Off the beaten track

Kit Burkholder unlocks the back door to his bottle shop, steps into the darkness, and admits to some lingering, mild disappointment from 10 days ago.

Beginning in 2022, Kit’s Trackside Crafts in Pineville has hosted an annual event just after Memorial Day called the Lime Lager Thunderdome. It’s a celebration of lime-infused beer: Patrons buy tickets, then blind-test and sample local breweries’ limey offerings—and there generally are plenty of contestants, in large part because of Burkholder. (Read on for the explanation.)