Plenty of options — These are some of the wide selection of sour beers that will be served up at the first-ever Summer Sour Festival, sponsored by Abbey Bar in Downtown DeLand and Lagunitas Brewing out of California.
PHOTO COURTESY ABBEY BAR
The first iteration of what is hoped will become an annual event will take place in Downtown DeLand at the end of next week.
Summer Sour Festival will debut Saturday, Aug. 27, in a city parking lot off East Indiana Avenue behind Abbey Bar in DeLand. The hours are 2-6 p.m.
The event is sponsored by Abbey Bar and Lagunitas Brewing out of California, said Abbey owner and general manager Steve Evans.
As is the case with a local beer festival held every February, Evans said attendees will pay to get into the festival, then be given 3-ounce taster mugs to sample an unlimited number of beers from at least 20 different breweries set up in tents, where brewery representatives will oversee the serving of their beers.
Abbey Bar is buying all the products distributed at the festival. The “summery” beers will be on the sour or tart side, Evans said.
“There will be a variety of different styles of sour beers,” he said. “We plan on having a little bit of everything in that genre of beers, including a tent with limited-release draft beers.”
Some of the beers to be distributed include Gose, a hard German beer, and Berliner Weisse and Flemish Red brews, he said.
Evans said two local home-brew guilds will be there, as well, pouring samples of their creations.
The festival also will feature special concoctions from local year-old DeLand meadery Odd Elixir, which brews honey-based wines is a special participant in Sour Fest.
The fest also will be raffling off a gift basket of products served up that day. Each entrant to the festival gets a raffle ticket, Evans said.
Port-o-Lets will be set up outside, and the back door to Abbey Bar also will be open to provide some cool respite.
The idea for the festival came to Evans after a similar event recently at Cafe’ on the Bayou in Tampa, and he’s hoping for similar success with Summer Sour Fest. He felt it would be a good way to drum up some interest at a typically slow time of the year for Downtown merchants.
“It will be something on a smaller scale than the beer festival,” Evans said.
Tickets for Summer Sour Fest cost $35 in advance and $45 at the gate. For more information or to buy tickets, go by Abbey Bar at 117 N. Woodland Blvd. or visit www.AbbeyBarDeLand.com.
- Joe Crews, joe@beacononlinenews.com