Beer bloggers, funk, brewery celebration coming to Asheville

The last half of July will see three special craft beer-related events in Asheville, NC. 

On the weekend of July 17-19, beer bloggers from across America will converge on Asheville for the 2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference.

Highlighting the conference will be keynote speaker Kim Jordan, co-founder and CEO of New Belgium Brewing Company, and visits to Oskar Blues Brewery in Brevard, NC, and to Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Mills River, NC.

Most of the conference program is filled with practical skills workshops on topics such as advanced social media and improving beer writing.

Among the more anticipated activities at the annual conference is the Live Beer Blogging session. A group of bloggers sit together at a table as a brewery representative has five minutes to pour them a select beer, describe it, and answer questions, while the bloggers blog or Tweet about it live. Brewers then rotate to a new table, allowing bloggers to ultimately meet 10 brewers and blog about 10 beers in 50 minutes.

The conference is organized by Zephyr Adventures, which also operates trekking, hiking, biking, and multi-sport, and beer tours throughout the world.

Funk Asheville rolls out the barrels

On July 18, the Funk Asheville festival will take place on the grounds of Wicked Weed Brewing Company’s new production facility.

Now in its second year, Funk Asheville is a wicked good gathering of sour and wild ales from across the country, featuring beer both from well established and up and coming breweries that are paving the sour and wild path for craft beer.

The event helps raise funds for Pints for Prostates.

This ticketed event is sold out, but some people are finding tickets on the secondary market.

Link: Wicked Weed Brewing Company

Hi-Wire’s Biltmore Big Top facility to open

After a year of planning, Hi-Wire Brewing will open the doors of their new production facility, located at 2 Huntsman Place, on Saturday, July 25th at 5pm. To celebrate the occasion, the brewery will throw a grand opening party, a large event that will include aerial acts, live music and rare beers created just for the evening.

The Biltmore Big Top opening will run from 5pm to midnight with live music from Ben Colvin and Friends from 6pm to 9pm. Visitors to the party will be welcomed with a variety of one-time-release brews and free tours of the brewery from until 7pm. The circus-themed party will showcase numerous weird and wondrous characters until 9pm when the second band takes the stage and plays until midnight. In addition to the entertainment, a plethora of delicious food will be available including Sunshine Sammies ice cream sandwiches, Bom Bus food truck and Kernel Mike’s Famous Kettle Corn.

The public is invited to attend this free event. For more information about the brewery, go to www.hiwirebrewing.com