Thousands of beer buffs and beer enthusiasts came out to the World Beer Festival at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds Saturday to sample local brews as well as international varieties.
There were around 250 different beers available, over half of which were produced by North Carolina-based breweries. North Carolina breweries have doubled in number since 2012, totaling 132 in December 2015, with many more in the planning stages, according to The Charlotte Observer.
Some of the names from around Raleigh were on display Saturday, including Big Boss, Crank Arm, Carolina Brewery and Raleigh Brewing, but for NC State student Matthew Vatcher and NC State alumnus Sean Rock, the best part was finding hidden gems, such as the Viking Fraoch Sour from a brewery based in Cornelius, North Carolina.
“The Viking Fraoch Sour, from D9, is amazing. I’ve had this at least seven times,” said Rock, who graduated in December with a degree in civil engineering. “A lot of these breweries are in areas of North Carolina that you don’t normally go to; they’re in kind of quiet, secluded areas of North Carolina, and it’s nice to hear about these breweries that make good to great beer that come from areas of North Carolina that are not typical.”
The fact that smaller markets are challenging some of the powerhouse cities is a good sign to Rock, who considers himself a casual fan of craft beer.
“You hear about Raleigh, Asheville especially, Charlotte, those areas all the time, but it’s really nice to hear about [D9],” Rock said. “Cornelius is a very small town north of Charlotte — I haven’t heard about it personally, but it’s a great area to hear about.”
Vatcher, a senior studying agriculture business management, settled on an Otra Vez made by Sierra Nevada Brewing, based in Mills River, North Carolina. But for Vatcher, a more experienced craft beer drinker, North Carolina beers don’t yet measure up to California Sours.
“I would say in general to be honest [the NC beers] are subpar,” Vatcher said. “There’s a few styles of beer here that are decent, but overall they’re all right.”
The craft beer industry in North Carolina is still relatively young, with the industry breaking its reliance on imported beers from places like Belgium, Germany and England after 2005’s Pop the Cap law went into effect. Nearly two and a half years of grassroots lobbying went toward encouraging North Carolina lawmakers to raise the alcohol limit on beer sold in the state from 6 percent to 15 percent, allowing the sale and creation of a full range of beer styles.
Erik Lars Myers, president of the North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild, told The Charlotte Observer that the industry has accounted for roughly 10,000 new jobs in that time span.
Also at the event was a Beers Made By Walking display featuring the work of brewers who have reverted back to the basics of beer making: looking for ingredients growing around them to find new flavors beyond the standard malt, barley, water and yeast combinations.
Eric Steen, who was inspired by the Norwegian term “friluftsliv” which means “free air living” or living a life that is close to nature, founded Beers Made By Walking in Colorado Springs in 2011. This idea, along with the traditions of Scottish brewers who used ingredients that grew in the wild, led him to take the practice nationally while also raising money for environmental nonprofits.
This has led to new experimentation, according to David Wright, Colorado director for Beers Made by Walking.
“Brewers have been using herbs and other native plants since the beginning of brewing, so it’s not necessarily ‘new’; it’s more of a dedicated program that brings those place-based brewers together in one spot,” Wright said. “The people here don’t know what they’re going to brew before they go walk; they just let the walk dictate what they brew.”
One of the innovations from this method of brewing is Raleigh-based Compass Rose Brewery, which brewed its beer with a native blue agave cactus, mostly used in tequila, mixed with ginger found in Durant Nature Park. Another, Bull City Ciderworks, made a Christmas tree-infused cider (with a citrus finish) called Spruce Bringsteen, using Christmas trees found on a hike in West Jefferson, North Carolina.
Read more about the NC State brewery’s involvement in World Beer Fest
Thousands of visitors at the World Beer Festival sample beers from over 40 North Carolina breweries in the NC Beer Garden a the NC State Fairgrounds on April 2, 2016. The event featured over 250 different beers, presentations about how beer is made and the different styles, as well as live music.
