
• Natty Greene’s Buckshot (Greensboro)
• LoneRider Sweet Josie (Raleigh)

Food trucks

• Klausie’s Pizza (5pm until late)
• OnlyBurger (6pm until late)
• KoKyu (at Motorco until late)

Happy Christmas Eve and Hanukkah! A quick update on First Frost bottles…

We’re having some problems with the orange caps on our First Frost bottles coming off easily. We tried switching to different caps (caps we used last year), but the problem remained. It’s weird, because everything is the same from last year: caps, bottles, capper, process.

We filled about 800 bottles out of a planned 2,400 bottle run using the orange caps. We are now switching to a corked-and-caged bottle, which solves the problem. However, it’s a more time-intensive process, so we only have a few bottles for sale today (Dec 24) at our tavern. We will have more bottles available after Christmas, both at our tavern and at our retail partners.

If you purchased an orange-capped First Frost and had problems with carbonation, please let us know. We will issue you a refund or get you a corked-and-caged version as soon as possible. Orange-capped beers are generally holding their carbonation just fine…it’s just that the caps come off very easily. If you’re storing the beer (First Frost can age for a year), we recommend only aging the corked-and-caged First Frost.

Thank you for your patience. We hope to switch to an automated corking and filling machine soon. In the meantime, please join me in thanking Dave, Kevin, Ted, Mary Beth, and the rest of the Fullsteam staff who are working on Christmas Eve in an effort to get at least a few bottles under some Christmas trees tomorrow!

Lastly, a huge thanks to Aviator Brewing Company, who graciously loaned us their corker and supplied us with corks and cages; Mother Earth Brewing Company, who gave us great advice and insight into transitioning to corking; and LoneRider Brewing Company, who offered to help us out with bottles and supplies. The North Carolina brewing community is so generous, and we truly are thankful for to our brethren.

Merry Christmas to all.

The Rock and Shop website describes the artisan experience best:

“The Rock & Shop Market is a one-of-a-kind shopping experience; an indoor fashion, art & music flea market featuring emerging, independent local and national designers selling their wares plus live music by local performers.

Started in 2004 by Michelle Smith, a local designer and online boutique owner, Michelle wanted to create a local market that would help support and celebrate the burgeoning indie arts scene of professional designers, artists and musicians in the Triangle and beyond.“

Michelle should be proud, because not only does Rock and Shop support local artists, it directly benefits venues like ours, Motorco, the Trotter Building, and nearby neighbors like Geer Street Garden and King’s. For that, we are very very thankful — especially at a time of year when breweries can experience seasonal softness in sales.

Admission is $5. Over 100 designers selling their wares, a fashion show, live music at Motorco by Phil Cook & His Feat and The Small Ponds. And a “convoy” of food trucks (love that term!). See below for the list of food vendors.

On-tap at Fullsteam:

Worker’s Compensation session beers ($2/$4)

• El Toro cream ale
• Fullsteam

Apothecary / Forager

• 2011 First Frost winter persimmon ale (9.1% ABV, $5 a half-pint)
• IGOR bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stout (8.1%, $5 a half-pint)
• Paw Paw Belgian strong ale (8.8%, $4 a half-pint)

NC Guest Taps, too! Depending on when you visit, we may have on-tap:

• Highland Kashmir IPA (Asheville)
• Foothills Torch Pils (Winston-Salem)
• Triangle Golden (Durham)
• Natty Greene’s Red Nose Winter Ale (Greensboro)
• Natty Greene’s Amber (Greensboro)
• Big Boss Aces & Ates (Raleigh)

Food trucks galore in the afternoon and several in the evening: 

• BIKECoffee
• Chirba Chirba Dumplings
• Klausie’s Pizza
• KoKyu BBQ
• Monuts Donuts
• Old North State BBQ
• Only Burger
• Pie Pushers Pizza
• Slippin Sliders
• Will & Pop’s