The rate beer group rallied in Asheville this past weekend! It was a great success! Thanks to John Owens and Beau Shine for all their had work and effort! They helped everyone have a rollickin’, good time! Oowee was honored to help sponsor the event by contributing some leather pint glass sleeves for the cause of good craft beer!
The craft beer festivities kicked off with a Meet & Greet at Barley’s offering dinner and special kegs for the beer lovers and connoisseurs. After the Meet and Greet, Brews Cruise ran a shuttle so folks could go to Appalachian Vintner and Thirsty Monk.
On Friday, things started up pretty darn early with a trip out to Oskar Blues at 8:30am! These guys don’t mess around! The group bounced from there to Catawba/French Broad around 10am. Sunny Point and Oyster House were the noon time stops and great places to grab a bite to eat. Sunny Point was kind enough to have some delicious food ready for the RateBeer group. Next breweries in the line up were Pisgah and Wedge and they capped the night with some dinner eats back downtown at Mamacitas.
Okay, so you think whew, that’s a long day of brewery love, right? Well, for these guys it’s just the beginning! On Saturday the action doesn’t start up until 11am… peeps gotta’ be able to sleep in after such an awesome Thursday and Friday! So, after some shut eye, they began with a bang at 11 at Wicked Weed for a tour and some sampling of specially crafted brews. Next on tap was Burial and Green Man; everything was in easy walking distance. The Grand Tasting was from 3-7 which left plenty of room for folks to take their time enjoying the south slope of downtown. That Grand Tasting was located Asheville Music Hall and had a fun array of bottles and kegs!
RateBeer really knows how to put together an eventful few days. Getting all this to come together has got to be a lot of work! All for the love of craft beer!
Thanks to Travis Nevill for supplying photos!
https://www.ooweeproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/r-rate-beer.jpg640480OOWEEadminhttps://www.ooweeproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Oowee-Products-Logo-180x180.pngOOWEEadmin2014-02-11 00:00:002018-09-04 15:42:27Rate Beer in Asheville!
Our awesome, local, Highland Brewery is launching it’s Devil Britches Red IPA this Friday. The brewery will also be debuting their new packaging! Like many of the seasonal brews that come out of Highland Brewing Company, Devil’s Britches is named for a feature of the Southern Appalachian landscape. They will have music and a food truck available for your enjoyment! Hope to see you there (leather sleeves in hand)!
https://www.ooweeproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/highlands-blog.jpg269375OOWEEadminhttps://www.ooweeproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Oowee-Products-Logo-180x180.pngOOWEEadmin2014-01-08 00:00:002018-09-04 15:42:20Highland this Friday, 1.10.14
Last weekend team Oowee ventured to the 17th annual Brewers’ Jam in Knoxville, Tennessee. We loaded up our tent and leather sleeves and set out to enjoy a beautiful Saturday in Tennessee. We rolled up on the World’s Fair site at about 10:30 a.m. for set up. After unloading and setting up our sleeves and t-shirts we were set to go. We got great response from the VIP folks. They got early entry to the festival and bought about half of our stock of leather sleeves! Once the rest of the festival goers came in the Oowee tent was hoppin’! We stayed busy all afternoon. What a great time! We got a chance to educate people about the Autism Society of North Carolina.
This festival was a trial run for Oowee Products to set up a “storefront” so we didn’t want to create more product than we needed. What a great learning experience! We are thrilled about the turn out at the Brewer’s Jam and the positive feedback we received about our leather sleeves.
Our tent location was close to the Saint Tattoo tent. We have a great time with them! The owner of Saint Tattoo always gets the shop a booth for the event so his artist and employees can kick back and enjoy the day while bringing the tattoo parlor a presents at the event. They all bought leather sleeves from us! What a great group of peeps to have a booth near!
We got to enjoy samples from craft brewers pouring fresh beers of every taste, color, strength, and style on our breaks. After the festival was over we met up with some Highlands’ folk and celebrated the hard days work!
Special thanks to Travis Nevill for helping get some great documentation of the event!
https://www.ooweeproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/photo-3.jpg2351024OOWEEadminhttps://www.ooweeproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Oowee-Products-Logo-180x180.pngOOWEEadmin2013-10-16 00:00:002018-09-04 15:42:17Brewers’ Jam
Fan-freakin’-tastic festival! We had wonderful weather to celebrate the French Broad Fall Festival in Hot Springs, NC this year. Lukas Nelson, Willie’s son, and his band P.O.T.R. (Promise of the Real) rocked it out. The Mountain Top Polka Band provided some seriously German musical entertainment. These guys are hella entertaining and perfect for a fall beer fest! Bayou Diesel, Black Robin Hero, The Fritz, and many more kept our eardrums tantalized during the beer drinking bonanza.
Set on the river between the sunshine, trees and mountain this is, by far, one of the best festivals. We had so many awesome choices of craft brews it was hard to know which one to pick next!
Our leather sleeves made to fit the stainless cups company cusp sold out!
https://www.ooweeproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/fall-fest-shot.jpg320240OOWEEadminhttps://www.ooweeproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Oowee-Products-Logo-180x180.pngOOWEEadmin2013-10-08 00:00:002018-09-04 15:42:15French Broad Fall Fest
This past Saturday was the Annual Brewgrass Festival in Asheville, North Carolina. It was held at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. by the Great Smokies Craft Brewers Association. It benefits Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Western North Carolina. I gotta give it up to the perseverance of the brew fest goers… Rain ain’t going to stop us from beer festivals in this town!
There was no thunder or lightning so the festivities continued as planned. The vendors had Oowee’s custom Brewgrass leather sleeves again this year. I hope ya got one of these festival souvenirs!
Some really great beer was being served all day. Some good Oktoberfest and Pilsners. Highlands had a yummy porter. Mother Earth had a tasty wit. SweatWater Dank Tank packed a punch. Foothills Jade is always delectable.
This Coming weekend Oowee with be at the French Broad Fall Fest in Hot Springs, NC! The tent will be up with all the fun facts about the partnership with the Autism Society of North Carolina.
This will be the 3rd Annual French Broad Brew Fest. It’s set the incredible setting of Hot Springs, NC, just north of Asheville. It will feature a few of the area’s best resources: craft brew, great music and beautiful scenery. Hot Springs is a destination for outdoor enthusiasts seeking whitewater, fishing, hiking, biking and more. The festival grounds are located on the banks of the French Broad River and it’s intersection with the Appalachian Trail. That means that festival-goers can enjoy all beautiful surroundings while drinking some delicious beverages. French Broad Fall Fest is all about the music, craft beers, and food on one glorious afternoon. The tickets includes beer sampling all day and into the evening. This year they are releasing a day pass for only $55. We highly encourage a designated driver if you decide to go this route. Really, camping is the best deal!
Also, this year’s French Broad Fall Festival will have a very special custom leather sleeve that will fit the Cups Company’s stainless steel cups. This will be the 1st time that the festival will have this awesome souvenir with a stainless cup. As an added bonus, if you purchase this memento you will get served a full pour of the beer instead of just the taster size.
https://www.ooweeproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/French-Broad-FF-leather-sleeve.jpg15281528OOWEEadminhttps://www.ooweeproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Oowee-Products-Logo-180x180.pngOOWEEadmin2013-09-25 00:00:002018-09-12 09:25:14Brewgrass and French Broad Fall Fest 2013
Oowee navigated through the Southeast last week. My first stop was Gadsden I had a great time at Back 40! My meeting with Carrie went great! We both think that they need some custom leather sleeves. I got to sample all their beers. Delicious! Carrie also directed me to this amazing 90′ waterfall that is right in the middle of town! There is a park there that has a trail down, caves, an old pioneer town, a petting zoo and some other fun things to see and do.
Word is that this mega-falls has even been run by some pro kayakers once in 2011! There was an extremely large amount of water in the river that year and it gave the bottom of the falls enough depth for the kayakers. This is NOT something that is normally safe to embark on. Those bad asses have gone down in the kayak hall of fame. So glad I stopped by this beautiful park.
After Gadsden I moseyed on to Birmingham. I hooked up with Hunter from Avondale. They have a pretty cool thing going. They are revitalizing a part of town that could use some TLC. Their back story is really interesting that incorporates some Alabama folklore. You should check it out on their site.
Of course, their logo would look rockin’ on a custom leather pint sleeve! I love the elephant! Also, I have to share this killer car with y’all cuz’ it’s pretty pimp! Dig the bright green!
I visited Cahaba Brewing too. When I stopped in they were having a home brewers club gathering. The brewery was started by a few guys, Taylor, Andy and Eirc, who love to home brew. They have great craft beers on tap and host regular meetings for other home brewers.
I couldn’t visit Birmingham without paying a visit to Good People Brewing Company. Their graphics are great! They are Alabama’s older brewery. Really cool place inside.
https://www.ooweeproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Good-People-Brewing-Company.jpg80120OOWEEadminhttps://www.ooweeproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Oowee-Products-Logo-180x180.pngOOWEEadmin2013-08-22 00:00:002018-09-12 09:25:14Gadsden and Birmingham
We’ve been thinking about this for a while and now it’s finally coming to fruition… Oowee Products is now designing and constructing tap handles! We have our 1st order for the Altamont Brewery just about ready to deliver. Gordon from the Altamont has been great to work with. He brought his ideas to the project as well to create a tap handle pipe. It’s definitely a novelty!
Our tap handles are made of wood and metal. They are unique and sturdy and created with custom designs. We have the ability to include color and/or leather.
We are brainstorming new shapes for different taps. We’re looking forward to creating tap handles for the local breweries and our trust clients around the U.S.
This is going to be a fun new product line for us!!
and…….
here’s ….
the finished product! We will be making more to show case local breweries soon. Stay tuned for more to come!
When I first got Atlanta Phish tickets I started thinking about SweetWater and some of the other Atlanta breweries. It was a day full of serendipity when I first e-mailed Doug. He just happened to be in Asheville! I just happened to have the afternoon free and could go meet him at Green Man (a.k.a. Dirty Jacks, The Short Bar). Perfect timing! We had a couple of their tasty libations and chatted about Oowee Products and SweetWater.
Doug had seen our awesome leather sleeves and said that he (and SweetWater’s head honcho) really liked them. As we discussed options our creative wheels started turning. We decided that the SweetWater tie-dye logo would look rockin’ on the metal badges we put on the leather sleeves. We got the order rolling and into production.
Last week, I packed up the car with the colorful, Oowee sleeves and my family and hit the road to Hot-lanta! I decided to make a house call to SweetWater and hand deliver the sleeves. This also gave me a chance to check out the largest brewery in the Southeast. On the afternoon before the Phish show I brought my hubby, sister and brother-in-law to the brewery for some tastings and a tour. It’s a incredible brewery! Doug was a great host! He greeted us and put a pause on his busy day to show us around and make sure we didn’t go thirsty. The space is really well done and it operates like a well oiled machine. I would suggest any beer lover to check it out when they are in Atlanta.
McMenamins is known for taking old Historic buildings and saving them from destruction. Most of the locations are restored Historic buildings.
I arrived in the Northwest with very little knowledge of McMenamins and what this company was and their impact on this area of the country. Almost instantly, I was told about the history of Mcmenamins and there many, many locations. I first visited the White Horse location just on the West side of the Willamette river. This is one of Portland’s oldest bars, it has served the dock workers since around the turn of the century. This was a very intimate place with a lot of character.
Edgefield
I do not know where to start! This is their flag ship location! Edgefield is also known as the The Multnomah County Poor Farm and is a full resort. This location is home to the McMenamins Brewery, Winery, Distillery, and also has two restaurants, a pool hall/bar and a full Hotel and a nine hole golf course. There is a saltwater pool and a full spa on location. They also have large outdoor concerts and music festivals at this location.
We are sooooo excited to be making leather sleeves for McMenamins!!
Stopped by the Laurelwood Public house and brewery to say hello to James and taste a few beers. We went to the Northeast location on Sandy blvd, one of their five locations in Portland. The brewpub had a welcoming feel and great roof top patio with a secret up stairs bar. The roof top was a great place to chillax with friends and enjoy one of their delicious red ales.
https://www.ooweeproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/BIGGIE-RAT_pint.jpg869800OOWEEadminhttps://www.ooweeproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Oowee-Products-Logo-180x180.pngOOWEEadmin2013-07-23 00:00:002018-09-12 09:25:15The World of McMenamins !
We visited the Lucky Labrador’s Hawthorne location which is their brewpub and one of the four locations in Portland. We met with Hanna who was very nice. She spent a bit of time in our awesome town of Asheville, NC and said she loved it! (Who doesn’t!)
We enjoyed the Super Dog IPA, the Bavarian Crystal Weizen, and the Stump Town Cask Porter.
We popped into Basecamp on a super hot Monday in July. It was happy hour all day. They sell their beer in aluminum bottles and growlers. They had a cool, modern and open atmosphere. The perfect place to chat about camping, mountain biking, climbing and outdoor activities. We met with Andrea and dropped off some hand crafted, American made can huggers. Outside we met Cindy and Dave who were tasting 10 different Basecamp beers. The India Pale Lager was a crowd favorite, with the NW Fest a close second.
Hood River Tuesday
On Tuesday, I made another trip out to Hood River to visit Full Sail Brewing, one of the regions largest breweries. It’s one of the few breweries that distributes all the way to the East coast. I enjoyed getting to see how big their operation is. Surprisingly, I drank no beer at their brewery, but had a good business meeting in their corporate office, showing off our custom made craft beer products. They placed their order this week! We are so stoked to represent FullSail!
Next, I paid the 1 dollar toll to cross over the bridge into White Salmon to visit Everybody’s, Brewing which “everybody” recommended we visit. Christine was super nice and allowed me to stop in and steal a few minutes of her time. The brewery is located in downtown White Salmon on the main drag of town. Christine’s husband, Doug, is the brewer. He makes some deliciously drinkable beers! I enjoyed their seasonal Indian session ale, appropriately named Little Sister. It was a great summer beer with just the right amount of citrus twist. The food was an additional highlight. I ate a Cuban sandwich that was the best meal that I have had this trip!! This small brewery had 3 IPA’s on tap and is definitely a local up and coming favorite brewery. Christine tells me that they are getting ready to start canning their beer, so keep an eye out for Everybody’s brews in grocery store shelves soon.
This is a very family friendly place with nice atmosphere and outdoor seating. They have a small brew house and had five beers on tap when we visited. I enjoyed the Wondering Rye and sampled a few of there other flagship beers. Hootie, one of the managers, stopped by to fill our water glasses and commented on the nice leather beer sleeves. This sparked a conversation about Oowee Products. We connected with Hootie, a super cool ex-raft guide, through stories of Asheville, North Carolina and Panic shows. He also reminisced about time he spent rafting on Asheville’s French Broad River! Fire on the Mountain is a great place to drink a great craft beer and eat some hot chicken with friends and family.
The first thing you notice is the bike themed designs throughout, including Chris King’s headset components being used as tap handles. HUB has a very intelligent layout. It’s a clean, modern facility with a unique design. It’s a well thought out brewhouse that includes special touches such as children’s steps in the bathroom. The minute details in their brewery process make their craft beer extra tasty. All the employees seemed stoked to be there and took pride in their work. Jamie gave an awesome tour, explaining every process in detail. We saw the brew process from start to finish, including the canning system, which ex-rays each can and kicks out the defects. Anyone who is a cyclist is going to love HUB. It is obviously an epicenter of the bike culture in Portland.
After a failed attempt to visit Gigantic, we drove to the trendy Alberta neighborhood to visit Mash Tun Brewery. A small, hard to find, local spot which is somewhat hidden behind the very popular Pine Street Biscuits. We only had a chance to pop in for a few minutes, but they had a great stout. Definitely ask a local to point you in the direction of this cool spot, being that you cannot see it from the road and there is not a sign. Very cool outdoor patio and great vibe. Check it out!
The rate beer group rallied in Asheville this past weekend! It was a great success! Thanks to John Owens and Beau Shine for all their had work and effort! They helped everyone have a rollickin’, good time! Oowee was honored to help sponsor the event by contributing some leather pint glass sleeves for the cause of good craft beer!
Okay, so you think whew, that’s a long day of brewery love, right? Well, for these guys it’s just the beginning! On Saturday the action doesn’t start up until 11am… peeps gotta’ be able to sleep in after such an awesome Thursday and Friday! So, after some shut eye, they began with a bang at 11 at Wicked Weed for a tour and some sampling of specially crafted brews. Next on tap was Burial and Green Man; everything was in easy walking distance. The Grand Tasting was from 3-7 which left plenty of room for folks to take their time enjoying the south slope of downtown. That Grand Tasting was located Asheville Music Hall and had a fun array of bottles and kegs!
