Monthly Archives: October 2012

Screens N Suds And Hardywood Release The Quadrawine

Credit: Nick Walthall

Screens N Suds and Hardywood are set to release their Quadrawine on Thursday November 1st at a preview event starting at 5pm.  Quadrawine is Hardywood’s first barrel aged blend release brewed in collaboration with Screens N Suds with screen printed labels by Richmond’s Itty Bitty Press.  This extremely limited beer will be sampled Thursday night at Hardywood; bottles will be sold at Gallery 5 during Screen N Suds’ QUAD.

The small scale batch resulted yielded two 1/6 kegs and over seventy 750mL  bottles.  Corked, caged and numbered Quadrawine (13% ABV, 60 IBU) bottles will be on sale at Gallery 5 Saturday November 3rd.  Bottles will be $40 each (limit 1bottle/person) with 100% of the proceeds benefiting MS Society.

In addition to tasters of Quadrawine, here’s the tentative beer list for Saturday’s Gallery 5 event:

Virginia Breweries
Devils Backbone: Vienna Lager, Kilt Flasher
Legend: Chocolate Porter, Brown
Starr Hill: Cryptical, Northern Lights
Hardywood Park: Singel, Quadrawine, Farmhouse Pumpkin
Midnight: Rockville Red
Wolf Hills: Wolf’s Den Double IPA
O’Connor – Mild Child
Blue Mountain: Full Nelson, Mandolin, TBD
St. George: IPA cask, Pilsner

National Breweries
Terrapin: Monk’s Revenge, Rye Pale Ale
Dogfish Head: 60 Minute IPA, Palo Santo Marron
New Belgium: Tart Lychee, Snow Day, Fat Tire
Sierra Nevada: Celebration, Estate

 

Don’t Let FrankenStorm Ruin Your Plans, Have Beer Brunch At Home

Hurricane Sandy AKA Frankenstorm has upended a lot of events that were planned for this weekend.  With Secco’s Beer Brunch and GRAZE on Grace both postponed, it’d be easy to let the abysmal weather ruin  any potential fun.

While you’re out shopping for essentials, don’t forget the beer.  To replicate Secco’s plans, I’d look for Founder’s Breakfast Stout but porters or even a good pumpkin beer would work well.

Now that you have the beer, it’s time to get on with brunch.  I can’t plan your entire meal but I can at least get you started with a few waffle recipes.  Grab a pumpkin beer and try my pumpkin beer waffles; using a stout or porter in the recipe could be interesting as well.  Or maybe you remember these Hardywood Mocha Belgique Waffles; Breakfast Stout would be great in these as well.

Now for a bit of a remix of the two recipes. I’m calling these my FrankenBeer Waffles. Give them a try.

FrankenBeer Waffles

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 large eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup porter/stout beer
1/2 cup pumpkin beer
3/4 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Directions

Sift dry ingredients except sugar into large bowl.  Whisk sugar into sifted flour mixture.

Combine wet ingredients including pumpkin into small bowl.

Add wet to dry ingredients and whisk to combine but do not over mix.

Heat waffle iron.  Cook waffles according to iron instruction.

Yield: 4 Belgian waffles.

Have You RSVPed To Hardywood’s Anniversary Party?

Hardywood’s First Anniversary Party is this Saturday October 27th.  So far the Facebook event has only 300 people attending plus another hundred maybes.  I think those numbers are a lot lower than they should be.  Out of the 7593 people that like Hardywood on Facebook, only 400 know they might want to be there to celebrate one year? 

Come on Richmond, you voted them the best local brewery on Richmond.com.  Yes, the current weather forecast is mostly rain and clouds but how many times have you known what looked like it would be a crappy day turn into a gorgeous day for being outside drinking beer. 

Maybe you can’t make Saturday at all. Then you should know Hardywood has extended the celebration to three days starting with tonight’s Fall Food Truckober Festival.  Attendance looks low on this as well but the awesome weather we have been having these past few nights will continue today.  Yes, I know we are in the middle of restaurant week; even I had a hard time choosing between the two options.  With the food truck court extending into the next parking lot and a beer truck onsite, I think this will be where I end up most likely eating some Dixie Chicken.

Update with draft list from Hardywood:

Barleywine aged 16 weeks on 18 year old Bowman’s “Abraham Bourbon Barrels”….
Hoplar aged 14 weeks on 18 year old Bowman’s “Abraham Bourbon Barrels”
Milk Stout aged on 6 weeks on 4 year old Bowman’s bourbon barrels.
Pretty In Pink Saison, a collaboration between brewer Rachael Cardwell and Lost Rhino Brewing Co.
Raspberry Stout with vanilla
Farmhouse Pumpkin Ale
Hardywood Singel
Saison Rustica
Belgian DIPA
Brian’s Barrel Blend No. 1

**We are only able to offer growler fills on Hardywood Singel and Saison Rustica today and tomorrow. Take home any Hardywood draft in a single serving mason jar!**

If that’s not enough, Firkin Friday has been turned into an epic night of fundraising for Nectar’s OnBoard Project and Justin Caskey, a local two time cancer survivor, amputee, and athlete.  They will be raffling off gift packs from sponors such as Hardywood, Boka Tako, Lady Nawlins, Olio, City Dogs and more. 

Okay Richmond, with three nights to choose from, I hope I see the 7593 Hardywood lovers come out in force.  Go ahead and RSVP while you’re at it. 

Sunday Funday Pumpkin Tap Takeover At The Camel

While I’m still in New York until Monday,I’m kind of bummed I’ll miss the start of The Camel’s pumpkin tap takeover tonight, Sunday October 14th.  They are adding  celebration by sampling new menu items such fried oysters, fish tacos, and more.   

Here are the beers they will be tapping at 5pm:

Dogfish Punkin
Southern Tier Pumking
Schlafly Pumpkin
Smuttynose Pumpkin
Hardywood Farmhouse Pumpkin
Weyerbacher Pumpkin
Terrapin Pumpkinfest
Heavy Seas Great Pumpkin
Brooklyn Post Road Pumpkin

Enjoy your Sunday Fundday!

Screens N Suds Belgo-American Beer Dinner

To start off the celebration of their fourth year raising money to fight Multiple Sclerosis, Screens N Suds has teamed with TJ’s at the Jefferson to host a Belgo-American Beer Dinner tomorrow Friday October 12th starting at 7pm.
MENU
First Course
Roasted Fall Apple with Rabbit Mousse, Walnut Pangani Crisp
Leffe Blond & Hardywood Singel

Second Course
Savory Tiramisu: Pork Cheeks, Parsnip Mousse, Maredsous Roasted Root Vegetables, Pork Rind Coco
Maredsous Brune & Flying Dog Disobedience Dubbel

Third Course
Fennel Roasted Branzino with Coriander Spaetzle, Tomato Vermouth Nage
Bosteels Tripel Karmeleit & The Bruery Tradewinds Tripel

Fourth Course
Homemade Fig Newton with Blue Cheese Ice Cream, Salted Caramel
De Dochter van de Korenaar Embrasse & Ommegang Three Philosophers

The cost for the dinner is $50/person plus tax and gratuity. Tax and Gratuity.  A portion of the dinner proceeds and all of Screens ‘n’ Suds sales will benefit MS Society Central Virginia Chapter and Virginia Association of Free Clinics.

Dinner starts at 7pm. For reservations or more information, call TJ’s at (804) 649-4672 or email jonathan.kibiloski@jeffersonhotel.com. Cheers!

TJ’s at the Jefferson
101 W. Franklin St.
Richmond, VA 23220
(804) 649-4672

Goose Island Madame Rose Hitting Richmond Today

I always have to debate whether to share information anytime I find out about a new beer coming to our market.  This is especially true for beers with limited availability that I may not have the time to run out and get.

Goose Island’s Madame Rose is just such a beer.  Available in 22oz bottles, Madame Rose is a Belgian style brown ale fermented with a wild yeast strain and aged on cherries in wine barrels.  You have no idea how much I want to try this beer.  Alas, I need to travel and still have packing and rooms to find.

So today is your lucky day.  I know where you can go to get the beer today if it sounds good to you. Here they are:

Ellwood Thompson
4 N. Thompson St.
Richmond VA 23221

Shield’s Market
206 North Shields Ave
Richmond, VA 23220

Total Wine
8099 West Broad St.
Richmond, VA 23294

Total Wine
10036 Robious Rd.
Richmond, VA 23235

Go. Enjoy!

Journey to Center of the Universe Brewing

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A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit Center of the Universe Brewing in Ashland, VA.  Brothers Chris and Phil Ray along with head brewer Mike Killelea lead Edmond Medina (@va_beergeek; read his take here) and myself on a tour of the site with our first stop being the 60 seat tasting room with a freshly finished bar and one prototype tap handle. It’s a pretty awesome looking taphandle!

With the recently installed fermentors and bright tanks in place, the only thing that was missing from main brewhouse was their 15 barrel brew system. Although it was delivered the next morning, it will take some time to get it fully installed and tested.

Once COTU is up and running what type of beers can you expect to see from them.   I can’t tell you exactly but here are a few tidbits:

  • Hanover water quality perfect for delicate styles
  • German & English malts were have been received
  • Non filtered beers
  • Targeting four year round beers; pale ale & IPA (possibly West Coast style) vying for first two slots
  • Access to family farm to source hops, pumpkins, and maybe tomatoes. Yes, I’ve warmed to the idea of a tomato beer.
  • Homefront IPA for Chris Ray’s charity Hops for Heroes available Memorial Day 2013.  COTU joins Cigar City, Perennial Artisan Ales, Fremont, SlyFox, St. Arnold’s, and 21st Amendment breweries to make this a nationwide effort.  Proceeds from each beer goes to local Operation Homefront chapter.

At the end of the day, COTU has a lot going for them.  Chris and Phil have an endless amount of enthusiasm for taking their love of homebrewing to craft brewing.  Mike Killelea praised the brothers for their well developed homebrew recipes that we may see in some form. 

Center of the Universe Brewing will open their doors in November.  I encourage you to take a trip up and check them out.  For now, Like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter for announcements and pictures detailing their progress.

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