If you’re a fan of quality beer, belly up to tonight’s soiree at Fullsteam Brewery in Durham, where craft brewer Erik Lars Myers will discuss and sign copies of his just-released guidebook “North Carolina Craft Beer & Breweries” (John F. Blair Publisher), just the kind of guide I’ve been thirsty for. Event starts at 8 p.m. and is being hosted by the Regulator Bookshop.
If you can’t make it, fear not. Events are scheduled for April 18 from 4:30 to 7 at Bottle Revolution in Raleigh, on April 25 from 7 to 9 at Carrboro Beverage Co., and more here.
Erik, who owns Mystery Brewing in Hillsborough, has compiled frothy facts on 45 breweries. Each entry includes beer lineups, tour times, brewery background and a bit about the brewers and owners. Other features include tidbits on festivals, bottle shops, hop farms, and cideries. I also appreciated his primer on beer styles and the chapter on our state’s beer and brewing history, which began in 1770 with the state’s first documented brewery in Cross Creek, wherever that is, followed by breweries in Salem (now Winston-Salem) and Wilmington. Present day, the state went from 28 breweries in 2000 to 48 by the end of 2010, a count that included 20 closings during the same time.
As Erik writes, North Carolina has become one of the most notable brewing cents in the southeastern United States. (And if you missed it, both Sierra Nevada Brewing and New Belgium Brewing are opening major beer-making facilities in the Asheville area, adding to the state’s local brew options.) Love those hoppy endings (‘cuz I’m an IPA gal)!
The News & Observer had an interesting article on Erik Lars Myers and his NC beer and brewery guidebook (see Life section on Sunday August 12, 2012)
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/08/11/2264078/theres-no-place-like-foam.html
There’s an on-line reference to a map with all the breweries in North carolina which is available on the website of the NC Brewers Guild
http://www.ncbeer.org/brewery-map/