The Veil Brewing Company

RVA ON TAP: American Craft Beer Week & History in the River City

Caley Sturgill | May 15, 2019

Topics: American Craft Beer Week, beer, beer column, beeristoric tour, castleburg brewery and taproom, final gravity brewing company, Garden Grove Brewing, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Intermission Beer Company, Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery, RVA On Tap, smartmouth brewing, Stone brewing, Stone Brewing-Richmond, The Veil Brewing Company, Three Notch’d RVA Collab House, three notchd, Triple Crossing Beer, vasen brewing

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 celebrating American Craft Beer Week and taking tours all around the city to celebrate the great history of beer in Richmond, from brand-new brews releasing to old-school locations from breweries in centuries past.

Before we jump into all the stellar brews coming out around town this week, Happy American Craft Beer Week, everybody! Some of our favorite locals at Three Notch’d RVA Collab House will be celebrating the occasion this week with special events across all four of their locations. Here in Richmond, the festivities started off on Monday with a special tapping of an old favorite, Big Poppa Biggie S’mores, and a Sour House tasting last night at the brewery. Tonight, you can catch Music Bingo at 7pm, or head out tomorrow night for their Flagship Thursday Happy Hour. Passion For A Cure drops Friday at the brewery, a Passionfruit-Mango Gose which was collaborated with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, in addition to their 65 Roses Hibiscus Blonde Ale. To close things out on Saturday, they’ll be doing special limited tappings of Cherry Current and American Sour with Apricots all evening, so head on out and drink up!

*PHOTO: Beeristoric Historic Taverns Walking Tour*

Starting off the history theme this week is Richmond’s 10th Annual Beeristoric Historic Taverns Walking Tour. If you remember from last fall, Beeristoric rode around in November, but this weekend’s tour marks the event’s first walking tour around historic tavern sites downtown. Supported by the organization and by An Bui of The Answer Brewpub, they’ll be visiting sites this Saturday like breweries from the American Revolution, 19th-century German immigrant spots, Christopher Newport’s “beer share” with Powhatans on Fulton Hill in 1607, and James River Steam Brewery — built by David G. Yuengling Jr., which is, you guessed it, the OG Yuengling’s son.

Brown Distributing has teamed up with Mike Gorman, a professional historian. “This is a celebration of our city and our scene, and I didn’t want to lose it,” Gorman said. “As long as there are people that want to hear about the past, present and future of Richmond’s beer community, I want to be there for them.”

Our River City is full of history, and this is a great way to be a part of it. If you’re up for the trek, the tour will walk about 1.5 miles in 2 hours (which really isn’t too far, if you’re familiar with walking around town), and will stop by places like Lickinghole Creek’s Shockoe Location and a few pubs along the way. They’ve only got 30 tickets available, so if you’re into it, get ‘em while they’re hot.

On to the next! Richmond Historic Haunts has teamed up with Three Notch’d Brewing, Buskey Cider and Bingo Beer Co. to do a similar walking tour through Scott’s Addition. Richmond Historic Haunts is the company that brought us some of our favorite Halloween events, and they’ve got even more on the books right now for history buffs. They’ve got Uncivil Wards (which finds the city’s lost Civil War hospitals and prisons), Rails & Sails (through the city’s oldest neighborhoods, to see how the James and trains contributed to the city’s rise), and now Brewing In Richmond to highlight over 300 years of fermenting.

Speaking of history, one of our favorite beers from last fall just made it. If you remember Smartmouth Beer’s Saturday Morning release in Norfolk, it was a Lucky Charms-flavored beer meant to recreate those delicious mornings from your childhood in front of the TV watching TV history’s best cartoons. Saturday Morning ended up becoming the most-hyped beer *in craft beer history,* which is a huge deal considering how many brews get the national beer scene pumped every season. They only had 100 cases to sell, and they ended up in the papers and on television even down to Florida — which is pretty impressive for a single beer, to say the least. A big congrats to Smartmouth on this one, and I hope another run comes soon so we get to taste it in Richmond!

Here’s the summer release I’ve been waiting for: Southern Peach Suncrush at Hardywood! If y’all couldn’t tell by my drooling over last week’s peach cobbler beer, I’ve got a soft spot for this fruit. Southern Peach Suncrush is hitting the taps on Saturday, and they’ve got a few can releases this week as well:

Dreamlike and The Original Five Flavors are coming out for #FreshCanFriday, and they’re suited to their names. Dreamlike is pillowy-soft, big-bodied and full of citrus. “What’s that in the clouds over there?” says Hardywood, “A Dog? A Bunny?” Nah, booze. There’s no rush to wake up from this dream.

The Original Five Flavors is inspired by Lifesavers, and fruited to match the early days of a classic candy: with cherry, orange, lemon, lime, and pineapple. In beer form, it’s a tart ale, and this 5.0% ABV brew hits in pretty low to enjoy any day of the week.

Happy birthday, Castleburg Brewery! These guys are celebrating their third trip around the sun this year, and they’re throwing “one heck of a party” for it. For the occasion, head over to their spot on Ownby Lane this Saturday to eat, drink, and be merry with live music and free stuff! Yep, the first 200 people through the door get a free gift — so happy Castleburg’s birthday to you, if you make it over in time. They’ll have bands like Cashmere Jungle Lords and King Easy jamming throughout the day, with guest taps like Oozlefinch Craft Breweries Dude Blanket New England IPA, and Blue Toad’s Apple Blueberry Cider. Castleburg’s also bringing the return of the Queen to their castle, with The Queen’s Garde, Bier de Garde back to their taproom.

This week we’re also celebrating the 3rd birthday of the Richmond location for one of the nation’s largest craft brewers, Stone Brewing. Stone is not only one of my most favorite beers I’ve ever had, but an American favorite from coast to coast — and like we learned a few weeks ago at their movie release party, even across the Atlantic Ocean at their brewery in Germany (as the first American independent brewery to jump the puddle to Europe). On Saturday, come out and celebrate the awesomeness that is Stone Brewing at their RVA spot with unique variations of your favorite Stone brews, vintage releases, barrel-aged beers and plenty more.

Last night, The Veil Brewing Co. brought back Dub Razz Tastee. This extra-special release from our favorite Scott’s Addition folks is a smoothie-style sour ale, and even the color itself is enticing enough for me to want to go grab a glass of it myself. It was flavored with double raspberry in its creation, and it shows. If you’re in the market for a taste, head on out to The Veil while it’s still around, and grab a 4-pack while you’re at it.

Are you a lover of Hanover’s Strawberry Festival? Growing up, my hometown had a major-awesome strawberry festival every year, and some of my favorite days were spent there as a kid. For all of us Richmonders, the Hanover Vegetable Farms 4th Annual Strawberry and Wine Festival is coming up this weekend, and Intermission Beer Company brewed up something special for it. Strawberry Blonde is coming out on Saturday along with the festival, so grab a glass of this American Wheat Ale while you can — it’s got a light body, low bitterness, “and of course: Strawberries!”

*PHOTO: Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery*

Out on our favorite farm, Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery is putting the ass in glass with this donkey-painted brew. Juicy #11 is fermented “hot and fast” with Kveik isolated from the Horrinfal region of Norway, according to its brewers, and its intense-hopping process with El Dorado, Lemondrop, and Idaho Gem hops push out a strong taste. Look forward to full-flavored notes of pineapple, fresh-squeezed lemons, and a bit of pithiniess in this one. You can grab one out on their beautiful 300-acre farm this Friday and sit back with live music and great grub as well.

Our friends at Strangeways Brewing have their second can release dropping this Saturday, the Vegan Vampyre. This 4.8% ABV Gose with raspberries and lactose pours from the vampire-esque can with a slight pink tint, and according to its brewers, it’s fruity, tart, and refreshing with “just enough sweetness from the addition of lactose to balance out the pucker.” In its creation, it’s made with white wheat soured in a kettle before being boiled with sea salt, Huell Melon hops and the additions of lactose with coriander. You can grab a pack this weekend, and they’ve got more on the way in the series coming up.

*PHOTO: Garden Grove Brewing & Urban Winery*

In darker (and delicious) news, DEATH is coming to Garden Grove Brewing & Urban Winery this Saturday. No, not real death — if it was, I wouldn’t sound so excited about it. Garden Grove’s Belgian Quadrupel, promptly called DEATH in the 10% ABV beer, is being resurrected into the taproom after its start in their brewery “on a cold Winter’s day” more than a year ago. This one’s for the heavy beer fans, with ripe and dark fruit flavors aged over 14 months in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels. DEATH is also a double-medal winner, with awards taken home in both the 2016 and 2017 Virginia Craft Beer Cups.

Blast Off! Gyrus Double IPA is heading straight through the Earth’s solar system this Friday at Final Gravity Brewing Company.

“The force field is strong,” they say, “and your defenses are weak against this one.”

Brewed with Loral, Calypso, and Amarillo hops, this recipe is packed with floral, grapefruit, tropical, and apple-pear tastes. Catch it this weekend, and head over to Final Gravity tonight for Dart Night if you’re looking good on the board and looking for prizes. Come one, come all, because teams don’t matter: your teammate will be drawn randomly, which means single players are invited to come try their hand as well. And if you’re really into it, you can even bring your own darts. Game on!

Väsen Brewing Company’s got a secret. This Saturday’s can release is a not-so-well-kept secret they let out on purpose, because it’s too good to keep to themselves. Cashmere Secrets is a velvety-smooth DIPA made with Cashmere, Vic Secret, and Mosaic hops and packed with flavors like pineapple, peach, raspberry, and smaller hits of coconut and pine. It’s dry-hopped and ready to make its debut into your mouth, available in cases as well.

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 [email protected], and if you’re a beer enthusiast, drop me a line anytime to talk booze. Catch y’all next week!

RVA ON TAP: Snow Dogs, Krampus, & Dashing Through The Fan

Caley Sturgill | December 19, 2018

Topics: Black Heath Meadery, Canon And Draw, Center of the Universe, Intermission Beer Company, RVA On Tap, Steam Bell Beer Works, strangeways, the answer brewpub, The Veil Brewing Company, Three Notch'd Brewing, Triple Crossing Beer, Vasen Brewing Company, VinePair

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

Last week, we saw some great collabs with local breweries and tons of awesome events and releases in the area. We’ve got plenty more brews to warm you up this winter as we get ready to hit the holidays, and even a surprise snow pup at the end.

First, before we dive into Richmond’s brew news this week, I can’t get started without showing this video from Black Heath Meadery. Black Heath is hopping in on Richmond’s Krampus festivities, celebrating the evil alter-ego of Saint Nicholas. It’s no surprise in this town that the locals are into Krampus (especially with events like Carytown’s Krampus Walk, which went down last week) — Krampus is half-goat, half-demon, and he lures children into the depths of the underworld instead of hopping down their chimneys to deliver gifts. In case the world didn’t already know, Germany doesn’t mess around… In the U.S., we scare our kids into shape each December with Elf On The Shelf. In Central Europe, bad kids get dragged to hell. I kinda like Europe’s plan better.

Is it even possible for The Answer Brewpub to win more awards in a year? Richmond’s sweethearts have, once again, put the River City on the map for its stellar brews. This time around, The Answer was named one of the 10 Best Breweries in the Nation (!!) by Vinepair. Starting off to say there’s no need to question where to begin a Richmond brewery tour, Vinepair are big fans of The Answer (and how could they not be?) — they noted owner An Bui’s standing as a 2018 James Beard Foundation Awards semifinalist, as well as Bui’s restaurant and the brewery’s neighbor, Mekong, for its pho. “The jovial vibe at the brewpub and restaurant are visible and palpable, making it a must for any Virginia-bound beer lover,” they said, and we’re 100 percent behind it.

“Come All Ye Scavengers!” It’s time to get freaky in the Fan with Canon And Draw and all your favorite Fan restaurants. Dashing Thru The Fan is a scavenger hunt that hides a $25 gift card every day at a participating restaurant/bar in the neighborhood. Every day at 5pm, head out to your favorite spots around the area and try your luck. The catch: Gift cards for a certain location will never be hidden at that actual location — so if you want to get some free bucks at your favorite spot, you’ve got to get out and support other local businesses to up your chances. Richmond locals always do a great job of lifting each other up around town, and this is a perfect opportunity to give your love to a few places at once and keep local business thriving.

Yuuuuum, dessert in beer! Steam Bell Beer Works is dropping their Maple Tiramisu Stout this Friday, marrying of my favorite things in the whole world together in one beautiful, chocolatey goodness. Maple Tiramisu Stout is packed with notes of vanilla, chocolate, roasted coffee, and…. “Maple, eh!” I can’t imagine a better combination than tiramisu and a bit of maple syrup, but my sweet tooth is off the charts — I grew up watching my mother eat Tiramisu for breakfast (not a joke), in case you wondered why. This stout batch is blended with organic maple, adding a little extra oomph to the breweries signature Tiramisu Stout. Also fresh to the Steam Bell family this Friday is their Bourbon Barrel Tiramisu Stout, bringing back last year’s delicious batch. A year ago, the brewers poured the rest of their beloved beer into A. Smith Bowman Distillery bourbon barrels straight from the distillery, and the oak and bourbon flavors bring a warm richness to the recipe with its whole vanilla beans.

Way Down South is playing live at the brewery the same night, so head over to Steam Bell for all your wintery-country needs. I know it’s right up my alley!

Intermission Beer Company is keeping it toasty this week with the release of their Winter Warmer. This one’s a great mid-season brew to have on deck, with a stronger alcohol content as the days get colder, and a nice combination of winter spices to roll through the season. The 9.3% ABV spiced-holiday ale is inspired by Kate, a friend of the brewery’s, Ginger Molasses cookie — so Winter Warmer is truly made with love. You’ll find vanilla, clove, and ginger notes in this recipe, and you can give it a try at the brewery in Glen Allen.

Right after we got together last week, Väsen Brewing Company dropped their Strawberry Kiwi Puffin beer. If you’re looking for a way to beat the winter weather, Väsen’s got you covered. Strawberry Kiwi Puffin is a classic, slightly tart German wheat brew that’s conditioned with kiwi and strawberry. It’s got the perfect blend of fruity flavor to bring you back to that warm place in your long-lost summer memories, and it’s even got malty notes of biscuit and honey to tie it all together. Strawberry Kiwi sounds like it was born to go with sunshine, and it’s a refreshing flavor profile to see this time of year.

⟁ If you find yourself in Fulton Hill over the weekend, be sure to swing by Triple Crossing Beer for another triple release from the East End favorites. First on the agenda this Friday is Clever Girl. This 6% APA is an American IPA, keeping up the fruity flavors into the winter with a light-bodied texture and green tropical citrus notes. It comes out this weekend alongside Battle Creek, a 100 percent Mosaic DIPA fermented with their house ale strain, and “a serious amount of malted white wheat,” according to the brewers. They also report its opening with a dank orange zest, melon-like vanilla cream — which leads into Triple Crossing’s “perpetual and constant state of refinement in softer feel.” They are the masters of the mouthfeel, and this one sounds like a dream.

Over at Strangeways, a brand-new brew dropped over last weekend. Pyrus is a Foraged Pear Saison, made from Callery pears on their Fredericksburg property. Strangeways is killing the local game, growing their own fruits and making their beer straight from their land. Pyrus is full of impart tart and tannic notes from its pears, rounded out by malted wheat from Murphy & Rude Malting Co. in Charlottesville. This one’s a light beer, which makes it awesome for “food pearing” (nice) and not filling up too hard during the chilly weather.

Koelschip season is back at The Veil! And boy, are they excited about it. The local brewers are big on this type of brew, a series of Lambic-inspired beers that go through a pretty extensive process to make it to your mug. Each brew is turbid-mashed and boiled with aged hops to begin, then inoculated with The Veil’s Koelschip with “natural micro-flora from the cool night’s air.” They’re fermented one more time in oak barrels for up to four years, then blended and sent to the taps to make it into your glass. The Veil notes that these are their favorite beers to make, and with so many tasty options already, if this one’s their favorite, I know it’s on my list.

Biggie, Biggie, Biggie, Can’t you see? Sometimes your stouts just hypnotize me.

Three Notch’d Brewing Company takes the cake this week for best beer name. Big Poppa Biggie S’mores Imperial Stout is one you won’t want to miss, according to the brewers, and this spin on the classic Biggie S’mores has more chocolate, graham cracker, and marshmallow to give this 9.7% ABV stout a unique, rich, malty, and extra-chocolatey taste. Grab ‘em while they’re hot, because this seasonal won’t stick around forever!

Center of the Universe is getting Richmond in the spirit this weekend. Head on over to the brewery and showcase your best (and worst) holiday attire for their Fugly Sweater Party. Fugly = Festive + Ugly. It’ll be a beautiful rainbow of all the worst holiday looks in one room, and I can’t wait to see the photos afterward. In the excitement of the season, Center of the Universe also took full advantage of the snow last week, and made a Snow Dog of this sweet pup, Maude. I couldn’t resist showing this snowy furball in all her glory before we bid adieu until next time.

Happy Holidays, Maude! I love you.

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 [email protected], and if you’re a beer enthusiast, drop me a line anytime to talk booze. Catch y’all next week!