TERRA ALTA, W.Va. (WBOY) — High Ground Brewing hosted its “Shakesbeer Festival” night on Friday which was a ticketed event where attendees could partake in a night of fun and sample some brews.
The brewery used the festival to commemorate the night with the release of a brand-new beer called “Mash Ado About Nothing,” and food served by Smoked Taco. Attendees were able to take part in live music with an open mic where they were able to speak Shakespearean alongside troupe members in celebration of the 10th anniversary of The Rustic Mechanicals.
“So, a super fun thing to be able to have people come in, you know, from all different walks of life; that is one of the things we love about this place. So, we made a English mild, which kind of fits the whole Shakespeare idea, very tasty, low ABV, something you can drink all day all the event, you know, just have a good time, a lot of flavor in it for it being a lower ABV beer,” said Mitchell Kushner, Taproom Manager of High Ground Brewing.
High Ground Brewing said making a unique name for its brews is something that is fun for them to do with many of the names often unheard of.
“I think we are tapping, we’ve already tapped, we’re already enjoying it, West Virginia’s first-ever Shakesbeer. This event was born out of a summertime conversation that happened along the side of the highway here in Preston County when we had just gotten done having a post-show meal, and the folks here from High Ground were making a delivery to the establishment. We started up a conversation, we’re really good at Shakespeare, they’re really good at beer, let’s do something together. And tonight, Mash Ado About Nothing is coming out of the taps,” said Jason A. Young, the Producing Artistic Director of The Rustic Mechanicals.
Young stated that Shakespeare talks a lot about beer and wine as well as drinking in general and he stated they call the event the Ides of March Shakesbeer Festival because it’s close to March 15, which he said is sort of an unofficial Shakespeare holiday.
