During the coldest time of year, come together as a community to enjoy craft beverages from a variety of Western North Carolina’s best breweries and cideries while supporting our region’s clean-energy future at the first annual Brew Horizons Beer Festival.
The festival will allow attendees to enjoy unlimited samples of craft beverages from nearly two dozen regional breweries and cideries from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm on Saturday, Feb. 23 at the U.S. Cellular Center. Guests will also enjoy artisanal local food, arts and crafts vendors, sustainability education areas, and live music from Gypsy Grass as well as Queen Bee and the Honeylovers.
“March will mark one year since the Blue Horizons Project launched as a resource hub for the community, and while we’ve made lots of great progress in the first 12 months, there is still much work to be done,” said Blue Horizons Project Coordinator Sophie Mullinax. “The funds raised through this event will help us carry this work forward into its second year. Every dollar raised will go directly toward advancing the strategies outlined by the Energy Innovation Task Force and the goals of the Blue Horizons Project to create our region’s clean energy future.”
This event is hosted by the Green Built Alliance, which also runs the annual CiderFest NC fundraiser in Asheville each fall. The nonprofit is launching this new winter beer festival, Brew Horizons, as a fundraiser for the Blue Horizons Project, which operates out of their offices as a resource hub to empower every community member to do their part in creating our region’s clean-energy future. One initiative is the Energy Upgrade Program, which provides free home upgrades to help low-income families save money and energy while staying warmer through the winter.
A limited number of VIT (Very Important Taster) tickets offer guests advance entry to the event a full hour early, beginning at 1:00 pm, to enjoy exclusive access to tastings from our breweries, cideries and artisanal food vendors before the crowds arrive. VITs may even have the opportunity to sample specialty, small-batch or limited-release beers and ciders that won’t be available during the regular event. In addition to early access, VITs also receive a complimentary commemorative Brew Horizons Beer Fest pint glass.
Brew Horizons Beer Fest is a carbon-neutral event and will offset the event’s footprint for each ticket holder with contributions to the nonprofit Green Built Alliance’s Appalachian Offsets program, which is now wrapping up fundraising to install a solar system on the roof of Isaac Dickson Elementary School.
People are encouraged to buy tickets early. For details and tickets, visit www.brewhorizonsbeerfest.com.