Sedona Taphouse is having a Flying Dog tap takeover today August 21st from 5 – 10pm. As with all of their past tap takeovers, they will be giving away glasses as well. The beer list includes multiple brew house rarities:
Sour Cherry
Gose
Single Hop Citra Imperial IPA
Horn Dog Barleywine
Kujo Imperial Coffee Stout
Imperial Red
Disobedience Abbey Dubbel
Barrel Aged Gonzo
Pearl Necklace on Nitro
Pin of Raging Bitch with mango and habanero
Underdog Atlantic Lager
Doggie Style Pale Ale
Great article in the New York Times focusing on Virginia craft breweries:
From industrial outskirts of Richmond to the pastoral landscapes of the Blue Ridge Mountains and beyond, an army of artisans are turning their love of beer into business.
Armed with an arsenal of barley and hops, these craft brewers are looking to cash in on a growing interest in all things local, including alcoholic libations. And recent changes to state law are helping craft brewers grow their business.
Read more of the article here
Dark Horse Brewing rides into town this week bringing their Beer Advocate 100 rated Crooked Tree IPA along with several of their other beers. They are known for experimenting with anything from baby formula to doughnuts. Obviously, these guys are crazy; I mean, come on baby formula?! Anyways I think their beers will fit in just fine in Richmond. Thanks to Brown Distributing, Dark Horse will be exclusive to Richmond for the entire state of Virginia.
Here are a few place where you can try their beers on for size this week:
Tuesday August 21st
BlowToad will host the draft debut with a tap takeover of five Dark Horse beers:
Boffo Brown Ale
Kmita Kolsch
Reserve Special Black Ale
Sapient Trip Ale
Crooked Tree IPA
Wednesday August 22nd
Head to Whole Foods Short Pump at 4pm to sample some Dark Horse brews and fill your growlers.
Friday August 24th
Total Wine West Broad will have a tasting of Dark Horse beers from 4 -7PM.
Head out to Station 2 Friday August 17th to support two hometown breweries. Station 2 will feature six taps each from Legend and Hardywood. That’s twelve taps of Richmond craft beer.
Legend Hardywood
Oktoberfest Belgian DIPA
Imperial IPA Mocha Belgique
Bourbon Barrel Doppelbock VA Strawberry
Pale VA Blackberry
Pilsner Bourbon Barrel DIPA
Brown Singel
But that’s just their Friday plans;. If you go to Station 2 tonight August 16th, you will get to experience a pin of Bourbon DIPA stuffed with brown sugar local grilled peaches, vanilla bean, and cinnamon.
Wow, what a day! RVA-B-Que packed 17th Street Farmers’ Market with loads of people hungry for Virginia beer and barbecue.
After the festival, I had the opportunity to chat with Phil Ray, one half of the brotherly team behind Center of The Universe Brewing (COTU). He shared the exciting news that their new head brewer would be none other than Mike Killelea. Mike, a brewer at Legend Brewing since 2006, also serves as chairman of the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild. You might know him as the guy behind a little bill called SB604. A new head brewer position sounds like a sweet reward for the guy who helped lead the charge for us to enjoy pints at our Virginia breweries. With a location found and equipment purchased, it looks like things are coming together for COTU and I for one can’t wait to see what comes next.
Congrats Mike!
The first ever Virginia Craft Brewers Fest hits the concert grounds at Devils Backbone in Nelson Co, VA on Saturday August 25th. This will be the premier event of VA Craft Beer Month. You are going to want to go to this. For more information, check out the festival website and Facebook event.
There’s no shortage of awesome food and beer events happening this Sunday August 12th. The trick will be figuring out how to do them all.
RVA-B-Que — 17th St Farmer’s Market — noon – 6pm
Feed your local beer and barbecue addiction.
Legend Brewing Starr Hill Devils Backbone
Brown Ale Starr Pils Vienna Lager
Oak Aged Dopplebock Northern Lights IPA Azrael Belgian Golden
Oktobefest Belgian Dark Strong Ale of Fergus
Midnight Brewery Hardywood Brass Cannon
Rockville Red Singel Hazelnut Coffee Brown
Watermelon Lime Kolsch Belgian Double IPA Caliber Red Virginia Blackberry
Wolf Hills Brewing Bold Rock Bull and Bones
English Dark Mild Virginia Apple Cider Maroon Effect Brown
Nelson Sauvin Belgian Pale Lunch Pale Ale
Big Daddy Brewery Mad Fox Brewing James River
Black IPA Molotov Hoptail Double IPA Rock Island Red
Sunshine Belgian Wit Kolsch River Runner Bitter
O’Connor Brewing
El Guapo IPA
Red Nun Red Ale
All this local beer plus barbecue from over twelve of the best in RIchmond including the llikes of Halligans, Buzz and Ned’s, Alamo BBQ, and Ronnie’s.
Crab Freakout! — Pasture — 4pm until
Head over to Pasture for $2.50 crabs and $8 half pounds of steamed shrimp and Rappahanock oysters. The featured beers for the evening are both from Flying Dog: Gose (made with Old Bay) and Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout(Rappahanock oysters). Rappahanock oysters are my new obession so I will definitely be checking this out. It’s just a question of when.
‘And For The Last Course…..’ Pop-Up — Avalon — 5:30 – 9 (reservations recommended)
Richmond.com has the story on Chef Ethan “Knox” Vaughn’s last supper in Richmond. You just might want to check it out. I think I went to Avalon once for drinks but pretty sure I’ve never eaten there. Probably a shame if the brussel sprouts were as good as everyone claims.
Mekong continues their celebration of Virginia Craft Beer Month with a night dedicated to breweries belonging to the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild. The Guild is the group responsible for leading the charge to get SB 604 passed so that you can go into local breweries like Hardywood and order a pint of beer. Mekong will be donating $500 to support the Guild’s future initiatives. Breweries representing the for the night are:
Hardywood Park — Richmond, VA
Legend — Richmond, VA
Starr Hill — Crozet, VA
Devils Backbone — Nelson Co, VA
O’Connor — Norfolk, VA
Blue Mountain — Afton, VA
Bold Rock — Nelson Co, VA
Wolf Hill — Abingdon, VA
Midnight — Goochland, VA
James River — Richmond, VA
So head out tonight Thursday August 9th starting at 4pm and support these wonderful local breweries.
The 29th Annual Watermelon Festival is tomorrow Sunday August 5th. As is tradition, it is bound to be a hot one; it always is. Whether you walked the streets of Carytown or decided to stay indoors, this recipe is for you. I first discovered this concept of putting beer in a frozen dessert from Megan Powell’s Watermelon Beer Popsicles. Desiring something that I could store more longterm, I attempted to adapt her recipe into a sorbet but it turned out to be more of a granita.
Watermelon Beer Granita
Ingredients
1 cup Agave Nectar
1/4 cup chopped mint
1 lime, zested & juiced
1/2 seedless watermelon, crushed
12oz can 21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon Wheat
Directions
In a small saucepan, bring Agave Nectar and chopped mint to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from heat and let come back to room temp.
Crush watermelon into large bowl. Puree with a stick blender until the watermelon is an even consistency.
Add agave mixture, lime juice and zest to watermelon followed by the beer. Mix well.
Cover bowl and chill in refrigerator overnight.
Mix in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. It took my Cuisinart about 20 minutes. Your granita will be ready to eat at this point or you can transfer to a airtight container an freeze for a firmer texture.
Yield: 2 – 4 quarts
Richmond Beermeister 