This article was featured in RVAMag #25: Summer 2016. You can read all of issue #25 here or pick it up at local shops around RVA right now.
This article was featured in RVAMag #25: Summer 2016. You can read all of issue #25 here or pick it up at local shops around RVA right now.
The Veil has quickly become one of the hottest new breweries in Richmond since its opening in mid-April, and for good reason. For starters, the beer menu is an ever-shifting tapestry of delights, ranging from unfiltered double IPAs to sessionable milk stouts. Sour beers are featured frequently, as The Veil is possibly the only Richmond brewery to frequently utilize open and mixed fermentation techniques, which employ the (good) wild bacteria and yeast that simply float through the air around us every day. The brewery releases four packs of pint cans every Tuesday, the beer going into said cans varying with the draft list. Get there early on canning day — there will be a line. Besides distinctive beers, The Veil also offers Lamplighter nitro cold brew on draft, as well as charcuterie plates. For more substantial fare, there are often food trucks in the parking lot. That lot is also a great place to relax when the garage-style doors of the taproom are open, and the weather is right. However, the sleek, pared-down interior and multiple seating options make sitting indoors enticing. Although young, The Veil shows incredible promise, and we look forward to seeing them grow.
Summer Beers
21st Amendment El Sully
Typically, the idea of a Mexican lager is hard to disassociate from clear glass bottles, lime wedges, and Interesting Men. Perhaps El Sully was one of those men, but El Sully is also the newest offering from 21st Amendment, also known for a little summer seasonal that features watermelon. The only adjunct to find here is flaked maize, giving this lager a uniquely Mexican twist. A hefty helping of Magnum and Northern Brewer hops give this beer a sort of skunky bite reminiscent of a certain other Mexican lager. However, the malt character in this beer is far tastier than that of the beers that may have served as inspiration to 21st Amendment’s brewers. Best of all, this beer is in cans, making six packs river, or beach, ready.
Sixpoint Jammer
Recent years have seen a resurgence of the ancient Gose beer style in the American craft brewing scene, an oddball German style typified by the use of wheat, coriander, and salt. Where many American brewers have tended to lean heavily upon the sour aspect of the style, to great success, Sixpoint’s take on the Gose is more balanced. Jammer’s flavor touches upon caramel, briny salt, a slight sour tang, a floral burst of coriander, and a somewhat bitter finish. The light body and moderate carbonation help to make this deep gold-hued beverage extremely drinkable. Available in canned six packs.
Smarthmouth Sommer Fling
Yeast-forward styles, such as the hefeweizen, can prove difficult for some American brewers to nail, but Smartmouth has done so with their newest canned beer, Sommer Fling. Featuring an excellent balance between the assertive flavors of German ale yeast, wheat and other malts, and herbaceous, tangy German Tettnang hops, Smartmouth has delivered on an excellent German-style ale that is both refreshing on a hot summer day, and interesting to analyze in the comfort of air conditioning. Characteristic German yeast flavors of banana, bubblegum, and clove please, but don’t overwhelm the tongue. Grab a six pack to enjoy with your very own bettgenosse.
Legend Z Dam Ale
The American golden ale is meant to be simple, and as such, it provides an excellent base for adjunct ingredients, like the orange, lime, and ginger that Legend uses for this beer. The slight heat from the ginger comes across on the first foamy, creamy sip, eventually allowing the refreshing lime flavor through. Buttery malt smooths everything out, and the beer finishes dry with some lingering hop bitterness. Pick up a six pack of this easy-drinking dedication to the James River, and keep an eye out for Legend’s next entry in their Urban Legend Series, The Cold Harbor Kölsch, which should make an equally refreshing companion to this ale.
Hardywood Little Flowers
The latest beer in Hardywood’s Brewer & Artist Collaboration Series, Little Flowers is maybe the clearest synthesis of visual art and beer yet. As the name suggests, this beer is delicate. As tattoo artist Rempe’s colorful, detailed label art suggests, the beer inside is subtly complex. Brewer Justin Anderson’s creation pours a beautiful cloudy straw color, clearly redolent with yeast, the floral and baking spice notes of which come to the nose, along with slight hints sourdough bread and onion. A bright, grapefruit-like tartness is the most obvious flavor right off the bat, which mingles with pink lemonade, bubblegum, and a light malt flavor, eventually giving way to a surprisingly dry finish permeated with the somewhat bitter, spiced flavor of the yeast. Little Flowers is very refreshing, extremely easy to drink, and when it’s gone, the large format bottle makes for lovely decoration.
Champion Melee Session IPA
Considering that one of Champion’s flagship beers (Missile) is an IPA, it’s no surprise that a doubled-up version (ICBM), and now this session variation have found their way to cans. While the aforementioned single and double IPAs mainly showcase more traditional hop flavors for those styles, and do it brilliantly, Melee takes a slightly different route with Citra and Amarillo hops. The hops chosen give this beer less of a bitter hop flavor, which is nice, because the more mild malt backbone of this session ale wouldn’t be able to balance out more intensely bitter hop flavors. The aroma of this beer is a tad vegetal, with some zesty citrus in the mix. Sweet meyer lemon peel, ginger, and a light caramel taste come forward upon imbibing, with just enough carbonation to make the more assertive Amarillo hop flavors tongue-tingling, and enough body to prevent this beer from turning into hop water. Melee is undeniably hop-forward, but in a very pleasant way. Available in canned six packs.
The Veil Cheryl from Accounting & Bob From Marketing
“Sour IPA” is not a very common style, but if I’m to use these two beers as a metric, it should be more common. The mundanity of these beers’ names stand in sharp contrast to the vibrancy of each of their respective flavor profiles. Cheryl is a bit lighter on malt than Bob, and therefore slightly lower in alcohol, but excellently showcases its main hop, Citra. Unfiltered, tart, and packed with juicy citrus flavor, Cheryl from Accounting is like a Mimosa in beer form. Bob, on the other hand, leans more in the direction of zesty, lemon-lime citrus flavor, provided by Amarillo and Nelson Sauvin hops. Hopefully we will see more beers in this series in the coming months. These beers may be found on draft, and if you make it to canning day, you might be able to snag a four pack from the brewery.
Helles Lager: Brothers Lil Hellion
This golden-hued brew is perhaps the most accessible beer on this list, and probably the most accessible beer that Brothers has put out. The “helles” in “Helles Lager” is German for “bright,” and as such, this beer is perfectly suited to quench thirst on summer days. Somewhat similar to a pilsner, but less hop-forward, and a hair darker, this beer features German yeast (somewhat musty) and subtle red apple in its aroma. The beer’s taste offers more yeast and apple, as well as corn tortilla and minor notes of spicy, bitter noble hops. The mouthfeel is the best part though: it’s light, has a high amount of carbonation, and finishes dry. This beer is nothing that it doesn’t need to be. It’s simple, very easy to drink, and refreshing; it could convert anyone to a craft drinker. Available in bottles six packs.
Original Gravity in Lakeside has been providing Richmond home brewers with excellent beer, wine, and cider making supplies since 2011. In 2015, the accumulated brewing expertise of owner Tony Ammendolia was finally publicly actualized in beer form, allowing home brewers and casual beer fans alike to experience a wide swath of styles, ranging from conventional brews to more unusual infusions. A recent stop into Final Gravity, and the order of a flight of five beers revealed just how talented the brewers are. Saison de Meyer was a pleasant start, with a nice assertive yeast character and a bright lemon finish. Venus, FG’s main IPA, has a wonderful aroma filled with citrus and tropical fruit. The snappy citrus and bitter hop flavors play off of each other nicely, with just the right amount of malt character rounding out the flavor profile. Ain’t The Devil Happy, a strong Belgian-style pale ale, has an enticing appearance — pale, opaque yellow — that belies the somewhat intense baking spice and pepper flavors of the beer. Its lemony finish is curiously similar to that of the Saison de Meyer. The Irish Goodbye foreign extra stout is another heavy hitter, coming across with strong coffee, chocolate syrup, and vanilla flavors, contrasted by assertive hop bitterness. Lastly, the Mango Lime Blonde Ale provided a somewhat sweet, quenching closer. One of several infusions offered by Final Gravity, the Mango Lime Blonde is the result of the brewers feeding their Stepping Stone Blonde Ale into a Randall (an infusion device typically used for late-stage dry-hopping) with fresh fruit. What is clear from this sampling is that the people behind Final Gravity can execute just about any style that comes to mind, which means that there’s something for everyone at this small, but impressive brewery.
Although slightly outside of Richmond, this Chesterfield brewery seems worth a visit. Open since mid-June, this brewery has thus far focused on Farmhouse ales and associated styles, high-gravity styles, barrel aging, and the use of local ingredients. Their core lineup is made up of three distinct beers, a smartly-selected array sure to have wide appeal, given how each beer is geared towards a different sort of beer drinker: The Grisette is a light, yeast-forward beer that should please fans of saisons and other Belgian styles. The Tiramisu Stout caters to the malt lovers, although it is accentuated by the addition of coffee, vanilla beans, and rum-soaked oak chips. For the legions of hop heads, there’s Time Is Money, an IPA made with flaked oats. The opening of Steam Bell had likely been a long time coming, for the opening weekend saw the unveiling of several collaborations, and a variety of aged beers: beers made with Three Notch’d, Adroit Theory (Sterling, VA), and RVA home brew club MASH all debuted, alongside an oak-aged wild yeast-fermented beer, a barrel-aged sour, and several other curiosities. Clearly, the minds behind this brewery are of the imaginative sort. Steam Bell offers games like cornhole and giant Jenga, Roaring Pines sodas, Confluence Coffee, a dog-friendly outdoor area, and they will regularly have food trucks on site. Plans for growlers and packaging are still forthcoming. In the meantime, my mouth will continue to water.
