Oskar Blues Brewery has announced that the first East Coast Burning CAN Beer Fest will take place at the North Carolina Oskar Blues brewery in Brevard July 5.
Partial proceeds from the festival will benefit Western North Carolina Alliance.
Thirty-plus breweries that can will be pouring more than 100 different fresh craft brews from 1-6 p.m. Live music will start off with the guitar-driven blues of The Marcus King Band then segue into the rocking vocal harmonies of the charismatic Atlanta-based Shadowboxers. The day will culminate with a performance by hometown funky favorites The Jeff Sipe Trio.
Burning CAN will take place outside on the west side of the brewery and will also include local food offerings, such as beer-dunking homemade pretzel concoctions from Underground Baking Company, amazing delicacies from Little Bee Thai, and other food truck deliciousness.
Land of The Sky Mobile Canning will be operating on-site during the festival. Oskar Blues staff will offer several educational sessions, including a hops and grains class with brewers Noah Tuttle and John Silver, a tasting class with lab guy Dave Morris, and a Best of the Hops tour of participating breweries with Anne Fitten Glenn. Tours of the Oskar Blues brewery will be offered at 2, 3, 4 and 5 p.m. The Tasty Weasel will be open as normal from noon to 10 p.m. on the day of Burning CAN.
The Oskar Blues REEB Ranch-based Bike Farm will lead a bike ride to the festival from downtown Brevard, leaving the courthouse at noon, and picking up a crew of bikers at Lowe’s before heading to Oskar Blues. Sycamore Cycles will have a bike corral at the festival. A paddle trip down a short section of the French Broad River, led by WNC Alliance, will also finish at Burning CAN in time for all festivities.
The festival originated three years ago in Lyons, Colo.
To kick off the inaugural Burning CAN weekend, Oskar Blues will offer a free concert with high-energy, party-inducing Charleston boys Sol Driven Train at the brewery Friday, July 4. Music starts at 7 p.m ., but beer will be pouring in the Tasty Weasel starting at noon on the Fourth.