Weaver Street Market celebrates 25th anniversary

A popular Carrboro-based co-op is celebrating its success the only way it knows how — with new, locally produced items.

Weaver Street Market’s Hillsborough location hosted a beer tasting Saturday to mark the chain’s upcoming 25th anniversary. The event featured specialty beers brewed for the occasion by Lonerider and Aviator breweries, based in Raleigh and Fuquay-Varina, respectively.

A similar event was held May 18 at the Southern Village store location, said specialty beer and wine merchandiser Peg Todloski. She said the store’s actual anniversary is June 21, but they’re starting the celebrations early.

“We kind of wanted to catch people while they’re still here,” she said.

Todloski helped plan the event, along with members of Weaver Street’s merchandising and marketing departments.

“It’s definitely a group effort,” she said.

She said recently, beer has been selling more quickly than wine at Weaver Street, which prompted staff to look for local breweries to partner with.

“If they’re not succeeding then we’re not succeeding,” she said.

Natty Greene’s Brewing Company in Raleigh has also released a specialty beer to commemorate Weaver Street’s anniversary, and Todloski said a few more partnering breweries are scheduled to release specialty beers in September.

Galen Smith, a brewer with Lonerider, said he thinks the release of a unique beer for Weaver Street’s anniversary serves an important community function.

“This just sounded like a great thing to do,” he said.

He noted that the beer, called “Weaver Trail,” contains 35 percent beechwood-smoked malt to give it a smooth, smoky flavor.

“It finishes very clean and dry but with a little lingering smoke to it,” he said.

Among those who sampled Weaver Trail Saturday was Kevin Cosentino, a Wilmington resident and home brewer.

“It’s neat to come out to events like this and to try to see some of the differences with the unique offerings that these breweries are releasing, rather than the standard flagships,” he said.

The store has been involved in a number of local food initiatives over the years, such as a tour of local wineries and the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association’s Piedmont Farm Tour.

Events and special projects coordinator Linda Fullwood said initiatives such as these are key to carrying out Weaver Street’s mission, which is to connect the public with the people who grow its food.

“You’re connecting people to an actual person who talks about how they grow, why they grow, and from then on it adds value to the product,” she said.

Contact the desk editor at city@dailytarheel.com.