On Friday night in Central Park, brewers from around the region will tap 11-gallon kegs of beer they have never tasted. That's how the Firkin Fête works. It sold out well before the weekend, and it captures the whole of Alys Beach Crafted, now in its fifth year: a week built around showing how things get made, with the money going to the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County.
Most of the ticketed events are small evenings in small rooms. The one that runs three days, costs nothing and fills the Amphitheatre in Town Center is the Holiday Makers Market, Friday through Sunday. The artisans there sell their work and talk about how they made it.
The Week So Far, and What Remains
Crafted runs November 11 through 15, 2026. By the time you read this on Thursday, opening night is over and the dinners are set for this evening.
| Day | Event | Where | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed., Nov. 11 | The 30A Songwriter Session with Shawn Mullins | Red Loggia at Caliza | Ticketed, now past |
| Thu., Nov. 12, 5 p.m. | Three experiential dinners | Red Loggia, George's, The Summerhouse at The Silva | Ticketed |
| Fri., Nov. 13, 2:30 p.m. | Cocktails & Clay | The Summerhouse at The Silva | Sold out |
| Fri., Nov. 13, 2–4:30 p.m. | Holiday Makers Market | Alys Beach Amphitheatre | Free |
| Fri., Nov. 13, 6:30–9 p.m. | Firkin Fête | Central Park | Sold out, 21+ |
| Sat., Nov. 14, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. | Holiday Makers Market | Alys Beach Amphitheatre | Free |
| Sat., Nov. 14, 1–4 p.m. | Spirited Soirée | North Sea Garden Walk | Ticketed |
| Sun., Nov. 15, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. | Holiday Makers Market | Alys Beach Amphitheatre | Free |
The songwriter session was new this year. According to VIE Magazine's Crafted preview, it featured Shawn Mullins, best known for the Grammy-nominated "Lullaby," with St. Augustine Distillery pouring neat tastings as guests arrived. The organizers built it as a tribute to the 30A Songwriters Festival, the Cultural Arts Alliance's signature event. The first night of a fundraiser for the county's arts agency was set aside for that agency's own festival.
Tonight, Three Kitchens Pair Food With Drinks
Thursday's three dinners all start at 5 p.m., and each puts a chef together with a drinks partner. SoWal's published schedule lays them out:
- Red Loggia at Caliza. Birmingham chef Rob McDaniel of Helen and Bayonet cooks a multi-course, family-style dinner. The schedule says his food draws on the hardwood coals and live-fire cooking of his grandmother's kitchen. José Medina Camacho of Adiós Bar and Salud Birmingham makes the cocktails with Foursquare Rum from Barbados. VIE's November issue listed this dinner as sold out.
- George's at Alys Beach. Chef Camille Withall cooks with Gulf ingredients, and Nicole Greenwell of Pearl & Horn mixes cocktails from the Brown-Forman portfolio.
- The Summerhouse at The Silva. Chef Drew Dzejak and the Alys Beach Culinary team pair their menu with Menagerie wines, and David Yarrow's wildlife and landscape photography hangs around the room.
On Friday, the festival moves from the dining rooms to the brewers and potters.
Nobody Knows How the Firkins Will Taste
The Firkin Fête is in its sixth year, one year older than Crafted itself. It sold out before the week began, and it's limited to guests 21 and older. Its format explains the rest of the festival better than any of the other events.
"The firkins, each an 11-gallon keg, are unique in that no one, including the brewers themselves, can know what the final product will taste like until the firkins are tapped for the event."
That line comes from the event schedule published by SoWal. The firkin comes out of the cask-ale tradition. The UK's Campaign for Real Ale describes cask ale as beer that still contains live yeast and keeps conditioning in the cask it's served from. The American Homebrewers Association explains that real ale matures through a secondary fermentation in the container it's dispensed from, and that a common firkin holds 9 imperial gallons, about the same as the 11 U.S. gallons on the event page. Scott T. Smith plays live music, and chefs from around the Southeast handle the food.
Cocktails & Clay, earlier that afternoon at The Summerhouse, works on the same idea in a different medium. Local ceramicist Sarah Bumanglag leads guests through making two clay vessels while they drink a custom cocktail or mocktail. The vessels are then professionally glazed and kiln-fired, and the event page notes "No experience necessary." Guests make the pieces at the table, but they come out of the kiln later. The session is sold out.
The Makers Market Is Open to Everyone
From Friday afternoon through Sunday, the Holiday Makers Market brings regional artisans into the Alys Beach Amphitheatre. The organizers' description asks makers to share "their craft, their inspiration, and their stories," so the conversation about process that happens in the ticketed rooms all week happens at every booth here. The makers were chosen through an application, with artists told whether they'd been accepted by September 15.
What to know before you walk over:
- Hours: Friday, November 13, 2 to 4:30 p.m.; Saturday, November 14, and Sunday, November 15, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Admission: free and open to the public.
- Music and food: live music plays throughout, and the surrounding Town Center merchants sell treats and refreshments.
- Santa: photos with Santa at select times during the market.
- The beneficiary's booth: the Cultural Arts Alliance has a table where visitors can learn about the organization and make something with its team, next to the Alys Beach Crafted merchandise booth.
The organizers pitch the market for holiday gifts or for "meaningful pieces for their own collections." The schedule makes it easy to plan around. Saturday's market closes an hour after the Spirited Soirée opens on the North Sea Garden Walk, where mixologists from around the country work alongside the distilleries they're paired with. Sunday morning is the market's own window, with no other event on the schedule.
Where the Money Goes
All proceeds from the week go to the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County, which SoWal describes as the county's local arts agency, now in its third decade. Its work covers leadership, advocacy, funding, programs and education. Crafted's opening night honored the Alliance's 30A Songwriters Festival, and Cocktails & Clay was its own program brought into the festival. The Alliance shows up at both ends of the week and has a booth at the market in between.
The same SoWal piece says the Alys Foundation and Alys Beach support cultural programming through partnerships like this one and through a permanent collection of artwork placed around the town's landscape. Over the market weekend, regional craft goes on sale in the same town that displays that collection.
After Crafted
The town's next public gathering is two weeks later. Alys in Winter Wonderland fills the Amphitheatre on Friday, November 27, from 4 to 6:30 p.m. It's free to attend, with a 4 p.m. concert and a tree lighting at 6:30. Cookie decorating and Santa photos are $3 each. Caliza's restaurant service closes for the season on December 1 and reopens March 1, so this weekend and the next few weeks are the last chance this year to eat there.
If the Makers Market is your first look at Alys Beach as a place to own a home, The Morar Group can tell you which streets are within walking distance of the Amphitheatre and Town Center, so the next Crafted is a short walk from your front door. Text or call us to start your 30A conversation.
