Hop N Hog Returns to Culpeper Downtown, Serving up the Best in BBQ, Beer & Bourbon!

Press Release

For Immediate Release: September 11, 2025
Candice Hayes
Special Events Coordinator
Culpeper Renaissance, Inc. 
540-825-4416
crievents@culpeperdowntown.com
www.culpeperdowntown.com
 

Mark your calendar to spend the day in Culpeper Downtown Saturday, October 18th, 12pm to 5pm, as we celebrate the return of Hop N Hog Culpeper Block Party & BBQ Competition! This annual fundraising event continues to grow each year, with incredible BBQ vendors competing for cash prizes and bragging rights, along with live music, a kid’s corner, gourmet food and craft artisan vendors, the best regional and local beer and cider, plus bourbon, and wine,all available to taste! 

Join Culpeper Renaissance, Inc., Culpeper’s award-winning nonprofit Main Street program, to relish in all the fall festivities, while enjoying breweries, distilleries and BBQ at this year’s Hop N Hog! Don’t miss the opportunity to sample suds and ciders from Beer Hound Brewery, Cider Lab, Far Gohn Brewing Company, Son of a Bear Ciders, Tap 29 Brewery, WAR Craft Brewery, as well as the Virginia Eagle beer truck! With over 20 varieties of brews and ciders, you are sure to leave having tasted a few new favorites!

Cheers to the day with only the finest of Kentucky champagne, aka bourbon! Taste rich, warm, sweet and spicy flavors from A. Smith Bowman Distillery, Belmont Farm Distillery, Copper Fox Distillery, KO Distilling, along with CRI’s Bourbon Tent, sampling Michter’s Small Batch US 1, Knob Creek Smoked Maple and Whistlepig Piggyback Bourbon.

After working up an appetite, you don’t have to travel far to taste BBQ from some of the best pit masters around! Purchase a full meal, and/or enjoy samples, included with the purchase of a Tasting Ticket, from 2B-Q, Barbeque U, Burnt Ends BBQ, Doveshack’s Smoked BBQ, Shawn’s Craft Barbecue and Smok Shak. These BBQ vendors will not only be slinging meat for Hop N Hog guests, but will be competing for cash prizes, including People’s Choice, and Grand Champion!

Not here for smoky, mouthwatering BBQ? No need to worry, as there are a variety of additional food options available, including Cap’n Corbins Seafood, Country Kettle Gourmet Kettle Corn, Frosty Softy and Zandra’s Taqueria. Plus, with artisan vendors offering specialty food options, and handmade crafts, you are sure to end the day with a happy belly and a bag full of goodies! Check out Bad Ass Pickles, Estraeya Jewelry Designs, Historic Smoke Cigars, Jason Goldman Wood Art, Jelly Bird Tie Dyes, Joe White Photography, Sweet Dove Crochet & Company, and Uncle Andy’s Sauces & Rubs.

There is so much to experience at this year’s Hop N Hog Culpeper Block Party & BBQ Competition, rain or shine, making it the perfect outing for singles, couples, and families! Listen to live music by Virginia Green, picking bluegrass from 12pm to 2pm. Waking Napster rounds out the day, taking the stage at 2:30pm, playing the best alternative rock classics! During band change over, look forward to Karen’s Line Dancing, showing you all the moves to kick, turn and stomp that dance floor! Be sure to snap a photo with everyone’s favorite pig, Henrietta Hog, circulating throughout the day! Find family friendly entertainment including Danny’s Bounce House, Brennan’s Balloons (1pm-3pm), and corn hole, with additional fun provided by Culpeper County Parks & Recreation!

All are welcome, but please no pets, coolers or solicitation. To purchase tickets, stop by Vinosity or Far Gohn Brewing Company, or online by visiting www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-hop-n-hog-culpeper-block-party-bbqcompetition-tickets-1606926804329 . $50 Tasting Tickets include entry, souvenir tasting glass, BBQ, beer, bourbon, cider and wine samples, games and live entertainment. If purchased at the gate, the price increases to $60. Not interested in tasting everything but still want to savor the day. Pick up a General Admission Ticket for $15 in advance, or $20 at the gate. General Admission Tickets include entry, games and live entertainment. Children 16 and under get in free!

Finally, a huge thank you to the generous and supportive sponsors that make CRI events of this nature possible, including the Town of Culpeper, Kid Central, Country Chevrolet, UVA Community Credit Union, YHB CPAs & Consultants, Ducket Corbin Team Realtors with RE/MAX Gateway, Virginia Passenger Rail Authority & Amtrak Virginia, WJMA/SAM-FM, Culpeper Media Network, Culpeper Times, Cintas, Merchant’s Grocery Company, Culpeper Chamber of Commerce, Xpress Copy & Graphics, Strong Arm Media, Nhabit Real Estate and Fraternal Order of Eagles Culpeper.

To volunteer or for more information about this or future CRI events, visit www.culpeperdowntown.com, email crievents@culpeperdowntown.com, or call 540-825-4416. Like and follow Culpeper Renaissance, Inc. on Facebook and Instagram to stay in the know on all things Culpeper Downtown!