Microfestivus Weekend Is Finally Here, Ready For A Little Pre-Party?

Two things which are positively guaranteed to get a craft beer fan’s heart racing are beer festivals and limited release beer, and the rarer, the better. Microfestivus will more than cover for the former for us on Saturday with the 16^th anniversary of the event. Keeping in mind that there certainly will be several limited releases at Microfest tomorrow, it’s important to consider what places like Local Roots and Jack Brown’s have been up to all week in terms of the latter, as well as what Blue 5 has apparently thrown together for your craft beer enjoyment along those same lines for this evening.

Uncommonly found beers from breweries such as Devils Backbone and Legend Brewing have graced the draft lines and pleased the taste buds at spots such as Local Roots, Jack Brown’s, and Blues BBQ for the last few days as the week has deliciously inched towards the festival on Saturday. Local Roots alone scored a number of rarer beers for their events this week. Tonight, Blue 5 will put their own twist on the Pre-Microfestivus events. The evening centers around one idea: kick off the Microfestivus weekend by asking local distributors from the likes of P.A. Short, Specialty, and Blue Ridge Distributing to bring to the event a couple of beers from the craft beer brands they work with, but with one catch: none of the beers chosen could be considered “flagship”, or of the more commonly found variety. What this means for the craft beer curious is that you get to toast the arrival of Microfestivus weekend with several beers which perhaps you haven’t had the opportunity to try before. Maybe you’ve heard of them at some point, and hoped to taste them down the road. Or you could be like me, and even lusted after one or two. Sure, you might think that’s going a bit too far, but after seening the names of a couple beers which are coming, I have to say, maybe it’s not.

After all, August is Virginia Craft Beer Month, and its official motto is #loveontap. That motto couldn’t be more fitting for the passionate, craft curious folks in Roanoke as the week reaches its crescendo at the Blue 5 festival pre party, and finally, at the 16^th annual Microfestivus.