Jersey Shore Beer Fest coming to The Headliner on Saturday – The Star-Ledger
NEPTUNE – Just weeks after reopening for the first time since being flooded by Hurricane Sandy, The Headliner will play host to hundreds of beer enthusiasts and the Jersey Shore Beer Fest.
“This is such an iconic Jersey venue, it’s got quite a lot of history in it,” said event organizer Chris DePeppe, of the Pennsylvania-based TotalBRU Marketing and Beerheads.com. “When we heard it was reopening after being ravaged by Sandy, we felt like it was a great spot to roll back to the Jersey Shore.”
The festival will feature more than 30 different breweries, most of which will be represented at the festival by the brewers themselves.
DePeppe said this would help the more than 300 people he expects to attend the event to have a better appreciation and understanding of the craft beers they taste.
This personal interaction and the “ideal” location of The Headliner compliment DePeppe’s goal of growing the craft beer community by bringing new consumers into the fold.
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“You can’t get a better place to reach out to the swill-drinking masses than the Jersey Shore, this is where they thrive,” said DePeppe, a Wall Township native who also organized “Beer on the Boards” in Point Pleasant and next month’s “BREW haha” Craft Beer Festival at Six Flags Great Adventure.
“Craft beer is so unique, once people’s tastes buds start to appreciate them, they’ll never want to go back,” he said. “They may continue trying other things, but they probably won’t go back to drinking lousy beer again.”
In addition to the cold suds, the Jersey Shore Beer Fest – which will run from 2 to 6 p.m. – will also feature food from local restaurants and live music.
All of the profits from the festival’s all-inclusive $45 entry fee will go to benefit Richard S. Bascom Scholarship Fund, which helps local high school students pay for college.
And because this is the first year for the Jersey Shore Beer Festival at The Headliner, DePeppe said the event would likely not have the crowding issues that other beer festivals often deal with.
“There won’t be long lines and there will be plenty of space to stretch out. And it’s supposed to be a beautiful day, which always makes things more enjoyable,” he said. “We expect this to be an annual event that grows and grows, much like the beer scene in New Jersey.”
–For more information about the Jersey Shore Beer Fest or BREW haha, click here.
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What’s on tap for Chicago Craft Beer Week? A lot
It has been an ambitious year for craft beer in Chicago — possibly the most ambitious ever.
Virtually every one of our breweries expanded in some form. Revolution added an entire new production facility. So did 5 Rabbit. Solemn Oath established itself as a legitimate player and Atlas, Spiteful, Begyle and several others joined the fray. There are now more craft beer festivals than you have cousins. Wirtz Beverage added craft beer to its distribution portfolio, and brought in major West Coast players Deschutes and Ballast Point. Goose Island turned 25, and expanded distribution to all 50 states.
The reward begins unfurling today, at the fourth annual Chicago Craft Beer Week. Our first craft beer week, in 2010, came and went with barely a whimper. But it has grown every year, and this year’s will be the largest yet: nearly 400 events throughout the city and suburbs during the next 11 days (yes, a week lasts 11 days in the craft beer world; also the sky is sometimes purple and dogs can run backward).
Virtually every brewery in town has saved a special keg or 10 of some rare, extra-tasty stuff that will be tapped during CCBW. Plus, many of the nation’s great breweries are getting involved with tap takeovers and special offerings of their own.
Below are my picks for some of the most exciting and interesting events during CCBW. This isn’t intended to be a “best of” list; plenty of the events not listed here (like things in the suburbs) are worth your time and/or money. Take a look at the full schedule here, see what’s an easy stumble home and what catches your eye. It will be difficult to go wrong.
Thursday
Now an annual highlight on Chicago’s beer calendar, the unlikely duo of craft beer and lush greenery winds up the perfect pairing at Beer Under Glass, at Garfield Park Conservatory (300 N. Central Park Ave.). It’s long sold out, but if you can’t drum up tickets, the pre- and post-BUG parties will be held at Haymarket Pub Brewery (737 W. Randolph St.). Assume there will be some special brews on tap, since Haymarket owner Pete Crowley is also the president of the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild, which is one of the forces behind Chicago Craft Beer Week.
Another non-BUG option is at Fischman Liquors Tavern (4780 N. Milwaukee Ave.), which is staging a local beer festival featuring familiar names (Revolution, Metropolitan and Two Brothers), newer names (Ale Syndicate, Begyle, Spiteful and Flesk) and, perhaps just as important, food trucks.
Friday
Revolution Brewing’s tap takeover at Village Tap (2055 W. Roscoe St.) includes a bounty of barrel-aged delights, including one of my favorite beers from the last year: 3rd Year Anniversary Ale, a wheat barley wine with piloncillo sugar added that was aged for four months in rum casks. Silky, rich and boozy, what it lacks in name it makes up for in taste (seriously, Revolution, couldn’t it have been called Zombie Vampire Dystopian Space Planet?). Bonus: Village Tap is hosting a Firestone Walker tap takeover the night before, and anything still remaining will also be available Friday.
Saturday
If you’re not hungover, or even if you are, an 8:30 a.m. 5K through Wicker Park ending with five four-ounce beers at Haymarket Pub and Brewery sounds like a good idea. Occasional exercise during CCBW will help you drink more beer throughout the week. I swear.
Fountainhead’s local cask day has become a CCBW staple. For the first time, it is adding a $20 VIP hour that earns you an extra hour at the taps and two pours on the house. Casks will be on hand from Revolution, Metropolitan, Half Acre, Brickstone, Greenbush and Brewery Vivant.
I think I have literally tried every Solemn Oath beer I’ve come across during the last year, and I’ve yet to be disappointed. The beer isn’t just clean and tasty; by refusing to brew to style guidelines, Solemn Oath is also one of the area’s most interesting breweries. It celebrates its first year of existence at Bangers Lace (1670 W. Division) with 16 brews on tap. There will also be 16 brews available from Southern California’s Port Brewing/Lost Abbey.
Sunday
Goose Island celebrates its 25th birthday with a block party at its Fulton Street brewery. Among the offerings are seven different kinds of Bourbon County Stout. What else is there to say?
Monday
Drink barrel-aged beer while learning about it at Schuba’s (3159 N. Southport Ave.). An expert panel of Cory King of Perennial Brewing in St. Louis, Tim Faith of New Holland Brewing in Holland, Mich., John Laffler of Chicago’s Off Color Brewing and Kyle Henderson of Angel’s Envy Bourbon will discuss the practice and merits of barrel aging. As I write this, 22 tickets remain.
Tuesday
Some people write off Rock Bottom for being a chain, but plenty of great brewers have called it (and still call it) home. Haymarket – whose owner, Pete Crowley, is a Rock Bottom alum – hosts an evening dedicated to ex-Rock Bottom brewers, withbrews from Solemn Oath, Oskar Blues, Sun King, Gigantic Brewing, Three Floyds and, naturally, Haymarket.
The South of 80 tap takeover returns as beers made downstate or by St. Louis-area breweries are celebrated, including some not usually seen in this area. Breweries on hand will include Scratch Brewing Company (Ava), Rolling Meadows Brewery (Cantrall), Destihl (Bloomington), Six Row Brewing Company (St. Louis) and Urban Chestnut (St. Louis).
Wednesday
The $175 Little Goat beer dinner this night is booked (there’s a wait list; call if you want to be on it), but a cheaper alternative can be found at Fountainhead, where brand new BegyleBrewing will pair four of its beers with grub from chef Cleetus Friedman, formerly of City Provisions.
Three of the better beer bars on Division Street, if not the city, team up for an IPA crawl. Bangers Lace (1670 W. Division St.) will pour East Coast IPAs, Jerry’s Sandwiches (1938 W. Division St.) will handle Midwestern IPAs and Small Bar (2049 W. Division St.) takes on West Coast IPAs.
Thursday, May 23
Stout fans, head straight to the other Jerry’s Sandwiches (5419 N. Clark St.) for all five of the beers in Dark Horse’s numbered stout series. At least two more of the brewery’s beers will also be available, including something as yet unannounced that is usually only available at the Dark Horse brewpub.
The annual Bowling with Brewers goes down at 10 p.m. at one of the oldest-school bowling alleys in town, Timber Lanes (1851 W. Irving Park Road). Bowl with a local brewer, and for free.
Friday, May 24
I never knew what to call the rush of joy resulting from drinking lots of Allagash, but Bar on Buena (910 W. Buena Ave.) seems to think it’s an “allagasm.” Anway, that’s the name of the event that will include “some extra special Allagash offerings, including a few things never before seen in these here parts.” Allagash is one of the nation’s great breweries, so be optimistic.
The nearly year-old Atlas Brewing (2747 N. Lincoln Ave.) will tap three of its barrel-aged projects: a saison aged in a FEW gin barrel, a barley wine aged in a Koval rye barrel and an imperial stout aged in a Koval whiskey barrel. Local beer aged in barrels from local distilleries? Chicago booze has come a long way.
Black Rock (3614 N. Damen Ave.) pours six beers from Danish gypsy brewer Evil Twin, whose brews are never boring.
Saturday, May 25
Haymarket Brewery (737 W. Randolph St.) hosts another CCBW staple, Beerfly Alleyfight!, which is a homebrewing-food-art competition. Sound strange? It is.
This day will see the inaugural West Loop Craft Beer Fest, which is also CCBW’s official closing party (no matter that Craft Beer Week actually ends the next day — who wants to be hungover on Monday?). More than 25 breweries will be pouring at “the city’s largest craft beer outdoor block party,” which will likely be the CCBW closing event for years to come. Tickets remain, but seem likely to sell out.
Sunday, May 26
Just when you think you can’t handle any more, it’s time to make up for all those double IPAs and barrel-aged stouts with Delilah’s annual lambic and sour beer festival, where $20 gets you 20 samples.
And on Monday, drink whiskey.
jbnoel@tribune.com
Twitter @traveljosh
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Open Wide For These Upcoming Beer Festivals
Beer week means every week for most of us, but the official American Craft Beer Week celebrates the sudsy stuff beginning today through May 19th. The Brewers Association organized tons of events happening all across the country, including several local tastings and other beer-centric gatherings. There are also upcoming festivals at Eataly and the craft beer and food festival Savor on the horizon as well.
The headliner event in New York City goes down Thursday, May 16th at the New York Beer Company, where the first ever American Craft Beer Week Coast to Coast Toast brings together NYC Brewers Guild members for drinking and toasting. Pints will be poured from local breweries like Bronx, Chelsea Brewering Co, Sixpoint and Shmaltz starting at 7 p.m., with everyone raising their glasses for the big nationwide toast at 8 p.m.
From May 17th through the 27th, brewmaster and Birreria Partner Teo Musso will put the spotlight on Italian craft beers with the Eatalian Beer Festival. Musso will offer four beers named for their alcohol content—4, 6, 8 and 10 % ABV—for $5 with unique dish pairings at most of the Eataly restaurants. The restaurant-market is also offering a beer and cheese pairing at their Eccellenze Corner for $10 during the beer festival.
Fast forward to June when Savor comes to town, bringing together brewers and chefs for two days of drinking and dining. Try out barrel aged fruit beers or explore different types of lager beers at the many events taking place at the Metropolitan Pavilion on June 14th and 15th. You can also check out events going on around the festival, like a Meet the Brewers from Long Island event at Jimmy’s No. 43 on Saturday, June 15th.
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Is Dallas now a certified beer city? CNN names Untapped as one of the country …
Posted on May 10, 2013
Justin Townes Earle performs during The Untapped Festival at Panther Island Pavilion in Fort Worth, TX on April 20, 2013. (Kye R. Lee/The Dallas Morning News)
We’re pretty darn proud of the growing brewery and craft beer scene in North Texas. It’s a beerevolution around here. But did anyone else notice?
Today, CNN posted a list of its “7 don’t-miss U.S. beer fests,” and our homegrown indie music and craft beer festival Untapped made the list.
Says CNN, in part: “Other beer festivals have live music, but let’s be honest, it’s usually local bands that provide background noise. Paste Untapped brings musicians and bands that are worth the price of admission alone. Add an awesome selection of craft suds, and it’s easy to see why this is one of the most talked-about festivals of 2013.”
Sarah Jaffe was one of the performers Saturday at Fort Worth’s 2013 Untapped Festival.
(CNN refers to it as “Paste Untapped.” Here’s the back story: The fest started in 2012 as Uptown Untapped, which became Dallas Untapped when it outgrew the Uptown Dallas venue and relocated to West Dallas. It’s put together by Arlington-based company Spune in partnership with Paste Magazine. This year’s a biggie for the growing fest: There was a Fort Worth festival in April, and three events have yet to happen — a Dallas one in September, and expanded events in Nashville and Atlanta in late 2013.)
CNN’s accolade for Untapped is certainly worth celebrating, for the breweries involved, the local bands who played, and the North Texas company who put it all together. Cheers!
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Second Annual Midwest Sour Wild Funk Fest
The focus of this festival is to celebrate the wild ale category of beers, focused exclusively on Lambic, Flanders, Farmhouse, and Saison style beers and ales. These beers are finely and carefully crafted, taking months and sometimes years to produce. Some have a distinct tart or sour flavors, other have vinous qualities, while other have uniquely funky characteristics. This rapidly growing category of beers has had a tremendous impact on the craft beer community, and Upland is directly in the midst of that trend. This year over 20 breweries will be included from across the country and world, with over 50 beers to enjoy.
A VIP presentation, discussion, and tasting will also be included featuring Head Brewer Caleb Staton speaking about the history and process for brewing wild beers. As part of this, participants will be tasting beers not otherwise available at the event.
VIP and general admission tickets both include a commemorative sampling glass, and samplings of delicious craft wild ales, with paired meats, cheeses, fruits, and desserts provided by event partner Smoking Goose Meatery. Designated Driver tickets will also be available and include food and non-alcoholic beverages.
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CNN names Untapped as one of the country’s best beer fests
Sarah Blaskovich
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I’ll drink to that.
Photo by Tiney Ricciardi
Untapped Fort Worth took place April 20, 2013. Stay tuned for the Dallas fest September 7, 2013.
We’re pretty darn proud of the growing brewery and craft beer scene in North Texas. It’s a beerevolution around here. But did anyone else notice?
Today, CNN posted a list of its “7 don’t-miss U.S. beer fests,” and our homegrown indie music and craft beer festival Untapped made the list.
Says CNN, in part: “Other beer festivals have live music, but let’s be honest, it’s usually local bands that provide background noise. Paste Untapped brings musicians and bands that are worth the price of admission alone. Add an awesome selection of craft suds, and it’s easy to see why this is one of the most talked-about festivals of 2013.”
Dallas Morning News
Sarah Jaffe was one of the performers Saturday at Fort Worth’s 2013 Untapped Festival.
(CNN refers to it as “Paste Untapped.” Here’s the back story: The fest started in 2012 as Uptown Untapped, which became Dallas Untapped when it outgrew the Uptown Dallas venue and relocated to West Dallas. It’s put together by Arlington-based company Spune in partnership with Paste Magazine. This year’s a biggie for the growing fest: There was a Fort Worth festival in April, and three events have yet to happen — a Dallas one in September, and expanded events in Nashville and Atlanta in late 2013.)
CNN’s accolade for Untapped is certainly worth celebrating, for the breweries involved, the local bands who played, and the North Texas company who put it all together. Cheers!
Shannon Sutlief contributed to this story.
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‘ Brew At The Zoo ‘ Beer Festivals for May Take on Miami , California and Memphis
Brew at the Zoo – Sequoia Park Zoo
Towards the middle of the month is when the fun is set to hit the zoo in Eureka, California, as the seventh annual event gets ready to do its thing. Music, dancing, food, and of course plenty of beer is on tap, as the event is set for Saturday, May 11 between 6 and 10pm. Tickets will cost you $30 per person, and youre welcomeand encouragedto bring along a designated driver for just $15 per person. Alaskan Brewing Company, Six Rivers Brewery, and Eel River Brewing are just a few of the breweries scheduled to be in attendance, so we think youll be in good hands.
Zoo Brew Memphis Zoo
Visit the hippos, the aquarium, penguins, and the pelicans over at the Memphis Zoo this month for their Zoo Brew event. Organizers are promising plenty of beers from here and thereas well as around the worldand theyll also be brining in plenty of live music and tasty food. The fun is set to kick off on Friday, May 24, as things run between 7pm and 10pm. Tickets will run you $40, but you might be able to save like $5 if you decide to sign up for a zoo membership. Dont worry if you miss this months events, as theyre planning to roll out the kegs at the end of the summer as wellon August 30.
[Photo: ilovememphis]
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Colorado’s beer festivals are becoming victims of their own success
Craft-beer geeks in Colorado are used to good news: more breweries, new beers and the continued growth of an industry that makes most Coloradans proud, happy and pleasantly buzzed. But for anyone who likes going to beer fests — and the season kicks off this week with the South Denver Beer Festival, at Littleton’s Clement Park — there were some news items last week that reminded people how craft beer’s popularity can also make it a pain.
For starters, the Boulder-based Brewers Association, which hosts the annual Great American Beer Festival in Denver, announced that ticket prices will be $75 this year, up $10 from 2012 — and $20 higher than they were in 2010.
That price increase would be acceptable for most people if it meant that the tickets were easier to come by, but more than likely, they will sell out in minutes, if not seconds, when they go on sale (sometime this summer), just as they did last year. In fact, the Brewers Association had to navigate a bit of a PR mess in 2012 when many tickets ended up in the hands of scalpers, leaving some longtime GABF-goers out of luck. A few angry beer geeks blamed Ticketmaster for the situation and suggested that the Brewers Association come up with another way to sell tickets — but the organization will return to Ticketmaster this year for the festival, which takes place October 10-12.
But GABF isn’t the only tough ticket in town. Avery Brewing’s fourth annual Boulder SourFest also sold out in seconds on April 24. One of the premier Colorado beer festivals, SourFest has to be an exclusive event, because the featured style — the sour and wild ales that are brewed with brettanomyces yeast and various bacterias — is difficult and time-consuming to make, and therefore in short supply. As a result, Avery only releases 400 tickets. Although the fest is amazing, it typically generates bad publicity — along with nice hype for the brewery because of the ticket limit.
“We just kind of prepare ourselves for it each year,” says Avery spokesman Joe Osborne. “We know we’ll get the most hate mail about this, and we had many passionate arguments internally on how to handle this, but we will feel like the fairest way to do it is online, because people come from all over the country to attend.”
The third piece of bad news for beer-fest fans affects the aforementioned South Denver Beer Fest, a brand-new festival that takes place May 4-5. Alongside dozens of well-known and well-loved existing breweries, the organizers had originally intended to include beers from at least ten different breweries-in-planning — companies that were experimenting with their recipes but hadn’t yet opened for business. To keep from violating any state liquor laws, however, these would-be breweries were going to be grouped in an area designated for home brewers. But late last week, the Colorado Department of Revenue, which handles liquor licenses, told fest organizers Jeremy Hutaff and Mike Burns that the breweries-in-planning could be jeopardizing their shot at getting a liquor license if they participated.
The problem, says department spokeswoman Ro Silva, is a rule that limits home brewers to serving their beer only at contests, and then only to judges and participants in those contests. The statute also prevents home brews from being sold to or consumed by the general public. “So they could be charged with selling without a license, which could affect their applications,” Silva says.
The call was frustrating for Hutaff, who thought he had cleared the arrangement with the department’s Liquor and Tobacco Enforcement Division. “They changed their mind,” he says. “And we don’t want to risk the future of any of these breweries or put anyone in jeopardy.” As a result, the home-brew competition won’t be held, and the general public won’t get to try out the beers from these would-be brewers. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to do it next year,” Hutaff says.
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‘Brew At The Zoo’ Beer Festivals for May Take on Miami, California and Memphis
Brew at the Zoo – Sequoia Park Zoo
Towards the middle of the month is when the fun is set to hit the zoo in Eureka, California, as the seventh annual event gets ready to do its thing. Music, dancing, food, and of course plenty of beer is on tap, as the event is set for Saturday, May 11 between 6 and 10pm. Tickets will cost you $30 per person, and youre welcomeand encouragedto bring along a designated driver for just $15 per person. Alaskan Brewing Company, Six Rivers Brewery, and Eel River Brewing are just a few of the breweries scheduled to be in attendance, so we think youll be in good hands.
Zoo Brew Memphis Zoo
Visit the hippos, the aquarium, penguins, and the pelicans over at the Memphis Zoo this month for their Zoo Brew event. Organizers are promising plenty of beers from here and thereas well as around the worldand theyll also be brining in plenty of live music and tasty food. The fun is set to kick off on Friday, May 24, as things run between 7pm and 10pm. Tickets will run you $40, but you might be able to save like $5 if you decide to sign up for a zoo membership. Dont worry if you miss this months events, as theyre planning to roll out the kegs at the end of the summer as wellon August 30.
[Photo: ilovememphis]
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San Diego County Fair to host beer and wine festivals
The San Diego County Fair will treat guests to fine wines from around California and crafted beers from around the world during two different events, and is inviting the public to come enjoy a glass or pint of their favorite beverage.
quinn.anya/Flickr
The San Diego County Fair Wine Competition will be hosted on June 15 and will feature a wide variety of premium, award-winning wines.
Tickets to the wine competition will come with free admission to the fair, a free souvenir wine glass and unlimited one-ounce samples of the many award-winning varietals.
Guests can get $6 off admission by using the promo code “Merlot” when ordering tickets.
The 2013 San Diego International Beer Festival will take place from June 21-23 and will feature hundreds of different beer varieties from multiple breweries.
The festival will also come with free admission to the fair, a free souvenir tasting cup and unlimited one ounce samples of over 300 different varieties of beer.
Guests can get $10 off general admission by using the promo code “Cheers” or $10 dollars off entrance to the VIP Brewers Lounge — which offers early admission, six ounce samplings and unlimited food combinations at craft beer stations for the first two hours – by using the promo code “Salud” when ordering tickets.
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