This Friday, April 15, forget finding a place to go for Tax Day, because New Belgium Brewing Co. is putting on a full day of fun with its wood-aging expert, Eric Salazar.

Since 1997, Salazar has been a part of the wood-aged beer program at New Belgium, which has grown to encompass an more than 4,100-hectoliter capacity. The brewing veteran will be swinging through South Florida on Friday starting at noon with a paired lunch at Brass Tap Fort Lauderdale (551 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale).

The craft-beer bar and restaurant will be featuring a specialty tapping of Eric's Ale, a peach-spiked sour beer, and chef Jonathan Garr has created a special menu to compliment a range of New Belgium's beers.

Try Florida Gulf shrimp ceviche with tostones paired with Citradelic; turkey and quail-egg sliders paired with Snapshot; Brew Pub Philly flatbread paired with Fat Tire; and peach- and peri-peri-glazed pork belly over smoked Gouda mac ’n’ cheese, paired with Eric's Ale.

Then at 4 p.m., a "Happy Hour of Sour" will kick off at Tap 42 Fort Lauderdale (1411 S. Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale). They'll be tapping a few exciting sour beers like Eric's Ale, 2015 Le Terroir Dry Hopped Sour, 2016 Transatlantique Kriek, and Peach Wheat Wine.

Then get your knowledge on with a discussion with Salazar about the New Belgium Sour Program over at the Craft Beer Cartel (557 SW 12th Ave., Fort Lauderdale) starting at 7 p.m. Learn from the master and see how ambitious local homebrewers fare as he judges a homebrew competition, offering feedback to those who have some of their own sour beers to share. 

Finally, there's a nightcap at the perennially nightcap-friendly Laser Wolf (901 Progresso Drive, Fort Lauderdale) beginning at 10 p.m. With four events across Fort Lauderdale, by the end of the night, there should be a few new fans of New Belgium. 


Doug Fairall is a craft-beer blogger who focuses on Florida beers. He is a Certified Beer Server and has been a homebrewer since 2009. For beer things in your Twitter feed, follow him @DougFairall and find the latest beer pics on Clean Plate's Instagram.