The Beer Road

***Updated Monday 3/24.  Well, that was fast!  Over the weekend, Local Roots ran through the entire keg of this delicious beer.  I decided to leave the post up for the time being because also over the weekend, I noticed bottles were still available at local stores in Roanoke.  So if you weren’t able to come by Local Roots to try Grapefruit Slam on draft, I spotted bottles still available at Roanoke’s Wine Gourmet, and I believe they are still available for sale at Blue 5 Restaurant in downtown Roanoke.***

Any serious craft beer fan would be quick to point out that Stone Brewing does indeed make beers representative of other styles than just IPAs.  And of course, that would be true, and they are excellent – Stone’s Imperial Russian Stout, Smoked Porter, Lukcy Basartd, Old Guardian Barleywine, and the iconoclastic Arrogant Bastard ale all come to mind.  But you’d be hard pressed to find a fan that in the next breath didn’t at least somewhat agree that Stone is ground zero for some of the most highly regarded IPAs in the business.  If you tick off only the most well known in the brewery’s repertoire – Stone IPA, Ruination, RuinTen, the Enjoy By series – it’s enough to make the point.   Their association not only with the style but with producing some of the best examples of it out there is so agreed upon that when rumor of a new Stone IPA release begins to circulate among craft beer forums on the internet, the comments often begin somewhere along the lines of a slightly tired sounding “ok…it’s yet another IPA from Stone”, yet said always with an implied grin, as the very next comment goes something like “and…since it’s from Stone, of course I’ll be trying it!”.

One of the latest such releases is a side project IPA called (Stochasticity Project) Grapefruit Slam.  The thought seemed simple (but delicious) enough – back up the much loved citrus like aromas and flavors which certain hops can bring to many an IPA by including “an immense dosing of fresh grapefruit peel” in the beer.  The result was a pale amber colored, clean tasting, drying, mouth puckering experience unlike many of the brewery’s other IPA releases.  Set apart by featuring a little less of a malty (sweet) body and balancing flavor than some of Stone’s other IPAs, Grapefruit Slam reminds you of its concept through every sip, which tastes like someone painstakingly wrung out whatever liquid could be rendered from a massive amount of grapefruit zest and peel right into your glass.

The release, like many other one off projects from Stone, was a limited one, and bottles weren’t necessarily easy to come by here in Roanoke.  So in case you missed grabbing one, or perhaps didn’t, and would like to taste what this next installment of tasty IPA from Stone is like on draft, Local Roots Restaurant has put it on tap in the last 24 hours.  As with all Stone limited brews, chances are it won’t last long, so make your way down to get a taste of this delicious IPA from Stone Brewing – yes, another Stone IPA (grin implied).

**Roanoke craft beer fans – check out last week’s post about the possibility of Stone Brewing coming to our fair city, and if you haven’t yet, take a moment to check out and join the Facebook group “Stone Brewing Co: YES Roanoke Is Worthy“!

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By now, you may have heard that the nationally known craft brewery Stone Brewing, based in Escondido California, is searching for a spot to locate a brewery on the east coast.  More notably for those of us in Soutwestern Virginia, and more specifically the Roanoke area, you may have also heard that the Star City seems to be getting some mention in rumors for that possible location.

Needless to say, it’s all too easy to get excited over the prospect of a major craft brewing company, much less one of Stone Brewing’s stature, opening up here in Roanoke.  The idea is certainly not baseless – a Facebook group promoting such a development in Roanoke was started a mere 21 hours ago and has already reached above 500 followers, but more importantly, a post from that seems to have come from the group’s administrators mentioned just three hours ago that they believe Roanoke has responded to a request for information from the brewery, which, if true, would seem to imply a formal curiosity in the city. 

Of course, there are at least a few other east coast locations that also have begun generating excitement over the possibility of Stone opening up within their city limits.  Fans of the brewery in Charlotte, NC, have also created a Facebook group to show their enthusiasm for bringing Stone there, and there has also been plenty of relevant twitter activity from craft beer fans in and around Blount County, Tennessee over the last few days.

Could it be possible that Stone would open up here, or nearby Roanoke?  If you are a craft beer fan and live in or around the Star City, there certainly seems to be enough activity so far to believe Roanoke just might indeed be throwing their hat into the ring.  Perhaps Blue 5’s and Jack Brown’s participation in Stone’s Most Bitter Bar competition last year helped put the city on the radar.  At the very least, considering Roanoke’s number of restaurants and pubs which prominently feature craft beer, its yearly craft festival Microfestivus and other events, and the number of local and regional breweries which have opened up over the last few years, I would think our resume is strong for such a possibility.

As the Facebook group puts it, I personally believe that Roanoke is indeed worthy of Stone opening up here in the Roanoke Valley.  How can you help?  Visit the Facebook group, and give it a “Like” to show support, and keep up with the news and posts on the group for the latest.  Share the group with friends.

Let’s get on board with this, Roanoke craft curious.  Give them a hearty Cheers, and show some Roanoke, Virginia love.  It’s time to truly show off the craft beer enthusiasm that’s been building for some time now.  Let Stone know that you’d love to welcome them to our craft beer loving city of Roanoke.

Here’s one more link to the Facebook group.

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One offs, limited releases, brewery exclusives.  Regardless of how such beers get their start, whether to simply mix things up for a brewpub’s more locally based customers, or whether to test run a beer for perhaps larger distribution in the future, or just for the sheer fun in it, most craft breweries are consistently coming up with beers that place somewhere well outside their usual line up.  Perhaps they are simply “bigger” beers, monsters in terms of recipe and/or ingredients with an aroma and flavor to match, or perhaps they are less “popular” styles that might seem a bit risky to put to market.  No matter the reason for their creation or what sorts of beers they are, these brews often generate plenty of curiosity, due to their limited availability.  To try these beers, you often have to be in the right place if not also at the right time.  Again, they are usually available only at the brewery’s tasting room or brewpub, and if they see any distribution at all, it is often on a very limited scale.  But curiosity is a given characteristic of the true craft beer geek – trying different beers and different styles is why we all got into such beer to begin with.  So to say that such limited release beers are not only on our radar, but at the very top of the list, is an understatement indeed.

Imagine then, a beer festival based solely upon featuring such brews.  The idea isn’t necessarily a brand new one, as several festivals which are based around offering limited release beers have been going on annually for some time now.  A few in North Carolina are reaching their fifth or so year of operation, including ones in Raleigh and Charlotte.  But as mid sized cities, such as Roanoke, continue to grow in their overall craft beer appreciation, so does the curiosity for hosting their own rare beer events.  Such a festival for the Star City then was perhaps always on the horizon, and simply needed enough interest and enough time to become reality.  This Saturday, all the necessary forces have finally come together as Roanoke will host its first rare beer event – “For The Love of the Brew” – held inside the downtown Roanoke Market Building.

Information and details can be found on the event’s Facebook page here.  Now onto the beers.

A trio of beers not to miss will be available from Harrisonburg’s Three Brothers.  The first is the brewery’s Russian Imperial Stout “Resolute”, followed by their sour style Belgian blonde Savage Blonde, both of which I mentioned recently in a post here.  A third will be their richly delicious Dubbel, aged in Rum barrels.

Included in the beers Nelson County’s Devils Backbone is bringing will be their “Dead Bear” Imperial Stout, usually a brewery basecamp exclusive.  Dead Bear boasts a creamy mouthfeel and an extremely flavorful taste, plentiful of bittersweet chocolate and some deeply roasted coffee.

Apocalypse Ale Works is bringing a couple of new inventions, their Cenful Blonde and a taste of their collaboration with Devils Backbone’s Brewmaster Jason Oliver, a doppelsticke called Devils Secret, which I wrote up recently in an article here.

From Legend comes a couple of interesting options, the first of which being their monster of a barleywine.  The second is an oyster stout called Teach’s Stout, a beer that is part of the brewery’s 2014 Urban Legend series, in which the brewery teams up with a brewer from another Virginia brewery to produce a beer to help celebrate Legend’s 20^th anniversary.  A good oyster stout is always a personal favorite, and usually pairs the slight briny (or even slightly sweet) flavor from the oysters used to a solid but not overwhelming, dry-ish roastiness of the stout.

Starr Hill, among others, will be offering up what looks like will be a bourbon barrel version of their Cryptical imperial stout.

Sunken City is bringing out roughly three one offs, which should include their California Common lager Steamboat (Steemboat?).  I had a chance to taste this at the tap event at Cork & Crust about a week ago, and it was darn good, featuring a sturdy hop (pine? the slightest citrus?) presence that gave the beer plenty of character and a refreshingly bitter snap and a barely there fruitiness that also helped to keep things interesting.

From Victory, bottles of their Old Horizontal barleywine should be available as well as a keg of their seasonal, draft only Hop Ticket Hoppy Wheat ale.

Rare beer events often showcase the extreme in flavorful, aromatic beers.  In Roanoke’s first go at such a festival, from headcount alone, it looks like several kinds of stouts will take center stage, which won’t be out of place at all if you love to pair such beers with colder weather. Take the opportunity to taste some limited run, Virginia produced beer, and perhaps most of all, come out to support what hopefully will be the first of many rare beer events for the Roanoke area.  Cheers!

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Friday night kicked off the weekend with a couple events, listed below.  As (almost) always, tap takeover style events mean that at least some of the beers that were featured are still available at those locations.

In addition, a few other new beers have also made an appearance at other locations around Roanoke for the rest of the weekend.  First, Local Roots has recently put Terrapin’s Mosaic rye malt based ale, which I believe is single hopped with the hop that bears the beer’s name.  This was a fairly recent release for the Georgia based brewery and has been pretty highly reviewed overall.

Blue 5 continues to pit new draft beers against each other in head to head match-ups, with this weekend’s contest featuring New Holland Brewing’s Dragon’s Milk stout versus DuClaw’s Cocoa Fuego spiced up stout.  Fans of either beer can then vote for their favorite on the Blue 5’s facebook page, with the restaurant working to then bring back the winner again to the bar at some point in the near future.

(Friday) Weekend Tap Update arrives a little early as two craft beer events will be kicking off the weekend on Friday.  First, Martin’s Grill in downtown Roanoke will be hosting a tap takeover featuring Starr Hill (Crozet, Va), and among other beers, I would expect to see the brewery’s Grateful Pale Ale, which was recently promoted to year round availability.  Also, this year’s edition of the brewery’s Little Red Roostarr Coffee Stout, produced in collaboration with Red Rooster Coffee Roasters in Floyd, Va, has recently begun releasing to the area, and quite possibly could make an appearance at this event.

Secondly, downtown Roanoke’s Cork & Crust continues to elevate its presence as a craft beer destination in town with the newest installment of their Friday Night Hops event.  Each Friday since the beginning of February, the artisan pizza restaurant has held a tap takeover style event featuring local and regional breweries and bands.  So far, Devils Backbone, Apocalypse Ale Works, and Wild Wolf breweries have been present, but this time around Sunken City Brewing will be showcasing their beers at the event.  John Park, a Roanoker and well known presence in the region’s food and beverage scene, recently visited Sunken City and assisted in creating a special release stout which will be on tap at Friday’s event.

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