NC State Fair Has First Beer Contest

The North Carolina State Fair has had a wine contest for some years now, but 2012 is the first year for a beer contest. The NC Brewer's Cup attracted over 170 entries -- most of them from amateur brewers -- across a wide variety of categories. Alas, I am not a beer connoisseur, so I cannot appreciate the differences between "Light Hybrid Beer" and "India Pale Ale" and "Smoke-Flavored and Wood-Aged Beer" and "Belgian Strong Ale". No matter what kind, brewers seem to have a talent for giving beers great names. Consider "Hogwash Hickory-Smoked Brown Porter," or "Ghost Ship Whiskey Stout Wood–Aged Beer," or "Devil's Tramping Ground"!

You can see the full list of winners at the NC State Fair Web Site and, if you want to see the winners themselves, check out the Education Building, down at the end. There you'll see both the winners of the beer and cheese contests.