Attendees of Gnar Fest enjoyed live music, food and a new pineapple flavored beer to celebrate Gnarly Barley Brewing Company's fourth anniversary in the community.
Annie Goodman/ The Lion's Roar
To celebrate four years of success, Gnarly Barley Brewing Co. hosted its annual Gnar Fest where they released a new beer called Gnarvana.
“It’s our anniversary party at Gnarly Barley,” said Co-Owner Cari Caramonta. “We call it Gnar Fest because we celebrate our anniversary with music, food and beer.”
The event was held Saturday, May 12 from 12 – 7 p.m. at Gnarly Barley Brewing Co.
Attendee Corrine Bacigl shared her perspective on the event.
“I think it’s a lot of fun,” said Bacigl. “It’s nice to see a new beer out and also to see people come out and support a local brewery. I’m a pretty big craft beer fan. So, any time Gnarly Barley releases a new beer, I think I’m normally here for it.”
Caramonta admitted that Gnarvana is a stronger version of last year’s release of Jucifer. Caramonta described the new beer as “Jucifer’s big brother.”
“This year, we released a brand-new beer called Gnarvana,” said Caramonta. “It is a double IPA 7.5% APV. It tastes like straight pineapple juice. It’s awesome.”
Attendee Nick Contino expressed how his fondness for Jucifer inspired him to attend.
“I think it’s a good family atmosphere,” said Contino. “It’s also a lot of fun with the food trucks and all the open outdoor space they’ve got going on with all the dogs. I really like Jucifer. It’s one of my favorite beers, so I was really excited to see a new double IPA released by Gnarly Barley and wanted to come try it out.”
“This one’s gonna be stronger than jucifer,” said Caramonta. “It has more alcohol and more flavor. But they are two totally different beers, so its definitely something to try. If you’ve tried Juciifer, you definitely want to try Gnarvana.”
Caraonta believes that this year’s Gnar Fest differed because of continuous improvements to the organization.
“We’ve gotten better at what we do,” said Caramota. “We have a huge tent out back with more tables and chairs. There’s more seating. We’re trying to perfect everything.”
The venue also added a stage this year due to a need to move the performance area.
“We now have a stage this year for the band because as we grew, we can’t put the band where we used to put them next to our brewing tanks,” said Caramonta. “We built a palette stage, which is nice because now everyone can see them better. Same mentality, same ‘come one, come all.’”
Caramonta hopes to continue to grow in their markets by adding more tanks and brewing more of what the people like.
“We’ve always been about organic growth,” said Caramonta. “So we’re never trying to push one thing or another down anyone’s throats. We just wanna do what the people respond to and brew the beers that we love.”
