Hickory – On Saturday, April 12, more than 2,000 festivarians attended the Hickory Hops beer festival in downtown Hickory, NC to enjoy beer, camaraderie, and cool, sunny weather. The 21st annual beer fest, featuring craft brewed beer from 48 breweries, was the reason for the assembly and a good time to recognize over 100 medalists and three Best of Show winners in the 18th Carolinas Championship of Beer.
The CCB started with craft brewed beer. Each Hickory Hops brewery participant is encouraged to send bottled or canned beer in for judging. Three weeks prior to the festival, over 60 volunteers gathered at Olde Hickory Brewery to judge the unmarked beers for adherence to specific category characteristics. The beers, which totaled 178 entries from 31 breweries, were judged in 171 styles and sub-styles. When the first round finished 3 hours later, 33 beers had scored gold medals. 38 silver and 44 bronze winners were also identified.
For CCB round two, a smaller group of certified judges convened to determine the best of the gold medal beers. Called the Best of Show round, after two hours of tasting and deliberation, three beers were identified as the best of the best.
Announced during Saturday’s Hickory Hops beer festival, here are the Best of Show winners:
Sidetracked Brewing master brewer Joseph Ackerman was awarded a coveted First Place plaque for Butterfly Riot, a shining example of a Belgian Blonde Ale. No stranger to CCB Awards, Ackerman and his Morganton brewery previously won 2023’s 1st place trophy for Belgian-style Florere, a pink, dry, slightly tart cherry ale.
Claiming 2nd Place Best Show was Olde Hickory Brewery’s Event Horizon, Brewmaster Steven Lyerly’s dark and sultry bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stout is a popular annual release for the downtown brewery.
Last year’s 1st place winner, Balsam Falls Brewing of Sylva, scored the competition’s 3rd place plaque for their unique Downtown Oatmeal Brown Ale. Head brewer Corey Bryson was on hand to pour samples of the luscious Brown, while it lasted.
Proceeds from this year’s CCB will be donated to the North Carolina Brewers Guild for use promoting the State’s 450+ craft breweries.
Photo: (left to right) 3rd Place BOS: Balsam Falls Brewing assistant brewer Rob Bolick; 2nd Place BOS: Olde Hickory Brewery brewmaster Steven Lyerly; 1st Place BOS: Sidetracked Brewing brewmaster Joseph Ackerman; Bobby Bush, competition manager.
