WILMINGTON — The ninth annual Cape Fear Beer Fest will return to the Wilmington Convention Center on March 9, featuring nine regional breweries, two North Carolina distilleries, and a cluster of wineries spanning California to North Carolina and Europe.
Event organizer John Bloomer said that while the Beer Army Foundation operated the festival the last two years, he took on this year’s event himself in order to emphasize local and North Carolina businesses, including the Wilmington area’s growing craft beer scene.
“It’s been a great run,” Bloomer said. “When we started all you had was Front Street [Brewery], and now it’s turned into a beer mecca. Like the phrase recently coined by someone — “Asheville East” — I like that, it’s a totally different vibe here now.”
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But running the festival is plenty of hard work, Bloomer said, and he’s looking for the representatives from the local industry — possibly the Craft Beer Alliance — to take over.
“It’s time to turn this thing over to a pretty mature craft industry in town,” Bloomer said. “It has a benevolent flavor to it now with a lot of charities involved.”
Those who attend the festival have been encouraged to come dressed in pirate attire or, according to Bloomer, they “risk walking the plank!”
On top of brewery, winery, and distillery representatives pouring drinks and promoting their products, Bloomer said there will be other means of entertainment “ranging from craft folks that can make almost anything out of bottle caps” to insurance litigators to help those who believe they didn’t receive fair coverage after Hurricane Florence.
He also said members of the “Face Lab” at UNCW Wilmington and spin-off company Lapetus Solutions will be present to showcase their technology and add faces to their facial recognition database.
“While you’re tasting your favorite porter you can have a conversation with somebody about getting screwed on your insurance, for example,” Bloomer said. “Or maybe a facial recognition shot will look even better with your beer goggles on.”
Judd Watkins, owner of Wrightsville Beach Brewery, said he was looking forward to pouring beer at the festival.
“We love local festivals because they give us the chance to interact with potential new regulars,” Watkins said.
Festival details
Bloomer said he expects close to 2,000 attendees for this year’s event. To buy tickets you can go to capefearbeerfest.com.
Doors open at the Wilmington Convention Center (515 Nutt St) on Saturday, March 9, at noon for VIPS and at 1 p.m. for general admission attendees.
General admission tickets are going for $40 and VIP tickets are going for $50, both of which include a tasting cup with unlimited samples. Designated Driver tickets are also available for $15.
The festival will also feature a DJ, silent auction, and Jenga and cornhole boards. Proceeds from the event will help benefit the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, the Wilmington Area Rebuilding Ministry (WARM), Cape Fear River Watch, and A Safe Place.
Bloomer said that he is still looking for charities, especially those helping Hurricane Florence victims, as well as additional local vendors; you can contact him here. You can also stay up to date on information leading up to the date on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Breweries, wineries, distilleries, charities
The following list of participants is ongoing and will be updated leading up to the March 9th festival. Breweries from the Cape Fear region are listed in bold.
Craft Breweries
- Aviator (Fuquay-Varina, NC)
- Bill’s (Wilmington, NC)
- Billy Beer (Farmville, NC)
- Blowing Rock (Blowing Rock, NC)
- Blue Point (Patchogue, NY)
- Bold Rock Hard Cider (Nellysford, VA)
- Broomtail (Wilmington, NC)
- Carolina (Chapel Hill, NC)
- Check Six (Southport, NC)
- Cigar City (Tampa, FL)
- Coronado (San Diego, CA)
- Deep River (Clayton, NC)
- Edward Teach (Wilmington, NC)
- Elysian (Seattle, WA)
- Firestone Walker (Paso Robles, CA)
- Flying Machine (Wilmington, NC)
- Foothills (Winston-Salem, NC)
- Front Street (Wilmington, NC)
- Golden Road (Los Angeles, CA)
- Goose Island (Chicago, IL)
- Highland (Asheville, NC)
- Ironclad (Wilmington, NC)
- Makai (Ocean Isle Beach, NC)
- Natty Greene’s (Greensboro, NC)
- New Anthem (Wilmington, NC)
- New Belgium (Fort Collins, CO & Asheville, NC)
- Oskar Blues (Longmont, CO and Brevard, NC)
- Panacea (Wilmington, NC – craft kombucha)
- Red Hare (Atlanta, GA and Shallotte, NC)
- Salty Turtle (Surf City, NC)
- Sierra Nevada
- Skytown Beer Company (Wilmington, NC)
- SweetWater (Atlanta, GA)
- The Unknown (Charlotte, NC)
- Uptown (Greenville, NC)
- Waterman’s (Wilmington, NC)
- White Street (Wake Forest, NC)
- Wicked Weed (Asheville, NC)
- Wilmington (Wilmington, NC)
- Wrightsville Beach (Wilmington, NC)
Wineries
- Artisan World Wines (Barcelona, Spain)
- Chateau Morrisette (Floyd, VA)
- Clos LaChance Wines (San Martin, CA)
- Elunès Fruit Moscato (Italy)
- Executive Wines (N.C. distributor)
- Jamieson Ranch Vineyards (American Canyon, CA)
- Sandara Wines (Valencia, Spain)
- Sea Turtle (Weibel Family Vineyards in Lodi, CA)
-
Fish Hippie (Mount Airy, NC)
Distilleries
- Graybeard Distillery (Durham, NC)
- Mother Earth Spirits (Kinston, NC)
Charities and Non-Profits
- A Safe Place
- Cape Fear Beer & Hymns
- Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity
- Cape Fear River Watch
- Wilmington Area Rebuilding Ministry (WARM)
- Wilmington Chamber of Commerce
Mark Darrough can be reached at Mark@Localvoicemedia.com
