As our readers know we love our craft beer at RVA Mag and do a pretty good job of covering (and taste-testing) it if I do say so myself.
As our readers know we love our craft beer at RVA Mag and do a pretty good job of covering (and taste-testing) it if I do say so myself.
It’s always a pleasure to write about our burgeoning craft beer scene and all of the diverse and unique craft brews local brewers are coming up with, but it’s rare that RVA Mag gets to be involved in the brewing process.
Well, except for that time recently we helped out with the Richmond Kickers’ annual brew at Wild Wolf.
RVA Magazine is proud to present it’s inaugural 2016 beer collaboration with Legend Brewing and Ellwood Thompson’s, Hoppy Buddha. To introduce our new “Local Legends” #collabrewation with Legend Brewing Company and Ellwood’s, we’re sharing a behind the scenes look at the making of our first beer in this limited release series.
Hoppy Buddha began with Legend’s Golden IPA, which we then infused with local beets, Buddha hand zest, ginger, and finished with experimental hops, such as Calypso and Eureka. Ellwood’s brought the spices, Legend provided its Golden IPA and RVA Mag President John Reinhold had the opportunity to help pull it all together.
“Collaborations like this are always one of my favorite ways to bring people together,” he said. “It’s a way to bring multiple creative minds together to cross brand – and make something unique. Plus its beer, so we get to try our creation in the end.”
Reinhold said it was a no brainer to collaborate with the organic grocery store and Legends because of their rich history in Richmond.
“The Ellwoods crew brought a great love for locally sourced foods, and had some great ideas by using local beets along with Budda Fingers,” he said. “Legend’s Golden IPA made for a perfect base beer for this idea of a spiced beet beer” for the kickoff of the Firken series for the Beet Cafe. Having Adam Putnam and Dave Gott from Legends that understand the science behind beer really make the recipe come to life.”
Colin Beirne, Marketing Director of Ellwood Thompson’s, discussed his experience with making the brew as well.
“Local Legends was born from a shared appreciation of collaboration, local ingredients and relationships, and trading stories over a pint,” he said. “The entire infusing process was a reflection of that, from the local beets we used to the space we shared at Legend’s.”
This will be a kickoff beer series for Ellwood’s Beet Cafe with more collaborations to come in the future. RVA Magazine, Ellwood Thompson’s, and Legend Brewing will throw a release party this Friday, Feb. 26 at The Beet to celebrate the making of Hoppy Buddha and share the fruits of our labor.
So come get hoppy with us and get it while it lasts this weekend! We’ll have live music, and samples and glasses of Hoppy Buddha available until 8:30 pm, or until the pin runs out.
Our advice: come early, because once its kicked, it’s gone for good!
Now we promised behind the scenes, so we’re delving deep into the process of what went into making this new brew…and be prepared because it gets messy…really messy.
First we boiled down the beets:
Next, Reinhold, Adam Putham of Legends and Beirne got to smashing…beets. Don’t worry it’s not their blood.
Adding the spices came next so in went the ginger and zest from Buddha Hands.
Adding those smelly experimental hops we mentioned earlier. Some strong aromas going on there!
Our final beet reduction for Hoppy Buddha before straining the liquid off for our infusion!
Hope to see everyone out this Friday evening at the Beet Cafe to try this new collabrewation!
