Craft beer fans get excited, because Hardywood Park Brewery has done it again. For the first time not only at Hardywood, but seemingly ever (to our knowledge at least), a brewery has collaborated with the VMFA to create a one-of-a-kind beer to accent an exhibition.
Craft beer fans get excited, because Hardywood Park Brewery has done it again. For the first time not only at Hardywood, but seemingly ever (to our knowledge at least), a brewery has collaborated with the VMFA to create a one-of-a-kind beer to accent an exhibition.
The VMFA’s newest exhibition, Forbidden City: Imperial Treasures from the Palace Museum (on view from October 18th – January 11th), will feature “Forbidden Ale,” a white Belgium beer fused with red Asian dragon fruit and brewed right here at Hardywood’s Scotts Addition brewery.
Why pair a beer with an exhibition? “We’re not strangers to good beer,” laughs Suzanne Hall, the chief communications officer at VMFA, answering questions as oriental music flowed through the speakers in the brewery. “As we all know there’s a very strong, keen interest in craft beer in Richmond. We’d been looking for an opportunity to engage with the beer scene, and this was an ideal opportunity, and Hardywood jumped at it. This is the first collaboration that they’ve done of this type, and we’re both very proud because we’re leaders in our respected industries. This is a wonderful way to engage people in a surprising new way.”
Surprising, indeed. As my second time visiting Hardywood to try a collaboration beer, I have to admit I was a little hesitant about the flavors that would emerge from the pairing of Asian dragon fruit and beer. The color of the beer is a deep, rich, bright red, and though beautiful, the looks of it hint that it might be heavy, or sweet.
First impressions couldn’t have been more wrong, all tasters at the preview agreed the Forbidden Ale is a great, light, and crisp beer. “I was a little apprehensive at first,” says Hall, “but it’s delicious.”
“We wanted to do something different,” said Brain Nelson, the head brewer. “Not many brewers have used dragon fruit before, and it just became the front runner. We did talk about some oriental or Chinese spices that we could put in the beer, maybe ginger; we were just looking for that Asian flair. The color though, with the dragon fruit, was just spot on. The Belgium White Ale tends to work well with spices, but it works extremely well with fruit.”
In 2009, the President and fellow co-founder of Hardywood Eric McKay, visited Beijing, saying his visit to the Forbidden City was a highlight to his trip.
“To have our brewers art on display in liquid form is going to be an incredibly rewarding and personal experience.”
“Beer making is also an art,” says Hall, “and this is a great way to join hands with these artists that are making some of Richmond’s finest beer and showcase their work at the VMFA.”
Inspired by the idea of collaborating with the VMFA to create a beer, Bob Tarren, the director of marketing and communications at the VMFA, says that Hardywood was 10 steps ahead of them within a couple of seconds after they’d made the call to present the idea of a collaboration.
“For us, it started as a ‘what if,’ and then after speaking with Hardywood that ‘what if’ immediately became, ‘yeah! Lets do it.’ They didn’t view it as a crazy idea at all, it was seen from the start as a good one, and that they could make it happen. The collaboration just exploded with one better idea on top of another.”
Tarren says that the idea quickly evolved into much more than just a small side idea, it became very interesting to all to make an exhibition about art come to life in a very dynamic, progressive way. “I don’t know of any other museum or craft brewery that has done this kind of collaboration before.”
Patrick Murtaugh, co-founder and brew master at Hardywood, comments on the idea to pair a beer with a Chinese inspired exhibition. “For us, it was just exciting to be inspired by outside parties to come up with different types of beer for this. It was fun to take the Forbidden City exhibit and ask ourselves how to make a beer that represents what the VMFA is trying to do with it. It was a challenge we gratefully accepted.”
“I figured someone had crawled into my head, because it was the absolute perfect idea,” says Tarren, when asked what his reaction was to Hardywood wanting to use dragon fruit. “Dragons are very important in Chinese culture, and they’re a big part to the graphic identity of the exhibition. It was like the perfect marriage; coincidence and luck sometimes meets opportunity, and that’s exactly where we are. I even wanted to take credit for it [laughs].”
Fans of craft beer will have an opportunity to try Forbidden Ale for the first time this Saturday, October 4th and feature an original jazz score created by local band Arizal.
Next week the beer will be available around the city, at locations like Ellwood Thompsons, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and other restaurants and stores around the city. The beer will also be sold at Hardywood, and at Best Café and Amuse Restaurant, both located at the VMFA.
Food and cocktail fans get excited as well, because Best Café and Amuse Restaurant are offering Chinese influenced menus starting this Thursday, 10/2, inspired by and created to perfectly compliment Forbidden Ale. Amuse Chef Greg Haley, and Amuse bartender Molly McCurnin, discussed their Forbidden City Ale inspirations for the cocktails and food.
“We’ll run a series of three different menus, one each month during the exhibition that will highlight Chinese cuisine from different regions,” says Haley. “The beer will be used in some aspects of the cooking, but mainly for drinking. It’s going to pair very well with the bold, spicy flavors of the Chinese food.”
“I’m working on an entire Chinese themed cocktail list that’s going to have lots of fun traditional drinks with authentic Chinese elements for the upcoming exhibit,” says McCurnnin, who’s most excited for the beer cocktail that she’s creating, using the Forbidden Ale, at Hardywood.
This special launch event will be at 2pm. “The more we drink it the more inspiration and ideas we get for food and drink specials,” adds Haley. “The beer is a great base to do all sorts of fun stuff with, and when you have good ingredients, you don’t have to try that hard to create a delicious menu. I’m going to enjoy drinking a good bit of it over the next three months.”
