Barstool: NC Beer Month

by Eric Ginsburg

There’s so much beer news happening in the Triad that I can barely keep up. And I’m guessing there’s a good chance that our readers lost track a while ago, because this is my job, after all.

In case you missed it, earlier this week on our website we offered a sneak peek of Preyer Brewing (photo above), a new taproom and brewhouse opening imminently in downtown Greensboro, and we broke the news about plans for another one in the Gate City, Mansfield Brewery, near Spring Garden Street.

Fitting because April 1 marks the beginning of North Carolina Beer Month; it’s a busy season anyway for breweries, punctuated by an array of new releases and event. Here’s a list, organized alphabetically, of what the Triad’s beer barons are up to this month.

Foothills: This Triad titan will open its new taproom sometime this month, though a date has not been set yet. The brewery, one of the largest in the state, is also partnering with Visit Winston-Salem and Lowes Foods this month to promote the Camel City as a craft-beer hub. It’s celebrating NC Beer Month with a few environmental events too, including a local creek clean-up followed by a party at the pub on April 19.

Gibb’s: Greensboro’s newest brewery is pushing its way into Winston-Salem with distribution, and this month it will release a new beer — Shearing the Wolf IPA. Gibb’s will also begin brewery tours at 6 p.m. daily (except Mondays when it’s closed) and will host “beer education classes” on Wednesdays.

Hoots: Winston-Salem’s owl-adorned brewery just put out a new French-style seasonal beer called the Zinzendorf de Marz late last week, and I’m here to tell you it’s fantastic. Hoots Flea Market in the area outside the bar kicks off again on April 11, and keep an eye out for other special events throughout the month. Here’s one: Triad City Beat is hosting a reader meet-up on April 30 from 6 to 8 p.m. — come meet the editors on the patio!

Liberty: April is the busiest month of the year for Liberty, brewer Todd Isbell said, due in part to the High Point Furniture Market. This month, Liberty will have a dry-hopped Kellerbier and a DeBeen Espresso Stout, and Isbell said an English porter should be ready soon as well as the return of the brewery’s Mullet Malt Liquor pale lager.

Natty Greene’s: Greensboro’s veteran brewery hosts the first Great Outdoors of Beers Series at the Bunker on Lee Street on April 10, a “Barks & Brews” night on April 17 and several other events including Pig Fest 2015 with Neese’s Country Sausage on April 25.

Pig Pounder: The most oddly named brewery in the Triad is putting out two bourbon-barrel aged beers, the Snout Stout and the pumpkin Punk Piggy, on April 10. Pig Pounder, Greensboro’s second brewery, also hosts Geeks-n-Taps (a reprise of the organization’s recent event that we covered at Foothills) on April 20.

Small Batch: Laura Lashley just finished a mural at the Triad’s smallest brewery, and now Small Batch set up some tables running along it. For NC Beer Month, the downtown Winston-Salem brewery is releasing a new IPA every week, as well as its Old Salem beer (using an old, recovered recipe) in April. The head brewer and one of the owners will be at Old Salem to discuss the beer at a special tasting on April 18.

Even after saying all that, there are still four other planned breweries in the Triad — Brown Truck and XXII Tribes in High Point along with Wise Man and Mansfield in Greensboro. Plus, there are plenty of other beer-related events, the biggest likely being the Sip-n-Stroll, an annual beer and wine crawl in downtown Greensboro, on April 11.

But who knows. There’s so much action, I bet there are a dozen events I somehow missed; that’s why it’s a good time to be a beer lover, or to dip your feet in the craft-brew pool.

Speaking of NC Beer Month, Our State magazine is releasing a video series on North Carolina beers tomorrow, and I’m one of the people they interviewed for the Triad segment. Stay tuned for a link.