Guidon Brewery celebrates the German way
For their third annual Christmas market, Guidon Brewery seeks to bring the tradition of the German holiday market to 8th Avenue, including serving Glühwein, a hot spiced wine. Bold Life spoke to co-owner Connie Baer.
The story behind Guidon is a compelling one … not to mention you opened in the dead of winter.
We opened our doors on January 16, 2019. My husband was in the Army; that’s why we chose the name Guidon. A guidon is a flag used in the military, and our flag kind of tells our story. It has numbers, letters, colors; and everything on [our] guidon has a meaning to our family. I’m from Germany, and we are trying to bring a little of that German tradition to Hendersonville. We do have a lot of German beers that we brew here, and they are all very authentic.
How have you personalized the holiday market?
[Germans] celebrate differently than Americans. Every little town has their own Christmas market, and you have big cities that have big markets for a whole month. I was just trying to get a little bit of that spirit over here, and since we have this big outdoor area, we can have vendors here and we can eat and drink beer while we shop. We also have a big deck, and if the weather is nice, we will have live music on the deck. It’s going to be Sunlight Drive, and they’ve already been practicing Christmas songs, they told me. Feta Flav food truck says they will be serving some Greek Christmas foods, and Santa will be there handing out candy canes.And there’s going to be a cookie competition, as well?
Our customers bring in home-baked cookies and we [select] a few customers that want to be judges — it’s very casual. Whoever feels like they want something sweet, they can come and help judge the cookies and the first prize gets a gift. The first year we had maybe five or six people bring cookies in. Anybody can submit a cookie: Just bring enough cookies for five judges.
What will be available at the market?
We have a lot of local vendors. We have a lot of people who set up that do arts and crafts, we have honey vendors and farmers like Raspberry Fields that people will know from the farmers’ markets.
What is it about the spirit of the German Christmas markets that you miss?
It’s the atmosphere: the aroma of roasted almonds, the Christmas songs, the local choirs singing, the look in the children’s eyes when they spot Santa — and the Glühwein that warms you from the inside.
Guidon Brewing Company’s annual Christmas Market and Cookie Contest takes place Saturday, Dec. 11, 12-6pm. 418 8th Ave. East, Hendersonville. For more information, visit guidonbrewing.com.
