The Beer Road

***So, as usual with the ticket giveaways to festivals, the correct response to the trivia question was received pretty quickly.  I’ll be emailing the winner shortly.  Keep a watch on the blog here for other upcoming ticket giveaways to festivals in the Roanoke area!***

Here’s a quick follow up post from TheBeerRoad’s festival run down from earlier in the week.  Better yet, this one is offering a ticket giveaway for Salem’s Big Lick Beertopia festival happening on June 8!  First off, thank you once again to the Roanoke Jaycees for putting on this festival, and allowing me to offer this ticket giveaway each year.

Up for grabs is a 10 tasting admission ticket to this year’s event.  All you have to do is answer a quick and (fairly) simple trivia question, which hopefully will keep things a little interesting.  This year, the festival is happy to welcome several new breweries to the line-up.  The question is this – which brewery listed on the Beertopia new to 2013 line-up page recently announced expansion plans to build a production brewery in Virginia Beach?  I’ll provide a link to that festival page HERE.

Leave your answer by clicking on the “Leave A Comment” link at the top of this post.  Answer with the brewery name.  The first correct answer will win the ticket.  I will email you directly to let you know, and also update this post that a winner has been selected.  I will make every attempt to respond to the answers by this evening, but please allow me until tomorrow to get back to you.

Thanks, and cheers!

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Part social event, part reason to spend a nice spring or summer day outdoors with friends, part easy way to try lots of great beer in one place – whatever the reasons you attend craft beer festivals, it always adds up to a fun time.  Technically, you can find events throughout the country happening just about any time of year.  Personally, I enjoy outdoor festivals during warm weather.  Little compares to the simple enjoyment of tasting good beer on a (hopefully) clear and sunny day.  Add to that the chance of uncovering some new beer you haven’t had before, especially if it impresses enough to become a new favorite, and you have one quite memorable day to be sure.   With that in mind, below is a list of craft beer festivals which are coming up the next few months in Virginia, listed by date.  I’ve also included, to the best of my knowledge, some basic ticket information as well.  Mainly I’ve included what types of tickets are available, and what they include in terms of number of tastings.

May 11 2013 – The Virginia Hops and Barley Festival, Midlothian VA (Ticket includes unlimited tastings)

May 18 & 19 – Virginia Beer Festival, Norfolk, VA (Two ticket tiers, it’s a little unclear on event website about number of tastings for each)

June 8 2013 – Big Lick Beertopia, Salem, VA (Two tiers, one for 10 tastings, the second for 20 tastings)

June 22 & 23 – Northern Virginia Summer Brewfest, Leesburg, VA (Last year, I believe admission included 4 tasting tickets, additional tickets available for extra charge)

August 10 – Microfestivus, Roanoke, VA (Two ticket tiers, one for 10 tastings, a second for 20)

August 24 – Virginia Craft Brewer’s Festival, Nelson County/Roseland, VA – Held on the grounds at the Devils Backbone “Basecamp” Brewpub (Last year, I believe the ticket included a certain number of tastings, additional, larger sized offerings were available for an extra charge)

September (Date currently to be decided upon, according to the website) – Top Of The Hops, Charlottesville, VA (Ticket usually includes unlimited tastings)

August 19 & 20 – Virginia Beach Craft Beer Festival, Virginia Beach, VA

Of course, I’m positive there are other festivals out there, and if you know of any, please add them through the Leave A Comment link at the top of this post.  Also, it goes without saying that there are plenty of weekly events throughout our state to keep an eye and ear out for – tap takeovers, special release days, weekly beer tastings, and the like.  As craft beer interest continues to grow in Virginia, opportunities to expand one’s beer curiosity seem to be popping up everywhere.  Keep a lookout, and I hope you find a new favorite soon!  Cheers!

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Wednesday night, the beer curious of Roanoke will get a chance to taste beers from one of the newest breweries in Virginia, from right up the road in Forest, Apocalypse Ale Works.  After roughly a year of planning and getting the brewery up and running , husband and wife team Lee and Doug John are finally brewing, centering their efforts around two flagship brews, a wheat ale called Golden Censor and an imperial red ale, Hoppocalypse.  A few seasonal offerings have also made appearances at the brewery’s tasting room and deck in Forest.  Tomorrow night, Lee will be on hand at Blue 5 in downtown Roanoke showing off at least three of their beers, including the wheat and red ale.

I had a chance to stop by their tasting room just a few days ago and try both of these beers as well as a stout and Belgian dubbel style beer.  All were extremely good in their own right.  Golden Censor was what you’d hope for in such a beer, easy to drink and not a challenge for the taste buds to comprehend, but without sacrificing flavor.  Apocalypse adds orange peel during brewing for an added layer of taste.  Calling Hoppocalypse a contrasting work, however, would be no small understatement.  It is a big beer, with plenty of citrusy hop flavor riding on top of a somewhat rich, sweet malt wave, with ample bitterness, and a bit of alcoholic heat.  Both of these beers are good selections for showing off the spectrum of what the brewery is capable of, and are definitely worth a taste.

The event gets underway at 5 pm, and a limited number of folks will receive glassware with the brewery’s logo.  No matter how many beers are available, it will be certainly be another great example to celebrate and toast Virginia’s ever growing craft beer legacy.  This time, it will be with the tasty ales from one of the state’s newest breweries, and for those of us in Roanoke, one of the closest as well.  Cheers to Apocalypse Brewing!

Visit their facebook page here!

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You know there has to be a special reason for TheBeerRoad to change the focus of this Friday’s Weekend Tap Update post to something other than, well, new beer on tap.  But this is important, and more than worth noting.  Over the last few days, bottles of Salem’s Parkway Brewing have begun hitting the shelves in a few spots around Roanoke.  From different Facebook posts, it looks like the brewery’s porter, Ravens Roost, was the first to show up in places like Tinnell’s Foods on Crystal Spring Avenue. And according to a post from Tinnell’s from just a couple hours ago, bottles of Parkway’s tasty Get Bent Mountain IPA have also reached the shelves there as well. 

Sure, there is new beer showing up on draft around town.  If you’re an IPA fan, stops at Lucky, Local Roots, and Blue 5 Restaurants might make your weekend.  Founders Brewing’s Centennial (an old favorite), Highland Brewing’s new Devils Britches, and New Belgium’s new Rampant, all ipas, are going on tap at those locations, listed respectively.

Parkway’s tasting room, while open only a couple months, has become a popular place for its fans to gather on the weekends.  I’m sure it will continue to be so.  But now, their beer is being bottled and is beginning to be distributed throughout the area, letting us enjoy it without having to wait for the Thursday through Saturday stretch, certainly a positive for those fans.  Another positive sign of Parkway’s success and good beer?  Our newest brewery is growing up fast. Cheers.

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