Once again, RVA is celebrating one of the things we love most: craft beer.
Once again, RVA is celebrating one of the things we love most: craft beer.
The first festival of its kind, HOPS in the Park will kick off this Saturday at Henricus Historical Park in Chesterfield.
The craft beer festival will feature 15 Virginia craft breweries, meaderies and cideries, a farmer’s market, live music and food vendors.
It was organized by the county to celebrate Virginia farmers, manufacturers, and consumers and attendees will have the opportunity to sample beer and mead that feature Virginia agriculture.
Blue Mountain Brewery, Bold Rock, Devil’s Backbone, Ardent Craft Ales, and Black Heath Meadery are just a few of the breweries and cideries that will be featured at the event.
Each brewery or meadery must use at least one Virginia-harvested product in their beer or wine to participate in the HOPS in the PARK festival.
“They have to actually put Virginia hops in it or pumpkins or whatever,” said Ben Humphrey, project manager for Chesterfield County Economic Development. “We’ve gotten a lot of really interesting beers.”
For example, Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery will serve up its Pumpkin Ain’t Easy, a Belgian style pumpkin ale made with pumpkins that they grew on their Goochland farm.
Black Heath Meadery will feature its “Hopped Mead” which was produced with 100 percent Virginia wildflower honey and dry hopped with Chesterfield County hops.
Center of the Universe is bringing their French Farmhouse Saison, a farmhouse-style saison using pineapple sage from The Village Garden in Mechanicsville.
To see out the rest of the Virginia products all the breweries, cideries and meaderies are using in their recipes, check out the “What’s pouring” page on festival’s website here.
Humphrey said he started churning the idea around for the festival over a year ago as he drank a beer with David Goode, co-owner of Piedmont Hops Farm in Chesterfield Country.
“He’s part of The Old Dominion Hop Cooperative, which is a group of 30 plus hop farmers in the state of Virginia and he mentioned to me the president of The Old Dominion Hops Cooperative wanted to do a festival showcasing Virginia hops,” he said.
Humphrey added he wanted to do it in Chesterfield because two of the largest hops farms in the state are there including Piedmont Hops and Huguenot Hops Farm.
“The beer business is extremely popular right now so we’re trying to attract breweries and other brewery-related businesses to the county,” he said. “I looked at this as an opportunit to shine a spotlight on Chesterfield and showcase some of the other aspects we have.”
Although most of the breweries are in the city, Chesterfield County does have Extra Billy’s which is a restaurant and a brewery and Steam Bell Beer Works, which is slated to open at the end of the year off Genito Road.
Henricus actually planted and grew hops as part of a collaboration beer with Steam Bell Beer Works and the brewery will premiere that beer, named “1611” at the festival. Read RVA Mag’s story on that here.
Besides sampling beer, cider and mead, festival goers will also learn about the history of beer in Virginia, hops farming, operating a farm brewery in Virginia and talk with re-enactors about what it was like to live on the banks of the James River in the early 1600s.
Check out the video below on the festival created by Bill Violante to see more on that.
Capital Ale House will sponsor the VIP Tavern on site at the park where attendees get special VIP parking, seating in the tavern, four beer tickets, a stoneware beer mug, and rustic food.
Humphrey said organizers will have a shuttle system right around the corner from the park that will take guests to and from the festival.
the festival will benefit Henricus Historical Park and The Old Dominion Hops Cooperative.
HOPS in the Park goes on this Saturday, Nov. 14 from 12 to 9 pm at Henricus Historical Park at 251 Henricus Park Rd in Chester. Beer tickets are $3 for a 6 oz. pour. VIP tickets costs $55.
