After all, there are a few beers that seem to be as fitting for summer as your Hawaiian print swimsuit.  While they vary some in flavor characteristics, there do share a couple common tasting points.  Usually, they are somewhat low in alcohol content.  After all, no sense in getting tanked while dealing with the lawn mower, or dodging sharks at the beach.  Another commonality is a crisp taste.  Whether it’s from the hops or the type of grain used, most “summer” beers are able to help take the edge off with a quick snap of flavor.

Below is a look at one of the more common “Beers of Summer” styles, something that you just might want to have in that fridge when you’re done mowing, on in the cooler for the beach.  Other styles to follow!

American Wheat Ales – The Only Clouds You Want On Your Day At The Beach.

While low alcohol levels and a crisp taste may be common among many of these styles, any doubt to what is the arguably the most popular overall type of summer releases should’ve been cleared up on March 26^th.  Few annually released beers, unless they are a rich, aged stout or insanely hopped IPA, can boast having as much celebration centered around their release date as Michigan based Bell’s Oberon Ale.  It is arguably the most popular example of its style in the country, no matter what you call it – American Hefeweizen, American Pale Wheat, or simply a Wheat Ale.  The use of wheat typically gives these beers a crisp taste and feel, a slightly more generous feeling “body”, and the traditional haziness found in any unfiltered wheat beers – the latter two coming from a greater amount of protein found in wheat malt.  These beers are often called an Americanized version of the German Hefeweizen, but differ most in how they will lack those traditional “estery” flavors (of banana, for example) found in German wheat brews.  Often, they have a slight citrusy taste and aroma, usually from the way the hops are used in making the beer, and bitterness is usually kept very low.  An additional element of flavor can be a bit of spiciness, given by the yeast or by additional ingredients added to the beer.  Occasionally, some of those ingredients can be very summer-like, such as Watermelon, Lemongrass, or even Pineapple, and only build upon those citrusy flavors from the hops.  Yes, of course these beers are good any time of year.  But within their pale, golden, hazy appearance, which almost glows like the sun when held up to light, that seems to live the spirit of a perfect summer day.  It’s as if captured inside that beer is the exact moment when your beach chair finally settles itself into the sand, the worries of work fade away, and you peer out through the waves of heat lifting off the sand at the ocean, feeling summer’s warmth slowly sink into your body.

SOME EXAMPLES.  Below are some of these beers which are definitely worth checking out – they represent, after all, the only cloudiness and haziness that you want on the beach.

Bells Oberon Ale (Michigan) – When summer starts to set in, lovers of warm weather and good, craft beer contend you must seek out this beer.  Available in six packs and popular, beach house ready “party” sized mini kegs, this semi cloudy brew looks like sunshine captured in a glass.

If you like Oberon, there are a bunch of other examples fairly easy to find on the market.  A few include Maui Brewing’s Mana Wheat, which is literally brewed using pineapple, Pyramid Brewing’s Hefeweizen, Harpoon Brewing’s UFO Hefeweizen, Boulder Brewing’s Sweaty Betty, Tommyknocker Brewing’s Jack Whacker Wheat, and Samuel Adams Summer Ale.

“Hoppier” Versions:

Lagunitas Brewing’s Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’

As if the hop heads were going to be left out.  This is a wheat beer for them, and for the curious at heart as well, this delicious beer is a mixture of both worlds.  Featuring the hazy appearance, crisp snap, and a bit of the typical wheat beer flavor found in pale wheat beers it also has plenty of both juicy citrus and floral hop flavor.  If you’re interested in wheat beers but the moment hops were mentioned, began to look away, stay curious, beer friends – this is a beer that’s big on flavor and not to be missed, and yes, the bitterness is still relatively low.

If you do care for this one, another to check out is Southern Tier’s Hop Sun, which also showcases a hoppier flavor and aroma as well.

There will be all of the usual, wonderful reasons to attend Microfestivus – a chance to spend an afternoon tasting delicious craft beer outdoors with friends, the chance to find a new favorite beer or style, and for the true craft beer fan, a chance to sample something they perhaps haven’t had before.  A number of Virginia based breweries will be featured, including Devils Backbone, Starr Hill, and Legend.  Others on hand will include Heavy Seas, Victory Brewing and newcomer to the area Goose Island from Chicago, a bit of a legend among the craft beer scene.  Among the beers which will be featured and are somewhat uncommon to find will be Legend’s Doppelbock, Victory’s Summer Love, and a brew from Starr Hill’s limited release collection, their All Access Saison.

A few more details are available at the Festival website here.  There are few things better than spending an afternoon outside, tasting good beer with friends.  Here in Roanoke, we won’t have to wait until August to do so – time to get ready for Microfest this coming weekend!

Of course, most of these beers are deserving of at least some attention.  They provide excitement to the craft beer community at large, and at the least, provides an enjoyable reason to round up your craft beer curious friends and head out to see what the hype is all about.  But there are, obviously, plenty of beers that don’t receive such consideration.  Quietly, they sit in kegs and in bottles, at bars or perhaps in your own fridge, lacking any official PR machine to drive their reputation.  But these beers are far from accepting any supporting cast role.  Many of the more popular ones have acquired a label that when spoken by any true craft beer fan, will be sounded out no small amount of fondness in their voice – “go-to”.  As in, “oh, that’s definitely one of my ‘go-to’ IPAs”.  Years of annual availability have given the better ones a certain feel of day in, day out dependability.  But if any drop off in flavor is anticipated, think again.  Sure, they may lack the bottomless complexity of the latest bourbon barrel aged, vanilla, cocoa nib and habanero pepper infused, endlessly dry hopped, double yeast strain fermented, collaborative effort ale to hit the streets, but nevertheless, they’re darn good.  Less of an experiment in how far the boundaries can be pushed, these beers show how well brewers can make a beer that you might not ever get tired of, and please your palate with repeated servings.  They’re simply well made beers, flavorful if not extreme, typically proven over a period of time, and within these things lay their reputation.

As the buzz around American Craft Beer Week 2012 begins to wind down, and the events which most likely have been weighted towards the bigger beers begin to do so as well, some recognition should be given to these delicious, “go to”, day in, day out brews.  Not that they need any help with promotion, they probably end up in your fridge from time to time anyhow.  Nevertheless, they are certainly deserving of a little press from time to time.  Also, given that it is American Craft Beer Week, a celebration of the craft beer scene for the entire country, the beers featured below are from my own state of Virginia, each from a brewery which has recently opened or added to their operation.  Cheers!

Hardywood Park Craft Brewery (Richmond) Singel.

Opened in 2011, Hardywood Park has plenty to build upon already.  Their founders, Eric McKay and Patrick Murtough, are both experienced homebrewers and are also both BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) judges.  Eric created GreatBrewers.com as well as the BeerCloud mobile app, while Patrick received formal brewing training in Germany, earning his Master Brewing Certification.  Recently, their Gingerbread Stout earned a Bronze Medal at the 2012 World Beer Cup.

Certain to become a favorite among many, the brewery’s flagship beer is their Singel, a glowing, golden, Belgian Abbey style Blonde Ale.  The website refers to it as “a feat in balance”, and nothing could be closer to the truth.  The flavors which are typically found in many Belgian ales – imparted by Belgian ale yeast strains – of banana or what the brewery specifically states in this beer as “tropical fruit” flavors, are somewhat subdued in this beer, placed very evenly alongside both a slight lemony taste and a white peppery flavor.  All of these flavors are placed so delicately within each sip as if they were three different, slow moving mists, with the sip you’ve taken originating right at the point at which they have drifted into one another and begun to intermingle.  It’s a bit like watching the sun go down after a beautiful summer day – sublime, and simply delicious.

Devils Backbone Brewery (Nelson County/Lexington) Vienna Style Lager

Begun as a brewpub in Nelson County Virginia, Devils Backbone opened their production brewery in Lexington earlier this year, enabling them to produce and bottle their flagship Vienna style Lager for distribution.  Another winner at the recent World Beer Cup, taking Gold within the Vienna category, Devils Backbone’s Vienna Lager balances a light caramel sweetness with a toasted bread crust flavor, low, barely-there bitterness, and what some perceive as a bit of nutty flavor.  It all boils down, pun intended, to one incredibly flavorful but easy to drink beer, boasting flavors that are just rich enough to please but remains exceptionally clean tasting.  Simply a beer any beer fan will want to consistently have around.

Wild Wolf Brewing (Nelson County) ‘Alpha Ale’ American Style Pale Ale

Although distribution is still growing for this brewery, fans of something a little more hoppy can only hope it reaches their area soon.  Alpha Ale is a nice blend of both pine and fresh, grapefruit like hop flavors along a mild malt sweetness and a fairly dry finish.  There is a definite amount of bitterness from the hops as well, but the hop flavor stands out, where other Pales fall short far too often.  The brewery recently opened their current location in the last year, after operating out of a home brewing shop for a few years.  It is only a few miles from the Devils Backbone brewpub location, and combined, make for a fun tasting excursion along what’s called Virginia’s “Brew Ridge Trail”.

Three distinctly different and wonderful beers from one well established and three growing, Virginia based breweries.  One has definitely arrived, and the other two are well on their way to becoming go-to beers.  All of them delicious enough to speak for themselves, with just a sip – no screaming needed – and ones that just might become your next “go to” beers.

This week offers an official chance to thank the brewers all across the nation who wow us with what seems like a limitless amount of possibilities in our beer, from the most complex of aged stouts to the most crisp, perfectly balanced lager.  Often referred to as part scientist and part artist, these are the men and women who bring those silent nods of first sip gratification and leave us wanting their next concoction.  Their creations pull us to the biggest of festivals for beers we’ve never tried and takes us to the smallest of pubs for times with friends over go to favorites.  For their work, and for all these moments, this week is certainly a heart-felt thank you.

For those who are already immersed in craft beer, the self appointed craft beer geeks and fans, hop heads and dark beer lovers, the week is a chance to celebrate the “works” of those brewers.  Perhaps that means revisiting one of those favorites, or trying something you’ve just gotten your hands on.  Either way, the week offers events from tap takeovers to nationwide, synchronized cask tappings.  Perhaps most importantly, perhaps the week will offer the new to craft beer curious a chance to find something that will absolutely blow their minds, and open a door.

If you’re lucky, you might be able to plan each day around events during American Craft Beer Week.  But amid the crowds at the brewpubs and the clamor at the bars, remember, during every meaningful celebration are generally a couple moments of focused clarity, when the emotion of the event comes over you at once, yet sublimely, and is often shared between others with just a single glance, a look on a face, or a gesture.  Often times, that simple gesture can sum up the mood of an entire crowd, somehow spelling out in that one movement what everyone is feeling – here, it’s gratitude, a huge thank you – to the brewers, the fans, and everyone in between who loves craft beer.  The gesture?  It may be incredibly obvious, but it’s fittingly perfect.  Raise a glass, everyone.

Cheers.

Click on the “Comments” at the top of the post for Roanoke area information!  Also, visit CraftBeer.com’s section on American Craft Beer Week, 2012 here for general ACBW2012 and nationwide info!

The results are a selection of beers that range from solid year round offerings, like the brewery’s Tavern (brown) Ale, or the Red Marker, an amber.  Highly rated by readers on both ratebeer.com and beeradvocate.com, Alewerks’ Washington’s Porter is also available throughout the year, and features balanced but robust flavors of coffee and dark chocolate.  Logan and the brewery also release several seasonal ales and limited release ales, one of which, their Pumpkin Ale, received high some high praise from the editors at beeradvocate. It’s not difficult to see why such a beer turned out so well – on the brewery’s website, Logan refers to himself as “kind of a dork for pumpkin pie”.  “When I was doing test batches for that ale, I really wanted to dial in the pumpkin pie flavor. A lot of people say it’s a pumpkin pie in a glass.”  Other limited releases are both the rich Coffeehouse Stout, and a version of the Coffeehouse aged for at least three months in Virginia Gentleman bourbon barrels called Café Royale.

Their newest release, Bitter Valentine, is an Imperial IPA that manages to stand out among the vast numbers of IPAs in the market today.  According to Logan, Bitter Valentine’s flavor profile “is made up of citrus, stone-fruit, pine, and all around hop goodness balanced by a delicate malt backbone”.  It is another Alewerks beer which is well balanced, although the main highlight is a mouthful of pleasant citrus flavors, including fleshy, juicy orange, tropical tastes, and a bit of grapefruit and ripe peach.  Unlike what the name might imply, the bitterness is only a seam running through the citrus, bringing the drinker back to hops’ harsher reality here and there.

The craft of brewing good beer is a timeless one, and whether over direct flame or otherwise, making good beer will always be linked to rich traditions that strike a romantic chord among both brewer and craft beer fans alike.  But Alewerks’ brews are hardly in need of any dusting off.  What truly puts a feather in Virginia’s craft beer scene is how well Williamsburg Alewerks is bringing those traditions, ones which are always in fashion, those of the skill and hard work to the current scene of craft beer today.  Accomplished creation, of course, is its own ageless tradition.

Visit the brewery’s website here!

While my friend still could’ve been very wrong – that golden, clear brew could’ve been any of a number of types of ales – I do completely understand his surprise.  After he and I agreed that not all ales are darker beers, debunking myth number one, something still didn’t add up for him.  Years of tv and print ads featuring the historically market dominating pale yellow lagers from the big boys of brewing has inevitably and understandably caused a knee jerk reaction that any beer with such an appearance is likely their product, at least to the average Joe on the street.  But my friend knew I primarily drink craft brewed beers.  It’s simply what I prefer.  But to those folks, like my friend, who are either not interested in craft beer, or who are and are just getting into craft beer, it can often seem that all craft and microbrewed beers are ales.  To my friend, that my lager came from a craft brewery seemed about as unlikely as me declaring one day I had decided to train to become a bullfighter.  Trust me.  The look on his face told me so.  Yes, some craft breweries strictly brew ales, and most others do tilt their selections towards them.  Most of these folks are often surprised then, as my friend was, to find out that craft breweries in fact do make pale colored lagers.  At first, I smiled and considered it a moment in which a second beer myth had been disproven, all in one myth busting swoop.  But along with that myth solved came one solid beer truth.  The deeper you look into a particular beer “style” – even one clear enough to see through – the more there is to think about and learn.

Yes, it’s true.  What followed the interaction with my friend was plenty of thought about…pale lagers.  Did the room just empty out?  Tap, tap, tap.  Is this thing on??  After all, this wasn’t the latest bourbon barrel aged Belgian tripel or the biggest oak aged stout that’s sweeping the craft beer world.  Of course, my reflection began in that short but informative conversation with my friend.  Along with his moment of discovery came a hint of curiosity.  He was, at the time, a purely macro beer drinker, but the thought of a similar looking lager to the Coors Light which was in his hand at the time was enough to ask for a taste.  This got me thinking about that impossible to answer but so tempting to ask question – what are the best “gateway” beers into the craft beer world, if there are such a thing?  I looked at my Bells Lager.  Is this it?

To even try to answer that question, you’d have to know exactly what “this” was.  While there are plenty of interpretations of the ultimate in pale, golden lagers – the Pilsner – “this” was not one of them. They are sometimes called Premium Lagers, American Pale Lagers, or lastly and possibly more accurately, “all malt lagers”.  When it comes to understanding these beers, that last term might be the most descriptive.  It’s also the one which, for the same reasons, has the power to start all sorts of heated arguments and the type of name calling usually reserved for opposing fans of rival hockey teams, or English soccer clubs, or opposing sides of Aniston vs. Jolie.  Anyhow, you get the point.

The difference in beers like the Bells Lager I was drinking at the time and macro brewery produced pale lagers tends to lie primarily in the grain used in the beer.  Many, but not all, of these all malt lagers use only barley, while most, but not all, macro brewery produced beers use a combination of barley along with grains such as rice and corn, commonly referred to as “adjunct” grains.  Their usage, and the flavors they tend to give beer, is a point of contention among beer folks worldwide.  There is a popular opinion among many brewers and especially craft beer fans that barley is the only way to go, and they shudder at the thought of having anything else in their beer.  The common train of thought is that the use of these anything other than barley degrades the overall quality of the beer, and produces flavors which are generally undesirable.  It even shows up in the popular “I am a craft brewer” video that is often used to promote craft beer, showing a few brewers who exclaim “I don’t use corn in my beer”.  Who knows where this thinking began, but somewhat surprisingly, it seems like it might be starting to change, at least in terms of using rice.  One example that’s been in the works for some time is Great Divide’s Samurai, an unfiltered blonde style ale that features rice rather prominently.  Stillwater Artisanal Ales, a pretty much one man craft operation which produces primarily Saison style beers, has produced an ale called “Premium”, using both corn and rice.  In a recent interview with dcbeer.com,  Stillwater’s Brian Strumke summed up the adjunct argument rather succinctly, as he was speaking about Premium: “[it was] a very serious proclamation that it’s not always the ingredients that make beers inferior, but often the technique and approach to its construction.”  While these examples are both ales and not lagers, considering the heavy stigma that surrounds the use of corn and rice at all, any attempts to do so are absolutely worth noting.  It is within the world of pale lagers that the usage of such grains are known for best, after all.  Examples such as Stillwater’s Premium and Great Divide’s Samurai could signify that a change in the overall attitudes towards these grains is coming.

Perhaps it was this difference in taste that made my friend re-think his curiosity. Because as it turned out, my Bells Lager wasn’t exactly to his liking.  But if these lagers aren’t the best doorway to craft, and since most would agree they are not the latest craft beer craze, where exactly do they fit in? I remember reading a post on a beeradvocate.com discussion board one day that someone had “rediscovered” this type of beer after months of being caught up in the big beer frenzy.  Like so many folks out there, week to week he waited to see what the latest, biggest Russian Imperial Stout or most extreme IPA would be.  Then he retold the story of having spent the day at a nearby lake, enjoying good weather with friends.  The lower abv and lighter tasting lager he had picked up was nothing short of both perfect for the day and a refreshing change from the world of extreme, over the top tastes he had gotten used to.  True, what craft brewers can and will do with beers to explore and stretch the boundaries of flavor, like aging brews in pinot noir casks or in bourbon barrels, is worthy of getting worked up over from time to time.  These beers are true tasting ‘experiences’, their complexities and layers of flavor something to be marveled at to be sure.  But it goes without saying that there is room for both those larger than life beers and those that exist on a somewhat simpler level.  And a relaxing day at the lake or the beach – did someone say lawnmower beer? – are only two examples of where these lagers might “fit in” rather perfectly.

Surprisingly, these beers might also find themselves in another, far more publicized spot, if one current trend in craft beer remains.  Even though they may pale – pun intended – to the latest black as night, world class Russian Imperial Stout, given some time, Premium lagers might find themselves fitting in as a part of the next big craft beer craze after all, one that might’ve truly got its start in early April.  A year or so from now, we may look back on April 7^th, 2012, as a date to remember.  The day had been designated “Session Beer Day” by well known beer blogger and session beer champion Lew Bryson to celebrate the growing stir in the craft beer world around such “session strength” beers.  Basically, session beers are traditionally described as low alcohol content beers that could be consumed over a “session”, or a time spent with friends at the pub, for example, without them putting you under the table.  Although the level of alcohol which exactly defines a “session” beer is a hot topic of debate surrounding these beers – and is one which some folks take far too seriously – Bryson and ratebeer.com say it’s under 4.5%, beeradvocate.com under 5%.  Regardless, Session Beer Day provided evidence of the heightened interest, as response to the day seemed to be well received from craft breweries to drinkers across the nation. Where does my Bells Lager of the Lakes fit in then?  It did so very well, in my opinion – flavorful, and at least within the higher range of things, at 5.0% – just inside the session beers’ slightly blurry lines of definition.

I’m still not sure which of us experienced more amazement that day.  Was it my friend, upon seeing me drinking a pale colored lager, or myself, as each new topic to consider surrounding that beer surfaced for the rest of the afternoon.  All about a beer that hardly gets much consideration at all.  From how it busted a couple beer myths and helped fuel curiosity in a non craft drinker to how a primary difference between it and macro lagers can stir up heated debate, Premium lagers like my Bells and others, such as Full Sail’s Session and New Belgium’s Shift, can prove to be much more interesting than first imagined.  They can be a welcome change from the flavors of the big beers that usually are found sweeping the beer world, although both have their time and place.   Who knows, they could even have their own role in the next big craft beer frenzy.  After I had reflected on how much a seemingly simple beer could bring to the table, one slightly more modest thought remained.  I opened another one later that day, and while sitting outside on that warm summer evening, I was immediately reminded of just how flavorful and refreshing beers like that can be.  And right then, that’s all I needed to know.

WHAT TO EXPECT:  Premium Lagers are often crisp, low to moderately hopped, can be slightly malty sweet, perhaps have slightly grassy tastes but often do feature a light biscuit like bready-ness to them.  Well done examples have just enough body to them while not being overly thin.  They are clean tasting, refreshing, and easy to drink, and as mentioned in the post above, many fairly low in alcohol content, upwards of 5%, although a few examples can range to 7%. 

A FEW EXCELLENT EXAMPLES: Do not miss Full Sail’s Session Premium Lager (red label), Bell’s Lager (Lager of the Lakes), New Belgium’s Shift (available in great looking tall boy style cans, of all things!), Heavy Seas Brewing’s Classic Lager, Legend Brewing’s Legend Lager.

IPA215:  Students will participate in a comparative field study examining the effects of cask conditioning and the introduction of Belgian yeast strains to an IPA.  Research will include collecting samples of each version and gaining knowledge through extensive testing.

Sounds like a class you’d wait list for, right?  Of course, drop the collegiate course book lingo and basically you have “come and taste some beer”.  True, as most steal the pint nights go, usually there is always some amount of educational value.  Typically, a restaurant or bar will pick a night to feature a particular brewery, and have on hand that night more than the usual assortment of their beers to taste.  With any luck at all, those beers will include one or two that you haven’t had, a nano beer festival of sorts, and therefore allow you to try a good example of a beer style you have yet to taste, or perhaps a really well respected example of a style you’ve have had before, so you can see how a world class example does things.  But on Roanoke this Thursday night, we students of craft beer are going to be provided with a slightly different slant on your typical steal the glass night.  This Thursday, April 26, The Quarter Restaurant will be hosting one which will feature just one beer.  Yes, just one beer – though with very different treatments to it, and very different flavor differences.  Remember the classes in school that truly made a difference, the ones you remember to this day?  This is one of those – and you won’t even need to bring the syllabus with you.

The beer at the head of the class is Heavy Seas’ Brewing’s (Baltimore, MD) Loose Cannon India Pale Ale.  Personally, this was the IPA that turned the hop corner for me.  It was still early on in my love of craft beer, and I had moved from one typically malty, not too hoppy style to another, and eventually began to wonder if I would ever truly take the plunge into beer styles known for their hop loaded flavor profiles.  Loose Cannon was the beer that brought me to that edge of appreciation, and then beyond it.  It took a few tries, but eventually, its delicious balance of pine needle and grapefruit like, citrusy goodness with just enough malt taste began my trip to becoming a proud hop head.  Today, it is a “go to” IPA for me, and I enjoy one literally whenever possible.  I consider it to be a very good introduction to the IPA style for anyone new to the style, as it was for me – plenty of hop flavor to be a solid approach for the newbie, without being an outright assault on the palate, and plenty of proud IPA for the devoted lover of all things hops.  Today, it is arguably, and deservedly, Heavy Seas’ flagship beer.

But Loose Cannon is thankfully always on tap at The Quarter, and this is still a steal the pint night.  Right, class?  Thursday night, the same Loose Cannon described above will also be available in cask conditioned form.  Unfamiliar with cask conditioning?  At one time, the pride of how just about how all beer in the United Kingdom was served.  Basically, the beer in question has undergoes a secondary fermentation right in the vessel from which it will be served, instead of being finished and placed in a keg.  It is also unfiltered as well.  Allowing the beer to mature this can allow it to develop a more complex set of flavors, and in the case of more hop forward beers, such as our Loose Cannon, the cask treatment tends to mellow out the overall hop flavors some.  Comparing a beer such as this on tap to a cask conditioned version definitely provides a unique tasting experience.  With cask ale, the secondary fermentation of course generates its own co2, and therefore its own carbonation as well, and along with the fact that beer poured from the cask is usually done without the use of any externally introduced gas to move the beer from the cask to your glass, the resulting beer has a “smoother” overall structure and mouth feel.  It’s one of the truest forms of ale production and method of serving, and many beer purists will tell you this is the way ale is supposed to be produced and served, resulting in many call “real ale”.  There is even an association in the UK dedicated to its preservation – CAMRA, The Campaign For Real Ale.  See, I told you this was educational.

Our second semester of sorts will be what Heavy Seas calls “extension of our Loose Cannon style brewed with black malt”.  A mix of two worlds for certain – a darker, malty beer merged with an IPA – Black IPAs resulted from the constantly open imaginations of craft brewers.  Heavy Seas’ version of the “style”, their Black Cannon, is based off of their Loose Cannon and brewed with, of course, dark, black malts.  In this beer, the malts make for a slightly smoky, slightly charcoal like flavor with just a shade of bittersweet chocolate, and it somehow all seems to accompany and highlight a citrusy character from the hops quite well.  Both take their turn being at the forefront of the beer, and the following low bitterness on the back end make it a beer that has a lot going on but is very easy to drink.

ne beer with three different treatments – truly different than the usual steal the pint night.  By having three examples of one particular beer, if you turn out for this one at The Quarter, you’ll return home with a bit of beer education – a better understanding of how different brewing techniques can drastically change a beer’s flavor, from cask maturing to the use of different malts than you’d expect.  Yes, arrive early enough, and you’re guaranteed a brand new glass to sit on the shelf.  But try each beer, and you’ll return home with so much more than simply glassware.

Visit The Quarter website here

Visit the Heavy Seas website here

There are a few clues in the terms that often precede or follow “dank” –  piney, earthy, resinous.  But while many hoppy beers have some level of pine like flavor, the latter two words seem to be more common.  “Earthy” usually means some sort of herbal like or grassy flavor, and resinous, although a little similar perhaps to pine, well, is its own term of pure hop goodness.  All of these give a little insight into what a dank tasting, hoppy beer is like.  But to truly understand the meaning, well, you have to feel it.

That’s right – feel it.  Have you ever heard someone actually use the word?  I think I truly understood what dank meant when I first heard it used to describe such a beer, but it wasn’t in the word itself that I knew, it was in how it sounded.  After tasting a particularly good hoppy – and dank – beer, it rolled out of the mouth of a friend of mine as if he had just heard two full sets of blissfully gratifying and sweat infused blues music.  More times than not, it spoken with an inflection of deep down, raw satisfaction.  Imagine leaving a James Brown show, when he was at his prime no less.  He wouldn’t have hit you with the “funk”, said as if you were reading classical literature.  He would’ve hit you with the f-u-n-k.  That’s how a dank beer is.  Forget the adjectives – I say dank is an emotion.

But don’t take it from me.  Few beers hit these notes as perfectly as one particularly funky, and dank, IPA that has built up quite a bit of buzz in the last several months.  This weekend, Deviant Dales IPA from Oskar Blues Brewery in Colorado will be taking its place among the taps at Local Roots Restaurant here in Roanoke.  Reportedly, it’s an elevated and extremely well dry hopped version of their Dale’s Pale Ale, and is not to be missed.  Let it warm just a bit for all the flavors to uncover themselves.  All the elements are there – piney, earthy, resinous hops flood both the aroma and the flavor in this deliciously complex and flavorful beer.  In lesser hop bombs, it can sometimes be easy to pick out the moments at which each hop characteristic runs across your tongue.  In Deviant, you’ll taste its slight pine, puckering grapefruit and bitter rind, big herbal earthiness, and resinous hop flavors as they are occur all at once, not unlike funk band instrumentalists going on their own solos but staying within a groove, building one heck of a deep, soulful blues jam, all held in check by a bass line of perfectly placed deep caramel malt.  This malt and the carbonation give the beer a wonderful feel and help those hoppy – dank – flavors coat the mouth, making sure that the raw satisfaction lingers for some time.  As it finally begins to show signs of fading from your taste buds, you’ll most likely say it, as my friend did.  And even if you don’t, one thing’s for sure. As a grin likely starts to unfold on the edge of your slightly puckered mouth, you’ll definitely feel it.

Visit the Oskar Blues’ website here!

and the Local Roots Restaurant site here!

Yes, this Saturday, April 21st, Blue 5 will create, in the words of manager Chris Coleman, a “pseudo” outdoor beer garden which will coincide with the second annual Roanoke Twilight Criterium bike race, once again running through the streets of downtown.  According to Coleman, it will be located directly in front of the restaurant, from which turn one in the .60 mile race will be easily within sight.   Making the event even more enticing, race sponsor and regional brewery Devils Backbone (Nelson, Rockbridge Counties) will be the featured brewery.  Along with their popular Vienna lager, the brewery is apparently bringing a few of their other fine brews, none have appeared in Roanoke so far. The list includes their Gold Leaf lager, Maibock, White Stag IPA, and possible first choice for their upcoming “Trailblazer” limited release series, their delicious Begian Congo pale ale.

While the thought of bike races and beer gardens may cause visions of a vacation abroad, if you live in or near Roanoke, you only have to make it down to the corner of Kirk Avenue and Second Street on Saturday to enjoy both. The former will hopefully be another success for downtown Roanoke, as last year’s event was.  The latter sounds like it will be the latest in a series of trademark events for Blue 5, which are solidifying the restaurant’s reputation as a craft beer destination.  Of course, on Saturday, you may be less interested in their reputation than the fact that there’s simply going to be quite a bit of darn good craft beer there.  As I mentioned before…did someone say “beer garden”?

The Blue 5 Restaurant site

Check out the Devils Backbone Brewing Company main site here

Take a look at the Roanoke Twilight site here

Roughly a week and a half ago, the delivery driver’s wishes, and mine, came true.  Six packs of the two brewery’s two flagship beers, their crisp and clean tasting Vienna Lager, and their razor sharp, hop imbued Eight Point IPA, started showing up in stores here in Roanoke.  In less than a year after the official ground breaking at the Rockbridge County facility, bottles are now in stores.  One might think the brewery would be happy to have reached this point.  The question “ok, what’s next?” is definitely inevitable, but feels a little impatient, right?  As it turns out, Devils Backbone is well ahead of that question, and seems almost as impatient to answer it as fans of their beer might seem to ask it.  A visit yesterday to the brewery revealed a couple of those answers, and if what I sampled is any indication, our im-patience is about to be well tested.

As part of what the brewery plans to call their “Trailblazer Series”, Devils Backbone will start to roll out additional beers as limited releases starting in the very near future.  As many craft breweries do, Devils Backbone will offer these as slightly off the beaten path, more complex beers for the beer curious to try their taste buds out on.  The first, a Belgian style pale ale called “Belgian Congo”, on tap currently at the brewery’s tasting room, will be the first in the series.  I had the wonderful opportunity to try this flavorful beer when I stopped by the brewery yesterday, and if this beer is any indication of what’s to come with the whole series, we’re all in for some very delicious and exciting beers.

The brewery listed the Belgian Congo as a pale ale, although initially I had heard that it was some form of IPA.  Labels, labels, labels…throw them out right now.  Good for general direction, but when you get down to it, as I’ve written before, they’re horrible for specifics. Their Belgian Congo is a wonderful label busting beer, a hybrid of hoppy beer brewed with an (obviously) Belgian yeast strain, and by virtue of these elements and others, is one of those with many layers to it.  Pale golden in color, it is very aromatic and grabs your attention with a blend of crisp apple and pear.  These also show up in the flavor of the beer as well, due to the hops and/or type of yeast used, yet off somewhere in the distance there also an orange citrusy one as well.  Alongside runs a slight edge of more typical pine hop flavor and low bitterness, both of which are a bit more subdued than the fruit like flavors but certainly present.  What’s beautiful about tasting this beer is that none of these elements overshadow another.  There are plenty of flavorful beers out there, many of whose flavors overlap some, but not completely, and they’re certainly deserved of praise.  But there are those in which everything seems to be working at the same time, apart yet together, not unlike a group of modern jazz soloists playing their own solos yet listening to each other, working within one solid groove.  You tend to get a little wonderfully lost in those moments, in those beers, which this is definitely one of.

What’s next?  If the Belgian Congo is any indication, their Trailblazer Series ought to hold plenty of promise.  For a taste of what’s to come, you can easily run up to their tasting room near Lexington.  Can’t wait to find it in stores?  Perhaps it’s time to sit back and practice (just a little) patience.  Thank goodness it doesn’t seem like the crew at Devils Backbone will make us wait long.

Visit their website here! and The Outpost Facebook Page Here.