Saturday, April 18 is set for this year’s Hickory Hops beer festival.  Staged on Union Square in downtown Hickory, the 7^th annual outdoor beer festival is organized by Hickory Downtown Development Association and hosted by Olde Hickory Brewery.  It offers plenty for everyone, from inexperienced beer novices to hardened beer fest veterans anxious for something unusual.  Pouring for six hours, beginning at 1:00, live music will be presented by Baby Black and WSNB, rain or shine.  Food is available from downtown restaurants during the festival.  Brewers sell t-shirts, pint glasses, mugs and a sundry of other breweriana. 

While the economy in general is lackluster, the Southern craft brewed beer business is bustling with excitement.  In addition to perennial fest participants like Olde Hickory, Highland, Rock Bottom and RJ Rockers, Hickory Hops 2009 will introduce at least eight new breweries, most hail from North Carolina.   Four Friends and Olde Mecklenburg, both spanking new breweries from Charlotte, will make their Hickory debuts, as will LoneRider and Triangle (both from Raleigh), Asheville’s The Wedge, Fayetteville’s Huske Hardware House (recently re-opened), and Myrtle Beach’s Gordon Biersch.   Two new contract beers, from Boone Brewing and Kind Beers, will also receive their official Hickory Hops welcome. 

Complementing the Hickory Hops festivities, the Carolinas Championship of Beer makes its 4th appearance this year.  Several weeks before the fest, festival beers are subjected to a blind-judged competition.  In early-April, nearly 150 beers spanning 85 different styles will be analyzed by a panel of certified judges, brewers and experienced judges.  Gold, silver and bronze medals in each category will be presented to winning brewers at a private brewers’ dinner held the evening before the festival.  During Hickory Hops, engraved plaques will be awarded to three Best of Show winners. 

Back to Hickory Hops: For the 7th year in a row, our small burg is blessed with the presence of breweries from all over the South.  In all, over 30 craft breweries are expected, with the vast majority coming from the Tarheel State.   Though they vary in size and scope, by their very name, microbreweries are small businesses.  The brewers are here to give their beer away in hopes that fest goers will patronize them in the future. 

Through its history, Hickory Hops has become one of the industry’s most favored fests.  This brewer-friendly event, always one of the first of the spring/summer fest season, brings out the best from regional craft brewers.   Cask conditioned ales will be featured by many, as will other special or seasonal ales and lagers.  Hickory Hops is a celebration of all things beer.  The Hickory audience has always shown its appreciation and respect for this brewed art.  Brewers are available to answer question, share tasting notes and enjoy the day.  Many past fest-goers have described the beer festival as “the most fun [they’ve] ever had in downtown Hickory. ”

Tickets are available at downtown’s Olde Hickory Tap Room and Amos Howards Brew Works on Highway 70 West. Cist is $35 at the gate.  Designated driver tickets are $10.