Arrived in Asheville the night before the festival, so after checking into the hotel, there was definitely time for a some brewery-hopping downtown. I won't burden ya'll with a brewery by brewery account of the pub-crawling in this post, but you may have to suffer through the boozy details in some future post, so be whining about a lack of warning! Anyhow, much fun was had, many tasty beers sampled and some tasty treats eaten! There are a multitude of brewpubs and tasting rooms within walking distance of each other in downtown Asheville, but if you need a ride to and from the hotel be sure you have Uber set up on your phone: Lyft is not yet available in Asheville. :-(
The Brewgrass Festival was held at the Memorial Stadium and ran from 1 PM to 6 PM. There was quite a line of folks prior to the gates opening, but the staff got tickets and IDs ck'd pretty quickly once it was time for the event to begin. Plenty of folk brought camp chairs, beach umbrellas and the like, as there wasn't a whole lot of shade or seating available. (Memorial Field is a football field, after all! Lots of AstroTurf, very little shade.)
Unlike many beer fests, there were no tickets provided with your tasting glass: tastings were limited only by the length of the lines and the length of the event. The 60 participating breweries all had tents lining the outside of the football field. Though there were a handful big name breweries there, the vast majority were from North Carolina. North Carolina has an absolute boatload of amazing breweries though and fifty-four participated this year, were so there was no lack of choices!
There seemed to be quite a few jalapeno IPAs and several mole-flavored stouts available this year...hot new trend sor just what folks had on hand for the fest? Valley River Brewery brought their Holy Mole Porter, which was one of my personal favorites from the fest.
One of the best things about this beer/bluegrass fest was the inclusion (at every single table!) of jugs of water for rinsing and dump buckets. Every brewer's table had at least one big jug of water and a bucket nearby. Fest sponsors, brewery participants, attendees...insist on these at every brewfest! It makes for a more pleasant experience for everyone.
There were a number of food trucks/tents towards one corner of the field (about 15 beers in, if you were lining up at every tent!)
The music stage towards one end of the football field, The sound setup was decent and the music sounded great throughout the venue. The big name this year was the Travelin' McCourys with Peter Rowan, but all the artists provided some fantastic tunes to go with the great beers!
Fantastic brews, fantastic tunes. What more could anyone ask for?!? I'll certainly be going back next year!
The Brewgrass Festival was held at the Memorial Stadium and ran from 1 PM to 6 PM. There was quite a line of folks prior to the gates opening, but the staff got tickets and IDs ck'd pretty quickly once it was time for the event to begin. Plenty of folk brought camp chairs, beach umbrellas and the like, as there wasn't a whole lot of shade or seating available. (Memorial Field is a football field, after all! Lots of AstroTurf, very little shade.)
Unlike many beer fests, there were no tickets provided with your tasting glass: tastings were limited only by the length of the lines and the length of the event. The 60 participating breweries all had tents lining the outside of the football field. Though there were a handful big name breweries there, the vast majority were from North Carolina. North Carolina has an absolute boatload of amazing breweries though and fifty-four participated this year, were so there was no lack of choices!
There seemed to be quite a few jalapeno IPAs and several mole-flavored stouts available this year...hot new trend sor just what folks had on hand for the fest? Valley River Brewery brought their Holy Mole Porter, which was one of my personal favorites from the fest.
One of the best things about this beer/bluegrass fest was the inclusion (at every single table!) of jugs of water for rinsing and dump buckets. Every brewer's table had at least one big jug of water and a bucket nearby. Fest sponsors, brewery participants, attendees...insist on these at every brewfest! It makes for a more pleasant experience for everyone.
There were a number of food trucks/tents towards one corner of the field (about 15 beers in, if you were lining up at every tent!)
The music stage towards one end of the football field, The sound setup was decent and the music sounded great throughout the venue. The big name this year was the Travelin' McCourys with Peter Rowan, but all the artists provided some fantastic tunes to go with the great beers!
Fantastic brews, fantastic tunes. What more could anyone ask for?!? I'll certainly be going back next year!
No comments:
Post a Comment