Come “Fall In Love With Local Craft Beer” At Blue 5 Tonight

Roanoke’s Blue 5 kicks off the weekend tonight with a spotlight on Virginia’s craft beer community, featuring a line up of beer from specifically chosen from within the state, including several from breweries in Roanoke. The restaurant’s “Fall In Love With Local Craft Beer” event should feature more than ten beers, half of which coming from the Star City.

Perhaps just as notable, if not more so, than the fact that these beers are from within the state’s boundaries is that the ones from Roanoke represent a step outside those brewery’s regular line up of beer. Of course, if you pay any attention at all to the choices at your local beer store on a regular basis, you already know that new releases, whether they be one offs, seasonal, or otherwise, are constantly hitting the shelves, something that seems to be almost entirely consumer driven. Though it might be impossible to truly gauge, basically, not only are more folks trying craft beer, but those who have taken a more than extremely casual liking to craft want to try something different – constantly. Not that you can really blame them. (Or should I say, “us”, since I’m as much a part of this desire to search out the newest as anyone.) After all, “different” is what got most of us into craft beer to begin with. This trend to put out something truly new – especially beyond the brewery’s walls – has been, arguably, somewhat slow to catch on among Roanoke’s breweries. Lately, however, that seems to be changing – and it’s a good sign indeed.

So that brings us back to the line up at Blue 5 tonight. Parkway Brewing Company’s new Double IPA Four Damn Fights To A Pint, if you haven’t yet tried it, is a must to seek out. But consider the brewery’s newer fall seasonal, Seeing Colors – instantly among some of the better fall, spiced beers I’ve tasted. Chaos Mountain’s relatively new smoked vanilla porter seasonal sold well at the brewery on its first go round. It is just the latest in several smaller batch beers the Callaway based brewery has produced, but one of the few to make it outside the brewery’s walls. Not so oddly enough, it is also one that was produced after local restaurant owners had heard about it and wanted to put it on draft, no doubt prodded on by customers who simply wanted to try something different.