The Beer Road

Perhaps no type of beer lends itself as easily to a blind taste sampling as Pumpkin Ales.  From one to another, the primary variables of such beers are pretty consistent with the common inclusion of pumpkin pie like spices and the addition of pumpkin itself, but change ever so slightly with the treatment given to those ingredients by the individual brewery.  For example, which spices and how much of each one; pureed pumpkin or whole, and roast the flesh or not; and on the outer periphery, some breweries barrel age their pumpkin ales, but again, in what kinds of barrels?  To say the ingredients are the completely the same is a bit of a stretch, as each beer of course is also defined by the various types and amounts of malts and hops used, as with any beer.  But let’s face it, pumpkin ales are defined by the addition of the orange gourd and moreover, by the spicing used, and lining several up at one time is a bit like being a judge on one of those Food TV chef competition shows – everyone got exactly the same ingredients, but what each chef, or brewer in this case, did with those ingredients might be completely different from one dish to the next.  The drinker then gets to find out what he or she likes about the style, or what they don’t – sweeter or not so, heavier in body or lighter, heavier spicing or less, and so on.

It is in this spirit that Local Roots Restaurant is celebrating the Pumpkin Ale style by putting on several pumpkin ales and letting the customer, if they choose, compare them – blindly.  Personally, I’ve done this with pumpkin ales on a couple of occasions, as have some of my friends, and as with any blind tasting, you just may surprise yourself with what you discover.  A beer you might not have given a second glance may become a favorite, or it may completely reinforce what you already expected of it.  Either way, blind tasting of similar beers gives us the chance to try examples of a style without discretion – whatever opinion you have of a brewery, for example, by tasting their example blindly, cannot influence your assessment of the beer.  After that comes arguably the best part of such a tasting, figuring out the ‘why’ you cared for one beer over another.  Just what was it that drew you to your favorite?   The answer, of course, gives you an idea of what you like and don’t like about that particular style and possibly others, and serves as a blueprint, or a map, to help guide you to simiilar beers you may love as well.

The Local Roots Pumpkin Ale Tasting, 10/29 through 10/31.

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To many craft beer fans that live in my state of Virginia, certainly including those in my own city of Roanoke, the beers are more than familiar – 420, Georgia Brown, Blue, Happy Ending – but the opportunities to enjoy them have been far too few, usually relegated to road trips into more southern situated states.  But in April of this year, the brewery behind those great brews, Atlanta based SweetWater Brewing, announced that recent expansion would finally give them the capacity to open up distribution to our state, albeit in the latter part of the year, so we’d have to wait still.  Finally, to the delight of us who have been patiently waiting on an official word, true movement into Virginia became a bit clearer with this Facebook post from just a few days ago:

Over a hundred comments and several shares later, folks are still chiming in on Sweetwater’s entry and interest in Virginia.  Now, consider this next social media post, which at least for me, reinforced just how serious SweetWater’s interest in individual cities in the state is.  Obviously, it became clear that the brewery wasn’t going to stop with just the one Facebook post when this interesting (and funny) tweet, from their new “SweetwaterVA” account, surfaced just last night:

Scouting the city of Charlottesville tonight. Starting at Mellow, stumbling from here

— SweetWater Virginia (@sweetwaterVA) October 29, 2013

Who says a fun night on the town isn’t the same thing as research.  But what’s most interesting about the tweet is that apparently, distribution into our neck of the woods holds much more than a passing interest, so much so that it looks like brewery folks are already out and about in prospective Virginia cities.  And while I do very much enjoy the Charlottesville area, I think it’s high time, should you call Roanoke home as I do, to make sure SweetWater knows just how interested we Roanoke craft fans are for their beer, and how viable our city is for expansion.  More specifically, the Facebook post is a chance to let the brewery know of all the possible spots in Roanoke they might want to consider.  So think of this as a call to “arms” (or “beers”) of sorts.  While Virginia craft beer fans are always happy to hear that a nationally known brewery is planning an entrance into our markets, here’s a case where one is actively looking for feedback.

So in case you’re one of their fans that has only been able to enjoy SweetWater’s beers rarely and mostly from afar, or simply enjoy the idea that our state is once again growing in overall craft beer interest so much so that a brewery like SweetWater is finally coming to town, here’s a chance to show some classic (Roanoke) Virginia love, craft beer style.  After all, one of the often heard comments from beer fans usually revolves around how easily, or not so, it is to actually find a brewery’s beers.  Here’s a chance to make sure the brewery knows about Roanoke, and exactly where in the Star City you’d like to see beers like SweetWater’s tasty but accessible IPA, their 420 pale ale, their summer favorite Blue, or even their highly regarded Imperial Stout Happy Ending.  Below, I’ll link to the Facebook post to make commenting as easy as possible.  Cheers, and let’s send some welcoming Roanoke love to SweetWater Brewing!  Cheers!

Here’s the Facebook post.

Below is an excerpt from the brewery’s own website, from the page titled “A Look Back At SweetWater Brewing Company”, for additional info:

“ABOUT SWEETWATER BREWING COMPANY: SweetWater Brewing Company is an Atlanta-based craft brewery living by the motto “Don’t Float the Mainstream!” SweetWater’s brews are unpasteurized and designed to be consumed fresh so distribution is limited to the Southeast. The award-winning lineup of year-round brews includes SweetWater 420, IPA, Exodus Porter, Blue, LowRYEder and Georgia Brown. SweetWater also features a Catch and
Release series of beers available on a limited basis throughout the year, and an experimental, one-time-only Dank Tank series. The SweetWater Brewery, open for tours every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 5:30-7:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 2:30-4:30 p.m., is located at 195 Ottley Dr. NE, Atlanta GA 30324. For more information about SweetWater Brewing Company, please visit http://www.sweetwaterbrew.com. For more of a social relationship with
SweetWater Brewing Company follow @sweetwaterbrew on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sweetwaterbrew.”

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The Three Sisters & Their Expanding Family

Chances are, if you’re familiar with Chicago’s Goose Island Brewery, you know they have been crafting three highly regarded wild ales for some time now that have become known as “The Three Sisters” – Lolita, Juliet, and Madame Rose – which are released just once a year.  All three are aged in wine barrels, with the predominant difference being that each spends some of that time aging with different types of fruit. Lolita benefits from the addition of raspberries, Juliet from blackberries, and the very rarely seen Madame Rose from cherries.  Each type of fruit deliciously reinforces the otherwise tart characteristics of these beers, and along with the barrel aging, adds additional layers of complexity.  This year, the brewery is officially welcoming two more sisters to the family, and this weekend, we will welcome much of the family, new and old, to Roanoke.  “Gillian” is a Belgian farmhouse/saison brewed with strawberries, honey, and a touch of white pepper, and which also is finished with an addition of champagne yeast, and “Halia”, also a saison style ale brewed with whole peaches, are the two newcomers.   Like their siblings, both of course spend some time in aging wine barrels.  Both are also great products of the ever expanding barrel aging program at Goose Island, and for those who are fans of deliciously complex Belgian styles of beer, are absolutely worth seeking out.  Here in Roanoke, that very likely will become possible this weekend, as four of the sisters – all except Madame Rose – are making their way (in bottles) to stores.  Lolita is a bit more widely distributed, but Juliet and her two new sisters should be available at Wine Gourmet in Roanoke.  Keep a lookout on the store’s Facebook page for updates.

The Return of the King

Leave it to royalty to know how to make an entrance.  Even though pumpkin ale season seemed to get an unseasonal early start in most places around the country, most would agree that the end of their annual run is growing closer.  Winter releases are already beginning to pop up on shelves, taking the place of their often more heavily spiced seasonal.  But here in Roanoke, perhaps the most well known pumpkin beer, and arguably the tastiest in all the land, refused to make a showing, regardless of how the days have ticked away.  But here in the last couple days, the doors to the palace have finally swung open, and the king has shown himself.  Southern Tier’s imperial pumpkin ale Pumking, in extremely limited numbers of bottles, made it to store shelves around Roanoke.  The limited availability is typical, as most stores get only a case or two, and typically limit customers to single bottle purchases.  However, if you were too late to snag a bottle, or perhaps only want a taste to remember how well done this beer is, or even if you have yet to try this ale, Blue 5 will likely be putting it on tap this weekend, along with a few other beers.  Yes, this beer, which I always like to describe as the perfect liquid approximation of a slightly sugar dusted, vanilla laced graham cracker, should be on draft just in time for Halloween week. (Keep an eye on the restaurant’s Facebook page, as usual, for updates.)

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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.

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