Soon the holidays will be over. We will wake up on January 1st, possibly with a slight hangover, and we will look at the long winter ahead. But have no fear, the perfect antidote for the winter blues is happening in just a few weeks. Mark your calenders for the Second Annual Asheville Winter Warmer Beer Festival on Saturday January 24th. If you missed the first one, it was an excellent event, chronicled in this post by yours truly. It was a great showcase of local beer, food and musical talents, organized by the fine folks at the Asheville Brews Cruise. This years version promises to be bigger and better than ever. The beer lineup has expanded beyond the mountains of Western North Carolina, and will include several beers from North Carolina including Foothills Brewery, Duck Rabbit, and Triangle Brewing, in addition to all our local brewers (with Wedge and Craggie making appearences this year). Tennessee is also getting into the act with Yazoo Brewing Company out of Nashville planning to be in attendance. In order to make room for more people and more beer, the location for this year's fest will be at the Haywood Park Hotel Ballroom, located just behind the Bier Garden. I think the downtown location will make this an even better fest than last year. Food will again be provided by local lovers of smoked meat, Luella's Barbecue.If the food and beer isn't enough, (and it should be), local musicians Woody Wood and Brushfire Stankgrass will be providing some great tunes for everybody. Tickets are currently on sale, so be sure to head over to the website and order them early in case the event sells out.
