Home-crafted beers to be showcased at Red Brick Brew
By Sherry Lucas
Spring weather should bring a nice breeze to the beer garden for Red Brick Brew at the Red Bring Roads Music & Arts Festival Saturday, March 29, as home brewers share the results of their creative imaginations and beer-making skills.
The competition in home-crafted beers, from light and refreshing to stout and complex, brings the opportunity to sample new flavors and talk directly with the amateur brewers about the ingredients and skills at work in these beers.
The Red Brick Roads Music &. Arts Festival, a joint project of the Clinton Chamber of Commerce, Main Street Clinton and the City of Clinton, is Thursday, Friday and Saturday, March 27 through 29, in Olde Towne Clinton. Red Brick Brew is an AHA sanctioned/BJCP registered competition, with judging on the Sunday prior to the festival.
Festival-goers will have a chance to vote for a People’s Choice Saturday during the festival. Awards will toast the Best of Show, as well as first, second and third place finishers in each category, with competition winners announced on the festival stage on Saturday, March 29. Fertile Ground Brewery will brew the Best of Show beer as a one-off batch, following the competition.
Red Brick Brew has become a popular draw at the Red Brick Roads Festival.
“It’s really neat when people say they’re coming to Red Brick Roads, and they can’t wait for the beer,” organizer Allison Reno said. “It’s awesome now that it just goes hand in hand. It used to be something off to the side. … It’s a big part of the festival now.”
Organizers order hundreds of little tasting mugs, as per regulations, for fans to sip and sample the brewers’ results in the beer garden.
“It’s first come, first taste. Don’t wait too late, because we have run out before,” Reno said of the little mugs.
It’s a chance to get to know the enthusiasts behind this hobby and the skills they’ve perfected, as well as the home brew they’ve produced.
“They’re amateur brewers, but they’re really professionals, because they’ve been doing this so long and they are amazing guys and girls … and they love talking about their craft.”
Find competition details on the festival website, RedBrickRoads.com.
