Weekend Tap Update, Parkway Brewing Edition!

Nearly every weekend, there are new craft beers to try – on draft, no less – in Roanoke. Restaurants like Local Roots, Lucky, and Blue 5 are constantly putting on new releases to meet what seems to be an ever increasing number of craft curious folks in and around the city. But it’s not every weekend that the new beer going up on tap is local! If you were one of the lucky ones to catch the facebook post last Saturday from Parkway Brewing, the area’s newest craft brewery, you might have had a chance to go taste their beer later that day right in their tasting room. If not, you’ve only had to wait a week. And you’ll have plenty of places to go do some taste testing, as Parkway delivered kegs of their two current beers this week to quite a few area restaurants and bars.

Eventually, Parkway will likely have four beers in their regular rotation. But the two being rolled out this weekend for the first time to restaurants are smart choices to meet a wide range of tastes. For the hop heads and fans of IPAs, Parkway is offering up their “Get Bent Mountain IPA”, which the brewery’s website describes as West Coast style IPA, with a lighter body and “loads of citrusy hops”. For the non hop initiated, many locations will also have their “Bridge Builder Blonde”, an “easy drinking” Belgian blonde style ale, with a “wheat flavored backbone, tempered with hints of clove, banana, and pear”. Of course, most of us will want to try both.

Local Roots Restaurant on Grandin Road should have the beer available beginning this afternoon around 5, and will also have Parkway brew specials for their beer club members. (In case you’re not a member, this would be a good time to sign up, trust me.) Lucky Restaurant in downtown Roanoke will be putting the beer on tap this weekend as well, and word was it might have been already up as early as last night. I’m also quite positive that a facebook post is forthcoming from Blue 5 this morning or early this afternoon, just in time for happy hour, and that they too will have Parkway on draft.

For the craft curious and enthusiast in Roanoke, every weekend is a chance to try something new, stretch the palate, and possibly find a new favorite. This weekend, the city adds one more important reason to get out and taste new beer, and one near and dear to the craft community in general – to support locally produced beer! Cheers!

(If you know any other locations which will have Parkway’s Get Bent or Bridge Builder, don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments section below.)