Devils Backbone Introduction Dates Announced For Roanoke Area!
Anticipation this time of year is only natural. It’s mid December and the countdown has truly begun. You’ve stood in torturous check-out lines, waited in endless snafus of mall traffic. Soon, you’ll be the proud owner of another oddly colored tie or perhaps someone who “loves” you will have thought that a full body blanket that looks more like a robe a monk would wear – except that it’s bright blue – was the perfect gift for you. Fear not, because it gets better. After all, we’re not talking about the date that annually signifies the appearance of secret santas and re-gifted sweaters. This one, like that instantly recognizable sound you hear when you crack open a favorite beer after a long week, brings much relief, at least in the minds of Virginia craft beer fans. It’s the two months that folks like you and I have between now and the likely date Devils Backbone begins shipping their beer from their new production brewery. Ah, yes. You’ve forgotten all about that last minute run to the mall haven’t you.
So as you survive yet another extended family get together, and therefore survive re-introductions to distant family members perhaps only seen once a year, I thought our Devils Backbone countdown needed to include its own introductions. Needless to say, these will be A LOT more fun. As it turns out, the fine folks at DBB and P.A. Short, their distributor in the Roanoke area, thought some formal introductions were in order as well. Even before construction at their “Outpost” production brewery near Lexington could see a light at the end of the tunnel, the word from Devils Backbone was that the crew there wanted to build close relationships with the people in the areas they would be soon shipping their beer to. No simply putting their beers out there and expecting us to buy it, followed by the occasional sighting at a festival here and there. So DBB is planning on giving us not one, but several events in the Roanoke area at which both the brewery and we, the craft beer curious, can properly get to know each other. And yes, by meet properly, I mean over glasses of Devils Backbone’s award winning, delicious beer.
Of course, the countdown to being able to find DBB’s beer on tap and in stores comes down to more than even good, well crafted beer. For those of us in the area who have made trips up to their original brewpub location Nelson County, or who have tasted Devils Backbone beer at events such as Microfestivus and BrewDo and have already become fans of their beer, there is a sense of regional pride attached to their growth. To fans of good beer in this and other areas which DBB will soon begin shipping to, this has an added “feel good” vibe to it. After all, within the nationwide fascination and growth in the popularity of craft beer, this is the story of a Virginia brewery, of “one of our own”.
Several dates are planned already to introduce Devils Backbone and their beers to you and I near the end of January and the first part of February, as the brewery leads up to distribution. Below, you’ll find the ones we know about so far, but more could be in the planning. This is the countdown to look forward to, so mark your calendars. We’ll all get through the mall traffic and the long cash register lines, and soon enough, you’ll have a Devils Backbone beer in hand. You’ll be grinning from ear to ear of course, and you’ll even forget you’re even wearing your “new” multicolored sweater.
January 19th – Devils Backbone “Sneak Preview” at Blue 5. Four taps of Devils Backbone beer to introduce you properly.
February 9th – Devils Backbone Rollout Event at the Salem Macados location with sampling opportunities available.
February 10th – Downtown event in the Market Building, part of a new Winter event. Passes will most likely be given out at the previous events listed above to attend this one for free!
February 11th – Devils Backbone Rollout Event at Buffalo Wild Wings (Tanglewood location) with sampling opportunities available.
The Beer Road 