Weekend Tasting Events

Magnolias First Annual Beer Festival takes place in Purcellville on Saturday. Sounds like a fun event, barbecue and beer! I'll be helping with a Boy Scout skills camp on Saturday so will miss this one. If you go, let me know how it was.

Friday, July 18 - 5:00 - 8:00pm
Total Wine
Friday 5 @ 5 Beer Tasting:
Bohemia, Piraat Belgian Tripel, Wolaver’s (Organic) Pale Ale, Kona Longboard Lager, Avery Ellie’s Brown Ale

Saturday, July 19 - 12:00 - 5:00 pm
Kybecca
Beer Tastings in 2 Locations:
William Street (Downtown):
Coney Island Sword Swallower Strong Lager, Coney Island Albino Python Spiced Lager, plus 1st customer chooses 3rd beer
Plank Road (Next to Ukrops)
Troegs Brothers Troegenator Doppelbock, New Holland Dragon's Milk (Barrell-aged Strong Ale), plus 1st customer chooses 3rd beer

Every Saturday, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
Blue & Gray Brewery
Beer samples and brewery tours

Please support the folks who bring us these events. Let them know there is an active craft beer community in the area. When you attend any of these events, tell us about it in the comments, and be sure to let the proprietor know you heard about it here.
Have something to add? Let me know, my contact information is here.

Devil's Backbone Construction Photos

Tom Cizauskas has posted a few pictures of the construction at Devils Backbone Brewing Company in Nelson County, VA. Jason Oliver plans to open the new brewpub in late 2008.

I was alerted to the photos by Tom via Twitter. Previous posts on Devil's Backbone are here.

Tom's Devil's Backbone Flickr Photos

What’s Next for Starr Hill Brewing?

It's been less than a year since Starr Hill Brewing in Crozet, Virginia signed a distribution agreement with Anheuser-Busch. By all accounts, this arrangement continues to benefit both the brewery and craft beer lovers. Starr Hill beers are available in Fredericksburg now and seem to be quite popular. The Daily Progress in Charlottesville has published an interview with Starr Hill founder and brewmaster Mark Thompson. In "What’s next for Starr Hill", Mark talks about their plans to increase production capacity, the current and future distribution plans, and some new products in the works. Mark also touches on the tourism aspect of the business, something I've discussed on this blog previously.

Q. Any plans for a new restaurant?

A. Starr Hill currently operates a tasting room that is open to the public every Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. with tours of the plant at 1 and 3 p.m. The tastings are free and individuals can purchase cases and kegs for take out. We have experienced success with the Saturday tastings for several reasons. First, there is a large tourist trade that comes to Virginia to tour the wineries, and having a brewery on the itinerary makes a lot of sense. Second, Blue Mountain Brewery in Nelson County and the soon to open Devils Backbone Brewery near Wintergreen will give our region a real beer trail for the first time ever.

With the success of our Saturday tastings, the existing wineries, the new breweries, we have seriously considered doing more retail than we currently do. We know that there is a lot of interest in the retail side of our business and that having people out to the brewery to touch and feel the brand provides real value to our mission. We struggle with the fact that we are first and foremost a manufacturer and that retail is a side business.

Another idea that we have been kicking around is to do more special events at the brewery. We are in the process of looking into doing selected special events at the brewery that center around music and beer. At the end of the day when someone thinks of Starr Hill, we want them to think of beer and music. The thought would be to do an event like an Oktoberfest with a regional band.

Great to see this local brewery doing well. As more craft beer lovers nationwide are exposed to great beer coming from Virginia, the Old Dominion will continue to develop as an exciting craft beer destination. Read the entire article here. I really liked this quote from Mark:

There are very few things in this world that cross all religions, races, colors and creeds like beer. Every culture on this planet has a fermented cereal grain beverage that they gather around to celebrate their culture’s rites of passage. Starr Hill is here to fulfill the mission of the celebration of life.

Related links:
Blue Mountain Brewery
Devil's Backbone Brewery

Slow Cooked Pale Ale Spicy Beef

Here's a dish we've made a few times and one that's great for a quick meal after a day at the pool or other Summer activities. You can put the ingredients together, let it slow cook all day, and pull the meal together in about five minutes when you're ready to eat. We used Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale, but any hoppy Pale Ale will work.

• 3-4 lbs. boneless beef chuck roast
• 12 oz. peperoncini
• 14 1/2 oz. beef broth
• 12 ounces hoppy Pale Ale
• 1 package (1 oz.) Italian salad dressing mix
• French bread
• Provolone cheese

Trim the fat from the beef and place in a slow cooker. Remove and discard peperoncini stems. Add peperoncini, beef broth, beer and salad dressing mix to the slow cooker. You can add some of the peperocini juice for added heat if desired. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. When you're ready to eat, use forks to shred the beef and combine the ingredients. Place the beef and pepperoncini mixture on thick sliced French bread and top with provolone cheese. It makes a messy, but tasty sandwich. Serve with, what else, Dale's Pale Ale.

(Adapted from "Cooking with Beer, Publications International, 2005.)

FABTS July Meeting: "American Beers"

Yesterday's gathering of the Fredericksburg Brewing and Tasting Society was "big and brash", and not for the faint of heart. This month's theme was American Beer. The theme could be interpreted in a number of ways. One interpretation was that of beers that are uniquely American, based on ingredients, brewing methods or innovations, including of course, the American trend to imperialize everything. (Of course, some might argue that the entire craft beer movement is an American creation.) The other interpretation used was any beer that had "American" on it's style listing in the BJCP guidelines was fair game. All this latitude made for a long, and highly enjoyable afternoon for the dozen or so participants. All total, we sampled 28 commercial beers and three homebrews.

Kona Wailua Wheat, an American Pale Wheat Ale brewed with passion fruit was the kick off beer. This beer got mixed reviews from participants and was noted to be very good when had fresh on tap at the brewery. Legend Golden Ale was an "out of order" surprise in that, despite the name, turns out actually to be an American Pale Ale. Fiddler's Green Blond Ale, from F.X Matt Brewing was a sleeper that many participants had seen but never tried. A nicely balanced blond ale, it might be a good "intro" beer for new craft beer drinkers. Bosmo's Imperial Cream Ale is a special beer brewed for the American Homebrewers Association meeting in Cincinnati this year. Cream ales are an American creation and this one was smooth with a slightly buttery, malt flavor.

Alaskan Winter Ale, a uniquely American beer brewed with spruce tips was a special treat. The flavor was slightly sweet with spicy, herbal notes, and very drinkable. Avery Ellie's Brown Ale, listed as an American Brown Ale in the 2004 BJCP Guide, though it's closer to an English brown, was well-received. FABTS members are quite generous and often share special beers with the group. Williamsburg AleWorks "400" Ale was one such beer, brewed just once to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of the first Virginia Settlement. Tommyknocker Imperial Nut Brown Ale, a beer I reviewed previously, was well-received. Brewed with maple syrup and certainly "imperial", it definitely qualifies as uniquely American.

The beer that could be said to have kicked of the American craft beer movement, Anchor Steam Beer was up next. Followed by Coney Island Sword Swallower, a new beer to the area. We next ran through a litany of Pale Ales and IPAs including Boston Beer LongShot Grape Pale Ale, Bluegrass Brewing American Pale Ale, Left Hand Jackman's American Pale Ale, Butternuts Porkslap Pale Ale, Butternuts Snapperhead IPA, Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale, Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale, and Flying Dog Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale.

Port Brewing Hop 15, an Imperial IPA, may have been the hit of the day, at least for the hop heads in attendance. This beer exemplifies the term imperial, and is done very well. Hopped to the extreme, but very well balanced and quite drinkable. First brewed for the 15th Anniversary of Port Brewing in Solana Beach, CA, the brewery uses 15 hop varieties in the recipe.

Bell's Two Hearted Ale, Victory HopDevil, Southern Tier Hoppe and Moylan's Hopsickle rounded out the Pale Ale and IPA section of the sampling.

Three barleywines were next on deck. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale, Alaskan Barley Wine and Old Dominion Millennium Ale. The Old Dominion Millenium was previously listed as an American Barleywine by the BJCP Guide (2004) but is now listed as an English Barelywine. It did provide a nice contrast to the two American Barleywines.

The commercial section was concluded with Bell's Kalamazoo Stout and Alaskan Smoked Porter. I'd been eyeing the Alaskan bottle all afternoon, as had others. The smoke aroma and flavor of this beer is very pleasing and is a different flavor profile than other smoked beers, or Rauchbier, that I've had. The brewery smokes the malt over local alder wood and produces this special beer each Fall. That's three Alaskan Brewing beers enjoyed this afternoon. These beers are not available in the East, except by mail order. Did I mention how generous FABTS members were?

We also were treated to three homebrewed beers this afternoon. Dave brought more of his "Applewood Smoked Honey Pumpkin Ale." We've enjoyed this beer several times in the past and it's interesting to see how the beer changes with age. The smokiness level has decreased, and this may be seen as good or bad, depending upon the drinker's opinion of smoked beers. (This drinker enjoys them very much.) Joe brought two beers for us to try. His "English Spoken Here" English IPA was very well-received and quite enjoyable. Finally his "Radiant Copper IPA", an American style IPA was enjoyed.

As usual, thanks go out to our hosts at Kybecca for the meetings space, and donated beers and cheeses, and Angela and James for their usual cheese and cracker platters. Of course, all the members who donated the many beers made the event possible. It was quite an enjoyable, and long afternoon. There was the usual good natured banter and ribbing, but you'll have to come to a meeting to hear about that. I had picked out a couple of special beers to enjoy later in the evening, however after this marathon session, the main thing I enjoyed Saturday evening was a nap!

The next meeting is scheduled for August 9 and the theme will be Meads. Be sure to watch the official FABTS web site for details.

Oxford Organic Raspberry Wheat Beer

Oxford Organic Raspberry Wheat Beer is one half of the Oxford Organic Ales line from Clipper City Brewing. The brewery has reformulated the Oxford line to be certified organic by the MD Department of Agriculture. I had the other beer in the Oxford Organic line, Oxford Class Organic Amber Ale, served from a fresh cask, at the Northern Virginia Summer BrewFest and found it quite enjoyable. I've had mixed experiences with "fruit beers" and tend to avoid them. However, I was still interested in checking out this new beer from Clipper City.

As previously noted, I had a sample of the Raspberry Wheat last week and wanted to try it again. The beer arrived on store shelves in Fredericksburg this week and I picked some up today at Kybecca. The beer is a amber-copper color, the raspberry adding red undertones. A hard pour created a half inch of pure white head that drops to a persistent ring. Raspberry is quite prevalent in the aroma. Hmm, I'm nervous. I don't like fruity beers I tell myself. However, the fruit flavor is subdued in the taste. When I had the previous sample, I noted that I might not pick this out as a fruit beer. Upon getting a larger taste of the beer, I can pick up the fruit notes better, but they're still not overpowering. The flavor also has some very mild banana notes, probably from the use of a Hefeweizen yeast. The mild fruit tartness is followed by a bit of hop bitterness in the finish.

This is a pleasant beer and one that's very refreshing on a hot day. It's light (not lite) and goes does easily. I can see enjoying this after (or while) working in the yard. I'm beginning to think that the appellation "fruit beer" is misleading. I tend to think sweet and syrupy when I think of "fruit beers". However Oxford Organic Raspberry Wheat Beer joins a few other beers I've had, such as Dogfish Head Aprihop, that use fruit to enhance, not change, the flavors in the beer. My favorite beers from Clipper City remain their Heavy Seas line, however the Oxford Organic line adds some moderation to the brewery's lineup by presenting refreshing, balanced beers for those times when big beers aren't warranted.

Weekend Beer Tastings

In addition to the tastings listed below, don't forget the FABTS meeting on Saturday for a great opportunity to sample an array of "American beer", the theme of the month. Details here.

Friday, July 11 - 5:00 - 8:00pm
Total Wine
Friday 5 @ 5 Beer Tasting:
Magic Hat Circus Boy, Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale, Mackeson’s Triple Stout, Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale, DAB Original

Friday, July 11 - 5:30 - 8:00pm
Virginia Wine Experience, Fredericksburg
Beer Tasting:
2001 J.W. Lee's Vintage Harvest Ale, 2002 J.W. Lee's Vintage Harvest Ale, Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen

Saturday, July 12 - 12:00 - 5:00 pm
Kybecca
Beer Tastings in 2 Locations:
William Street (Downtown):
German Wheat Beers! Schneider Weiss, Ayinger Ur-Weisse Dunkel, plus 1st customer chooses 3rd beer
Plank Road (Next to Ukrops)
Hambleton Nightmare Yorkshire Porter, Orkney Brewing Company Dark Island, plus 1st customer chooses 3rd beer

Every Saturday, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
Blue & Gray Brewery
Beer samples and brewery tours

Please support the folks who bring us these events. Let them know there is an active craft beer community in the area. When you attend any of these events, tell us about it in the comments, and be sure to let the proprietor know you heard about it here.
Have something to add? Let me know, my contact information is here.

Another beer fest in the works for Virginia - Updated

From the DC-Beer mailing list comes word of another beer festival being organized in Virginia. Jason Oliver sent word to Gregg Wiggins, who in turn shared with the list:

Nelson County is having their first Spirit of Red, White, & Brew Festival Saturday August 30th. It will be a small wine / beer/ music festival hosted at our village of Glen Mary. While DBBC will not be up and running I will be doing brewery tours at that time. The single malt distillery who will be building in Nelson may have a booth with his Eades Double Malt depending on the VABC. This is the first of what will be an annual festival celebrating the spirit, beer, wine, and local bounty of Nelson County. As of now I want to invite Starr Hill and Blue Mountain. I will have to check to see if I can get other breweries, and if so I would love to have South Street, Cally's, and the new breweries in Floyd and Winchester.

As you'll remember, Jason recently left Gordon Biersch to move to Nelson County to open the The Devil's Backbone Brewery & Pub. Jason is wasting no time in sharing his love of beer with his new neighbors. No details on the festival plans to be found online yet, but we'll certainly be watching for more news as the date gets closer.

Update from Jason: The festival has been pushed back to November. This change is to avoid a conflict with the Wintergreen Winery festival Labor Day weekend, and to give time to recruit more Virginia breweries to participate. Jason has some great ideas on making the festival work for both Virginia breweries AND wineries. Most importantly, the Devil's Backbone Brewery & Pub is planned to be open at that time and it will be a great kick off.

"No beer, no civilization"

So says George F. Will in his Washington Post column, "Survival of the Sudsiest". Referencing Steven Johnson's book, "The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic -- and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World", Will writes about the relationship between urbanization and beer consumption, and survival.

"The search for unpolluted drinking water is as old as civilization itself. As soon as there were mass human settlements, waterborne diseases like dysentery became a crucial population bottleneck. For much of human history, the solution to this chronic public-health issue was not purifying the water supply. The solution was to drink alcohol."

Often the most pure fluid available was alcohol -- in beer and, later, wine -- which has antibacterial properties. Sure, alcohol has its hazards, but as Johnson breezily observes, "Dying of cirrhosis of the liver in your forties was better than dying of dysentery in your twenties." Besides, alcohol, although it is a poison, and an addictive one, became, especially in beer, a driver of a species-strengthening selection process.
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To avoid dangerous water, people had to drink large quantities of, say, beer. But to digest that beer, individuals needed a genetic advantage that not everyone had -- what Johnson describes as the body's ability to respond to the intake of alcohol by increasing the production of particular enzymes called alcohol dehydrogenases. This ability is controlled by certain genes on chromosome four in human DNA, genes not evenly distributed to everyone. Those who lacked this trait could not, as the saying goes, "hold their liquor." So, many died early and childless, either of alcohol's toxicity or from waterborne diseases.

The gene pools of human settlements became progressively dominated by the survivors -- by those genetically disposed to, well, drink beer. "Most of the world's population today," Johnson writes, "is made up of descendants of those early beer drinkers, and we have largely inherited their genetic tolerance for alcohol."

The health benefits of beer are frequently reported, and debated. However Johnson takes it a step further and ties the survival of civilization to the consumption of alcohol. The obvious jokes aside, this is an interesting and thought provoking postulation.

George Will's complete column is here. Johnson's book "The Ghost Map" can be found on Amazon.

FABTS Meeting This Weekend

The next meeting of the Fredericksburg Area Brewing and Tasting Society is this Saturday, July 12. Mark your calendars now as this promises be an interesting tasting session.

Since July is traditionally American Beer Month, the July theme will be "American Ales". If the style name has "American" in it, it counts. American Wheat, American Pale Ale, American Amber Ale, American Brown Ale, American Stout, American IPA, and American Barleywine are all included. In addition to commercial brews, home brews of any style are welcome and often brought in by members for sharing.

The monthly meetings are held at Kybecca on Plank Road in the Ukrops shopping center. Meetings start at 1:30 PM and end when all the beers have been tasted. There's a minimal $5.00 tasting fee, to keep the alcohol revenuers happy. Beers are donated by members. For more information see the FABTS website. You can also read about some previous FABTS meetings here. FABTS meetings are always a lot of fun, informal, and a great learning experience. I hope to see you there!