Hardywood’s Nick Danger Walthall is in the running as one of the best beards in craft beer through CraftBeer.com.
Credit: CraftBeer.com
Head over and like Nick’s photo on Facebook to push him on to the finals. Who knows, soon we may have another #1 title to add to Richmond’s tally.
Richmond is truly turning into such a wonderful beer town. Here I am coming off the meaty-ale high that was the Beer & Charcuterie pairing at The Room at Secco Wine Bar.
Yes, it was all delicious. It us events like this that can make it difficult to pick and choose between all the different beer, live music, and theatre events that are readily abundant and all exceptional. So here is the series of events making me miss the Hardywood Firkin Crawl this Thursday February 21st:
So no crawl for me but you should definitely check it out. I’m really intrigued by that Smoked IPA.
Here are the stops on the crawl:
5:15PM — Commercial Taphouse — ESB dry hopped with Chinook hops
6:00PM — Secco Wine Bar — Smoked IPA dry hopped with Amarillo & Citra hops
7:00PM — Burger Bach — Barrel-aged Hardywood Singel
UPDATE: Burger Blast is SOLD OUT. There will be no tickets at the door.
Now in its sixth year, the Virginia Wine Expo will offer craft beer for the first time as they present Burger Blast this Friday February 22nd from 5 – 10pm. Burger Blast will feature artisan burgers with samplings of craft beer and wine.
Tickets include the following:
Restaurants
Carytown Burgers and Fries
Rowland’s Fine Dining
Arcadia
J Sargeant Reynolds
Salt Pork
Selba
India K’Raja
Popkin Tavern
On The Rox
Burgerworks
Sam Snead’s Tavern at The Homestead
Culinard Culinary Institute of Virginia – Richmond
Virginia Breweries
Hardywood Chocolate Heat – Richmond, VA
Devils Backbone Schwartzbier – Lexington, VA
Starr Hill Saison – Crozet, VA
Center of the Universe Plowed Brown – Ashland, VA
Legend Hopfest – Richmond, VA
O’Connor Great Dismal Black IPA – Norfolk, VA
Midnight Granite Oatmeal Chocolate Stout – Goochland, VA
Bold Rock Virginia Draft Cider – Nellysford, VA
3 Brothers Elementary Porter – Harrisonburg, VA
Apocalypse Hopocalypse IPA – Lynchburg, VA
Blue Mountain Barrel Aged Dirty Belgian — Afton, VA
National Breweries
Flying Dog Single Hop Imperial IPA (Galaxy) – Frederick, MD
Dogfish Head My Antonia Pils – Milton, DE
Sixpoint Diesel American Stout – Brooklyn, NY
Wolavers Alta Gracia Coffee Porter – Middlebury, VT
Terrapin Hop Karma Indian Brown Ale – Athens, GA
New Belgium Lips of Faith Cascara Quad – Ft. Collins, CO
Brooklyn Fiat Lux Belgian Style Witbier – Brooklyn, NY
Allagash Grand Cru Belgian Dark Ale – Portland, ME
Ommegang Duvel Rustica Belgian Golden Ale – Cooperstown, NY
Burger Blast will be held in the Ballroom of the Greater Richmond Convention Center. Tickets for the event are $35 (advance) or $48 (at the door if available). For more information and to purchase tickets, head over to the Virginia Wine Expo event schedule here.
Haven’t made plans for your Valentine celebration? Or just too busy like a lot of us. No worries, I have a few ideas for you stretching into the next week.
Thursday February 14th
Dancing with Myself 80’s Dance Party
COTU invites you out to rock the casbah at their 80s dance party. So break out that old prom-wear and get groovy. Doors open at 4pm with dance starting at 5:30pm. Head over to the Facebook event for more information.
The Savory Grain Opening
The Savory Grain will be open for the beer lovers on Valentine’s Day. The menu over on Richmond.com features several dishes with beer used in the preparation. I’m definitely going to have to check this place out soon. Here is a little of what will be flowing from their 24 taps tonight:
Firestone Walker Union Jack
Allagash White
Allagash Dubbel
Breckenridge Vanilla Porter
Blue Mountain Dark Hollow
Dogfish Indian Brown
Left Hand Milk Stout
Guesses from menu item
COTU Main St Ale
Legend Brown
Hefeweizen (maybe Legend)
Fat Dragon Couples Menu
There are a few spots left to get in on this menu at Fat Dragon. Take a look and call (804) 345-9888 to make reservations.
Sunday February 17th
Legend 19th Anniversary Party
Richmond’s oldest operating craft brewery celebrates nineteen years of production with a party starting at 2pm with brewery tours all day and live music from Xtreme Groove at 6:30pm. General admission will cost $20 and include three food and beverage tickets. Under 21 admission is $12 (includes one food ticket). Admission for under 12 and designated drivers will be $5. Free admission for children under 5. Extra food or beverage tickets will be $5 each.
Local Suds ‘Legend’ary Brew Tour
Take your love on a Sunday cruise to all of the Richmond area breweries tasting all along the way. The tour culminates at Legend’s 19th Anniversary Party. Tickets for the tour are $47.50/person and include tastings at each stop as well as admission to Legend’s party. Go here to buy tickets or for more information.
Want to win tickets to the tour? Check out Local Suds’ Facebook page where they are giving away two tickets at 5pm tomorrow.
Tuesday February 19th
Beer & Charcuterie Pairing — The Room at Secco Wine Bar
As Secco celebrates FeBREWary, they invite you into The Room as Alexis Goldstein (Specialty Beverage) & Julia teach the basics of pairing various beer styles with a variety of cured meats.
MENU
Duvel (a beloved Belgian strong golden ale)
Prosciutto by Olli Salumeria
Ommegang BPA (a Belgian Pale Ale that balances delicious citrus & tropical fruit aromas with Cascade hops)
Secco’s house-made Country Pork Terrine w/ Bacon & Olives
Ommegang Rare Vos (an Amber Ale styled after the smooth, drinkable beers popular in Belgian cafes)
Wild Boar Salametto by Olli Salumeria
Ommegang Three Philosophers (a perfect quad with just a touch of Liefmans Kriek)
Secco’s house-made Chicken Liver Pate
Beer, meat and two sassy redheads… what’s not to love? The Beer & Charcuterie Pairing class takes place from 6:30-8pm at The Room at Secco (2931 W. Cary St). Tickets are $40/person and include food, drink, and loads of information. Email nicole@seccowinebar.com and reserve your spot today!
Saturday February 23rd
Mad Fox Brewing Barleywine Festival
This one is a ways out but I had so much fun last year that there was no way I couldn’t include it. Not only do you get an amazing selection of at least 30 barleywines, but you get the top notch food. Here are the barleywines that caught my eye:
Check out the rest of the list here.
Libbie Market is celebrating their three year anniversary by hosting a local beer tasting at their Ridgefield location today Saturday February 9th from 1 to 4pm.
Here is what they will be sampling:
Starr Hill: Love, Saison
Legend: Golden IPA, Maibock, Brown Ale
Devils Backbone: Dark Abbey, Schwartz Bier
Bold Rock: Virginia Apple, Virginia Draft
St. George: Porter (draft)
Beach Brewing: Hoptopus (draft)
Blue Mountain (draft)
Midnight: Not My Job Brown (draft)
Mud Hound Brewing: Oatmeal Stout (draft-only) RVA debut
Others: 3 Brothers Brewing & COTU
If that were not enough, drop your name or business card into a drawing for:
(1) Hardywood Original Gingerbread Stout ’12
(1) Hardywood Bourbon Barrel Gingerbread Stout ’12
(2) Hardywood Park Craft Brewery GBS Glasses
Taste something you like? Growler fills will be available on all draft items.
Libbie Market Ridgefield
10470 Ridgefield Parkway
Henrico, VA 23233
(804) 741-0063
Hardywood releases your new chocolatey hotness tomorrow Saturday February 9th at 2pm:
Luscious yet piquant, sultry yet fiery, Hardywood Chocolate Heat melds the dichotomy of semi-sweet chocolate and hot chile peppers into one insatiably seductive libation. Brewed with heaps of cacao nibs, some milk sugar and chocolate malts for a touch of chocolatey sweetness, and just the right amount of locally grown scotch bonnet and habanero peppers, Chocolate Heat will arouse your senses and tantalize your palate. The next in our Reserve Series, Chocolate Heat will be available in 750ml bottles, 4 packs, and draft all day.
Check out the Facebook event for more information.
Head over to Mekong this Saturday February 9th to participate in a bottle share thrown by the Good People Beer Club with Screens N Suds to raise money to benefit MS Society.
The bottle share will be GPBC’s first and they hope annual event run at the same time with an event in NYC. They are focusing on more malt forward beers for this sharing session and ask that you bring your best stouts, porters, barleywines, scotch ales, etc. $10 gets you in at the door and you will receive 10 pours for each 22oz bottle and 5 pours for each 12oz bottle you bring.
The event will last from 3 – 6pm with food provided by Mekong. Make sure to register here and check out the Facebook event to see what other people are bringing.
Tonight, Wednesday February 6th, is the night Allagash comes to Richmond in a big way as Whole Foods Short Pump prepares dishes from Allagash: The Cookbook to be available on their hotbar. Copies of the book will be for sale for $35/each with author James Simpkins on hand for signatures.
Special drafts and bottles available for tasting and sales include:
FV 13
Yakuza
Smoke & Beards
Confluence
Interlude
Mattina Rossa (samples only)
The special food menu will be available throughout the week in the following locations
Chef’s Case
citrus cream crab cakes
Chicken Plantain Roulades
Grilled Swordfish w/Peach Salsa
Spicy Bacon-Chili Meatloaf
Grilled Lamb Chops w/ Mint Pesto
White Bean SaladPlatter Bar
Grilled Chicken and Cheddar Salad
Hot Bar
Stuffed Peppers
Pizza
Sausage Pizza
Soups(revolving)
Buffalo Chili
Pozole con Puerco
Chicken and Dumplings
Beef Barley and Bacon Stew
Sweet Potato Bisque
Head over to the Facebook event for more information.
I owe most of my glassware to Steal the Glass nights. I find I have a hard time resisting them; even if there’s a chance I will end up with a duplicate of a glass already in my collection.
Goose Island has a few glasses that are pretty cool. I already have their pilsner style glass with their 312 logo but there is another glass I have longed after seeing it a few times, the long stemmed chalice with silver goose logo.
Hopefully, I will receive this glass tonight Tuesday February 5th at Sedona Taphouse during their Goose Island tap takeover and glass giveaway. If not, at least there will be great beer to drown my sorrows. Here is their selection for the night:
Draft
312 Urban Wheat
Naughty Goose
Big John
Nightstalker
Christmas Ale
The takeover starts at 5pm; head over to the Facebook event for more information.
Richmond Beermeister 