Beer festival held downtown
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on April 17, 2016 1:45 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
People gather between tents lined up in the grassy area beside Cornerstone Commons to sample beer, socialize and listen to music during the second annual Three Eagles Beer Festival on Saturday.
No, it wasn't a "hop"-tical illusion, and no, the beer didn't cause anybody's eyes to play tricks on them.
On Saturday, the beer was flowing freely as Cornerstone Commons in downtown Goldsboro transformed into a beer lover's paradise as 15 breweries converged on the square with more than 40 different beers for participants in the second annual Three Eagles Beer Festival to sample.
Event organizer Tom Bradshaw estimated that more than 500 people rolled through the beer festival during the five hours it roared on -- an increase from last year's inaugural festival.
"I've had a number of people tell me that they love the location we're having it in this year because it gives them a view of the Streetscape project and downtown," Bradshaw said.
Festival-goers received a commemorative glass in exchange for their ticket, which enabled them to taste all the different beers that were on tap.
Amanda Webb, craft brands manager for R.A. Jeffreys East, said the timing of the festival was serendipitous -- April is North Carolina Beer Month.
Ms. Webb said she was able to pull from the more than 25 different craft brewery brands in the R.A. Jeffreys portfolio to attract regional and local beers to the festival.
Breweries poured into Cornerstone Commons from Greenville, S.C., Farmville, Nellysford, Va., Kinston and more.
"Now that it's in its second year, we're hoping a trend will continue of breweries that are here this year returning in future years," Ms. Webb said.
Roughly half of the breweries represented at the festival Saturday were North Carolina breweries, Ms. Webb said.
"This is a great opportunity to work with the local community and let people sample lots of local beers," she said.
Travis Clawson was walking through the festival Saturday with a necklace of pretzels around his neck.
"It was five bucks and it cleanses the palette," Clawson said, saying he prefers porters and heavier beers more than any other kind.
Dustin Pike, who is opening a cigar and craft beer store just off of Center Street on Chestnut Street, said he did not have a favorite beer at Saturday's festival -- he enjoyed nearly all of them.
"I've tried almost all of them. I'm on my second go around trying the different beers," Pike said.
Pike said he was feeling out what beers he might want to sell at his shop, which was proving to be an interesting decision since he enjoyed so many different types of beers being served Saturday.
He is hoping to sell several different varieties in his shop -- named Tobacco and Hops -- once the shop opens this fall.
"It will be interesting to see what people gravitate to," Pike said. "We'll buy a little bit of everything and see what sells."