RVA ON TAP: Sunflowers & Tongue-Twisters

by | Jun 26, 2019 | BEER & SPIRITS

What’s happening, craft beer lovers of RVA?! Welcome to this week’s RVA On Tap, RVA Magazine’s weekly column for all your craft beer-related events, releases, festivals, and all the booze news your hearts desire. 

If you missed the last column, you can check that out here. Our kegs are overflowing this week with beer releases and festivals, events, and other cool happenings around town — so hold on to your mugs! 

This week, we’re diving in with some brand-new brews and tons of awesome events, all to keep your summer rolling and your hot days refreshed. 

Before we get started into the local brewery news, here’s something awesome: there’s a new podcast in town called Booze Clues by the Geeks Under the Influence Media Network, and they record live in front of an audience each month. Their most recent episode’s audio was just released, and you can find it here to listen to local comedians, podcasters, and entertainers investigating the world’s most bizarre and “spirited” headlines from the last month. It’s a really unique idea to bring to the table (or the bar) in the beer world around here, so check it out and give these guys a listen!

PHOTO: The Veil Brewing Co.

The Veil Brewing Co. is known for its collabs with Sweden’s Omnipollo to an extent already, but they’re throwing a party to make sure no one forgets. This Saturday, Omnipolloscope is going down at The Veil, the “biggest and baddest collab ever.” 

They’re holding an official global release of all five of their collab beers, after more than two years, many miles traveled, and the joint efforts of some of the best in the industry, according to the brewers. The Stockholm brewery has been working with The Veil for quite some time now, and the product of all their hard work is finally here, all at once, for us to drink up. 

The beers dropping at the release this weekend are numbered from one to five, starting with a Raspberried/Blueberried/Blackberried Wood Aged Sour Jam. Up next is a Superstition Strawberry Bourbon, and a German Jesus Choclorelei Waffle Neapolitan Ice Cream Cheesecake Scoooooooop (wow, that’s a mouthful). They’ve also got a Never Miami Thunder Lemon Meringue Milkshake Raspberry Blackberry Double Ice Cream Lassi Gose (y’all these names are LONG) and… Christ… a Fatamosaicddhdreamatomicdobishredder IIIIPA (oh my GOD). 

Ok, I’m never typing that word again. How y’all gonna do that to me? Your poor local beer writer? 

Lucky for you, you don’t have to spell it — you just have to drink it. Go get one, and get me one too for the headache. The Veil is lucky their beer is so damn good. I still love you, I promise.

PHOTO: Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery

Y’all, this is one of my most-favorite events of the year and it’s back this weekend! The Sunflower Festival has its opening weekend at Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery starting on Saturday, and it’s nothing short of beautiful out on the farm this time of year. 

Since the field of yellow is subject to the weather, Lickinghole Creek is hosting the festival over three weekends this summer — so if you can’t make it this time, check back with their Facebook page to see when the flowers open up. Bring your basket and a set of shears to take a bundle home, or my personal favorite, grab a camera and take the opportunity to get a beautiful batch of photos. 

My first-most-favorite event of the year is always visiting farms in the fall, when all the hayrides and pumpkin patches complete the season. We’re still a few months out from that for now, but the Sunflower Festival is as close as it gets in warm weather. To bring some of that charm to the sunny days, Lickinghole Creek is hosting hayrides and a slip and slide for some extra outdoor fun, plus a 4th of July Pig Roast with Papa V’s coming up next week.

They’ll have plenty of food trucks and summer brews alongside live music from artists like Billy Groux and Rocky Ford, Bill Roberts, Sean Liverman and more over the course of the month’s weekends. Of all the events that come in and out of Richmond this time of year, if you like getting outside, this is one you won’t want to miss. 

PHOTO: Hardywood Park Craft Brewery

Bringing Pride Month to a close, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery is throwing a Thirst fundraiser tonight. They’ll be slinging glasses of Tropic Like It’s Hot — which, if you remember from last week, is their good-times brew that they brought out for their Pride party celebrating the anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality. 

Tonight’s fundraiser is taking us off of the brewery grounds and up to the clouds on Quirk Hotel’s rooftop, overlooking the city and its beautiful views to eat, drink, and be merry while raising money for Richmond’s Side By Side, an organization that supports LGBTQ youth in Virginia. 

The forecast looks great so far, with temps hitting the low 90’s (lord help us all, will we make it through August?) and a cloudy sky to bring down the heat. Thankfully, the sun won’t be blazing too hard this time around, but all bets are off for the rest of the summer in Richmond. This is just about the annual time when I recede to the AC in my house unless I’m leaving it directly for a pool. Godspeed to us all.

PHOTO: Stone Brewing Richmond

Do you remember the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild last week? We do. And if you don’t, check our site here for some stellar coverage of this year’s winners in the Old Dominion from Lee Graves, a local beer enthusiast and fellow writer on the brewing world’s happenings. 

Stone Brewing took home an award (no surprise) for first place in the American Porter and Stout category this year. There’s something special in the tanks at Stone, as far as I’m concerned, because they seem to be incapable of making a bad beer. Their Espresso Totalitarian Imperial Russian Stout was the prize winner for the dark brews, and this dark, roasty stout made a name for the brewery once again. 

Not to say that Stone is our only star, either — tons of our local favorites from Center of the Universe to Lickinghole Creek, Strangeways, Garden Grove and more took home first- and second-place awards in all sorts of categories this year. What it comes down to is that Richmond is really earning its place as the East Coast beer hub, and people all around the country are noticing it

Triple Crossing Beer

⟁ Out at Triple Crossing Beer, another weekend multi-release is in order. This Friday in Fulton, grab a glass of Mosaic Triangles, a bright and soft tropical orange-rind melon-citrus brew that’s “deeply encased” within their preferred 6% ABV range. Triple Crossing says they paired this one to bring the strongest shape in nature together with one of their most beloved hops of all time, Mosaic. 

Pathway Pils is also making its way to Fulton this weekend, a 100 percent German Pils malt that was blended with the most notable varietals of hops. You’ll find flavors of floral, lemon, hay-like sweet honey straw, and a zesty, dry-but-soft lager. This one’s set to be the brewery’s house Pilsner, so make sure to grab a taste of the one that stands out so much to its brewers. ⟁

PHOTO: Väsen Brewing Company

More double releases are coming up this weekend, with Väsen Brewing Company’s Triple Berry Sour and Mexican Lager can releases. Triple Berry Sour comes from their favorite saison, which they’ve soured and conditioned on hundreds of pounds of blackberry, blueberry, and boysenberry to create the “shockingly-purple, delightfully-sour” brew. 

If you’re looking for color in your summer, this is the beer for you. Its purple body is topped with a bright pink head to create a big taste in this Belgian fruit bomb. 

PHOTO: Three Notch’d RVA Collab House

Thanks to a team in Richmond, Virginia Is For Lovers has defined the Commonwealth for decades now. Three Notch’d RVA Collab House has the perfect offshoot of our beloved state anthem to add to the mix: Cherries Are For Lovers, a Cherry Gose that keeps the summer colors going and brings a tasty side to the 50 Years of Love Campaign this year. 

Cherries Are For Lovers is on tap now at Three Notch’d in Scott’s Addition, in the heart of the city’s favorite beer neighborhood (Beerborhood? Neighbeerhood? Neighborbeer? All of the above). It’s as bright as the days outside lately, and it’s a perfect weekend brew to cool down with after a long week in the sun. 

PHOTO: Legend Brewing Company

Friday nights on the patio: Richmond’s favorite pastime, and especially when it’s the patio at Legend Brewing Company. Legend’s outdoor space is one of the best, by far, in town, and this weekend the Mike Lucci Band is coming out to make it even better. 

If you’re a fan of rock and the blues, this is your time to shine. Get a glass of one of Legend’s delicious craft brews and grab a seat outside for a full evening of music, river views, and great eats with our longtime friends at Legend. And if the summer rain comes, don’t worry — they’ve got plenty of room inside to keep the music and the beers rolling on. 

PHOTO: Steam Bell Beer Works

The month of multiple releases must truly be upon us, because we had more than I could count on one hand last week and we’ve got several running this week already. Steam Bell Beer Works is next up with Crooked Smile and Farmer’s Daughter this Friday, and both bring something unique to the table. 

Crooked Smile starts off Steam Bell’s releases at 8.9% ABV, so it’ll be the perfect way to kick off your Friday night. This pillowy-soft Double IPA is packed with tropical fruit tastes and an “in your face” fruit punch, brewed with late-kettle additions to keep the bitterness small and the flavors huge. It’s been dry-hopped with two rounds of Azacca and Mosaic hops, and its English base malts are complemented with just the right amount of specialty malts to bring out a rich orange color. 

Farmer’s Daughter follows up a bit lower at 6.4% ABV, and the Belgian Saison has an herbal aroma with a crisp, peppery dryness. Brewed with traditional malts and hops, this batch was made in white wine barrels and aged with second-use fruit to bring out the sour. 

PHOTO: Richmond Brewer’s Ball

Celebrating Richmond’s finest: the 2019 Richmond Brewer’s Ball is happening tomorrow night at Historic Tredegar. Beer lovers are invited to come out and try hand-crafted beers from all of the city’s best (which, to be real, is too many to count with all the great brewers around here), with views, music, and prizes in both live and silent auctions. The event benefits the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and honors 25 of the city’s leaders in the fight to find a cure. 

That’s it for this week’s RVA On Tap! As your weekly columnist, I’m here to take all your beer releases, event info, ideas and questions. If you’re a brewer, send me your release info at caley@rvamag.com, and if you’re a beer enthusiast, drop me a line anytime to talk booze. Catch y’all next week! 

Caley Sturgill

Caley Sturgill

Caley Sturgill is the Director of Media at RVA Magazine. Email her at caley@rvamag.com for inquiries and RVA On Tap releases.




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