The High Country Beer Fest Returns for Its 11th Year This Saturday, Aug. 25 at Fairgrounds

By Elly Murray

The High Country Fairgrounds will come alive on this spectacular Saturday, with over 50 local breweries supplying their craft brews, including Appalachian Mountain Brewery, Booneshine, and Lost Province.

Live music will also be playing, and Brett Taubman, the director of the event, says, “We’ve got three bands again this year. Earleine is opening up, and then we’ve got Mink’s Miracle Medicine as the headlining act, and then Mission in the Rain, which is a Dead cover band, is closing out once again this year.”

There are three types of festival tickets available, so you can customize your own experience. The VIP tickets, which are 80 dollars a pop get you one hour early access, a free meal ticket, and a free t shirt.

Taubman says that getting in at 2 p.m. with this ticket, an hour ahead of everyone else, is especially important because “Instead of having 2,000 people in there with you, you’ve got about 200 people in there with you. So you get much more one-on-one access to the brewers for an hour before everybody else, and then you get a meal voucher, and you can get an $8 meal…at any of the food vendors. And you get a free t shirt. So it really is worth it if you can do the VIP ticket, it’s certainly worth it. It pays for itself.”

And with the VIP ticket, you of course get all of the $40 General Admission tickets, which include unlimited access to over 50 craft breweries, pairing seminars, and live music.

You do have to pay for your own food with the General Admission ticket, but luckily there’s lots of choices to choose from. Taubman says, “There’s lots of great food. We have about 15 food vendors there this year. We’ve got the Cardinal food truck and Boone Town Barbeque, all kinds of different food trucks and different vendors, cheese and kettle corn. So everything from light snacks and dessert type items to full meals. We have vegetarian fare, meat-loving fare, and everything in between.”

The final ticket is $10 for a designated driver, one of your friends who would like to come along and not drink at all. If you don’t have a friend willing to do that, the festival offers several different ways to get home safely without driving drunk.

Taubman explains that, “We’ve got a bus service running back and forth to the event. We’ve (also) got a free taxi service, so the busses and taxis are free. We have Bill’s Towing, so if you drive there and end up drinking, then you can get your car and yourself towed anywhere in town for free. Plus we have DD tickets for ten dollars, so you can bring a DD with you as well, and they can drive you.”

He goes on to say that, “We strongly encourage people not to drink and drive, and there’s no reason to do it with all the services that we provide, for free.”

The festival itself is run by a non-profit, Ivory Tower. Taubman explains that, “The mission of Ivory Tower, which is the non-profit that hosts the beer fest….is to foster research and education in fermentation sciences.” So, several of the proceeds that Ivory Tower collects from this event go to the fermentation sciences program at App State, as well as several local charities, like the Back-2-School Fest.

The 11th Annual High Country Beer Fest is sure to be a sensational celebration, so come out and enjoy a night of drinking and fun with your buddies, while supporting a good cause