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Hickory is the place to be this weekend.

Apr 16

Posted by ncbeer in Eastern NC, Festivals, Western NC | No Comments

If you didn’t already know, Hickory is the place to be this weekend as the 8th Annual Hickory Hops Festival is taking place. Not only is it a top notch, Southern-local beer festival, it’s also where the final Best In Show Awards will be given out for the 5th Annual Carolina Championship of Beer, making Hickory Hops North Carolina’s version of the Great American Beer Festival. You can keep an eye out here for the results of the competition.

Don’t worry, though – if you can’t make it to Hickory there’s still plenty to do this weekend. You can check out Rhythm and Brews Festival at the Reel Cafe in Wilmington (benefitting Easter Seals UCP) on Saturday or head over to Aviator’s Perfect Landing Cornhole Tournament in Fuquay-Varina (benefitting the Special Olympics of North Carolina).

Finally – don’t forget that next week is Heinzelmännchen’s Anniversary Week – if you’re around Sylva, stop by the brewery and raise a pint in congratulations!

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NC Breweries Win Multiple Awards at World Beer Cup 2010

Apr 11

Posted by ncbeer in Eastern NC, Events, The Triad, Western NC | No Comments

What is the World Beer Cup? It’s the world’s largest beer competition. I can’t summarize it any better than the Brewers Association press release.

Brewers from six continents earned awards from an elite international panel of judges this week in the 2010 Brewers Association World Beer Cup—the world’s largest-ever commercial beer competition. The eighth bi-annual competition announced awards to brewers from 19 countries ranging from Australia and Italy to Iceland and Japan.

This year, 642 breweries from 44 countries and 47 U.S. states vied for awards with 3,330 beers entered in 90 beer style categories. The entries in each category were eligible for gold, silver and bronze awards. Judges presented a total of 268 awards.

The 2010 World Beer Cup eclipsed the record of the Brewers Association’s own Great American Beer Festival (GABF) to become the largest commercial competition ever. There were 3,308 entries judged in the 2009 GABF, compared to the 2010 World Beer Cup’s 3,330 entries judged.

“Brewers from around the globe participate in the World Beer Cup to win recognition for their creativity and brewing ability,” said Charlie Papazian, president of the Brewers Association, the U.S.-based trade association that has put on the competition every two years since 1996. “For a brewer, a World Beer Cup gold award allows them to say that their winning beer represents the best of that beer style in the world.”

There’s a full World Cup Fact Sheet that you can explore, but let’s get to the important part – the local heroes!

North Carolina came out with three silvers and a gold!

Silver: Herb and Spice Beer or Chocolate Beer
Lemon Grass Wheat Ale
Outer Banks Brewing Station, Kill Devil Hills, NC

Silver: Old Ale
Irish Walker
Olde Hickory Brewery, Hickory, NC

Silver: American-Style Imperial Stout
Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout
Foothills Brewing, Winston-Salem, NC

Gold: Sweet Stout
Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout
The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery Inc., Farmville, NC

Congrats to all of our local winners! Go try some of that beer!

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Asheville Winter Warmer fest a success.

Jan 31

Posted by Erik Myers in Events, Western NC | 1 Comment


Last weekend brewers and beer enthusiasts alike turned out for the Asheville Winter Warmer fest at the Haywood Park Grand Ballroom in Asheville, NC. The Winter Warmer fest is in its third year in Asheville and has been growing in leaps and bounds. Their first year saw a handful of local breweries and roughly 300 attendees. This year there were twenty breweries, mostly from North Carolina, but also from neighboring states – South Carolina (Thomas Creek), Tennessee (Yazoo), and Georgia (Sweetwater). The festival drew over 1000 attendees from all over North Carolina, as well as neighboring states.

Food was provided by the Lobster Trap giving attendees a wide choice of chowders, shellfish, and even a raw bar. Woody Wood and Brushfire Stankgrass performed live at the festival.

“We just wanted a way for people to shake off the winter blahs” says Mark Lyons, the festival’s organizer. Lyons and his wife Trish also own and operate the Asheville Brews Cruise, a multi-craft-brewery-tour in Asheville that brings visitors three Asheville craft breweries for exclusive tours and samples.

To get a look at some of the breweries that poured at the festival peruse through the slideshow below, and make sure to keep an eye out on the Winter Warmer website for the announcement of next year’s festival.

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NC Beer – the Weekend of Jan. 23, 2010

Jan 21

Posted by Erik Myers in Eastern NC, Events, The Triangle, Western NC | No Comments

Jan. 23: 3rd Annual Asheville Winter Warmer Festival

Tickets are now sold out to this festival, but it promises to be quite an event for those who have them. The lineup includes 9 breweries from the Asheville and Western NC area, 5 from the Piedmont and Triangle area, and even a couple from our neighboring states TN and GA, live music, and local food. If you’re not going, find someone who is and live vicariously through them. If you are going, let us know what you think about it!

Jan 23: LoneRider Turns One

If you don’t get a chance to head up to Asheville this weekend, make sure to swing through the Triangle and make a stop by LoneRider and their tasting room for their first birthday celebration. All proceeds made on the 23rd go to benefit a charity. While you’re there, make sure to ask them about their upcoming homebrew competition.

Jan 25: Triangle Beer Dinner: Alivia’s in Durham

While technically not part of the “weekend”, if you’re in the Triangle area, don’t miss Monday night’s beer dinner at Alivia’s Durham Bistro featuring a full flight of beers from the Triangle Brewery. Contact Alivia’s for details and tickets.

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Lexington Avenue Brewery opens in Asheville

Jan 11

Posted by Erik Myers in Western NC | No Comments

Friday night, January 7th, saw the opening of Asheville’s latest brewpub Lexington Avenue Brewery. Lexington Avenue is “introducing … a quality Gastropub to the downtown restaraunt scene” offering reasonably priced food, offering six unfiltered, naturally carbonated beers on tap in their pub, and a soundproof “Rock Room” for live music.

Here’s LaB’s general manager, Joe Culpepper, talks about the food a few days before their actual opening:

If you’re in or around Asheville, be sure to take the opportunity to stop by 39 N Lexington Ave have a pint, and welcome them to the craft beer scene.

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