Heading out to the inaugural Tap into Virginia Cask Festival today, Saturday, April 21st, at the Downtown Capital Ale House Music Hall. Here are my personal first six picks:

• Hardywood Park Craft Brewery — Bourbon Barrel Quad Yes you could wait to get it next weekend but why wait?!
• Mad Fox Brewing  — Wee Heavy Scotch AleNot available in Richmond; you’d have to drive up to NoVA to have anymore of their great beers.
• Devils Backbone Brewing — 1)Wit Bier – 4.5% ABV, 15 IBU  Belgian-style witbier that is hazy straw in color, light in body, with a refreshing fruity spicy finish. Spiced with coriander, orange peel, szechuan peppercorn, and brewed with an aromatic Belgian yeast strain to create a complex yet delicate wheat ale.  2) White Stag IPA – 7.0% ABV, 50 IBU’s.  A wheat IPA that blends aspects of American IPA’s, British IPA’s, and wheat ales . Brewed with 4 types of malted & un-malted wheat, kettle hopped with both American and English hops, and dry hopped with East Kent Goldings to create a beer that’s uniquely its own. Choose between two Devils Backbone beers? Not going to happen.
• O’Connor Brewing — Great Dismal Black IPA –  infused with “Old Havana Cuban Coffee Blend” from Virginia Espresso in Norfolk, chocolate and vanilla bean.  ABV- 8%. A personal favorite so of course it’s here.
• Wild Wolf Brewing — Tom Tom Founders Festival Ale — White IPA with extreme citrus and tropical hop notes added to the flavor of a traditional belgian wit, dry hopped with a pound of cascade. The brew used more than 60 pounds of local VA wildflower honey.  70IBU 5.5% ABV White IPAs are a very new style so I’m looking forward to trying this one from another Nelson county brewery. 

Have fun out there!