'Vibe of excitement': Beer Bash brings turnout to Ashland

Apr. 14—The Union on Carter hosted a "bash" event involving burgers, all-you-can-eat barbecue and 40 craft beverages on Saturday.

The venue at 2020 Carter Ave. was home for tournaments, beer-sampling and live entertainment Saturday bringing dozens — from Charleston, West Virginia, to Ashland.

"It's exciting, we are trying to keep that vibe of excitement," said Bill Bare, co-owner of The Union. "It would be nice if we had an event every weekend in Ashland. We are trying to show what the Union can do and be.

"These people will eat at our restaurants and stay in our hotels," Bare added. "We are trying to reach out beyond Ashland and show people what Ashland has to offer. They come here and check us out and hopefully they head on downtown."

Inside the pub, visitors sampled beers, listened to live entertainment and appeared to be enjoying their day. Among the people inside was Josh Holland, beer sales representative for Country Boy Brewing Company from Georgetown.

"You gotta have a little bit of alcohol to have some fun sometimes," he said. "Beer brings people together; it's social lubricant."

An Orange Cream Cider, a 6.9% alcoholic beverage, was one of the beers Holland was offering.

"It has that dreamsicle flavor, you get that kinda sweetness and tartness from the orange, very refreshing. Even though it's higher in alcohol, it goes down really easy; super easy drinking," Holland said.

The sunshine was adding fuel to a fire of activities taking place. Bare said with the warm temperatures and clear skies, a decision was made to move a few of the activities outside.

"Cornhole was scheduled to be inside, but everybody wanted to be outside because we have been cooped up. We were ready for either way it might go," Bare said.

Dart and pool tournaments were held inside.

Since the rebranding of the entertainment venue, Bare has seen an enormous amount of support from community members, in and outside of Ashland city limits.

"We are seeing so much positive feedback," Bare said. "There has not been one single complaint, everybody loves it. They come in and they say it feels so good and exciting."

Bare expressed concern for the volunteers who put on Firkin Fest and had a message for them.

"We are not trying to compete with them; we are trying to build with them by pushing our craft beers," Bare said. "We are not trying to compete with any other festival, we just wanted to expose what we got and show people to Ashland.

"We need to try to have something every weekend when this nice weather is out just so people will come here," Bare added.

(606) 326-2657 — ajohnson@dailyindependent.com