Hickory – On Saturday, April 11, more than 2,000 festivarians attended the Hickory Hops Craft Beer & Music Festival in downtown Hickory, NC to enjoy beer, camaraderie, and hot sunny weather. The 22nd annual beer fest, featuring craft brewed beer from 38 breweries, was the reason for the assembly and a good time to recognize over 100 medalists and three Best of Show winners in the 19th Carolinas Championship of Beer competition.
The CCB started with craft brewed beer. Each Hickory Hops brewery participant is invited to send bottled or canned beer in for judging. Two weeks prior to the festival, over 70 volunteers gathered at Olde Hickory Brewery to judge the unidentified beers for adherence to specific category characteristics. The beers, which totaled 217 entries from 26 breweries, were judged in nearly 200 styles and sub-styles. When the first round finished 3 hours later, 50 beers had scored gold medals. 38 silver and 44 bronze winners were also determined by teams of judges.
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:
Charlotte’s Birdsong Brewing’s managing partner Chris Goulet happily accepted the coveted First Place plaque for Lazy Bird Brown Ale, a shining example of an American Brown Ale. Birdsong, founded in 2010 by Chris and wife Tara, features 20 tap handles at their taproom bar.
2nd Place Best of Show was awarded to Carolina Brewery for Sky Blue Kolsch. Sales manager Ryan Jerry was on hand to receive the engraved plaque for this fine example of a German-style Kolsch. Carolina’s original Chapel Hill brewpub is still brewing on Franklin Street as is their newer, larger facility in Pittsboro.
Third place CCB Best of Show went to Diatribe Brewing, a relatively new (established in 2023) brewery in Asheville. Co-owners Dave Byer and Betty Dunajski jointly received their Best of Show plaque for a historical Polish ale style considered a “polish champagne” in its homeland, called Grodiskie.
Proceeds from this year’s CCB will be donated to the North Carolina Brewers Guild for use promoting the State’s 400+ craft breweries.
Photo: Group photo left to right: 2nd place BOS Carolina Brewery, sales manager Ryan Jerry; CCB organizer, Bobby Bush; 1st place BOS Birdsong Brewing, managing partner Chris Goulet; 3rd place BOS, co-owners Dave Byer and Betty Dunajski.
