Cider will be making a prominent appearance at the sixth annual Hop ‘N Barley Beer Festival this year.
The event will be held on June 27 and 28 from 12 to 5 p.m. at Skypark in Scotts Valley, with the gates opening at 10 a.m.
“There’s about 55 breweries that come and participate and they bring beer from across the Western United States and there is also an event within the event that we are calling Cider City and there are 15 Cider Companies that are all coming from California,” said event organizer Patrick Grube.
Chair of the Community Housing Land Trust of Santa Cruz County Incorporated and Patrick’s father, PJ Grube, said that the Hop ‘N Barley Beer Festival benefits the Community Housing Land Trust, which is a nonprofit dedicated to supplying transitional housing to those in need in Santa Cruz County.
“Its really a cool event, there’s lots of music, its dog friendly, family friendly, people come out and eat their lunch on the grass and listen to the music,” PJ said.
When the event began, there were only a couple brewers in Santa Cruz county, PJ said, and today the numbers continue to grow.
“Six years ago there was a huge craft movement that I could feel happening, I love good craft beer and there were several other beer events that I had participated in in other counties and there was nothing really to celebrate Santa Cruz County breweries, Grube explained. “I just felt like there was something kind of missing from our growing beer culture.”
Last year, the event drew in around 3000 people in terms of ticket sales and Grube is expecting a similar crowd this year.
“The event is always evolving and changing slightly to match what people are really wanting, we keep it moving around a bit instead of staying stagnant that’s why we got the bbq stuff and cider city.”
June 27 is the grand tasting, which involves all of the breweries, and then June 28 is dedicated to the home brew competition, which is called the Brew Master’s Cup.
Grube said there will be barbeque vendors, oysters, vegetarian food, and arts and crafts booths of all kinds.
“So the second day is primarily featuring all the home brewers, a lot of whom are aspiring to start their own brewing companies.”
Scotts Valley Cycle Sport, Bay Federal Credit Union, and Mountain Feed and Farm supply are sponsoring the event.
“Scotts Valley Cycle Sport will be having a bike valet, and if you ride your bike and park your bike there, you will get $5 off at the Hop N Barley merchandise booth and also if you take the metro,” Grube said.
Some local favorites will be featured at the event including the Corralitos Brewing Company and the Santa Cruz Cider Company.
Since many people are gluten intolerant or have celiac disease, cider is a good alternative for them said John Schumacher, Chef de Pomme for the Santa Cruz Cider Company. At this year’s event, the company will be offering four different types of Santa Cruz Scrumpy cider, which is made by Santa Cruz Cider Company and produced by Hallcrest Vineyards in Felton.
“We have a dry cider and then our regular Santa Cruz Scrumpy Cider is an off dry fruity cider and then we will have a pomegranate hard cider and a cherry cider that we call ‘chider.’”
The dry cider and regular Scrumpy cider are made from 12 different kinds of organic apples that are sourced from seven different orchards in the Santa Cruz County area, Shumacher said.
For more information about the Hop ‘N Barley Festival or to buy tickets, visit http://www.hopnbarley.org
