The sun being out this beautiful morning must be a sign of great things to come today Saturday May 27th. What is better than celebrating the anniversary or grand opening of a local brewery? How about celebrating a grand opening AND an anniversary?! That’s right, Richmond. Today is a twofer!!
First up, over in Powhatan, Fine Creek Brewing will open their doors to the public for the first time this weekend, May 27 -29, from noon to 7pm each day.
Fine Creek Brewing
2425 Robert E Lee Rd
Powhatan, VA 23139
Credit: Castleburg Brewery
Next up, Castleburg Brewery celebrates their one year anniversary today May 27th from 1 to 10:30pm with the release of their Queen’s Garde:
Robust and malty, this rich Biere de Garde, “a beer which has been kept and lagered”, is a traditional artisanal ale brewed in early spring and kept in cool cellars. The Queen’s Garde personifies this tradition with its toasty character and sweet caramel notes.
Richmond, another Memorial Day weekend is upon us! Whether you’re just looking for a beer to take a cookout or if you’d rather leave the cooking to the professionals, I have your look at the days ahead.
Steal the Vessel at Strangeways — ALL WEEKEND
This actually started yesterday but I missed it earlier:
It’s the Thursday before a long holiday weekend. If you’re headed out of town or headed to a backyard barbeque, you need to stock up on the juice that keeps the party going. Lucky for you Steal the Vessel day has arrived. Purchase To-Go beer for a Growler, Grunt, Blue Ball mason jar, or CAN-ABLE Crowler, and receive the vessel for free every Thursday. Already have plenty? Bring back in your Strangeways glass for discounts on refills. For all you holiday travelers coming through RVA, stop by… we’ve extended Steal the Vessel for the entire holiday weekend. Take a little strange on vacation or home with you.
She’s more lethal than ever. Double citra and double mosaic for an even heavier hop punch. Available for the first time ever in cans, this Friday in Fulton, 5/26. 4x 4packs per person limit.
COTU has prepped the soundtrack for your weekend with their 5th annual Summer Moon Music Festival featuring two days of 13 local bands battling to support the charity of their choice. New to the festival this year is the addition of an acoustic stage to up the live music factor.
In addition to the regular lineup of beers, COTU will be pouring their Summer Moon Raspberry Lemonade Wheat Ale, a summer ale brewed with 600 pounds of fresh raspberries and the zest of 700 lemons.
I have been waiting very patiently for this beer to come out. Cuvee Peach is the newest addition to Hardywood’s barrel series line. Rather than beer from barrels aged the same amount of time, Hardywood has taken a blended barrel approach where their Peach Tripel was aged in chardonnay barrels anywhere from 10 weeks up to two years. Ethen Adams, Hardywood’s Wood Cellar Manager, explains more on that here.
Richmond, it is once again time to celebrate American Craft Beer Week (May 15 – 21). Three Notch’d RVA Collab House will be have something in store each day of the week but tonight’s kickoff will be something else. 3NB has been saving up some of their favorite RVA collaboration beers and will tap them today May 15th starting at 4pm.
Here are the beers you can expect to be flowing this afternoon:
There Will Be Braggot Tripel (Black Heath Meadery)
Bloom Gose w/ Passionfruit and Guava (Stefan Original)
Three thirst-quenching radlers rolling out together in one release! Originally brewed in honor of the UCI Road World Championships in Richmond in 2015, this style has been dubbed a hammock beer, a lawnmower beer, and a porch-swinging beer thanks to it’s easy-drinking characteristics and low ABV. This is one brew you can enjoy all.day.long.
The Radler style was invented in the Roaring 20’s by Bavarian Franz Xaver Kugler. The story goes that Kugler had arranged for the construction of a twelve mile bike trail through the forest from Munich straight to his establishment, in an attempt to improve business by catering to a post WWI emerging movement of recreational cycling amongst the working class. A good problem/bad problem arose when 13,000 cyclists descended upon his beer garden on a fine Saturday in June of 1922. While Kugler counted heads, he quickly surmised that he did not have enough beer to quench the thirst of all his patrons. Being a sharp businessman, the quick-thinking entrepreneur remembered he had several thousand cases of lemon soda in his cellar, a beverage that had proven a tough sell to the beer-loving Bavarian public. To save the day, while at the same time liquidate some virtually useless inventory, Kugler mixed his lager beer with the lemon soda. To further entice the cyclists to try his new creation, he dubbed the drink the Radler, which is Bavarian dialect for the German word Radfahrer, or cyclist in English. He whimsically told his customers he had developed the mixture to keep them upright on their bikes during their journey back to the city. Needless to say, it became a lasting tradition that carries on to this day in Germany. Prost and ride on!
Head over to the Facebook event for more information and updates.
Saturday, May 6th, marks the 16th annual Big Brew Day sanctioned by the American Homebrewers Association. Homebrewers from around the world choose from predetermined recipes to brew on that day. AHA is celebrating Big Brew’s birthday by by providing three sample recipes from the upcoming 4th edition of How to Brew.
Starting at 10am, Richmond’s oldest local homebrew club, the James River Homebrewers, will be brewing at Original Gravity over on Lakeside Ave. This is a great opportunity to learn how beer is made and promises to be a great time for all. So drive on down and join on the fun. Get there by 1pm to join in on the worldwide toast. Check out the Facebook event for more information.
Original Gravity
6118 Lakeside Ave.
Richmond, VA 23228
(804) 264-4808
UPDATE: Sierra Nevada has shared the homebrew version of their Ruthless Rye IPA.
Cinco de Mayo is this Friday May 5th. In the beer world that means you drink lagers, specifically Mexican lagers.
Richmond, if you are looking for a local option, you are in luck because both Hardywood and the Veil will have events Friday evening featuring their own Mexican lagers starting at 4pm.
It’s First Friday AND Cinco de Mayo! Our taproom opens at 4PM with a new draft-only beer, Blancoveza, a crisp and clean Mexican-style lager from our lead brewer, Kevin Storm. Beat the heat and kick off the weekend with a refreshing glass of this classic style!
Tonight’s entertainment (5PM) includes vinyl DJ’s and original artwork being created on the spot! Wax Museum is a curated audio-visual experience presented by some of RVA’s most established vinyl selectors in collaboration with Hardywood and NATIVES. It is a celebration of the analog beauty of record album culture in this hyper-digital era that we live in. This monthly event brings the public closer to classic creative soireé environments while also blending unique “flavors” of sound similar to the variety of brews on tap at Hardywood.
This month’s Artists On Location are Sarah Gossett (http://saragossett.com/home.html) and Chris Visionz. They will be painting live and delivering some interpretations of the hand selected tracks from the evening’s selectors:
Area Woman
Rattan
Mikemetic¬ – Afro-Latin Rhythmatics
The man behind RVA’s Afro Beta and Brazilica events digs in the crates to bring global dance rhythms that cross the electronic spectrum
Negrita – Swingin’ Jazz + Calypso
As RVA’s only mother-to-be on the turntables, Negrita will be deviating from her normal Cold Cruel Swirl, and will be bringing some swinging jazz and calypso sounds to the Hardywood soundsystem
Sammich will be here serving great eats all evening long!
Come celebrate Cinco De Mayo with us and Intergalactic Tacos. We will be releasing our Mexican Lager, Jackson Flavor in cans and on draft ($12+tax/4pack; approx 90-100 cases; 3x 4 packs per person). Intergalactic Tacos will be slinging tacos until they sell out. Open 4-10pm. Come Hang!
There are no limes required for these beers but no one will fault you if you feel like partying.
October? Yes, October. That was the last time I felt like putting any energy into this blog.
Why? It’s not really its fault but let’s blame 2016. For much of the year, it felt like talking about beer was silly considering there were much more important things than beer happening in the world. Honestly, I still feel that way sometimes. For six months, I have struggled with depression and let it stop me from sharing my love for Richmond, VA. It was all too easy to convince myself that the obstacles that kept me from writing were so insurmountable that it was better to quit all together. That was a mistake.
I’m going to do my best to change that today. Past readers should notice a new format to the site. What do you think? I’m not totally sold yet. There may be a few more changes down the line.
There is no telling what the future holds but for now here are some things to get you by.
Swine & Brine has moved to Saturday for its third year at Ardent. Ardent has done away with the previous years’ ticket costs and made this year free to enter. Food and beer tickets are $6 each though some food items may take multiple tickets. Check out this menu.
Goochland, Lickinghole Creek has you covered with a double release of Supreme Leader and Great Commander. Get over to the farm for these award winning beers.
Triple Crossing will celebrate the anniversary of their downtown location with a special edition of Clever Girl IPA double dry hopped with Citra and Mosaic. In addition to their own beers, TC will have a few guest taps flowing.
This listening party has me excited like nothing else before it. For one, taking on record collecting as a new hobby became a comfort when all I could feel was sad and angry. Of course, I was buying a lot of blues early on. Joining Vinyl Me, Please was the best decisions I’ve made so far. I’ve wanted to attend one of these listening sessions for past records-of-the-month but the closest location, Starr Hill Brewing, was just too far on a Thursday night. I’m ecstatic to see that Triple Crossing will start hosting these with the Gorillaz “Demon Days” reissue. They are even bringing back their Demon Days Hoppy Red Ale for this.
Oh yeah and the 27th also just so happens to be my 40th birthday. If that’s not a reason to celebrate then I don’t know. Let’s party, Richmond!
Sign up for the club and get $10 to use in their store through this link.
Thank you to my friends who have encouraged me even if they didn’t know how much I was hurting. Let’s just not call this a comeback….you know the rest.
The renaissance of the Richmond beer scene start with the opening of Hardywood five years ago. Celebrate their success this Saturday October 22nd starting at 1pm.
Offering for the first time, the backbone of Trickery, Foolery & Ruse: Hardywood Cassowary!
Cloaked in black and crowned with vibrant color, the cassowary is the embodiment of prehistoric grace and primal ferocity. Our imperial milk stout is equally bold and unapologetically rich, presenting a balanced aroma of chocolate truffle and dark fruits followed by leather, toffee and almond that linger on the palate and earn the name Hardywood Cassowary; a graceful behemoth in the beer world. 11% ABV
Hardywood Cassowary will be available in 750mL bottles ONLY (no draft at this time). 4 bottle limit per guest! Here’s how it’s going to work:
·There will be a 4 bottle limit per person for this first time run.
·With this being a first release, we will plan for a line.
·At 11:45AM we will distribute tickets to the first 270 guests, reserving ticket holders an opportunity to purchase up to 4 bottles.
·The bottle sale will begin at 1PM when the brewery opens for service.
·You must be in line, in chronological order at 1PM to redeem your ticket for bottles.
·If bottles remain after the first 270 guests, we will continue to sell through at a 4 bottle limit per person until the last bottle is sold.
[Hardywood Cassowary WILL be returning both in bottles AND on draft in the future. Our brewers are working hard to make more of this beer available soon. STAY TUNED!]
In celebration of 5 years of collaboration with our friends at Brown Distributing- Richmond, VA, we’re showcasing the work of fellow brewers from around the state of Virginia! Here’s the list:
Blue Bee Cider reopens in their new Summit Stables location in Scotts Addition with a grand opening weekend celebration starting on Saturday October 15th. You can get a preview Friday night with tickets to their soft opening event benefitting the EnRichmond Foundation’s beautification and maintenance of our city parks.
In addition to their normal lineup, Saturday will see the release of three new ciders:
Think that would be enough for an opening? You’d be wrong. This opening must be grand! To accomplish a grandness not often seen, Blue Bee went out to play with their other libation producing neighbors in Scotts Addition and came back with six collaborations that will be tapped at various times during the day:
Ardent Craft Ales made “Smokin’ Mower”, a session blonde ale fermented with smoked Winesap and Stayman juice. Cellar team brought a bin of apples to Ardent and smoked them whole in ZZQ’s smoker with help from ZZQ and the Ardent team. We also fermented the smoked juice with a champagne yeast to dry and created the 2nd batch in two years of our smoked cider.
Black Heath Meadery made “Scott’s Edition”, a cyser fermented with Gold Rush juice and Virginia wildflower honey, with a generous addition of Bosc pear juice and Black Mission figs.
The Veil Brewing Co, made “Boi Friendz”, a barrel-fermented Brett IPA with Mosaic and Citra hops fermented with 30% unpasteurized Gold Rush juice. One of the barrels previously held the Veil’s Jeune (single barrel spontaneously fermented ale) and the other was a first use Virginia red wine barrel.
Isley Brewing Co, made “Apple Brown Betty”, the return of our 2014 collaboration – an English brown ale fermented with Grimes Golden juice.
Reservoir Distillery provided one of their recently emptied barrels and helped us decide on what unique offering to age and which one of their barrels to use (rye, wheat, or bourbon). We chose our Harvest Ration (dessert cider fortified with brandy) in their rye whiskey barrel for over four months.
Three Notch’d Brewing Co.‘s RVA Collab House made “Farm to Stable”, a gose fermented with Gold Rush juice. The collaboration combines the tropical notes and high acidity from Gold Rush apples with a tart and salty gose base.
Contact me at rvabeermeister@gmail.com to send recommendations on beers to try, places with a beer selection I should check out, or upcoming beer events.
Blue Bee Cider
Richmond Beermeister 