{"id":25552,"date":"2023-07-06T05:30:15","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T09:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=25552"},"modified":"2023-07-03T09:16:56","modified_gmt":"2023-07-03T13:16:56","slug":"anno-x-festival-celebrates-burial-beers-10-year-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/06\/anno-x-festival-celebrates-burial-beers-10-year-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"Anno X Festival Celebrates Burial Beer’s 10-year Anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Doug and Jess Reiser and Tim Gormley launched Burial Beer Co. in 2013, Asheville\u2019s newest brewery featured just one location. Renovating an industrial space on 40 Collier Avenue, the brewery and taproom would be a key part of the renaissance that transformed several blocks of derelict warehouses into a vibrant district delineated on maps as the South Slope Brewing District. And now \u2013 having expanded to two Asheville locations plus taprooms in Charlotte and Raleigh \u2013 Burial celebrates its tenth anniversary with an outdoor beer and music festival, Anno X. The festival happened at Burial\u2019s Forestry Camp facility on June 24.<\/p>\n

As Asheville gained prominence as a center for beer brewing, more and more players have been attracted by what they see as a solid business opportunity. They\u2019ve met with differing degrees of success: some flourished, some breweries have gone out of business and others have sold out to multinational conglomerates. But as its decennial approaches, Burial Beer Co. is among the city\u2019s most prominent and successful independent and locally-owned breweries.<\/p>\n

During the pandemic era, many businesses were forced to close their doors to the public. But taking advantage of some Covid-19 related relaxation of state alcoholic beverage laws, Burial Brewing pivoted to home delivery of its wide array of brews. Meanwhile, the company\u2019s skill at crafting beers that are innovative and adventurous has won it recognition. When Colorado-based national publication Craft Beer & Brewing<\/i> polled its readers in 2021, Burial was tied with a Vermont beer maker as the #1 small brewery. In 2022, Burial increased production and was thus eligible in a different category: it won the \u201cbest small regional brewery\u201d poll, again beating out competitors across the country (Asheville\u2019s Green Man Brewery made the short list, too, at #15).<\/p>\n

With all that momentum and a forward-looking vision, the occasion of Burial\u2019s ten-year anniversary presents an ideal time to stage Anno X, an event designed to showcase both the brewery\u2019s beverages and its focus upon pairing that experience with live music.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Automatic<\/p><\/div>\n

Anno X: Celebrating ten years of beer and music<\/b>
\nThe four nationally-touring acts performing at Anno X illustrated the eclectic nature that characterizes Burial\u2019s approach to music. Brooklyn-based Beach Fossils\u2019 shimmering dream pop has won over critics and fans alike. Also from Brooklyn, Black Marble is the atmospheric, electronica-focused project of Chris Stewart. Across her six studio albums, singer-songwriter producer Zola Jesus skillfully combines darkwave, art rock and industrial textures into a hypnotic swirl. The hardest-edged of the four, Automatic is an all-female, postpunk\/no-wave trio from Los Angeles featuring drummer Lola Domp\u00e9, daughter of Bauhaus drummer Kevin Haskins.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s evident to most people that music is very much an inspiration for what we do at Burial,\u201d says Tim Gormley. He points out that a musical aesthetic informs Burial\u2019s branding and packaging art. \u201cAnd we think a lot about what the soundtrack to our taproom experience sounds like,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Anno X featured several special anniversary releases of beers, as well as several guest taps from collaborating breweries. The Forestry Camp kitchen served items from its menu as well. The festivities kicked off at 12 noon; Automatic took the stage at 1 p.m., followed by Black Marble at 2:10 and Zola Jesus at 3:20. After a word from Gormley and his Burial Beer Company co-founders Doug and Jess Reiser, Beach Fossils were scheduled to appear at 4:45.<\/p>\n

Music has been an integral component of many previous Burial events, too. From bands and DJs at the flagship South Slope brewery to the annual Burnpile Harvest Fest at Burial\u2019s historic Forestry Camp facility, the music flows as freely as the beer. And Burial\u2019s experience with live music makes the company\u2019s next venture a \u201cnatural progression,\u201d Gormley says.<\/p>\n

So new it doesn\u2019t have a name yet<\/b>
\nIn early 2021, Burial purchased the property at 10 Buxton Avenue, immediately north and adjacent to its South Slope brewery. The $2.2 million purchase price was merely the start of a major investment for the company; major remodeling on the 11,000+ square-foot space would be necessary to transform the former location of Asheville Hardware into the city\u2019s newest live music venue.<\/p>\n

And last autumn, Burial hired Bryce Fanich. Former general manager at The Grey Eagle, Fanich has been instrumental in organizing both the musical side of Anno X and this year\u2019s upcoming annual Burnpile Fest. And he\u2019ll be even busier once the (as-yet-unnamed) Burial music venue opens. \u201cBryce has a deep understanding of what it takes to run a music venue,\u201d Gormley says. \u201cHe has that connectivity to bands, and he knows how band and tour management works.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Beach Fossils<\/p><\/div>\n

Gormley admits that his own tastes in music run toward \u201cheavy, dark and psychedelic.\u201d But he emphasizes that the new venue\u2019s approach to bookings will cast a wider net. \u201cWe\u2019re always striving to be an inclusive company and brand,\u201d he says, citing the company\u2019s expansion into making wine, cider and non-alcoholic beverages. \u201cAnd that approach applies to music as well; the new venue will host a broad variety of genres.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burial\u2019s expanded location will offer more than just music: the space will also be home to a bottle shop and rooftop patio bar. And because the new space will serve in part as an extension of Burial\u2019s existing South Slope facility, Gormley says that he and his team \u201cdon\u2019t feel a lot of pressure to have [live music] shows every day. He estimates that once it\u2019s up and running, the space will host \u201cfour to five\u201d shows each week. The rest of the time, the building at 10 Buxton Avenue will provide plenty of indoor space for beer-drinking patrons; that\u2019s something that Burial has lacked up to now. \u201cThere will also be a food concept in that building,\u201d Gormley promises.<\/p>\n

Burial management hopes that the new venue will be operational and open for business in October, but no official opening date has been announced. Citing the time involved to acquire all needed construction permits, Gormley admits that he\u2019s \u201ca little hesitant to say when.\u201d In the meantime, at its Forestry Camp facility, Burial will host a live music show in August as part of the inaugural AVL Fest as well as a hip hop showcase the following month.<\/p>\n

Burial\u2019s new music space will include opportunities to Asheville- and regionally-based artists as well. \u201cHaving been a local business for 10 years, it\u2019s very important to us collectively to offer a platform for local musicians,\u201d Gormley says. \u201cWe\u2019ve made a lot of relationships with people who make music in this town, so shows featuring local artists will be a big part of what we want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defiantly independent<\/b>
\nWhile celebrating the ten-year mark, the Burial team remains focused on the future. Gormley says that he and the Reisers have been fine-tuning their \u201cfive year vision.\u201d Up to now, Burial has been handling its own distribution with a fleet of box trucks and refrigerated vans. \u201cBut we’ve reached this impasse,\u201d Gormley explains. \u201cThere is a demand out there. People want our beer at places that we can’t get to \u2013 even within the state \u2013 without a dramatic growth of our distribution model.\u201d No decisions have been made, but Gormley says that Burial\u2019s preference would be to grow while putting the emphasis back on production and more taprooms. But one thing is unlikely to change; Burial Beer Co. is unlikely to sell out to InBev or another multinational. \u201cOur plan is to stay independent,\u201d Gormley says. That, and to keep music as a major part of the mix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Doug and Jess Reiser and Tim Gormley launched Burial Beer Co. in 2013, Asheville\u2019s newest brewery featured just one location. Renovating an industrial space on 40 Collier Avenue, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25554,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,3668],"tags":[5179,5182,4079,5180,5178,5181],"class_list":["post-25552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-shows","category-music-business","tag-anno-x-festival","tag-automatic","tag-beach-fossils","tag-black-marble","tag-burial-beer","tag-zola-jesus","cat-44-id","cat-3668-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25555,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25552\/revisions\/25555"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}