Weekend Happenings In Roanoke and Salem: Some Updated Info On Big Lick Beertopia And A Left Hand Brewing Tasting At Wine Gourmet

The weekend is approaching, and it is definitely bringing many, many chances to taste some fine craft beer. Saturday brings this year’s Big Lick Beertopia beer festival, once again held at Lewis Gale Field in Salem. Selections from more than forty breweries will be available, and there will be five “special” beers tapped every 45 minutes starting at 12:15. Included in these beers will be a Belgian style, barrel aged beer from Parkway Brewing (barrel aged Dubbel?), Rubaeus from Founders, Cocoborealis from Chaos Mountain, and Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout from Flying Dog. Just about every local brewery will be present, including Chaos Mountain, Parkway Brewing, Soaring Ridge, Flying Mouse, Sunken City, Roanoke Railhouse, and Apocalypse Ale Works. In addition, the festival will have several cideries. Discounted tickets are currently available on the event’s website, and of course tickets will be available at the gate. The festival will benefit three local charities, Camp VA Jaycee, Katie’s Place, and Angels of Assisi.

Following Wednesday night’s tap takeover event at Jack Brown’s featuring Colorado’s Left Hand Brewing, Wine Gourmet will be featuring the brewery at its Friday evening beer tasting. On hand will be the brewery’s Oak Aged Barleywine Widdershins, their English IPA 400 Lb Monkey, Polestar Pilsner, Stranger Pale Ale, and their Sawtooth Bitter. Left Hand’s “Imperial Porter” Smoke Jumper may make an appearance as well. If you are into smoked beers, or perhaps aren’t quite sure about them yet, I have three words – seek this out. The beer features plenty of smoky aroma and flavor, and both are reminiscent of a campfire that’s been recently put out by rain and is still smoldering. However, Smoke Jumper doesn’t suffer from the heavy handedness that many smoked malt beers do, but that’s not to say there isn’t plenty of the smoked character there. Instead, the smoked character is nearly equally matched by a rich maltiness that is not at all sugary sweet and somehow doesn’t distract from the smoke or char, but instead offers a just-as-big yet balancing counter point. There are also smaller accompanying flavors of charred wood, slight bittersweet chocolate and smooth, bold coffee.

Also, all of our great local breweries feature live entertainment most weekends, and this one is no different. Parkway Brewing and Flying Mouse already have music listed to happen this weekend, and I’m sure Soaring Ridge will as well. At Chaos Mountain on Friday night, the brewery will welcome the Rock & Roll Diner food truck to help kick off the weekend.