The coming fourth annual Craft Beer Week gives Lexington’s local breweries a stage to show off and the dedicated growler-toting set a chance to celebrate and, most important, savor some specially made small-batch brews.
“The goal is to support and bring focus to the local breweries and local craft brew,” said Chris Vandergrift, who runs Lexbeerscene.com and organizes the weeklong event. “It’s grown quite a bit from the first year when we were a little reluctant and unsure if it would be worth everyone’s time.”
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Image provided.
Image provided.
Vandergrift said the event has grown right along with the local offerings.
Craft beer’s chummy, the-more-the-merrier vibe is a cherished attribute, if one increasingly threatened by growing competition as the industry matures. But at least for special events like this, this collegial and collaborative nature proves more than convenient myth-making: You can bottle the stuff.
That’s just what West Sixth and Country Boy have done, for the fourth year running.
“We are always excited for Craft Beer Week because it brings back our annual collaboration with the guys over at Country Boy Brewing,” said West Sixth co-owner Ben Self, who added that the breweries begin planning the release three or four months out.
The popular local craft breweries will debut Country Western 4, an IPA with grapefruit and mosaic hops, on Friday, May 13, at 3 p.m. simultaneous at both breweries. Bottles of Country Western will sell for $11.99, Self said.
While Country Western represents continuity, other new releases show Craft Beer Week’s growing status as a showcase and launch pad. Blue Stallion Brewing and Ethereal Brewing certainly think so, with both choosing the week to launch their first bottled brews.
“We’ve been planning a limited bottle release during Lexington Craft Beer Week for around six months now,” said Blue Stallion’s Xavier Donnelly. “We weren’t quite sure which beers we’d release and what we’d call them until about two months ago.”
Blue Stallion is prepping four varieties of high-proof, barrel-aged beers in 22-ounce bomber bottles. They took inspiration from gamer culture to produce its “Boss Battle Series,” playing on the names of old-school arcade game baddies:
Bäuwzer, Gännuhn, Müther Bräin
and
Tysün. Blue Stallion will release these first bottles Friday, May 20, at noon.
Ethereal Brewing, meanwhile, is set to release its first bottle, an ale aged in oak called Balius. It will be released Monday, May 16, at 5 p.m. Bottles of Balius -- named after an immortal horse in Greek mythology -- will cost $15 with a limit of two per customer.
“It’s exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time,” said Ethereal’s Andrew Bishop.
He said Ethereal was hand-bottling about 230 of the Balius offering and learning on the fly how to manage issues including the carbonation. “It’s coming together really well,” he said.
Bishop praised Craft Beer Week for bring focus to the scene and said Ethereal took part in last year’s event at a smaller scale since it had only been open for about five months at that point.
“It’s a very good opportunity to get people excited about craft beer,” he said. “It creates excitement for people who might not know a lot about it who will take a chance to see what it’s about and for the serious beer fans it lets them try all these special offerings.”
That’s the whole plan, according to event organizer Vandergrift, who says the event aims to grow customer base and elevate the breweries’ status. He said he sees room for growth in both areas.
“
At one point [years ago,] I thought we were saturated, but apparently we’re not,” Vandergrift said. “And if you look at places like Asheville [North Carolina,] or Portland, [Oregon,] you see there’s still a lot of room here for growth in the craft beer scene.
www.lexbeerscene.com/lcbw.
Craft Beer Week runs May 13 to 22. For a full list of events and special releases, go to