Buy Local Moscow will host BrewFest 2013 this month and encourage people to merge sustainability, responsibility and community spirits.
Camas Prairie Winery is one of several companies participating in Moscow BrewFest 2013, hosted by Buy Local Moscow, which plans to encourage people to merg sustainability, repsonsibility and community spirits. The event offers the opportunity to try local beer and wine and will be hosted 5-9 p.m. Friday at the 1912 Center. Tickets are $10 for five drinks.
Louise Todd, BLM committee member, said the local microbrewery and winery festival will help bring these elements together.
“It’s drinking responsibly, it’s giving back to your community and finding a way to be a part of Moscow and our surrounding area,” Todd said.
The BLM BrewFest will run 5 – 9 p.m. Apr. 19 at the 1912 Center.
Todd said the $10 admission charge will cover five drink tickets that can be used with any of the five local beer and wine vendors — Camas Prairie Winery, The Moscow Brewing Company, Riverport Brewing Company in Clarkston, Trickster’s Brewing Company in Coeur d’Alene and Paradise Creek Brewery in Pullman. There will be live music, and the drink tickets will serve as raffle tokens for various prizes, including a bike from Paradise Creek Bicycles. Wheatberries Bake Shop will offer pretzels for sale, Todd said, and BLM will try to confirm Hog Heaven Sausage Works as an additional vendor.
Tom Handy, Paradise Creek Brewery owner, said he loves the creativity of brewing beer like a chef loves to cook. He said it’s good to inform people about local products and he enjoys talking with them at events like BrewFest. He said he wants to give folks a chance to try unique brews.
“If you’re going to drink beer, you might as well drink beer brewed right in your own neighborhood,” Handy said.
Handy said the sustainability issues should always be considered when someone purchases something and it’s good that BLM is employing an environmental theme.
Todd said each beer and wine vendor will have “miles-to-tap” information by their booths to describe the carbon footprint of the process by which the beverages are transported. Camas Prairie Winery owner, Jeremy Ritter, will also discuss his environmentally clean glass wine bottles and labels.
Todd said the sustainability angle falls well within BLM’s vision of neighborhood accountability and cultivation.
“The mission of Buy Local is to create a sustainable and vibrant economy here in Moscow,” Todd said. “We’re a fairly small community, and we see it as the job, basically, of local independent business owners to create that sustainable economy.”
Matt Maw can be reached at [email protected]