Sour & Cider at The Community Tap

Community Tap's Sour & Cider Social is now in the Greenville Fabulous Events history books, hope you were able to participate. I'm glad I was able to fit it in to my schedule (another beer event across town required research as well) and was ably rewarded; some very puckery beers were offered up, all very special. In between sampling the array of sours and ciders and gnoshing at the charcuterie table, ran into a bunch of familiar faces; Big Jon from the Bacon Brothers, Shawn and Lindsay from Birds Fly South, Harvin Bedenbaugh from The Den at Lowe's, Ed Creighton from The Wheel, Chris Hooper from the bike trails, Brent Hodgson from Sierra Nevada and many, many others. Obviously, it was a very popular event. As is my wont, I managed a few snaps when my hands were free of beer or cheese. The results follow: Mike Okupinski Anna Evans Okupinski Harvin Bedenbaugh Ed Creighton Chris Hooper Brent Hodgson

Carolina BrewHaHa - 2017

The 2017 version of Carolina BrewHaHa (http://www.carolinabrewhaha.com/) is now in the history books, and that history will show that it was another big success with some outstanding beers and new brewery attendees; New Groove Artisan Brewery in Boiling Springs one (http://newgroovebrew.com/) and Cooper River in Charleston another (http://cooperriverbrewing.com/).
The event was not overly crowded so it was easy to get to the beer pourers and for VIP ticket holders, some very special beers, including a two year old Cold Mountain from Highland Brewing, Asheville.

There was also good music (http://www.carolinabrewhaha.com/music) to sip beer and toe tap by, excellent brats and lots of friendly, like-minded beer lovers. A recipe for success, every year. Well done, Jake.

In between tastes, I managed to grab a few snaps. Maybe you or a friend are in here:

See ya there next year!

Cheers.

GABF Results: Hillman Brewery

Planning a visit to Hillman Brewing in Asheville, NC,  this coming Thursday (Oct 12) to get a taste of their GABF Bronze medal winning beer, Four Fat Baby, Belgian-Style Quadrupel. At 10.1% abv, I'll be treading carefully but eager to try it. Major congrats to the Hillman crew on this awesome win!! I'll post my reactions after the visit.

https://www.hillmanbeer.com/on-tap

Cheers!

Back in the USA

As some of you know, Kay and I spent the last two weeks visiting France and Italy. More of a wine expedition than beer tho we did drink a lot of helles, pils and weizens...

...some of the adventures will be recounted soon, after some extensive photo editing. For now, some just returned home activities:

Back to a busy day here in the Greenville beer community. Thomas Creek Brewery had a sour release, three of them, all of which I really liked, and Quest Brewing Company had an art show going on. Keep an eye out for their Funkcation 2.0. It's a delicious, big flavored brew. And, no, I won't tell you how I know.

Mills River Brewery Our Latest Find

And the chosen NC brewery is:
Mills River Brewery, in Arden (across I-26 from Asheville airport and Sierra Nevada). Owner/Brewer Joey Soukup has upped the brewery's game, with 15 beers on tap (two chili stouts were out!) and a very diverse range of styles. Jennifer Anderson easily handled our tasting flight orders (4 of them) and offered style recommendations as well. Two IPAs and a Citra Wit were standouts for me; the Pounding Mill and Bad Fork Rye and the Lumber River Wit. The collab with Ecusta, Motofican, was a popular choice among the group as well.
We combined this stop with a visit to Sierra Nevada, about 5 mins away, so I'd recommend the same for you for a first time visit. 

Some photos to orient yourselves:
http://millsriverbrewery.net/ Mills River Brewery