Author Archives for rvabeermeister

Boulevard Brewing June Launch Events In The River City

Boulevard-Brewing-logo-2012Boulevard Brewing hit the Richmond area in a few retail stores last week but the month of June is when the real fun starts.  Here is some basic event information to get you started on where to go.

Monday 3rd

Commercial Taphouse Kick Off Event — 5pm

Commercial will welcome Boulevard to Richmond by tapping three of their kegs:

Double Wide DIPA
Tank 7 Saison
80-Acre Hoppy Wheat

They will also have some special bottles.

Tuesday 4th

Whole Foods Short Pump Boulevard Night — 3 – 6pm

Whole Foods will be running a special on Boulevard beers from 3- 6pm including some half price growlers

Wednesday 5th

Mekong Release Party — 5pm

Boulevard comes to the #1 craft beer bar with three draft and two extra special bottles.  Here is what they will have:

Draft
Double Wide DIPA
Tank 7 Saison
80-Acre Hoppy Wheat

Bottles
Saison Brett
6th Glass Quad

Thursday 6th

Capital Ale House Boulevard Launch Party — 5pm

All three Richmond Cap Ale  locations will host a Boulevard Brewing Steal the Glass Night. Come out and try some of the beers crafty enough to rate a 100% on Beer Advocate

The Big Payback, a James Brown tribute band will take the Downtown Music Hall stage at 7pm for some live booty shakin’ music sure to make you feel good. No cover charge!

Friday 7th:

Friday Cheers — 6pm

Boulevard beers will be available to the public at Friday Cheers starting this week.

Beer Sampling @ Once Upon a Vine North — 5 – 8pm

Saturday 8th:

Beer Bourbon and BBQ Festival

It is only natural to serve beer brewed in a barbecue town.  Chances Kansas City style barbecue wins the day?

Beer Sampling @ Total Wine West Broad

Tuesday 11th:

Sedona Taphouse Tap Takeover & Steal the Pint Night — 5pm

Friday 14th:

Beer Sampling @ Total Wine Robious Rd

Tuesday 18th:

Fat Dragon Beer Dinner — 6:30pm

UPDATE:

This just in from Fat Dragon:  

Tuesday, June 18th at 6:30, we will welcome Boulevard Brewing to Richmond. New to town, this Kansas City brewery has achieved worldwide acclaim. Since The Fat Dragon is on the Boulevard, we thought it fitting to host a dinner with their incredible beers. Look for classic styled IPA’s like their “Single & Double Wide IPA’s” and big Belgian flavor found in their “Sixth Glass”.  $50 per person.

Not a lot of details on this other than the date but I’m sure you are going to want to get in on this.  So call (804) 354-9888 and make your reservation now.

Catch Candemonium with Center of the Universe Brewing Today

I was able to sneak in a visit to COTU Brewing as they canned Ray Ray’s Pale Ale with Old Dominion Mobile Canning. If you listen closely, you can hear co-founder Chris Ray describe part of the process. Cans of Ray Ray’s and Main St Ale will be available at the brewery today June 1st from 3 – 9pm. You will also be able to find them in Richmond area shops very soon.

Bourbon Stout Day Tonight At Hardywood

Hardywood Bourbon Stouts1UPDATE: So I did hear one of the last barrels wrong. The last two distilleries have been revealed as Bowman’s and Heaven Hills. Growler fills from 8-9pm! 

Head over to Hardywood tonight  Friday May 31st at 5pm as they tap seven Russian  Imperial Stouts that have been aged in bourbon barrels from seven different distilleries .  Pick your favorite bourbon or try them all in a flight.  Five of the seven barrels that have been revealed thus far include:

Four Roses
Maker’s Mark
Wild Turkey
Jim Beam
Stitzel Weller

The last two barrels are due to be unveiled this morning on Hardywood’s Facebook page  but I’m hearing one of them may be a Reservoir barrel. Learn more at the Facebook event here.

(Recipe) Beer Brats and Online Farmer’s Markets

I’ll be doing a similar recipe tonight but this one sounds tasty as well.

Toriano's "La Buena Vida"'s avatarLa Buena Vida

Beer and Brats

If you check this blog out at all you are well aware that I am all about hitting up the area’s farmer’s markets and using the ingredients to make recipes. Now I am not going to sit here and act like I have been on farmer’s markets for years before it seemed like the cool thing to do. I am not going to lie; a couple of years ago, my idea of a farmer’s market was Food Lion. As far as I was concerned it was a market and they had shit that came from a farm too right? RIGHT! So what caused the change? Well I am also not going to besmirch myself and say its my desire to save the earth because I work on an oil rig and was rolling around in Florida last month in a gas guzzling convertible with the A/C on (true story) so…

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Taste the Secrets of Strangeways This Saturday

Strangeways Brewing Sticker001Strangeways Brewing released a note on their Facebook page detailing their rollout this Saturday May 25th starting at noon.  Before you ask, I have no idea which beer styles are represented by Secret Batches 1 & 2.

Here you go:

Strangeways Brewing’s RVA Bar Crawl Starts at Noon This Saturday!

Come out and taste Secret Batch 1 and Secret Batch 2 of RVA’s Newest…….Strangeways Brewing!

The beers will be available on draft at ALL of these fine establishments starting at Noon unless otherwise listed:

  • Capital  Alehouse (ALL 3 RVA Locations/Downtown; Innsbrook; Midlothian)
  • Mekong
  • Mellow Mushroom
  • Sedona Taphouse
  • Joe’s Inn
  • Station 2
  • Sine
  • Don’t Look Back
  • Portrait House
  • Burger Bach
  • Tarrant’s
  • Olio
  • City Dogs-Fan
  • Sergio’s
  • Extra Billy’s
  • TJ’s (3:00)
  • Commercial Taphouse (4:00)
  • Comfort (4:00)
  • Fat Dragon (4:30)
  • Popkin Tavern (4:30)
  • Saison (5:00)
  • The Camel (5:00)
  • Rappahannock (5:00)
  • Blue Goat (5:30)

A.F.M. says, “Come Join the Troop”

Read more about the history behind Strangeways from Richmond.com here.

Three Places To Get COTU Homefront IPA This Memorial Day Weekend

COTU Homefront IPA1Yesterday, Center of the Universe released details about where you can try their edition of Homefront IPA leading up to this Memorial Day weekend starting Thursday May 23rd at the Flying Squirrels game at The Diamond.  Baltimore Orioles closer Jim Johnson will serve as Hops for Heroes‘ ambassador for Homefront IPA and will be in attendance at the game as well.  Here is the posting from their blog; one of those bats might make someone a nice Father’s Day gift:

We’ve got a great line-up of patriotic events leading up to Memorial Day to celebrate the release of Homefront IPA!

Homefront IPA is a West Coast style IPA, brewed with orange peel and aged on Louisville Slugger bats donated by none other than Louisville Slugger. After the beer is brewed, the bats will be dried and auctioned off. 100% of the proceeds for the beer and the auctioned off bats will go to Operation Homefront. Last year, with the help of 6 participating breweries and other organizations that donated the hops and grains used to make the beer, Hops for Heroes (the name of the organization in charge of planning and coordinating everything for Homefront IPA) was able to raise $165,000 dollars for Operation Homefront. [Read more about the beer here].

Because this beer is baseball themed, we’re releasing it on Thursday, May 23rd at the Flying Squirrels stadium in Richmond followed by a tasting on Friday at Whole Foods and an official party at COTU on Saturday. Here is our line-up of events.

Homefront IPA Release at the Diamond

Date: Thursday, May 23rd
Time: game starts at 6:00 pm
Location: The Diamond, 3001 N. Boulevard

Details: Homefront IPA will be on tap at the Taste the Local stand. There are also fireworks scheduled for that night, and there will be some military presence to help celebrate. [More details here]

Homefront IPA BBQ and tasting at Whole Foods

Date: Friday, May 24th
Time: 4pm-7pm
Location: Whole Foods Glen Allen, 11173 W Broad St

Details: Meet us at Whole Foods for BBQ, live music and a Homefront IPA tasting. Bottles of Homefront IPA will be available for purchase that day. More details here.

Homefront IPA Party at COTU

Date: Saturday, May 25th
Time: 4pm-9pm
Location: Center of the Universe Brewing Company, 11293 Air Park Rd.

Details: Live music from Tristan Thorndyke and his band, and food trucks (Curbside Creations and Slideways Mobile Bistro).

Homefront IPA is a collaborative beer brewed for the sole purpose of giving back. All of the ingredients needed to brew Homefront IPA, as well as bottles, labels, tap handles, and other supplies were graciously donated. This beer is being brewed by a total of 9 breweries nationwide and 100% of the proceeds will go to local chapters of Operation Homefront – a military charity that gives back to military families in need.

Want to know the story behind Homefront IPA and the other 8 breweries participating? Check out the Hops for Heroes website here.

American Craft Beer Week RVA 2013: Tastings

American Craft Beer Week is so huge this year, I am now on my fourth post just to get the details out.  Here is where you can sample your way through the week. 

Libbie Market

Libbie Market will have a special tasting Wednesday May 15th to celebrate the release of Hardywood Cream Ale cans from 4:30 – 7PM.  If Libbie Market can get 50 people to confirm they will attend tasting on Facebook, they will break out some beloved Hardywood Reserve Series and Barrel Series releases for the event as well.  Maybe some Gingerbread Stout?

Total Wine W Broad

Total Wine on West Broad will be sampling beer throughout the week.  Here is their schedule:

Monday May 13th
4:30-6:30PM — Sierra Nevada tasting with rep Scott pouring Summerfest CANS, Kellerweis, Pale Ale, Torpedo, Southern Hemisphere and Hoptimum
4 – 7PM — Smuttynose tasting. Luke from Specialty will pour Summer Weizen, Old Brown Dog, IPA, and Noonan Black IPA.

Tuesday May 14th — 5-7PM
Flying Fish Richmond Kickoff with rep Andy Newell (all the way from Jersey, folks!)
Breckenridge tasting with rep Drew

Wednesday May 15th — Big day with three brewery heads in one place!
4-7PM — Starr Hill tasting & Meet the Brewer with founder Mark Thompson 5-6PM
5-7PM — Legend tasting with founder and owner Tom Martin 5-7pm
6:30-7:30PM — Hardywood Park Cream Ale cans debut with co-founder and co-owner Eric McCay


Thursday May 16th  – 4-7PM –Another big day with two brewery heads in the house! 
Salem, VA’s Parkway Brewing Kickoff with founder and owner Keno
O’Connor Brewing tasting with founder and owner Kevin O’Connor
Bell’s tasting with rep Greg

Friday May 17th — 4-7PM
DC Brau tasting
Flying Dog new canned beer tasting

Saturday May 18th
12 – 3PM — New Belgium – Let’s play the Belgian game Rolle Bolle and taste the new Rolle Bolle beer plus others with rep Julie
12 – 2PM — Finch’s Beer Co. tasting
3 – 5PM — Blue Mountain tasting

Total Wine
8099 W Broad St
Richmond, VA 23294
(804) 935-7750

American Craft Beer Week RVA 2013: Tap Takeovers, Firkin Nights, & Tappings

There will be a lot of tap takeovers as Richmond celebrates American Craft Beer Week May 13 – 19.  I’m still in the process of gathering details on a lot of items but here is what I have so far.  As always, I recommend you bookmark this page to check back for updates.

Monday May 13th

Pins for the Win — 5pm

In lieu of the normal pin crawl, it seems Taste the Local is going for a more choose your own adventure type of night with Virginia beer pin tappings at three special locations.  All pins will be tapped at 5pm:

Update: Joe’s will tap thier pin at 6:30pm; this should make it easier on folks trying to enjoy all three pins.

5PM — Commercial Taphouse — Hardywood Belgian DIPA with Amarillo hops
6:30PM — Joe’s Inn in the Fan — Legend Hopfest with Centennial hops, sweet orange peel, & Reservoir bourbon chips. Filled by Matt & Ben.
5PM — The Camel — Three Brothers Oatmeal Stout with coffee & maple syrup

$2.50 Pints at Popkin

Every night of American Craft Beer Week, you will be able to enjoy $2.50 pints at Popkin Tavern all night long.

Parkway Brewing RVA Launch at Capital Ale House Innsbrook

Salem, Virginia’s Parkway Brewing will make their Richmond debut at Cap Ale Innsbrook with tappings of their Bridge Builder Blonde and Get Bent Mountain IPA.

New Belgium at Buffalo Wild Wings VA Center

Buffalo Wild Wings VA Center Commons location will be featuring New Belgium all week where they will have Rampant Imperial IPA, Ranger IPA, and Fat Tire on tap. 

Tuesday May 14th

Anchor 80’s Night at Station 2

Head over to Station 2 for 80’s music and costumes as they tap beers from Anchor Brewing, America’s first craft brewery.. Beers on draft will include:

Anchor Steam Beer (California Common)
Anchor Liberty Ale (American IPA)
Anchor Brekle’s Brown (American Brown Ale)
Anchor Summer Beer (American Pale Wheat Ale)

Check out the Facebook event for more information.

Heavy Seas Night at Tarrant’s Cafe — 5PM

A night of Heavy Seas beers featuring Ellen Boucher’s firkin of Peg Leg Imperial Stout with cherry, vanilla, coconut, and coffee beans.

Tarrant’s will also be tapping the following Heavy Seas beers:

Black Canon IPA
Holy Sheet – Belgian Dubbel aged in Brandy barrels. Tarrant’s has two of the four kegs in Richmond.

Williamsburg Alewerks at Sedona Taphouse — 5PM

Head over to Midlothian as Sedona taps some Williamsburg Alewerks beers and take home a glass. 

Update: Alwerks’ head brewer Geoff Logan will be hanging out at Sedona tonight as they tap the following beers:

Coffeehouse Stout
Cafe Royale
Colonial Wheat
Drake Tail IPA
Chesepeake Pale Ale
Firkin of Coffeehouse Stout with cocoa

Flying Dog Tap Takeover at O’Banks — 5PM

O’Banks in Hanover  will host a tap takeover of Flying Dog beer featuring:

Green Tea Imperial Stout
Kujo Coffee Stout
Snake Dog IPA
Underdog Atlantic Lager
Woody Creek Belgian White

O’Banks Cafe
10392 Leadbetter Rd  
Ashland, VA 23005
(804) 550-3888

Wednesday May 15th

Local Suds Night at Sine Irish Pub — 5PM

Register for this event here.

Devils Backbone Tap Invasion at Can Can — 5PM

Brewpub only releases plus a special firkin

Update: Devils Backbone is the featured brewery of the night at Can Can Brasserie.  They will have a special unfiltered Vienna Lager pin with cocoa nibs, cinnamon sticks, vanilla bean, Oak chips, and Czech Saaz hops. Here is their draft and bottle selection for the night:

Draft
Congo Pale Ale
Vienna Lager
Wood-Aged Kilt Flasher

Bottles
Dark Abby
Azrael
Eight Point IPA
Schwartz Bier
Striped Bass Pale Ale Cans!

Starr Hill ‘Steal the Glass’ at Capital Ale House — 6:30PM

Capital Ale House will feature Starr Hill for a Steal the Glass night at all of their locations with Grateful Pale and Whiter Shade of Pale on tap.  Meet brewer and owner Mark Thompson at the downtown location at 6:30. 

Thursday May 16th

Cheers to the Firkin Weekend with Hardywood at Station 2 — 5pm

Goose Island Night at Fat Dragon — 5pm

Richmond debut of Sofie Paradisi  along with the rest of the vintage ales

Friday May 17th

COTU Oak Battle at Mekong — 5pm

Center of the Universe taps some of their oak offerings Friday nigght at Mekong.

Oaky Pokey — Oak Aged Pocahoptus
Oak Aged Crazy Bet
Crazy Oaky Pokey

American Craft Beer Week RVA 2013: Beer Dinners

Richmond will celebrate American Craft Beer Week May 13 – 19 with three beer dinners.  And these are just the ones I have counted thus far.  Check out the details below and bookmark this page for updates

Tuesday May 14th

Devils Backbone Progressive Beer Dinner — 5:30pm CANCELED: Hopefully to be rescheduled for VA Craft Beer Month in August

Join Devils Backbone for Richmond’s first Progressive Beer Dinner.  Launching from Popkin Tavern, we will be strolling though the Arts District and dining on delectable delights at five different locations. Your palate will be dazzled along the way with artfully selected beer and food pairings. We hope that you will join us for this one of a kind event.

MENU

Popkin Tavern
Shared Appetizers
Maibock – Spring Lager

Rappahannock Restaurant
Poached Golden Tilefish with Spring Onions, English Peas, & Kumquat Agra-dulce
Belgian Wit

Saison
Tamarind Pork Tamales with Maracuya/Mulatto Chile Sauce
Tasmanian Pale Ale

Pasture
Mixed Fry of Clams, Pickles, and Okra with Red Slaw and Tartar Sauce
Ale of Fergus

Gallery 5
Carytown Cupcakes Assorted Cupcake Buffet
Tectonic Barleywine

Tickets for the dinner are $60/person and can be purchased online here.  Head over to the Facebook event for more information.

Friday May 17th

Hardywood Beer Dinner at Olio in the Fan — 6:30PM

UPDATE: The cost for this dinner is $50/person which includes taxes but not gratuity. 

Charity Rye Beer Dinner at TJs at the Jefferson — 7PM

TJ’s teams up with Greg Self from Whole Foods for a Charity Rye Dinner benefitting the Whole Planet Foundation.  Take a look at the menu.

Charity Rye Beer Dinner Menu 051713001

The cost for the dinner is  $55/person plus tax and tip.  Call TJ’s at (804) 649-4672 or email jonathan.kibiloski@jeffersonhotel.com for more information or reservations. Head over to the Facebook event for more details.

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

American Craft Beer Week RVA 2013: Festivals & Parties

American Craft Beer Week officially runs from May 13th to 19th but as in years past Richmond will start the party early.  Here are some details on festivals and parties happening during the week.  Bookmark this page and check back for updates.

Saturday May 11th

Virginia Hops and Barley Fest

The third annual Virginia Hops & Barley Festival will feature over 30 Virginia craft beers.  Tickets are $15/person in advance or $20/person at door if available and include unlimited sampling of all the beers. VIP tickets are $45/person and include:

Parking
Food
Specialty Collectable Glass
Tented Area
Complimentary Beverages
Private Restrooms

Designated driver tickets will be sold at the gate.

Order tickets here.  Want to win tickets? Local Suds is giving away a pair.  All you have to do is leave a comment on their Facebook page telling them what you like about their mobile app.

UPDATE:

Pins available at the festival:

  • Hardywood Capital Trail Pale Ale
  • Legend Pale with Cascade & Chinook hops

Take a look at the beer list:

Hardywood – RVA                                O’Connor – Norfolk
Twilight Weiss                                       Great Dismal Black IPA
Saison Rustica                                      Spyhop White IPA

Devils Backbone – Lexington                 Starr Hill – Crozet
Schwartz Bier                                        Grateful Pale
Reilly’s Red                                           Double Platinum

Bold Rock – Nellysford                           Legend – RVA
VA Draft Cider                                        Urban Legend Series Lost City Saison
VA Apple Cider                                      Legend Hefeweizen

James River – Scottsville                       Apocalypse Ale Works – Lynchburg
Rock Island Red Ale                               Hopocalypse Imperial Red
Packet Boat Porter                                Golden Censor Belgian Pale

3 Brothers – Harrisonburg                       Extra Billy’s – RVA
Brathair Scottish Ale                              Billy’s Brown Ale
Great Outdoors Pale                              Hoptrick IPA

Midnight – Goochland
New Beginning Kolsch
Not My Job Brown Ale
(Backed up with Head First Pale)

Truck Beers
Bull & Bones Lunch Pale
Wolf Hills Trooper IPA
Roanoke Railhouse Track 1
Big Daddy Sunshine Wheat
Big Daddy Hopdog IPA
Mad Fox Defender American Pale Ale

Plus a few surprises!!
http://www.vabeerfest.com/

.Check out the Facebook event here.

Saturday May 18th

Midnight Brewery First Anniversary — 1PM

Midnight Brewery Anniversary 051813

James River Homebrewers 30th Anniversary — 6PM

JRHB will celebrate their 30th anniversary at Legend Saturday night.  While it is a private party, there is nothing stopping you from heading to Legend to raise a glass to one of the oldest homebrew clubs in the country.

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