Thirty three percent more beer, in any situation, always sounds like a pretty nice upgrade. Imagine sitting down at your favorite watering hole, for example, and finding out the happy hour special now will get you 33% more Dale’s Pale, or 33% more Founders Centennial. Or perhaps a trip to a favorite brewery reveals that you’ll have to exchange that growler for a brand spanking new one, because the growlers now include more than a third more, let’s say, Blue Mountain Full Nelson, or Devils Backbone Vienna Lager. I imagine that for most craft beer fans, 33% more beer is always an agreeable situation to find oneself in, right?
Now, while we may not be exactly talking about the amount of beer being poured into your pint glass or growler at the moment, we are talking about selection – arguably, the next most mulled over topic in the mind of any self respecting craft beer fan. No beer in hand? Time to go searching for one, and in Roanoke, the selection at what is perhaps the most diverse craft and import beer store in town, Wine Gourmet, is indeed growing. Yes, according to store owner Brian Powell, who has recently taken over beer buyer duties and is spearheading the changes, the beer assortment and the shelf space dedicated to it will be enlarging by some 33%. It’s all part of a renewed attention to the beer selection at the store, already a great stop if you’re looking for an ale or lager to satisfy a thirst, or to expand the palate.
In addition, Wine Gourmet is also giving Virginia based craft beer a larger and more prominent space, making it the first section a shopper will encounter when entering the store. A recent stop found plenty of bottles and cans from Blue Mountain, Devils Backbone, Port City, St. George, and other Virginia breweries lining the shelves. Wine Gourmet will of course continue to stock brews from many of the most popular breweries in the country, such as Lagunitas, Bell’s, New Belgium, and Stone, but is also a great spot to pick up examples from some of the lesser known but excellent craft breweries out there, as well as new ones which are constantly emerging upon the scene. For example, a recent personal buy from the store was a bottle of “Hop to Wit” a Witbier from White Birch Brewing in New Hampshire, a new brewery to the Roanoke market.
With the added selection, perhaps the best weapon any store such as this can give a craft beer fan becomes even more formidable – the ability to buy single beers. Unsure of that new IPA, or wonder what’s the big deal about barleywines? Want to taste several styles of beer over the weekend? Buying by the bottle means answering all those questions and more without forking over the money for a whole six or four pack. Want to do a complete pumpkin ale tasting (as I did a few days ago)? Pick up single bottles of the best pumpkin beers out there, invite friends over, and line them up for a fun comparison tasting.
No matter what the reason to visit Wine Gourmet, if you’re looking for craft or import beer, just remember, the math is easy to do: thirty three percent more beer is always a tasty predicament to find yourself in. Cheers!
Check out Wine Gourmet’s recently revamped website here, or call the store at 540-400-8466.
Starting with what arguably might be fan favorite number one, Southern Tier’s Pumking went up on tap recently at Local Roots Restaurant. The New York based brewery pretty much nailed the style with this one, finding a way to work around one of the most often heard complaint among these beers – that the fall like spices used in most of these ales are a bit too heavy. I find that Pumking features a deft balance of spice, sweet, and a flavor tasting not unlike flaky pie crust. Like all good Pumpkin Ales, this one tastes as if you could pour it into a pie dish and bake it, with a slight alcohol kick. If you only taste one among the four, this might be it.
Two different Pumpkin Ales are available at Blue 5 currently. One is Weyerbacher’s (PA) Imperial Pumpkin, which might be the rowdier brother to Pumking’s stately persona. Big caramel sweetness whip around the spice flavors of nutmeg and clove like the wind around leaves on a blustery fall night. A hearty beer, with bold flavors, this one does not hide any alcohol bite – after all, it is an “Imperial” version of the style – but it doesn’t get in the way either. The second example is New Holland’s (MI) Ichabod Pumpkin Ale. There are plenty of spice flavors here as well, along with a bit of sweetness and a dry pie crust flavor in the finish. This one is a good contrast to the Weyerbacher, with plenty of flavor without being over the top. It isn’t to say that either one isn’t a good selection, but simply two very different approaches to this kind of beer.
Not into Pumpkin beers? Not to worry – over the last week, there have been a bunch of non Pumpkin Ales to surface around town. At Blue 5, two of perhaps the best IPAs in the country are still riding out their stays on draft. Stone Brewing’s (CA) Ruination and Avery’s (CO) DuganA are both tongue twisting, earth shaking IPAs. A prickly wave of pineapple and other sharp citrus flavors is the top most yet thin layer skimming on the surface of a two story tsunami wave of robust, deep malt sweetness, along with a slightly tongue twisting “dank” flavor and dry-ish finish is the you-better-be-ready-cause-here-we-go experience found in Ruination. Not terribly bitter, this is huge on taste and frighteningly “easy” to drink, for an Imperial IPA. Avery’s DuganA is another personal favorite, featuring a diverse and up front citrus presence of apricots and peach like flavors, a swiftly running stream of sweetness, and constant edge of hop bitterness which is neither too much or too little. It all melds into one heck of a ride.
To those outside the bubbling excitement surrounding craft beer, finding out that Asheville, NC, is arguably the center of the American craft beer universe might seem a little implausible. Portland, sure, the Bay Area in California, ok, various cities in Colorado, absolutely – but Asheville? But to those who know craft beer, Asheville is a mecca of craft brewing, currently boasting eleven breweries in and around the city. Earlier this year, it was voted Beer City, USA for the fourth time. Even those on the fringes of the craft beer explosion of popularity should be well aware of the town’s status – after all, you may have heard that nationally known breweries Sierra Nevada, Oskar Blues, and New Belgium are all expanding by building second breweries near the city.
Not going to make it to Munich for Oktoberfest this year? For those of us who live in and around Roanoke, there is an alternative, and it will feature the two words I’ve always said perks a beer fan’s attention up more quickly than most anything: beer and garden. This Saturday, Martin’s Downtown Bar and Grille will be hosting an Oktoberfest celebration by switching most of their taps over to Oktoberfest style beers and serving them both inside and out in a temporary beer garden. Scheduled to be on draft will be Brooklyn Brewing’s Oktoberfest, Starr Hill’s “Festie”, as well as a few excellent import versions of the fall beer style, from German breweries Hofbrau, Paulaner, and Spaten.
The Beer Road 