![\"forestry](\"https:\/\/cdn.craftbeer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/20250714104024\/burial-forestry-camp.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nLive music was always part of the plan for Burial Beer<\/a> founders Doug and Jess Reiser and Tim Gormley when they were conceptualizing their brewery, which opened in Asheville, N.C. in 2013. They built an outdoor stage at their main location in the South Slope area of downtown, and over the years have set about adding venues for enjoying both live music and their excellent beverages. Their Forestry Camp<\/a> location across town opened in 2019, providing space for large outdoor concerts, and their 400-seat concert venue Eulogy<\/a> came online in 2023, right next to the original brewery.<\/p>\n While Burial hosts a constant stream of popular underground and regional acts such as Deep Sea Diver<\/a> and This Will Destroy You<\/a> at Eulogy, this summer they\u2019re hosting a series of concerts featuring larger indie acts at Forestry Camp, where they have capacity for 2,200 music fans. Future Islands<\/a> played in May, followed by The Black Angels<\/a> in late June and Washed Out<\/a> in July. The live music continues in October with the annual Burnpile beer and music festival.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted different genres to actually stop in Asheville rather than going all the way to Charlotte or Nashville,\u201d says Doug Reiser, who said they\u2019ve hosted everything from rock & roll and bluegrass to jazz, hip-hop, and heavy metal. While he and Gormley are big fans of psychedelic rock, they recognize the need to host the range of styles their fans want to listen to, just as they need to brew what those fans want to drink. \u201cYou don\u2019t just say, \u2018Keep following my vision, my interests matter more.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Burial is one of many breweries that now operate as concert venues as much as they do traditional taprooms. While a solo musician playing covers on an acoustic guitar in the corner for tips is a common enough sight at brewery taprooms across the country, many breweries are going deeper, investing in staff, infrastructure, and scheduling to make live music a major part of their business model.<\/p>\n \u201cWe share our craft with other artists who have their own craft,\u201d says Reiser. \u201cI think that\u2019s a crucial piece of stewardship that more brewers, winemakers, and anybody who\u2019s part of the hospitality experience should understand and want to connect with.\u201d<\/p>\n Three Magnets Brewing<\/a> in Olympia, Wash.\u2014a hotbed for music movements from riot grrrl to grunge over the years\u2014got started hosting shows through a connection with a local record shop. Rainy Day Records<\/a> reached out to them in 2021 to host a lawn concert for Michael Hurley<\/a>, a Greenwich Village folk icon (who recently passed away), and an ongoing series was born.<\/p>\n Three Magnets has built its following around Self Care<\/a>, their non-alcoholic beer line, and they named the series after their Scherler NA lager<\/a>. Scherler Sundays now feature free live shows every Sunday afternoon in July and August, attracting cult acts such as Lavender Country<\/a> and Swamp Dogg<\/a>, and this summer they\u2019re putting out a Scherler Beer vinyl release with live recordings from past events.<\/p>\n Three Magnets co-founder Nathan Reilly says they themed their series around their NA offerings both to show concerts can be fun even with non-alcoholic beer, and because they wanted to buck the trends for how non-alcoholic craft beer is marketed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe last thing I wanted to do was be a lifestyle brand,\u201d he says. \u201cWe do have a genuine interest in music and a rich history collaborating with music. Our goal is just to do cool shit and hope other people think it\u2019s cool, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond live shows, Self Care\u2019s music collaborations have included a 24-pack of beer in which each can features a different image from legendary rock music photographer Charles Peterson<\/a> (one of his shots of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was featured in the latest season of The Last of Us<\/em>), and one-off beers with Doug Marsh of Built to Spill<\/a> and solo artist Rae Isla<\/a>. The Paramount Theatre in Olympia connected them with musician healthcare non-profit SMASH Seattle to brew NA beers for live shows.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were able to get [former Death Cab for Cutie<\/a> and The Postal Service<\/a> frontman] Ben Gibbard on the hook for a collab for that, which was just the awesomest thing ever,\u201d Reilly recalls. Three Magnets has also released some standard-strength collaboration beers as well, including the recent Free Things Are Cool, an 8.3% stock ale brewed to commemorate riot grrrl producer, DJ, and promoter Diana Arens, who recently passed away.<\/p>\n At Burial, Reiser says collaborations with musicians are his favorites, because they\u2019re more experiential than technical.<\/p>\n \u201cBeer doesn\u2019t mean 300 years of brewing traditions and sourcing materials to [musicians],\u201d he says. \u201cIt means their favorite thing to do 30 minutes before they go play, or once they get back to the tour bus, or their celebration after they record. You get completely out of the realm of everything we know about brewing and it\u2019s about the final drinking experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Stone Cow Brewery<\/a> in rural Barre, Mass., has been hosting live music since it opened in 2016. Until a couple years ago, these were intimate shows held on their two small stages at the taproom. Stone Cow also happens to be one of the largest dairy farms in the state, with more than 1,300 acres of land. One corner of that includes a natural amphitheater on a hill. In 2023, they built a large stage there for hosting concerts and music festivals.<\/p>\n \u201cThe back section of our property is a special place\u2014it\u2019s beautiful,\u201d says co-owner Sean DuBois. \u201cYou have a view of Mount Wachusett from there. It\u2019s the best place on earth to drink beer and watch music.\u201d<\/p>\n In July, Stone Cow will host the Party on the Back Forty<\/a> music festival featuring Shadowgrass<\/a>, one of the most popular bluegrass bands in the country. This will be followed by the Fields and Forest Forever<\/a> music festival in August, and a show with U2 and Fleetwood Mac cover bands in September. Stone Cow will set up its beer trailer onsite.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have almost unlimited capacity back there,\u201d says DuBois. \u201cWe\u2019ve been getting about 1,000 attendees per show, and we hope to break 2,000 for these.\u201d<\/p>\n While Stone Cow is in a rural area\u2014DuBois says there isn\u2019t a single stoplight in the six closest towns\u2014the brewery has become a weekend destination for folks from Boston, about an hour east. There\u2019s even a playground onsite for kids while their parents enjoy music and beer.<\/p>\n While musical festivals are a great way to get folks onto a brewery property for a day, some carry more significance than others. On September 27, 2024, the remnants of Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina, devastating the Asheville area. Many homes and businesses were completely destroyed, more than 100 people in the state lost their lives, and thousands were without basic services\u2014including potable water\u2014for months. It hit just two weeks before Burial\u2019s 12th annual Burnpile festival, which had to be canceled. Burial owners and employees spent weeks giving out free meals and drinks at the brewery.<\/p>\n On October 4, Burnpile will return, and Reiser says it will have extra significance for everyone involved.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think we would have started Burial if we weren\u2019t going to talk about the difficult, the darkness and the light,\u201d he reflects. \u201cThis year\u2019s Burnpile is literally days after the anniversary. What does additional programming in between the bands look like in order to make sure we celebrate the people who joined arms and put this community back up and running?\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not a question Reiser and his fellow co-founders have answered just yet. Whatever they decide on, it will center the human connections the brewery was built on, which Reiser says have often been catalyzed by great music.<\/p>\n \u201cI think people sometimes underestimate how important the ambiance of a proper third place is,\u201d he says. \u201cI got into beer because of the taprooms. I love that experience that draws us together and helps us find our best moments and sometimes helps us connect with people who will change our lives forever. Without the right tunes, it kills it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Breweries across the country are turning up the volume, blending beer and live music to create unforgettable experiences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5961,"featured_media":114709,"sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sticky_collection":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"59256,74481,68326,81745,113211,37910","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4812],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-full-pour"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCollaborations Set the Tone<\/h2>\n
![\"self](\"https:\/\/cdn.craftbeer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/20250714104314\/non-alcoholic-beer-cans.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nA Rural Destination<\/h2>\n
![\"outdoor](\"https:\/\/cdn.craftbeer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/20250714104513\/outdoor-music-venue-at-brewery.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nHitting the Right Note<\/h2>\n