Arriving in Asheville, N.C. – a decidely beer-hip town – with just one beer, its flagship No. 9, and only on draft, Vermont’s Magic Hat Brewing creates an immediate buzz.

2theadvocate.com has a solid feature on Louisiana’s Abita Brewing Co.

News includes the fact that Fleur-de-lis Restoration Ale has so far raised $400,000 for hurricane relief.

As already reported, business thrives despite the fact that New Orleans’ population has been cut in half. Although Abita sells its beer in 32 states, New Orleans is still its most important market.

Most of its beers are designed to be paired with local cuisine, to keep Abita “Louisiana True,” president David Blossman said in the story.

“From the beginning, we made a concerted effort to be a part of our (Louisiana’s) lifestyle,” Blossman said. “If we were just trying to make money, we would be just making our amber beer.”

These days that’s another reason for people outside Louisiana to buy the beer.

You might have missed the report a couple of weeks ago in the Sierra Sun that Truckee, Calif., is getting a new brewery.

Truckee Craft Brewing Co. should be up and running by late this year or early next. What most of you will consider news is is not that another brewpub is opening, or that brewing is returning to Truckee (which has a long brewing history).

The news is Todd Ashman is returning to brewing.

Take a minute to think about that, and perhaps say a blessing to the beer gods.

Most remember Ashman for his innovative (and award-winning) beers at Illinois brewpub Flossmoor Station. He also brewed at Titletown Brewing in Green Bay before going to work for Rahr Malting/Brewers Supply Group, which sells ingredients to craft breweries.

Ashman officially starts in Truckee at the beginning of December. He says that capacity constraints will limit him to keeping five or six beers on tap, “maybe more once we get things in rotation.”

We can hardly wait.

A modern-day brewpub operated in Truckee in the 1990s, but the more interesting history goes back to the 19th century. According to Truckee historian Gordon Richards the Boca Brewery – built in 1875 – sold its beer around the world and was a popular drink at the 1883 World’s Fair in Paris, France.

The brewery was ideally located with easy access to spring water and ice, but the mostly German brewers often found themselves feuding with French Canadian loggers across the Truckee River. The Boca Brewery burned in January of 1893.