Weekend Tap Update: Legend’s 20th, Stone’s Suede, and A Few Oktoberfest Beers Thrown In For Good Measure.

Richmond’s Legend Brewing kicked off its twentieth anniversary in September when Governor McDonnell himself stopped by to tap a firkin of the brewery’s Oktoberfest beer. The yearlong celebration will continue each month as Virginia’s oldest operating brewery invites guests to help design various cask beers and has also invited brewers from other Virginia breweries such as Lost Rhino and Starr Hill to collaborate on new beers in its “Urban Legend” series. One of the current beers in that series, the Richmond Vampire Imperial Red Ale, has made its way to Roanoke over the last few days, now appearing at Local Roots, Lucky Restaurant, and Blue 5. Although these Urban Legend series beers, of which others have included the Locomotive 231 and Guardian Doppelbock, bring a welcome freshness to Legend’s solid and familiar lineup and are well worth checking out, one might also take the opportunity of their anniversary to revisit one of those older brewery standards. If for no other reason, it’s rather impossible to imagine that many current craft beer fans in the state didn’t cut their teeth, or rather whet their palate, with a little help from the malty goodness of Legend’s Brown Ale. Whether it’s with that classic or the newer Vampire Red, either beer would make a fitting choice to help toast Virginia’s oldest operating brewery’s twentieth anniversary.

Apparently also new on tap at Blue 5 is Stone Brewing’s Imperial Porter “Suede”, which is one of the very latest releases in the brewery’s collaboration series of beers. Suede resulted from a joining of forces between Stone, Oregon’s 10 Barrel Brewing, and DC’s Bluejacket Brewing, and used avocado honey, jasmine and calendula flowers from Stone’s own farms in the brewing of the beer.

Don’t forget that Martin’s Oktoberfest “Block Party” will be kicking off tonight and will continue throughout tomorrow, with plenty of live music both inside and outside in the restaurant’s special event beer garden. Fall beer styles and Oktoberfest style beers will be on hand as well as German themed food. Jack Brown’s in downtown Roanoke will also be holding a cider tap (and bottle) takeover featuring Woodchuck.