Craft Beer and Busking: South Cape festival combines brew tasting and street performing
The craft beer will flow freely this weekend when over 50 breweries from across Florida and the United States converge in the South Cape.
The South Cape Hospitality and Entertainment Associations will host its first-ever South Cape Craft Beer and Busking Festival on Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. in Big John’s Plaza on Southeast 47th Terrace. Sponsored by Nevermind Awesome Bar and Eatery, the event will feature more than 100 craft beers.
“Craft beer is really becoming quite popular,” Lynn Pippenger, one of the board members with the South Cape Hospitality and Entertainment Associations, said. “It’s a hot topic right now.”
The festival will also showcase more than a dozen entertainers who specialize in “busking.”
“Busking is the art of street performers,” she explained. “The idea is to have multiple performers performing at the same time, so as you walk from section to section you hear different music.”
There will be guitarists and trumpet players, a banjo washboard and piano.
“We have an accordion and several duos,” Pippenger said.
Street performance art will also play a part, like body painting and a large-scale chalk drawing.
“And a few other art installations that you’ll be able to watch,” she said.
All of the profits will go toward median lighting improvements along Cape Coral Parkway.
“Cape Coral Parkway is kind of the introduction to the South Cape,” Pippenger said.
“We want to make that median look as good as it can,” she added.
Greg Calverase, co-owner of the Cape’s No.3 Craft Brews & Beer Bar, said nearly every brewery in Southwest Florida is taking part, along with ones from Fort Lauderdale, to Sarasota and Tampa.
“We’ve got a pretty good number of Florida-based beers,” he said.
There will be breweries from outside of the state, like Terrapin, Brooklyn and Sierra.
“Then we’ve got a number of breweries that will be well-known to people,” Calverase said.
He cited Sam Adams, Ballast Point and Lagunitas as a few examples.
“What I’m very pleased by is all these breweries will be represented by themselves,” Calverase said. “It’s a great opportunity for people to talk to them about their beers and get a better perspective.”
As for the selection of craft brews on hand, variety is what it is all about.
“You’re going to a see a lot of the most common style – IPAs,” he said. “Every brewery pretty much does an IPA.”
Attendees can also enjoy stouts, porters and more.
“You’ll see sour beers, which are an interesting popular style,” Calverase said. “Certainly lagers.”
A lot of craft beers today are infused with adjuncts, or ingredients outside of the typical barley, hops, yeast and water. He explained that this can mean infusions of chocolate, coconut or citrus fruits.
“So a lot of these beers will be very unique in their characteristics,” Calverase said.
General admission tickets are $40 per person and come with a commemorative cup of about 4 ounces for unlimited beer samples, along with a pretzel necklace for people to use to cleanse their palate.
“There are wash stations to rinse their cup between samples,” Pippenger said.
VIP tickets cost $100 and include a commemorative glass snifter, unlimited beer samples, VIP food from Nevermind, reserved seat in the VIP tent and access to an air-conditioned bathroom trailer.
“We have 200 tickets available,” she noted of the VIP.
VIP admission also gives attendees access to speciality craft beer samples.
“They tend to be a little bit more obscure,” Calverase said.
These samples will include barrel-aged beers, sours, double IPAs and such.
The festival is for ages 21 and over.
Pippenger noted that everyone will receive $5 off of a ride home from 275-TAXI.
“We’re hoping that people want to come out and support this because it’s a great cause,” she said.
“It’ll benefit the whole city, and it’ll be a good time,” Pippenger added.
To purchase tickets, visit Eventbrite online at: craftbeerbusking.eventbrite.com.
People can also buy tickets at the gate, or they can purchase them in advance by stopping by BackStreets Sports Bar, the Dixie Roadhouse, No. 3 Craft Brews & Beer Bar or Ralph’s Place.
For more information on the festival, visit the South Cape Hospitality and Entertainment Associations on Facebook at: facebook.com/SouthCapeHospitalityAndEntertainmentAssociations.
BackStreets Sports Bar is at 915 S.E. 47th Terrace.
Dixie Roadhouse is at 1023 S.E. 47th Terrace.
No. 3 Craft Brews & Beer Bar is at 1319 E. Cape Coral Parkway.
Ralph’s Place is at 1305 E. Cape Coral Parkway.