The Beer Road

Seriously, when does grabbing a beer at the ball park not sound like a good idea?  Never mind that there’s no game actually being played, because the Big Lick Beertopia craft beer festival is this Saturday, June 9^th, and is once again being held at Lewis Gale Field (home of the Salem Red Sox).  Of course, this means that for one afternoon, lots of good, craft beer will be taking the field, and if you’re in attendance, so will you.  Yes, it seems that grabbing a beer at the ballpark has just been taken up a notch.

This year, the folks at Beertopia have added more breweries, and about half of the breweries in attendance are different from ones at last year’s event.  As always, if you are craft beer curious, festivals like this can be the absolute best way to test the waters.  Each beer, even within the same kind or style, can be noticeably different from the next, as brewers add their own touches to each brew.  Ultimately, this is what makes being interested in craft beer so amazing, and so much fun.  With craft beer, not only are you often tasting, delicious, hand crafted beer, but the possibilities for the beer seems endless. At festivals such as Beertopia, you get a chance to try styles of beer you might be curious about but have not been able taste yet, or compare similar ones against each other.  As I’ve written before, you may even find a new favorite.  At the very least, you’ll spend the afternoon tasting all this great beer out on the diamond, with friends – what a way to spend a late spring afternoon.

In addition to live music, Big Lick Beertopia will also have a homebrewing station, in case you’re curious about making your own good beer at home.  The festival added a homebrewing competition this year, with winners announced at the festival.  The top prize winner will have their beer brewed by Roanoke Railhouse.

A few of the breweries at this year’s event will include local and regional favorites such as Devils Backbone, Bull & Bones, Legend, Starr Hill, Roanoke Railhouse, Big Daddy’s Brewing, Wild Wolf, and Wolf Hills.  Others will include Heavy Seas (Maryland), Foothills, (North Carolina), Founders (Michigan), Lagunitas (California), New Belgium (Colorado), Southern Tier (New York), and Victory (Pennsylvania).  A full listing of the breweries can be found on the event website.

Who doesn’t look forward to grabbing a beer at the ballpark?  This Saturday, Big Lick Beertopia brings you a slightly different and at least much more delicious twist – great craft beer, right along the outfield wall no less.  See you on the field!

Beertopia 2012 will be happening this Saturday from 12-6, and you can get tickets early – check out their facebook page here.

~ by thebeerroad on June 5, 2012.

Posted in Events.