Greenville Brew Tours Kicks Off

Yesterday's inaugural tour by Greenville Brew Tours (www.greenvillebrewtours.com) was a successful excursion into our community's Craft Beer scene. All 4 of Greenville's operating breweries were visited by the group, many of whom had never visited some of these establishments. Very educational, thanks to Jon Richards, Greenville Growler Station's "Professor" of beer classes and the brewery personnel who gave the individual tours as we visited each place.

Some highlights of the tour:

Jamarcus Gaston of Carolina Now gets some footage for his morning show.

Ben Pierson, owner/brewmaster, explains his beer making goals.

Swamp Rabbit staff readies the samples.

Jon Richards, our tour leader and beer guru, lends a hand, Kristen likes it.

April Morris, of Greenville Business Journal, gets Jon's advice for beer enjoyment

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Back on the bus for the next brewery stop.

Weston Caskill of Thomas Creek leads our tour.

The group is pleased with Wes' comments about Thomas Creek's future goals.

Laura, Taryn and Heather converse while Jamarcus works on getting images for his show.

Group photo at next brewery on the tour.

We take beer tasting seriosly. This is Quittin' Time, a Helles Bock with flavor and style.

April learns about Will's German-style influences.

The group hears about the breweries workings and future plans.

An orchard, just in the planting stages, will play a big part in the brewery's future.

Hops for the beer garden, but for shade, not tasting.

Quest, our final tour stop.

Erin explains the menu board's offerings.

Erin Gregory preparing our samples.

Back on the bus where Jon quizzes us for the trivia contest.

Back at the Growler Station where beer and food pairings will end the evening.

A final "cheers" from the group. NIchole, right, has a tat on her arm of her grandmother's fork.

Public House Disappoints; Waterfalls Don't!

Made it all the way to Highlands, NC, yesterday only to discover that the Ugly Dog didn't open until 4pm, depriving me of some new tasting experiences. Not all was lost tho, was able to get a photo of the wife and her Mom ifo a waterfalls, which guaranteed no argument about dessert this evening!

Kay and her Mom, Florence.

Happy and Hoppy Easter!

Still trying to decide what my Easter beer will be, but in the mean time, you can look at this:

Happy Hoppy Easter to all!

Home Brewing Help

Some interesting and encouraging news for the home brewers and wannabees in our community:


http://www.news-republic.com/Web/ArticleWeb.aspx?regionid=1&articleid=21864253

Surviving Rain Deluge at Bold City

Major rain deluge caught up with us just as we arrived at Bold City Brewery, but turned out to be the perfect spot for tasting new beer, listening to a Blues trio and watching the parking lot flood. Yep, the good life!!


 

We both had the Mad Manatee IPA which was a nicely balanced hop bomb, using 4 different varieties ( the names of which got lost in the rain) for an appropriate nose-satisfying aroma but with a solid backbone of slightly sweet toasted barley and a very taste bud pleasing citrus finish. Don't know why the Manatee was Mad but we were happy to discover this brew.

Intuition Brewery in Jacksonville

The first new brewery we encountered in Jacksonville was Intuition Ale Works. We got there by Trolley, which made it very convenient for one accustomed to high gravity brews.
 

Kay instantly became a big fan of I-10 IPA (she bought some cans six-packs to bring home) and I got a real kick out of the Liverkick Imp. Black IPA (is that a pun?). This facility is in a rather nondescript building sort of out on its own, but worth the find.

One half of their menu. I had the Riverside Red, found it to be a bit more malty than hoppy, but good!

Reflecting on our Florida Beer Safari

Back home after some satisfying beer adventures in the sunny state of FL!

Today's quiz:

Where is this beer loving community?

If you said, Jacksonville, you are correct. Details to follow.

Quest Brewing's Thursday Night Concerts Are Back For The Summer!

As expected the Quest Brewing Company's Thursday night kick off was very successful in starting the season. And the Tolba Collaboration Brown Ale with Terrapin was a hit, I really liked it and saw plenty of other people enjoying it too!! 

 Great music tonight, the Shonna Tucker and Eye Candy band played like Nashville pros and the crowd loved them. Peruse the pics while I recover from perhaps one too many Tolbas and one DIPA.

Enjoying Shonna and her band.

Don really likes his job!!

Greg, the IPA dog.

Inside tap room equally busy.

ThoroughFare Food Truck was hopping tonight!

Brewery85 Celebrating Craft Beer With Games

Fun times this afternoon at Brewery 85's Games Day. Ever played Connect 4? Me either but I saw some folks taking it very seriously. And something called Jinga? A game with destruction as the goal, apparently. Very glad to see the success of this new brewery and I am not influenced in that opinion by the tasty pint of Yeoman I had. Well, ok, maybe a little influenced. Enjoy the pix while I finish off this beer.
Oh, and thanks to Hog Hauler for the dinner suggestions!

No Wrist Band, no Beer. It's the law!!

Getting tickets gets you started on this fun day.

A happy, hop-infused trio!

Locals can stop by after work for a quick pint!

Tim and Allison slugging it out on the Connect 4 board.

Suzanne had a deft touch on this Jinga (Jenga) tower.

Allison is living dangerously!

Oops! James learns the agony of defeat!!

CW, r, and Ryan seem to be tied in the game so far.

Family event as well, and close to the food trucks too!

Daniel,l, and Shawn await in the overflow tent.

Will's parents, Ed and Lib, came to join in the festivities and share their son's success.

Jeremy, l, and Will agreed to take a minute out to pose for an official portrait.

Thanks to Hog Hauler for the dinner suggestions!

 Cheers to all and to all, a good night!