Beer lovers, leave your standard six pack in the fridge, step outside your comfort zone and try some new brews that are made right in your own neighborhood.
On April 14, the first Hogtown Craft Beer Festival at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens will showcase craft beer made by Florida breweries and brewpubs as well as other local and regional varieties.
According to Alex Pries, a committee member for the Hogtown Craft Beer Festival, craft beer is produced on a smaller scale than largely recognized mega-brands like Budweiser and Coors.
“Craft breweries tend to have a very diverse portfolio and assembly of different types of beers,” Pries said. “For example, you’ll have a brewery that will produce a pale ale but they’ll also do a dark beer, like a stout.”
Pries said that with the increasing popularity of microbreweries in Florida, craft breweries and brewpubs are really starting to take off in Gainesville.
“They often have a lot more freedom to experiment and play with different styles and ingredients, but craft breweries are also very dependent on their local communities to thrive,” Pries said.
In addition to beer tasting, Pries said festival-goers will also have the opportunity to speak with a few of the professional head brewers from different Florida breweries after a presentation on brewing in Florida and a homebrewing demonstration.
Some of the breweries featured at the festival will include Cigar City Brewing, Alligator Brewing Company, Blue Moon Brewing Company and Swamp Head Brewery, which is located in Gainesville, Pries said.
Craig Birkmaier, the head brewer at Swamp Head Brewery, said this festival is going to be different than any other beer festival Gainesville has seen before because the focus of the Hogtown Craft Beer Festival is all about the craftsmanship and supporting local breweries and other businesses.
“I want people to be entertained and have an enjoyable time in a nice venue where they’re not going to be too crowded and they’re going to have an opportunity to listen to music and drink a lot of different beers with great food pairings,” Birkmaier said.
Some of the local restaurants that serve food samples to correspond with the variety of craft beers include Stubbies & Steins, Dragonfly Sushi and Blue Gill Quality Foods, Birkmaier said.
Beer is becoming just as popular as wine, and people should learn all of the different possibilities of craft beer, whether it be with food pairings or seasonal occasions, Birkmaier said, so they can walk away with a new appreciation.
“There’s hundreds of styles of beers: There’s dark beers, light beers, fruit beers, and they’re all different and appropriate for different kinds of occasions, like pale ales for the summertime and heavier sit-down-and-sip-type beers for the winter,” Birkmaier said.
Keeping with the local focus, all the proceeds from the festival, which is being organized by Gainesville homebrew club The Hogtown Brewers, will benefit the Alachua Conservation Trust and St. Johns Riverkeeper, Birkmaier said.
To buy tickets, which are $35 for general admission and $75 for VIP, and to find a full list of participating breweries, brewpubs and restaurants at the festival, visit www.hogtownbeerfest.com.
“As people learn all the things that are possible with beer, they truly begin to enjoy it,” Birkmaier said.
