Taking Care of Our Own
W
hen Carolina Brew Scene profiled Brice’s Brewing of Garner in the last edition, owner/brewer Kris Bengtson spoke about the many ways breweries will help each other, even when they are technically in competition with each other. “You’re not alone in the brewing industry,” he said at the time. When Bengtson was diagnosed with an aggressive form of throat cancer just after Christmas 2017, he understood just how true that statement is. “It’s amazing — everything I said in that article is coming true,” he says during the Got Brice’s Back for Kris Bengtson and Family fundraiser on Feb. 25 at Double Barley Brewing, just down the road in Smithfield. “It feels really good to be on the receiving end of such support.” Even though there were several fundraisers for Bengtson in January and February, the Double Barley event was the first one he felt well enough to attend. With his first round of chemotherapy down, he’s in good spirits as he talks to old friends. There are five more rounds of chemo to go. “Today, I feel good,” he says. “That’s all that matters.” Kris’ wife, Dana, says the support from other brewers has been “humbling
By Karen A. Mann
and overwhelming.” “Even when I was in the hospital with Kris, I didn’t feel alone,” she says. After she posted about her husband’s diagnosis on Facebook, the outpouring was immediate. “Within 10 seconds I had people reaching out to me to help,” she says. The event at Double Barley was one of several at breweries and bottle shops throughout the Triangle and Eastern North Carolina. Also in February, Clayton’s Deep River Brewing held a fundraiser where they tapped a half barrel of Brice’s New England IPA. The brewery has also seen support from Lynwood Brewing Concern, Southern Peak, Crank Arm Brewing, The Corner Biergarten, 3rd Degree Brewery, Tobacco Road Sports
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Cafe & Brewery, Bottle Rev in Apex, Beer Study, Durty Bull, 42 Craft Beverage and Brewery Bhavana. On March 18, Garner Bottle Shop The Beerded Lady held a fundraising dinner with the Cockadoodlemoo food truck and the Garner/Southeast Raleigh Homebrew Club. Double Barley owner Cheryl Lane says that holding a fundraiser for her friends was a no-brainer. “They are wonderful human beings,” Lane says of the Bengtsons. “It was really simple to do this for them.” The event at Double Barley was especially poignant because the Bengtsons often patronized the brewery when they lived and worked as teachers in Johnston County, and Kris credits the brewery for inspiring his love of brewing. Dana is still a music teacher, while Kris devotes himself to the brewery. The event featured brews from Neuse River Brewing, Raleigh Brewing, Nicklepoint Brewing and Bombshell Brewing, as well as live music and a pig picking from JTOPS BBQ. Homebrewer Jessica Baxter, a longtime friend of the couple who organizes rides so Kris can get to his appointments while Dana is working, brought her Lime Milkshake IPA to sell. “There’s just so much love here, it’s hard to believe,” she says.
