SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) – Craft breweries from around our region gathered at Enmarket Arena’s ‘Sips on Stiles’ festival to showcase new and familiar beers to hundreds of attendees. WTOC stopped by the festival and spoke with the people making beer, as well as the people drinking it.
Bottle openers, koozies, and beer, lots of beer. Breweries big and small made their way to Enmarket Arena to pour some brews.
“Here in the beer industry, it’s like ‘Oh, beer, let’s have fun,” said Savannah River Brewing Sales and Marketing, Brian Ertter.
And fun was had indeed.
We asked two attendees of the event, how much beer do you guys plan on drinking?
“All of it,” said Jerome and Leary, event attendees.
Jerome and Leary got to the festival as soon as it kicked off and planned to stay until closing time. For them, Sips on Stiles is a great way to try the local varieties and have a good time with friends.
“You can’t have a bad time drinking beer,” one said. “That’s pretty true,” the other responded.
The good times carried over to the brewers, events like Sips on Stiles allow them to come together and workshop with each other.
“The craft beer industry is all about collaborating, learning new things from each other so we love doing that kind of stuff,” said Ertter.
While some of the national brands were there some locals poured for their neighbors, like Savannah’s own Coastal Empire Beer Company.
“As far as all the community events, all the things that bring people together at their local breweries, their favorite breweries. To me, that’s the biggest differentiator between your local stuff and a big brand you’re just going to buy off the shelf somewhere,” said Head Brewer at Coastal Empire Beer, Andres Velez-Valencia.
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