Cellarest Beer Project Debuts Bimble Coffee Blonde Lager In Collaboration With Riverbend Malt House and Asheville’s Coffee Library

ASHEVILLE, NC— Cellarest Beer Project just released Bimble, blonde-hued lager made with Riverbend Malt House’s most recent pallet coffee blend by Coffee Library. Cans of this storied beer will be available soon.

In 2025, Riverbend Malt House launched their pallet coffee program in tandem with local coffee roaster Coffee Library. The Asheville-based maltster wanted to thank their customers who purchased full pallets of malt with an added treat— because most brewing teams are fueled by morning coffee, partnering with Coffee Library on a specialty blend was a natural fit. Brewers absolutely loved it, and the program continued with a second blend last year. Now, Riverbend is excited to involve West Asheville’s beloved Cellarest Beer Project, who have invested in local ingredients since day one, in the third blend of their unfolding coffee program.

Enter Bimble Coffee Blonde Lager. The teams at Riverbend and Cellarest gathered for a cupping at Coffee Library to select two coffees to be included in the blend: one from Brazil and another from Mexico. The naturally processed Brazilian coffee is of the Catuai varietal of the coffee plant, grown and harvested at an altitude of 1100 MASL in the Cerrado Mineiro Region of the Minas Gerais state. The washed processing Mexican coffee was grown and harvested in the Zangolica, Veracruz region of Mexico at an altitude ranging from 1250-1700 MASL. The Brazilian coffee’s notes of almond, brown sugar, and milk chocolate beautifully complement the notes of cinnamon, cocoa, and baking spice flavors of the Mexican coffee. 

“I wanted to encourage more cocoa and depth to the Mexican coffee's brown sugar and cinnamon notes, and the Brazilian seemed to provide that,” says Cellarest Co-Founder and Director of Fermentation Mark R. Goodwin. 

“The Mexico coffee provides that nice warm, subtle spice and the Brazil enhances the creaminess and cocoa, chocolate notes,” adds Noah Marines, Head Roaster and Certified Q Arabica Grader at Coffee Library. 

The resulting beer has incredible depth of flavor with a range of notes from fresh coffee and to cocoa, cinnamon, and brown sugar; to light toffee and honey covered biscuits from its malt additions. Bimble was made with Riverbend Southern Select, Great Chit, Vienna, and Double Kilned Munich styles and hopped with Willamette hops. It was fermented cold with Cellarest’s preferred German Lager yeast inside of an acacia wood foudre. 

Bimble, a word that represents a relaxed— even aimless— journey taken without haste, is an apt name for this exploration of flavors. The result of these rambles between this trifecta of local Asheville businesses is now on draft at Cellarest Beer Project. Sixteen ounce canned 4-packs will be available to-go from the brewery in coming weeks. Follow @cellarestbeerproject on Instagram and Facebook for can release details. 

Contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com with media inquiries about Bimble and the Riverbend Malt House pallet coffee program. 

ABOUT CELLAREST BEER PROJECT

Cellarest was co-founded by native North Carolinians Harrison Fahrer and Mark Goodwin in 2020. A longstanding dream of Mark’s, he wanted to showcase his passion for brewing and extend his experience with wood aging and wood fermenting lagers and wild mixed culture beers. Today Cellarest exists as a carbon neutral, community focused brewery in West Asheville. The brewery uses 100% NC malted grains always, locally sourced ingredients whenever possible, to share our penchant for quality collaboration and craft brewing with locals and visitors alike. Learn more at cellarestbeerproject.com.

ABOUT COFFEE LIBRARY

Coffee Library is an innovative specialty coffee company known for its expertise in blend architecture and its unconventional approach to coffee as an experience. The company works with hotels, restaurants, coffee shops, hospitality brands, corporations and consumers to create everything from unique private label blends to full service wholesale programs, while specializing in brand collaborations, corporate gifting and immersive coffee experiences. With capabilities spanning coffee consulting, sourcing, roasting, equipment/maintenance, barista training, menu development and experiential design, Coffee Library approaches the entire coffee journey as an opportunity to turn your brand into a multi-sensory experience. Visit Coffee Library online at coffeelibrary.com.

ABOUT RIVERBEND MALT HOUSE

Riverbend Malt House is on a quest to connect Southeastern family owned farms and fermenters. Co-Founders Brent Manning and Brian Simpson launched Riverbend, the first craft malthouse east of the Mississippi River, in Asheville, North Carolina in 2010. Buoyed by a 70,000 foot production facility and state of the art equipment, Riverbend Malt House helps breweries and distilleries large, small, and in-between stand out with flavor, locality, and community in an increasingly competitive landscape— all the while challenging the status quo of corporate, big-agriculture malt. Learn more at riverbendmalt.com.

Southern Lager Invitational To Feature 30 Beers In Support of the North Carolina Craft Beverage Museum

ASHEVILLE, NC— Bootleg Biology and Riverbend Malt House will host the second annual Southern Lager Invitational on May 25 from 5 to 9pm at The Mule at Devil's Foot Beverage's production facility. This event will feature 30+ beers made for the occasion, two food trucks, and live music. Proceeds will be donated to the North Carolina Craft Beverage Museum. 

Open to interpretation, Southern Lager, an unofficial but emerging beer style, ​​tends to be a cold-fermented, dry-finishing, lower-ABV beer that pairs well with sweltering heat. At the Southern Lager Invitational, craft brewers from across the South will serve their expressions of true-to-style lagers made with Riverbend malt and fermented with Bootleg Biology yeast to capture a sense of Southern terroir. 

Here are some of the beers to look forward to—

Cellarest Beer Project Narcissus Wheat Lager

Cherry Street Brewing Cumberland Cold Snap Cold IPA

DSSOLVR Ceni Cero Gold Mexican Corn Lager

Fireforge Crafted Beer Descent Into Helles Helles Bock

Fonta Flora Brewery Grodziskie Smoked Lager

Fullsteam Brewery 100 New Southern Lager

Grand Central Brewhouse St. Pete Export Helles Export 

Leveller Brewing Co. + Fait La Force Brewing Feed My Horse On Corn and Hay Rustic American Pilsner

Little Animals Brewery Night Hoss Dark Wheat Lager

Mythk Brewing The Beholders Rye Lager

Skeeta Hawk Brewing Back In The Day Malt Liquor

Soul and Spirits Brewery Brewery Raunchy Rotbier 

South Main Brewing Co. Cumberland Southern Lager

Two food trucks will serve at the Southern Lager Invitational— Shaa’bingo with Jamaican Street Food and The Po Wagon Creole cuisine. DJ Chrissy Zebby will be spinning Southern soul, reggae, and hip hop-inspired beats on vinyl. 

Tickets are now on sale for the Southern Lager Invitational at devilsfootbrew.com. Proceeds support the North Carolina Craft Beverage Museum, an organization dedicated to preserving and interpreting the state’s craft beverage story. It celebrates its role in building and defining the local, state, and national community.

This celebration of local lagers is made possible by sponsors ASK Law and Boelter .

Media interested in attending and or covering the Southern Lager Invitational can contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com.

ABOUT BOOTLEG BIOLOGY

Bootleg Biology is a full-service yeast lab for professional brewers and homebrewers. 

From our location in Nashville, TN, we’ve earned a reputation for creative cultures that meet the rigorous demands of a brewery while still satisfying brewers’ goals to push the envelope.

From crispy lagers and juicy IPAs to complex mixed fermentations, Bootleg has a culture for every brew. All of our yeast is made fresh, ensuring optimal viability and keeping you on schedule.

Our lab offers a wide range of quality control testing to ensure your product meets your high standards, including PCR testing for common contaminants, IBU testing, selective media plating and more. 

ABOUT RIVERBEND MALT HOUSE

Riverbend Malt House is on a quest to connect Southeastern family owned farms and fermenters. Co-Founders Brent Manning and Brian Simpson launched Riverbend, the first craft malt house east of the Mississippi River, in Asheville, North Carolina in 2010. Buoyed by a 70,000 square foot production facility and state of the art equipment, Riverbend Malt House helps breweries and distilleries large, small, and in-between stand out with flavor, locality, and community in an increasingly competitive landscape— all the while challenging the status quo of corporate, big-agriculture malt. Learn more at riverbendmalt.com.

Thirsty Monk Opens Asheville’s First Hard Seltzer Bar, Holy Water Hard Seltzer Brewpub

ASHEVILLE, NC— Asheville’s storied craft beverage scene is about to get the addition of a downtown hard seltzer bar. Holy Water Hard Seltzer Brewpub will occupy the Patton Ave. ground level of the Thirsty Monk pub in downtown Asheville beginning Thursday, December 8, with plans to serve award-winning, cocktail-inspired Holy Water hard seltzers.

The landmark three-story Patton Avenue building has seen many chapters in the Thirsty Monk story, mainly a Belgian beer bar-turned-brewery with a cocktail bar upstairs and The Delirium Pink Elephant Bar in the basement featuring rare selections from the world-famous Delirium Brewery. Now this heavily trafficked downtown Asheville institution will wrap in Thirsty Monk’s latest evolution into hard seltzers.

“There is no other drink quite like our Holy Water Hard Seltzers. We literally have created our own style class- a Belgian style Hard Seltzer. We carefully hand craft every flavor recipe to add depth and balance of profile, and our base hard seltzer is brewed with our proprietary house Belgian-style yeast,” says Thirsty Monk CEO Barry Bialik. “We’ve really leaned on our Top of The Monk Craft Cocktail Bar history and our creative bartenders to curate well-rounded craft cocktail-inspired seltzers. With unique flavor combinations and higher ABV than your average seltzer, Holy Waters drink like draft cocktails.” 

Holy Water’s Hard Seltzer line recently took home four medals from the 2022 U.S. Open Hard Seltzer Championship. Award-winning flavors include Pomegranate, Hibiscus & Ginger (Silver Medal), Margarita (Silver Medal), and Pina Colada (Gold Medal). And Holy Water Smoked Grapefruit Paloma was additionally awarded a Gold Medal for ‘Judges’ Award’. “When the judges tasted this seltzer, they were truly amazed. The grapefruit flavor was very subtle and the serrano peppers complemented this seltzer to make it like no other seltzer,” Bialik adds. “They asked if they could give this a special award since it did not fit any category. We were honored!” 

Thirsty Monk started designing the Holy Water line up in 2019 and rebranded its Gerber Village location as the Holy Water Brew Pub in 2021. Now with the support of contract brewing from Green Man Brewing and at least 10 dedicated seltzers in the renovated downtown location, Holy Water is poised to expand both its flavors and reach across North Carolina and beyond. A Holy Water hard seltzer 12-pack is in the works with planned distribution.

Hard seltzer seekers can visit the new Holy Water Hard Seltzer Brewpub in downtown Asheville on December 8. The first 50 customers will receive complimentary Holy Water glassware. Learn more at holywaterseltzer.com. 

Media inquiring about the Holy Water Hard Seltzer Brewpub can contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com.                            

ABOUT THIRSTY MONK

Founded in 2008, Thirsty Monk Brewery currently operates a family of establishments— Thirsty Monk Downtown featuring Holy Water Hard Seltzer Brewpub, The Delirium Pink Elephant Bar, and Top of the Monk Craft Cocktail Bar; Thirsty Monk Biltmore Park– featuring Thirsty Monk Brewery’s Belgian style beers, Holy Water Hard Seltzers, offerings from Green Man Brewery, and a full pub food menu. Find the company online at monkpub.com.