By Chelsea Blair
The Greenbrier Valley Brewing Company will be hosting a PickleFest on Sunday, Apr. 28. The festival brings delicious food, live music, a best pickle contest, and more to the Maxwelton brewery.
“PickleFest is a celebration, it’s the time to bring all of the pickles up out of the cellar,” says Jeff Frizsell, Production Manager and Head Small Batch Brewer at GVBC. “With the beautiful weather, we can get out and do something and it will bring something new to WV.”
During the event, GVBC will be releasing a new beer called Secret Sour. “We’ve partnered with our good friends at the Secret Sandwich Society in Fayetteville for our new brew, the Secret Sour,” explained Frizsell. “Using their pickle brine, we have made this cider-y, vinegary, super sour pickle beer, it’s not like a dill pickle. It’s the first real pickle beer in the whole state of West Virginia that I’ve seen.”
The event starts at 12 noon and the beer release will be at 1 p.m. Live music will be performed by bluegrass artist Corey Lee McQuade from 1 to 3 p.m., and Archibald Johnson from 3 to 6 p.m.
The pickle judging contest will be held from 12 to 3 p.m., with the winner being announced at 5 p.m. The winner will split a 50/50 pot with The Greenbrier Humane Society, so the registration fees will be going to a good cause. Jeff anticipates anywhere from 30 to 40 individual pickle entries for the contest.
“The more the merrier,” he exclaimed, “We want to be able to send the Greenbrier Humane Society home with a big check at the end of the day.”
There will be plenty of food options and shopping to be had, as well.
“We have more than 14 vendors scheduled right now,” said Jeff, including Kitchen 304, Mountain Table, Dawg Haus and others. He reports there will be three open bars with four bartenders, some set up inside and some outside, on what is anticipated to be a beautiful spring Sunday. A donation box will be at each bar for monetary contributions to the Greenbrier Humane Society, who will be in attendance to accept donations of blankets, cleaning supplies, and cat and dog food.
For more information, check “Greenbrier Valley Brewing Company” on Facebook.
