Raleigh Beer Week Starts Sunday!

So I've never had Hunahpu, or been to Hop Yard. I'd like to try it but also would like to avoid a shit show. Can anyone tell me if it will indeed be crazy?

 

I feel like a lot of the events with rare or hard to come by beers are shit shows. I'm sure this will be no different, especially since people can plan ahead.

 

Jacob, hit me up the next time you're coming down to visit the in-laws and I'll fix that for you.

 

Whoa, that Cascade takeover looks like a fun event.

 

Nice week of events! The Bhavana stuff is what obviously jumps out to me, sour event at Tasty that I'm sure will be packed and then can release at the end.

I'm sure the State of Beer TBA one will be good too, they always have one of the better RBW things. May also hit one of the Burial things at Stags Head.

 

From what I saw they will have samples of the Bourbon Huna (El Cat round 7 beer). The Hop Yard has a very small bar area, and from what little I have seen a group of loyal patrons/friends that are there every time I have been there taking up all the bar seats. The few times I have been there, I have had a hard time getting a pour since the bartender was more interested in talking with these patrons. I suspect this will be a shit show if you are not one of these regular patrons. I will pass personally, even though I live close to it and usually I would be all over something like this.

 

^Yeah that has the potential to be a real hassle IMO. For the stout seekers I'd say the event at PR looks like a good one to target. Also the Ridgewood and Trophy events have some good stouts listed.

 

Agree. Solid list.

I expected to see a little more participation from the other Raleigh breweries (RBC, Nickelpoint, Neuse River, Gizmo, Compass Rose, etc.). Seems like a miss on their parts, but to each their own.

 

Hey y'all -

Figured I'd chime in to introduce myself. My name is Brian Johnson and I'm one of the new owners at The Hop Yard in Raleigh. I noticed mention of our store/bar here in the thread and thought it would be helpful to comment on a couple of things. Folks with questions about our shop or any events we are hosting (Raleigh Beer Week or otherwise) are welcome to message me through BA or directly through our store's email - thehopyardnc (at) gmail (dot) com.

Briefly about me - I joined BeerAdvocate back in 2008. Though I'm not nearly as active on the site as I used to be, I still pop in here periodically. Have learned a lot about craft beer from the community on this site and will always be thankful for it. I've been a craft beer drinker since about 2001 so I've seen some crazy changes in the marketplace over that time.

My wife and I relocated from San Francisco to Raleigh a couple years back and I had the pleasure of working for City Beer Store and a couple of breweries while living out West. And I've been a customer of The Hop Yard since before moving to Raleigh.

About The Hop Yard - As a customer at The Hop Yard prior to becoming an owner I noticed some of the same concerns @TomDRaleigh mentions. Namely the lack of seating. One of the first priorities I had when I came aboard as an owner was to remove some of our shelves in favor of tables and chairs. During my brief time here, I've already added an additional 12 seats (3 tables) which more than doubled the prior seating capacity.

The Hop Yard does have a local following of neighborhood patrons, but we love seeing new faces in the store. I'm always happy to talk with new guests about what we're offering, what new products are in/on the horizon, etc.

At The Hop Yard, I'm in charge of all of our product ordering (bottles, cans, draft, etc) and my wife and I handle all the social media/marketing and event planning. I also do plenty of beertending and assisting customers with purchases of packaged beer.

About our Raleigh Beer Week Events - I'd refer you to our Facebook page for the most up-to-date information, but in terms of the Cigar City El Catador Club pours we will do our best to spread the limited amount of very rare and hard to obtain beer amongst the crowd that attends. It might not be possible to pour samples for everyone but we'll do the best we can.

We hope to see some of y'all at around The Hop Yard and feel free to contact me directly if you ever have questions/concerns about our shop.

Cheers!
Brian Johnson
Owner
The Hop Yard NC

 

How many bottles of BA Huna and DB MZ do you have to go around?

 

Asking the right questions here!

 

Very thoughtful intro. Welcome to North Carolina!