The 6th Annual American Craft Beer Week is less than two weeks away! This event was celebrated nationwide by over 300 breweries in 2010 and runs from May 16th through the 22nd in 2011. The Olde Hickory Brewery will be joining in with several events both at the brewery itself and at the Olde Hickory Tap Room.

From May 16th though May 20th every night will be a Pint Night at the Olde Hickory Tap Room! Each night one of the great American craft beers on tap at the restaurant will be paired with matching glassware - buy a pint and keep the glass (one per customer, while supplies last- y'all know the drill).

The Olde Hickory Brewery has also delivered firkins to the Tap Room as well! 5 total - one each night from the 16th through the 20th. See some of our most popular ales in a new light! Among the firkins are a Table Rock, a Death by Hops and a Black Raven! Try a pint from a firkin and compare it to a sample on draft - it will give you a whole new appreciation for the the complexities of craft beer.

And to make the week extra-special the Olde Hickory Brewery will be open for tours from 5-6pm each night from the 16th through the 20th! We're don't currently have regularly scheduled tours, so this is a unique opportunity to see behind the scenes at one of NC's award winning breweries.

More events will be announced soon. We're looking forward to seeing everyone and celebrating American craft beer, the growth of the industry and the spirit of its supporters!

Cheers!

Our next event is a dinner at the Wine Shop at RiverGate in Charlotte, NC! This well known wine and beer shop also boasts an impressive restaurant with a quality beer list!

On Wednesday, December 8th the Wine Shop at River Gate’s beer dinner series will feature five Olde Hickory beers specially selected and perfectly paired with a 5-course meal. Check out the menu:

1st Course: Hickory Stick Stout - paired with Steamed Malpeque Oysters on the Half Shell, with traditional accompaniments

2nd Course: Ruby Lager - paired with Goat Cheese Fritter over warm baby spinach, candied bacon, marinated teardrop tomatoes

3rd Course: Table Rock Pale Ale - paired with Pale Ale Cheese Soup, artisan bread bowl

4th Course: Irish Walker - paired with Barley-Wine marinated Skirt Steak, rustic mash and glazed baby carrots

5th Course: Hefe-Weizen - paired with Deconstructed Bananas Foster

The dinner begins at 7pm. $34.99 per person includes tutored tasting and 5 courses paired with Olde Hickory beers (price does not include NC sales tax and gratuity). Seating is limited so please call (704-831-900) for reservations!!!

Visit www.thewineshopatrivergate.com or call 704-831-9000 for more information about The Wine Shop at RiverGate.

The truck has left the Brewery.

Yup, the guys are heading up to Asheville, NC tonight in preparation for tomorrow's Beer City Festival. I hope everyone has tickets already! Last word was that a few tickets might be available at the gate, but I wouldn't count on it. A few people with extra tickets were offering them on the festival's Facebook site http://www.facebook.com/pages/Asheville-NC/Beer-City-Festival/10150107313185650
If you're wondering about the rules (No pets, kids allowed, but need tix, etc.) check out the official page beercityfestival.com (you'll have to click "buy tickets" to get to the main information page)

This year we're bring Table Rock, Piedmont Pilsner, Hefe-Weizen and our newest beer Black Raven IPA. And maybe something special, but you'll have to be there early if you want to see that.

We're not bringing your favorite beer to the festival? You may want to stop by Bruisin' Ales. They're open until 9pm on Saturdays, and we're delivering a shipment of OHB beer to them tonight!

Hope to see everyone in Asheville tomorrow!

We just wanted to let everyone know that tonight, Wednesday April 14th is your last chance to buy Hickory Hops beer festival tickets online at www.hickoryhops.com. We've actually extended the deadline by a few hours, but at midnight Eastern time it'll be over.

If you want to buy your tickets in person, you can still do that at either the Olde Hickory Tap Room (222 Union Square, Hickory, NC 828.322.1965) or Amos Howards (2828 US Hwy 70 SW, Hickory, NC 828.323.8753) through Thurs. April 15th. But that is the end of advance sales.

Right now it looks like we'll have a few tickets available for purchase on the day of the event (that could change), but why wait and pay $5 more?!? The weather forecast is close to perfect, 45 brewers have confirmed participation, there will be over 200 beers available, many restaurants on the Square will be offering specials and we have Mountain Still and Baby Black orchestra playing live!

By the way, did we mention which Olde Hickory beers we'll be serving?

We'll have a few classics - Table Rock Pale Ale, Hickory Stick Stout and Hefe-Weizen. We're also serving our current seasonal Poor Richard's Ale. For something a little extra special, you'll find Bardstown Brand barley wine. Then we decided to go all out with the cask conditioned beers! We have our ESB, which should be very interesting out of the cask. And we also casked some Table Rock, so you'll be able to compare cask vs. modern keg. And then, our cask pièce de résistance-Irish Walker! Irish Walker just won a silver medal at the World Beer Cup 2010 in Chicago. This is an extra special treat for our fans.

Hope to see everyone on Saturday!

Cheers!

The Olde Hickory Brewery and CLASS homebrewers of Hickory, NC are pleased to announce the first annual Olde Hickory Pro-Am Competition for home brewers!

This AHA/BJCP sanctioned competition will be open to all North Carolina, non-professional home brewers. The Best of Show beer will be brewed at the Olde Hickory Brewery and will be entered into the Great American Beer Festival Pro-am competition in September of 2010. Entries are due by June 16th, 2010 and the Pro-Am will be held on June 26th, 2010. For more information about the Olde Hickory Pro-Am Competition, including rules, restrictions go and entry info go to www.classhomebrewers.org

This will be a lot of fun for the home brewers and judges alike! Good luck to everyone.

Cheers!