Photo courtesy of Okemo Mountain Resort
Aug. 1-3
LUDLOW — Okemo Mountain Resort will host its annual Hops in the Hills Beer & Wine Festival and Chicken Wing Championship for three days, Aug. 1-3. Jackson Gore will be the setting for enjoying the outdoors and sampling a variety of beer and wine from regional and national producers. Live concerts will accompany the tasting all three days and an on-site marketplace will feature food and craft vendors. Admission is free.
Hops in the Hills attendees will be able to sample from a selection of more than 50 craft beers and, new this year, a selection of great wines as well.
“This year’s festival has been expanded to three days,” said Okemo Events Manager Dennis Brady. “In addition to a great variety of brews and vintages, we will have a great lineup of live music, craft vendors, tasty food options and a chicken wing championship – all in the great outdoors at Okemo’s Jackson Gore Paleo Field.”
Hops in the Hills will be open from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 1, with live music by Cold Chocolate, an exciting and unique new sound fusing bluegrass and roots with a dash of funk. This four-piece band from Boston rocks audiences with guitar, banjo, upright bass, drums, and four-part harmony. Fresh-from-the-grill barbecue and full servings of beer and wine will be available for purchase.
The festivities resume on Saturday, Aug. 2, from noon to 7 p.m. Beer and wine sampling begins. Several local restaurants will vie for the title of Okemo Valley Chicken Wing Champion and CK3, a trio of amazing musicians who take classic tunes and twist them into something new and exciting, will provide the music.
Phish tribute band Uncle Ebenezer takes the stage from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 3, while the beer and wine tasting continues starting at noon.
Admission to Hops in the Hills Beer and Wine Festival is free and open to all ages. Soft drinks and barbecue items will be available for purchase. Beer and wine tasters must be 21 or older and present a valid ID. Pricing for beer tasting is $20 for a souvenir pint glass with three 16-ounce samples ($6 for each additional 16-ounce sample) or $10 for a six-ounce souvenir beer tasting glass with three six-ounce sample ($2 for each additional six-ounce sample). Pricing for wine tasting is $20 for a 15-ounce souvenir stem-less wine glass with three three-ounce wine samples ($6 for each additional three-ounce sample).
Participating breweries include: Baxter Brewing Company (Maine), Browns Brewing Company (N.Y.), Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (Md.), Foley Brothers Brewing (Vt.), Founders Brewing Company (Mich.), Sebago Brewing (Maine), Shipyard Brewing Company (Maine), Smuttynose Brewing Company (N.H.), Trapp Family Brewery (Vt.), Champlain Orchards Cider (Vt.), Shacksbury Cider (Vt.), Redhook Brewery (N.H.), Magic Hat Brewing Company (Vt.), Leinenkugel Brewing Company (Wis.), Blue Moon Brewing Company (Colo.), Woodchuck Hard Cider (Vt.), Switchback Brewing Company (Vt.), Citizen Cider (Vt.), Element Brewing Company (Mass.), Lagunitas Brewing Company (Calif.), Allagash Brewing Company (Maine), Lost Nation Brewing (Vt.), Sierra Nevada Brewing Company (Calif.), and Goose Island Beer Company (Ill.).
For more info, call 802-228-1600 or visit okemo.com.
