Top of the Hops 2012

It’s that time of the year again… This Saturday, downtown’s nTelos Wireless Pavilion will host the 3^rd annual Top of the Hops festival from 3-7pm.

Attendees will be able to sample over 150 craft beers from roughly 70 different breweries/cideries.

Besides hosting the big-name breweries, such as Sierra Nevada, Goose Island, and Duvel, the TOTH festival will also feature many of Cville’s own local favorites as well, including Wild Wolf, Blue Mountain, Devils Backbone, and Starr Hill. In addition, the festival will showcase new breweries as well as ones that may be lesser known to people, such as: Hardywood Park, Palm Breweries, RJ Rockers, & Roanoke Railhouse.

 

Those that have attended in the years before can still expect many of the same features, including live entertainment, beer seminars, and the always amazing VIP beer garden, which will be offering an additional 14 different beers to try out. Although there seem to be few changes this year, the organizers will have more ciders available for tasting – 7 cideries in all – as well as a cornhole tournament (sorry, registration is already closed).

The beer craft festival will offer plenty for everyone, from beer snobs to designated drivers. You can expect good food, live music, games, and even beer lectures on brewing & cooking with beer.

Tickets range from $15-75 and can be purchased at the Top of the Hops website. However, tickets are limited, and have sold out in the past, so don’t wait.

And for those that want to attend the festival but are a little tight on money, you can always help out as a volunteer. As a home brewer and a veteran volunteer of the TOTH festival, I always look forward to this yearly event since it is great chance to talk to the brewers about the art of the craft, help the local beer community, and even get a chance to have some beer at the end of the evening.

Regardless of which option you choose, it’s sure to be another amazing time.

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