January has once again arrived and winter has swept across the state. Despite the chilled temperatures, this is a hot time for beer in North Carolina and there’s nothing more exciting than the upcoming 13th annual NC Rare & Vintage Beer Tasting. The commencement of the festival is highly anticipated on its own, but this year as an extra privilege, Blackbird Brewery is honored to have been invited to brew a collaboration beer with NC Rare & Vintage and Tha CommUNITY.
Craft Brewing Industry Initiatives
NC Rare & Vintage Beer Tasting is not only an exceptional beer festival, but also a fundraiser, this year raising funds once again for The Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing and Distilling. This incredible organization funds technical education and career advancement for black, indigenous, and people of color in the brewing and distilling industries. Blackbird Brewery has had the pleasure of participating in this esteemed festival every year since our inception. This is not simply another year for us though. We were invited to additionally partner to brew a special release beer for the event with Tha CommUNITY. A multi-brew initiative, Tha CommUNITY is additionally at the forefront of creating change in the craft brewing industry.
Superdelic
Since we are a brewery that just barely hit the 2 year mark, we didn’t think a vintage approach fit our style. But as many of you know, Blackbird Brewery is nothing if not rare. We wanted this collaborative beer to showcase our brewing prowess while also bringing some real West Coast flair to a style we love to execute. This opportunity inspired a West Coast IPA that highlights a new and exciting hop, Superdelic. Our co-owner and brewmaster, Ian VanGundy kept hearing about this contemporary hop used by many actual West Coast breweries.
A true fan of the modern West Coast IPA style, he began his hunt to get his own hands on a batch of this elusive hop. Superdelic hops take center stage in this brew while additionally supported by classic Citra and Simcoe. We sourced the Superdelic from NZ Hops Ltd. by way of Yakima Valley Hops. Equally as exciting, we used 100% local malt supplied by our favorite Epiphany Craft Malt. Resting in one of our tanks at this exact moment, stay tuned for the name and the anticipated release.
Interview with Andy Morrison
Last week, our brewers were joined by Andy Morrison and LaShanda Poteat for the brew day. While Andy was sipping on some Blackbird libations, we took the chance to interview him about this year’s NC Rare & Vintage.
“How did NC Rare & Vintage Beer Tasting get started?”
Daniel Kulenic opened Tyler’s Restaurant and Taproom with the desire to bring people together. This event is an extension of that hope, an event that does good for the community while also simply enjoying beers. A chance to be charitable while also showcasing rare and vintage styles.
“How do you feel the event has evolved over the years?”
When it first started there was a lot of excitement around certain styles of beer. The name even stems from that. Lots of big stouts and vintage aged sours were a big deal, an exciting thing. I feel like Rare & Vintage has matured in a way that has opened the event up to more styles. Stylistically, we still have a ton of barrel aged stouts but it’s exciting to position those beers next to unique lagers, exceptional IPAs, and highly sought after traditional sours and belgian goses. I think we’ve naturally opened up to a wider range of styles. We’ve gotten a chance to bring in newer breweries who are doing interesting specific brews. Some of the breweries who attend don’t distribute to our market, so it’s also a rare opportunity to attract them to this area through the festival.
“Who are some breweries you’re excited about attending?”
I’m really proud of what we’ve done to bring new breweries to NC, many of which would never have come to NC otherwise. Some examples: Fair Isle, Fremont Brewing, Phase Three Brewing, Pinthouse Brewing, Unseen Creatures, The Drowned Lands, Fox Farm, etc. It’s a bit of a badge of honor to be able to say we have these breweries at our festival. There are also a number of local breweries who I would say are high class breweries themselves. It’s an honor to have them each year next to these breweries from across the country. Breweries like Blackbird are the barometer of our quality, especially when they are consistently interested in attending.
“Would you speak on the partnership with the Michael James Jackson Foundation?”
We love working with the Michael James Jackson Foundation. The foundation formed in 2020, we didn’t have an event in 2021 due to Covid, but when we began planning for the 2022 event, it felt like an effortless partnership. We reached out to Garrett Oliver to see if he would be interested in partnering beyond just accepting money. We work really hard to make Rare & Vintage a meaningful event for people in the industry. It’s amazing to see the efforts towards this event be directly reflected back into the industry we care about. Analyzing the value of festivals, there is a question if the work needed to be put in will be worth it. This is something we recognize coming from the industry and therefore want to make it enjoyable for the breweries as well as the people attending. This charity is doing something critically needed within the industry and that reflects our original motivations in a really nice way. I can’t say enough how important it is for the beer industry to look at its practices and open itself up to create space for diversity, to put more people of color in positions of opportunity within the industry. This organization does just that.
Get Your Tickets Now!
Blackbird Brewery is beyond enthusiastic about attending for our third consecutive year. If you haven’t secured your ticket yet, make sure to do so soon! Truly there is no local comparative festival that showcases quality breweries from far and wide. For the beer enthusiast, trust us when we say, you won’t want to miss this event on January 25th. Click here for tickets!
See you there!
