A Glimpse Into What’s Brewing At Chaos Mountain

In between the time a new brewery announces its plans to open and the actual opening day often lies plenty of anticipation, especially for the craft beer fans who live nearby the brewery. At the very least, they may simply want the brewery to succeed, as it’s often natural for folks to want a homegrown business do well. On a more personal level, they may even know the people behind the brewery, and want them to find success as well. They may hope the new brewery will benefit the area as a whole, especially if it brings positive reaction and recognition to an already growing craft beer scene, such as the one we have here in Roanoke. More likely, the prospect of a new brewery incites a mixture of all of the above. But in the end, let’s face it: when a new brewery is planning on opening, what most of us really want to find out is – what will the beer be like?

When it comes to Chaos Mountain Brewing, one of the Roanoke area’s newest craft breweries, you might have gotten a “taste” of the answer for that question if you found yourself at Roanoke’s Blues BBQ Co. restaurant last week. There on their tap list, sandwiched somewhat inconspicuously between the other beers, was written “Chaos Mt. – Chocolate Stout”. It was likely the very first public sighting of a beer from the Callaway based brewery, which hopes to open by the end of the month.

Snuck onto a draft list for those fortunate enough to come across it, the Chocolate Stout reminded me of a tasteful dry Irish stout, yet infused with plenty of cocoa and chocolate aroma and flavor, given to the beer by the addition of both cocoa powder and cacao nibs during brewing. Will Landy, head brewer at Chaos Mountain, promises that even a “touch more dark chocolate character” is coming for future versions of the beer, which will be one of five or possibly six offerings the brewery hopes to have ready to go when it opens in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, put Cork & Crust’s “Friday Night Hops” event for April 25^th on the calendar, which will be one of the first official introductions to the brewery. Come out and support one of Roanoke’s newest craft breweries, and find out just what the beer will be like. But trust me, if the stout was any indication, we’re in for many flavorful beers to come.