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Our Opinion: Glen Lyon’s ‘distressed’ label should serve as incentive, not indictment

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Concert at Cori’s Place benefits Hillside Farms

<p>It&#8217;s called Beer Camp, and it&#8217;s exactly what it sounds like.</p><p>The three-day experience at Sierra Nevada&#8217;s North Carolina brewery has all the makings of a hophead&#8217;s dream: A loaded tour of the bicoastal craft brewing company&#8217;s sprawling facility, beer classes, visits to the local farms and malt houses who provide the brewery&#8217;s raw materials and plenty of free food and drink &#8212; all culminating in the hands-on creation of a one-of-a-kind batch of beer.</p><p>The exclusive invite was a golden ticket for one local retailer.</p><p>&#8220;It was like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory for beer people,&#8221; raved Lindo Sabatini, the third-generation owner of the eponymous pizzeria and neighboring bottle shop and bar on Wyoming Avenue in Exeter.</p><p>Sabatini, who has sold Sierra Nevada&#8217;s beer since 1993, was recently invited to go behind the scenes of one of the nation&#8217;s largest craft breweries for one of four Beer Camp events featured each year.</p><p>&#8220;It was once in a lifetime without a doubt,&#8221; Sabatini, 42, said of the event. &#8220;You&#8217;re putting me right in the middle of what I love to do.&#8221;</p><p>First introduced as a competition that gave homebrewers a crack at crafting a beer on a commercial scale, Beer Camp recently branched off to include an event for retailers and other stalwarts of the booming craft beer industry, which saw a 13 percent rise in volume and a 16 percent increase in retail dollar value last year, according to data compiled by the Brewers Association, a national organization of brewers.</p><p>Sabatini was the sole Pennsylvania retailer to make the trip to the Tar Heel State. What he brought back &#8212; a mango-infused Imperial India Pale Ale (IPA) dubbed Mango Libre &#8212; can&#8217;t be found anywhere else in the state. Only the handful of campers who collaborated in the process were able to grab kegs to go, Sabatini explained.</p><p>Before deciding on Mango Libre, the group kicked the tires on a few other names for their personalized beer via email. Sabatini said his quest to see the batch named Barry Mangolow fell a few votes short. Nonetheless, the golden orange pints have been in high demand at the bar.</p><p>&#8220;The beer has been flying,&#8221; he said. &#8220;People love it.&#8221;</p><p>Being able to offer a unique draft option like Mango Libre is a small part of what Sabatini believes makes his bottle shop so popular with beer lovers since its grand opening last summer.</p><p>&#8220;To be able to differentiate your draft list from other draft lists, you have to be able to get your hands on hard-to-find beers because people are always looking to try something they&#8217;ve never had before,&#8221; he said.</p><p>The last keg of Mango Libre was tapped this week and Sabatini said he expects it to last through the weekend.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Lindo Sabatini adds hops to the kettle at Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Asheville, North Carolina. Sabatini, owner of Sabatini&#8217;s Pizza and the neighboring Sabatini&#8217;s Bottle Shop &amp; Bar, recently attended a beer camp event where he brewed a batch of beer available only from a handful of East Coast retailers. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_IMG_1320.jpg</photo0><caption0>Lindo Sabatini adds hops to the kettle at Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Asheville, North Carolina. Sabatini, owner of Sabatini&#8217;s Pizza and the neighboring Sabatini&#8217;s Bottle Shop &amp; Bar, recently attended a beer camp event where he brewed a batch of beer available only from a handful of East Coast retailers. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_IMG_1313.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The kettles inside Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Asheville, North Carolina. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_IMG_1313.jpg</photo1><caption1>The kettles inside Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Asheville, North Carolina. </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photo </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_TTL032416sabsbeer1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Lindo Sabatini, 42, pours a beer from the draft system at Sabatini&#8217;s Bottle Shop and Bar on Wyoming Avenue in Exeter. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_TTL032416sabsbeer1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Lindo Sabatini, 42, pours a beer from the draft system at Sabatini&#8217;s Bottle Shop and Bar on Wyoming Avenue in Exeter. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Sabatini crafts unique batch of beer at Sierra Nevada suds school