Bill and Tom Davis of Thomas Creek Brewery has found their own niche in the craft beer market. They are co-sponsors of the Upstate International Beer Fest. The festival will be held inside the Bi-Lo Center Saturday due to potential for rain.
The natural way to market a beer festival is with beer bottles branding the event for the co-sponsors – Thomas Creek Brewery and the Carolina Ale House.
A beer garden ambience is the goal, with an environment in which people can hang out and enjoy the festival with live music and corn holing. Festival organizers, Friday afternoon, decided to hold the Beer Fest indoors because a chance of rain was forecast in the Upstate Saturday.
Originally named Top of the Hops, the first year it was at the Bi-Lo Center and was both outside and inside, and last year it was inside at the TD Convention Center. This year it’s back at the Bi-Lo Center, with the festival venue under four large tents.
The festival starts at 2 p.m. and the last beer will be poured at 5:45 p.m.
With a purchase of a $35 ticket, patrons receive a commemorative sampling mug and have access to unlimited, two-ounce samplings of over 150 craft beers in the different Beer Gardens and a separate beer garden for “cask” beer.
According to www.craftbeer.com, The American Brewers Association defines a craft brewer as “small, independent and traditional,” with small defined as an “annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less”.
One way the festival is spotlighting craft beer is with the Samuel Adams Brew University Education Area, which will feature seminars such as Cooking with Beer, Food Pairings, and of course, How to Brew Beer.
Ken Anderson, the owner of popular local winery Grape & Grains, will be speaking at the Home Brew 101 class. Thomas Creek Brewery, along with Greenville home brewers club the Brewtopians, will be handling Home Brew 102, which will go more in depth to the current trends in home brewing, and will also have samples.
Thomas Creek Brewery, which is co-sponsoring the festival with Carolina Ale House, has been a staple of the Upstate since 1998. Founder Tom Davis has been a bartender all his life, and a brewer for over 20 years. He and his father, Bill, used to travel out west for skiing trips and encountered craft beers, with flavors and eccentricity that couldn’t be found in Greenville.
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