by EDWARD SZTUKOWSKI
News Editor

Education never tasted so good at the second annual High Country Beerfest.

An estimated 1,000 attendees were treated to a four-hour sampling of the best brew in the Southeast at the Broyhill Inn & Conference Center

Saturday, giving the community a chance to learn more about their favorite kinds of beer.

Assistant chemistry professor Brett Taubman began the Beerfest last year as a way of educating the public about beer, and also as a way for the Boone community to bond.

“There’s already great beer awareness in Boone, but I felt like there were a couple of things we could do to further beer awareness,” he said.

This year, Taubman said he had heard nothing but positive comments about the event.

“It far exceeded my expectations,” he said. “We more than tripled [in attendance from] the first year.”

Forty breweries were present at the event, with nearly 15 from North Carolina, including Big Boss Brewing, Highland Brewing Company, Natty Greene’s Brewing Company and Duck Rabbit Brewery.

In addition to beer seminars and tastings, live music was provided throughout the event from BPL, Lisa Baldwin and Dave Haney and the Hen House Thieves.

For Cory B. Schneider, an Appalachian State University alumnus, High Country Beerfest was his first beer event and said it was everything he expected it to be.

“When I walked in, I said if I believed in heaven, this is what it would be like,” Schneider said.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the Hospitality House in Boone, as well as the country’s first non-profit, educational brewpub, Ivory Tower Brewery, to be housed in the basement of Broyhill Inn.

In addition to educating students on the arts of beer crafting, the brewery will also be an example of sustainable development.

Taubman said the Appalachian Renewable Energy Initiative is working with the brewery to build a solar hot water system and geothermal cooling system.

“We would love to use this brewery as a research and educational melting pot,” Taubman said. “So many opportunities could stem from having an educational brewery on campus.”

Plans are under way to offer an honors brewing course in the spring, which will combine the scientific aspects of brewing with the business aspects.

Taubman said with the economy in a slump, the brewing industry is still a viable option.

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