Olde Hickory Release - Spectrum?

Looks like the Hi Wire thing is 1-5 at the Big Top; $10 entry with 2 beer tokens. Looks like its more of a festival like Burial does where its pay by the glass for presumably small pours (but probably larger than normal festival sized pours). Also looks like it isn't a sour festival, but a one-off/small batch festival. Sounds interesting... but i'm not giving up Funk n Monk to go.

 

Hrm? Should be plenty of time to pick up Spectrum bottles, try it on draft, and then get over to Fonta Flora.

 

Yeah @michelleclail and I were worried that if there's a bottle share during the OHB release we tend to stay there and drink... and have not made it to FF after at least once. This way theoretically if the bottle share is the night before its easy to make it to FF. Though nothing saying we can't have TWO bottle shares!

 

So what are the odds of any drafts or bottles being around Sunday?

 

Drafts are doubtful. I don't know what they do with the kegs that they have pouring at the release but I don't think I've heard of them show up at the Station. Maybe they do though? No idea. Bottles you at least have a chance for, but I don't think it'd be a great chance.

 

Theyre 5 hours apart. Pretty sure you can do both.

 

Is it safe to assume this release won't be much different than the ORF release in November (my only other OHB release)?

 

I can only speak from the last Spectrum release, you could have shown up fairly late and still score bottles (so there was little to no reason for a bottle share Friday night/camping out). Drafts seemed to last most the day as well.

Most folks I think are going to try to hit up all the other events going on this weekend as well (FF release, AHS event, Hi-Wire event), so I would bet most folks are going to try to get bottles, a couple pours as early as possible and bolt.

 

-Format wise, I'm sure it's going to be just the same. Line up, buy tokens/tickets at table, go around the corner, pick up purchased bottles, follow line to brewery tasting room where the drafts will be.

 

This. Format will be pretty much the same as always I'm sure, and ORF was par for the course.

AHS event will be tough to hit along with OHB and I only kinda sorta know anything about the Hi-Wire event. Definitely going to hit FF after OHB though. Hopefully with some time for food in the middle, maybe Moondog Pizza or Mountain Burrito in Morganton?

 

This is looking like my plan.

 

What’s the line like? I intended to come up from Charleston but had to put my dog down this morning. Was wondering if y’all thought there’d be anything left at 2 pm? Thanks.

 

The release was good, I arrived around noon. There was no line, good amount of people in the tasting area. I liked this years variants better than last years. In order of preference id say 4,1,2,3. Four was the shining star for this years set imo. Didn't get to try the redshift, but heard it was interesting.

 

Redshift was ok. For the most part it was regular Event Horizon with a little bit of wasabi on the back end. 4 was head and shoulders above the others in terms of variants. Olde Hickory just make this as a regular EH variant every year. The figs and mint worked surprisingly well with a nice earthy sweetness. Think fresh pulled garden mint and a fresh fig. No Andes mint or fig newton. The coffee was solid but I would have loved more coffee. The lactose really help make that creamy pleasant mouthfeel. Cherry vanilla was my least favorite. Pretty much regular EH. I got zero cherry and zero vanilla. Replace this one with orange from last year please.

 

Had fun at the tasting and release. Got there late (around 2:30) because of babysitter issues. I like all of the variants and parrot most of what have been said about them. Now that they are all out there and I can talk freely, 4 is a beast, yo. I'm going to load up on that one. All of the other ones were solid for sure and the fig one surprised me. First mint beer I've actually enjoyed.

Now peanut butter stands alone as the adjunct that just doesn't work for me. And by no means do I want OHB to take this as a challenge.

Redshift would work best for me if I ate it with some asian food since the flavors aren't bold. I really want some along side of a giant plate of pad thai or a curry or some korean tacos or some sushi.... damn, it's lunch time.