Local brewer wins state fair contest

For the first time, the winning brews from the inaugural North Carolina Brewers’ Cup will be on display at the N.C. State Fair.

The beers will be on display in the Education Building.

Chapel Hill resident Chris Creech took top honors in the homebrew category, winning Best in Show for his Irish dry stout. Staff writer Cheney Gardner caught up with Creech to talk about homebrewing, festival foods and why you still can’t try the beer.

Daily Tar Heel: So tell me about the Irish Dry Stout.

Chris Creech: It’s a personal favorite, but I had never entered it any competitions until this one.

It stands out to me because it’s a complex beer, not overbearing or too strong or any particular flavor that’s really big. Instead it’s a lot of different flavors that really blend together well.

DTH: How does it feel to win “best in show?”

CC: I may not win every year, but I’ll always be the first to win best in show for homebrew beer at the North Carolina State Fair.

I run a blog for homebrewers, so hopefully this competition will get people to check out the blog and what is about and see how easy it is to make your own beer at home.

DTH: How did you get into homebrewing?

CC: When I was a junior at Carolina, me and some of my buddies were sitting around the house talking about our bucket list of things we wanted to do before we die, and one of my roommates said he wanted to brew his own beer.

And I stopped and said “We could do that.” And he said, “I know it’s on my list, so I’ll do it sometime.” And I said “No, we could do that now.” And so we did.

We all chipped in about $20 and we went to the store and picked up the basic starter kit of the stuff you need and made our first batch of beer.

DTH: What’s it take to be a successful homebrewer?

CC: Anyone can brew beer. It’s a really simple process and you will hopefully end up with a drinkable, good beer.

From there it’s a lot of learning and practicing and just refining what you’re doing to see what’s working and what isn’t; what flavors you like and what flavors you don’t. Drinking a lot of beer is the secret.

Beer can have so many flavors, aromas and tastes that people don’t know.

DTH: What do you think about the no alcohol policy?

CC: I think North Carolina is still a Bible Belt state, and we still have a long way to go in terms of alcohol regulations.

But I do understand it from the fair’s perspective because they don’t want to have to regulate it. If you have alcohol, you’re going to need more security and people there to ID.

However, I think it would be great to enjoy the fair with a beer in your hand. It would go great with one of the giant turkey legs.

Contact the desk editor at city@dailytarheel.com.