Tag: Beericana

Recap

Beericana, Year Two

Another year, another Beericana. Though I feared a bigger, brighter event in year two might spoil the fun of the original, I was pleasantly surprised that the 919 Beer crew seemed to pull it off yet again. I hesitated when I saw the long line to get in, but the line moved quickly and gave me and my co-pilot time to plan our attack. Even the drearier weather forecast couldn’t dampen the mood. The threat of rain never amounted to much and the overcast day helped keep the slightly warmer day a bit more bearable than if this year’s event managed to replicate last year’s sunshine and clear blue skies.

Speaking of that first year, it’s impossible to proclaim one particular festival a standard-bearer after one year, but Beericana made me a believer after year one. Now with two successful years in the bag, it’s clear that the organizers have managed to hit on a winning formula and I really hope they can keep it going and that the late summer / early fall North Carolina weather continues to give them the perfect arena for a memorable experience.

I’ll spare you my rundown of the festival itself, the fine folks over at Raleigh & Co can help you with a couple of different perspectives for that. But, if you’re interested, here are the notable brews I tried along with a couple of first time food truck experiences from this year’s event:

Sweet Baby Jesus (Porter from DuClaw): My favorite brew, but not one that I could probably double down on in a single sitting.

Copper (Altbier from OMB): The first one we tried and my favorite potential “every day” or drink 3 or 4 of these in a night brew. Full disclosure: I’m partial to coppers1.

Kind of a Big Deal (Fruit/Vegetable from Triple C Brewing Company): Most notable not for the peaches but because it’s aged in bourbon barrels.

I’ve also been itching to try Belgian Waffle Crafters (nee Belgian Waffology) and Arepa Culture, so I rounded out my day with a Cinnawaffle (speculoos!) and La Tica. Normally I would have had these in a proper sequence, but I started out with the Cinnawaffle and it was incredible. Next time I’ll ask them to hold the whip, I’m not a whip cream guy and that made it a little over the top, but other than that, the waffle was basically perfect. The “chicken on sauteed peppers” La Tica was my mid-event snack and it was also a very good showing. I still have a slight preference for Guasaca’s arepas, but the La Tica was a nice change of pace.

I’m not generally an effusive person, but mention Beericana around me and you’ll be met with a rare excitement that few outside of my close inner circle ever get to see. The best compliment I can bestow upon Beericana is that it is one of a very small handful of festivals or events that I genuinely look forward to every year. So tell me, when is Beericana 2016?

  1. Beers, I mean.  ↩

Brief

Beericana: Craft Beers, Food Trucks, Music and More

Last year, I attended a beer festival for the first time, eschewing the perennial downtown festivals for an upstart festival held on farmland recently converted into an open-field park. My selectiveness paid off big time. Now it’s time, once again, to order tickets for this year’s Beericana. I can’t recommend this festival highly enough. If you enjoy live music, beer, food trucks and yard games – or just any one of those things – you’re going to love Beericana. Get your tickets starting tomorrow at 10am.

Libations

A Taste of Something Old, Something New

It took me forever to commit, but with some urging from my wife I finally decided to run against the grain of my homebody life and ventured out to Beericana this past weekend. The marketing premise of Beericana was quite simple – craft beer, live music, and food trucks. The thought, planning, an execution, however, had a lot more depth. Here’s a mission statement, of sorts, from the folks behind the event, 919 Beer:

True craft beer festivals are put on for breweries to share their product and their love of their profession, as well as to provide a fun and educational experience for the consumer.

Not being a discerning or interested beer connoisseur myself, I can’t fairly judge their success with that specific mission. What I can say, however, is that for someone who just wanted to enjoy the beautiful weather, listen to good music, and sample a few craft brews at my own leisurely pace – the event was flawless and I can’t imagine a better venue. Having free water available was icing on the cake. Food truck lines were as long as I’ve come to expect – but outside of having fifty or more in the lineup, I’m not sure how you avoid that. We tried CJ’s Street Food for the first time and it’s definitely a truck that I’ll be keeping an eye on with my mobile food radar.

As for the brews, here’s what I sampled and my best recollection of what I thought of each. Remember, I’m not really a beer guy, so don’t laugh at my amateurish short sample list; but do take it with a grain of salt:

Sub Noir, Eccentrica (Ginger Tripel): Quite gingery. I could see myself having a mug of this every once in a while, but never wanting to make an evening out of it.

Highland, Oatmeal Porter: I tried to avoid “sampling” familiar brews, but there were a couple I just couldn’t resist. This has been a favorite of mine for a while and it certainly didn’t disappoint here. I’m glad the sizes are samples, because I could have easily ended my afternoon with a full glass (I’m an unabashed lightweight when it comes to beer).

Bombshell, Coconut Stout: I don’t like coconut, but I decided to give this a try. It definitely tasted like coconut, but it wasn’t too overpowering for me and I mostly enjoyed it. Nice twist.

Lagunitas, Imperial Red: This wasn’t bad, but was my least favorite of the beers that I sampled. I promise it wasn’t because the brewery is from California :).

Big Boss, Harvest Time (Pumpkin ale): It’s pumpkin time everywhere, so it might as well be Harvest Time as well. This is another brew I’ve tried before and I was quickly reminded how much I love it. Probably my favorite of the day, but I’m not really sure it’s fair to give it the top spot.

Brueprint, Bruenette (Brown Ale): On the relatively rare occasion when I have a beer on a night, it’s typically a brown ale of some sort. The Bruenette certainly isn’t going to supplant Bad Penny as my go-to, but it was good enough and might be nice for a change every once in a while if I happen upon it in a bottle shop.

Deep River, Double D’s Watermelon Lager: I love watermelon – probably in an unhealthy way, but I actually tend to hate watermelon flavored things. This was the last beer I tasted, which could have had a negative impact on my overall experience. I’m happy to say the lager was quite pleasant – just enough watermelon to know it was there, and not enough to bring back painful memories of watermelon Jolly Ranchers.

So that’s that. Definitely a short list, but the event was well worth the trip and ticket just for the experience. I hope this trip out to Holly Springs becomes an annual tradition.

See Also: Jordan Rogers breaks down Beericana for Raleigh & Co.