CARLA N. CANET
October 28, 2019

THE Provincial Government of Negros Occidental through its Provincial Consultant on Economic Affairs former 3rd District Rep. Alfredo Abelardo "Albee" Benitez and its partners - the Association of Negros Producers held the 1st Sugarlandia craft beer and spirits festival on October 26, 2019 at Paseo Verde in Barangay Mandalagan, Bacolod City.

Local media with actor Javi Benitez (4th from left) at the Inom Ta festival.

It showcased locally crafted beer, wines, and fruit juices.

Carla Gomez, Benja Lucasan, Chona Gosiaoco, Laarni Aguilar and Carla Cañet.

Benitez initiated the move with the support and assistance of the provincial government and the Association of Negros producers.

"We held this festival to highlight the fact that aside from rum making, the province also has a potential for beer making and spirits.

We need to identify the competitive advantage that could help bring us globally," he said.

Provincial Consultant for Economic Affairs Albee Benitez tries a locally produced drink.

Joey Gaston, event organizer said 14 participants in the Inom Ta to include Hops/Likod Balay, Bogsbrew, Trapdoor, Quedan, Don Papa, Cafe Uma, Fresh Start, Iida Farms, Sir Jess, Alter Trade, Ginebra San Miguel, San Miguel Brewery, and Herbanext.

The group of musician Michael Tambasen making the festival lively with their music.

"We are bringing the Negros products to the right market. This is part of the Sugarlandia festivals which started with "Kaon Ta" and now it's "Inom Ta". We make sure that our objective is really to promote Negros brands. This is a craft beer and spirits festival. There was a time before that we ran out of the supply of beer during the MassKara festival because people here really love to drink beer. It was also told that the reason why San Miguel Beer established its own plant here in Bacolod because people here really deplete beer supply," he said.

The upside of drinking is we bring positive spirits to keep us going. We are resilient people because of that. We don't take our problems very seriously. We just don't pack up and die. We move on and reinvent ourselves and try to do well. Can you imagine the sense of humor that we have? Despite the problems, we still manage to smile. That attitude led to the birth of the MassKara festival, he said.