visitnc.com radio spot from Fullsteam Brewery on Vimeo.
The good folks at LKM (the marketing agency for the North Carolina Department of Tourism) asked lil' ol' me to help with an upcoming radio spot. Stitched from an extemporaneous, hour-long conversation, this one-minute piece will air across the South in the coming months. I'm honored and thrilled that they asked me to participate in this excellent opportunity.
A bit more detail on the "five breweries" reference: Steve of LKM asked me to describe some of the best beer dinners I've been a part of. I spoke at some length of a remarkable evening at Jujube in Chapel Hill, where amazing pan-Asian food met five award-winning, very distinctively different North Carolina beers (the five 2006 GABF-winning beers). They were:
- Carolina Brewery's Flagship English-Style India Pale Ale (Gold medal)
- Foothills Brewing: Baltic Porter Pro-Am Beer (Gold)
- Ham's Restaurant & Brewhouse: Sunfest Munich-style Helles (Gold)
- Natty Greene's Brewing: Old Town Brown English-Style Brown Ale (Silver)
- The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery's Milk Stout (Bronze)
To me, it seemed like a distinctly North Carolinian experience: great local beer paired with pan-Asian cuisine prepared by a chef who had recently relocated from California to Chapel Hill (and, to futher the story, has since opened a new Mexican-themed venture in Durham).
I'm not sure this point of local-pride-meets-world-cuisine comes across as strong as I'd like, hence, this post (a bit of a qualifier). But what's more important is that the Tourism Department (and its skilled agency) understands the importance, relevance, and opportunity of highlighting North Carolina craft beer. How very exciting!