Smartmouth Brewing Company (Norfolk Va.)

    Norfolk now has to make room for two local breweries. Smartmouth brewing got off the ground in November of 2012. The principal owner, porter, left his career in law to get more serious with his hobby of home brewing. He is extremely modest about his experience making beer but has a good sense in what a brewery and tasting room should look like. The tasting room is contemporary simple and industrial. Smartmouth already has a line of merchandise including t-shirts, hats, magnets, and growlers. They even offer an aluminum insulated growler with flip top. The core beer line up includes a IPA, an amber, and a saison. These beers have found several on premise homes in Norfolk, as the big chalk board at the tasting room shows over 40 taps in the market. 

  

      The location of this new brewery is convenient to those leaving work in the city or heading out from the ODU campus. The parking was very limited and the seating situation the weekend before Christmas was sparse. There didn't appear to be room for music, outdoor seating or a food truck. It has been these things that have grown Hardywood into the place to be, on a mild winter or cool summer evening. I also would like to see more variety in what they brew. All of the beers they currently produce are known for the hop flavor. I just saw today where they are producing a porter for January. I'll get back down there sometime I'm sure.

Brrr Seasonal Ale (Widmer Bros. Brewing)

     Craft beer has become the most interesting part of the adult beverage business, and this snowball began in the late 70's and early 80's. Jimmy Carter passed a law allowing home brewing and the innovation that began in basements led to small breweries across the U.S. Breweries like Anchor Steam, Widmer Brothers, Redhook, and Sierra Nevada got into the game as pioneers. Each brewery was known for one type of beer that they really knocked out of the park. Sierra Nevada essentially invented the American style pale ale, Redhook killed it with the E.S.B., and Widmer began the American wheat beer. These breweries have carried on with what they do well for forty years but to stay relevant today they have brought new beers to market.

    All I have ever known from Widmer is the hefewiezen and the drifter pale ale. This year they have had a seasonal in the market, the brrr. Brrr is a 7.2% ABV warmer that starts with hop nose and spicy first impression but this beer finishes sweet and mellow. I appreciate they took a chance on a red ale. I would definitely say it is a step in the right direction but it's not what is going to get this brewery back on the map.
   Maybe the rotating series of IPA's will do it. IPA's have remained to top selling craft beer category, and with over 40 varieties of hops in existence the possibilities are endless. Widmer has also released a reserve series of big bottles that include some darker porters and stouts. It is important that they get a knock out drinkable beer that the masses can enjoy to draw people back to the widmer name. They have been beaten down on price, so you can pick up widmer for less than what most premium craft beers cost.
    So please check out the beers and changing landscape at Widmer Brothers, they have come all the way from Washington state. Check them out online or follow them on facebook at widmerbrothers.com

Quad (Legend Brewing Company)

     Since senate bill 604 has past it has become massively easier for brewers to get out of the basement and onto the shelves at your local store or on tap at your corner bar. We have gotten a new brewery at a rate of about one a month in the state of Virginia. There are now over ten breweries with in two hours of Richmond. Legend brewing began in the basement of a building in south side in 1994. Before there was a full scale restaurant and deck there was a small sampling bar. Legend has waived fair well to Richbrau and enjoyed being the only beer of Richmond for a short while. Legend has built a reputation around providing a huge portfolio of beers, 6 year round beers and around 20 rotating small release beers that are highly anticipated. They have remained very relevant in today's craft beer market.

     The Quad is a Belgian style very strong ale that is nearly 11% ABV. It has a very floral note which hides the boozy flavor you would normally get with a beer this high in alcohol. I would really suggest that you enjoy this beer out of a glass with a round shape like the one in the picture. This shape will help get the bouquet of the beer in your nose and the extra surface of the glass against your hand will slowly warm the beer to optimum temperature for tasting. This is a beer that is probably drank and a colder temperature than intended by the brewer desired for optimum flavor, much like brandy in a snifter.
     Also this time of year Legend is offering their chocolate porter which is the most anticipated seasonal offering crafted this time of year. I have had good success unloading cases of the rich porter but usually only get one opportunity to order it before it is all gone. If you live here in Richmond and will be traveling for the holiday, pick up some of these limited creations to share with family. I would even suggest buying a couple of Quads and putting them away to compare against next years batch.
    Legend has done a great job ingraining itself in the fiber of Richmond as a unique local for great experience and taste. They are working on spreading distribution to adjacent states which should sustain their growth for years to come. I always encourage that everyone get out to the brewery, surround yourself in this process that makes the beer so much more real. Check out what events and things upcoming at www.legendbrewing.com

Jewbelation 16 (Schmaltz Brewing Company)

    I am dead set on trying everything that catches my eye this winter. I saw this beer on a shelf at the wine shop and felt compelled to get it due to all the press I feel I have been exposed to over the past two years. The price was in line with all of the other 22oz beers in the specialty section so whatever. I went to check in with this beer on untapped and was shocked by the reported 16% ABV. I was sure this wasn't right and upon further investigation my eyes were opened to how crazy this beer is. It is the 16th anniversary ale crafted by Schmaltz Brewing Company, made with 16 hops and 16 malts. So if you do the math Schmaltz brewing has been around since 1996 brewing the Hebrew brands of beers, and in 2007 the began the Coney Island line of freaky ales.

   This beer was very strong in flavor. When I get a beer that is this complex I like spread out my tastings, and I needed the help finishing this bomb. The flavor was sweet, fruity, and semi boozy. I would recommend picking up two of these if it is in the budget and lagering one until next year. So how far can this idea of the big beer go? In my travels, people are always concerned with the body of beer, and the ability to have more than one. Beers of this weight should be poured in smaller servings, maybe 6 or 8 ounce pours in a glass that allows it to breath. Slow do and enjoy the big ones, they are hard to get and probably better served closer to room temperature. I get a kick out of the journey of nursing a big beer over an hour sometimes.

   The brewers at Schmaltz have a great sense of adventure and provide beers for like minded people. Their website isn't flashy and they have very little merchandise. In the market their beers jump out at you with their sense of whimsy and humor. I have to warn you that the actual beer may punch you in the stomach. So pick one up, and head on over to www.shmaltzbrewing.com.

After nearly a year, it still taste like burning!

Beer abroad (Las Vegas)

    I would have thought a place with such a reputation for hospitality would have about whatever you're hearts desire. I left Vegas hoping to do my own drinking made easy episode. I was looking for the beer centric bars and breweries. I found two great beer bars, and one fun "brewery".
    First I landed at Aces & Ales, a beer bar featured on drinking made easy. It is a dark beer bar off the strip, a vision of some old rocker. They had affordable flights. You got six 4oz servings of beer with a pretty awesome jalepeno Mac and cheese for 19$. I tried to reach out to an employee who seemed to be the bar manager who insisted this was as good as it got. Hmmmm moving on.
    Then I discovered Sin City Brewing, which has 3 bars on the strip. It was like a beer bar at the mall. Some people just get a pint then keep moving. The bartender was bubbly and knew a little about beer. It turns out this brewery uses the Gordon Biersh brewery to make it's beer. Turns out the owner worked for Gordon Biersh for 20 years. Sin City make session beers that are pretty easy drinking.
    Finally, I cried enough to gimp our way to Todd English P.U.B. This upscale pub would put capital ale house out of business. They had 4 draft tables and 24 taps of local and regional favorites. The bartenders were cool and the beer was pricy. They had a before and after dinner happy hou, half price drafts. I loved this place and yes most of the beers I had came in the goblet.

Friendship Brew (Green Flash/ St-Feuillien)

    It is late October and free time will soon be taken by the leaves. I have a lot of trees and every fall it becomes a battle. A battle between the trees and my ability to think about how to best get them up without spending every waking moment beside a rake.
   We recently had a very in depth meeting about Belgian beers and the goose island rendition of these beers. As I was raking/blowing leaves this past Saturday I was fantasizing about being a Belgian farmer working hard to support the house hold. I was getting really thirsty, thirsty for some liquid nutrition.
    Belgian beers are the gutter punk of beers. Their real attitude is fucken ferment, whatever, it's boiled, it's sterile, it's better than this piss water. There has recently been some new personalities who have published articles about the benefits of drinking beer to regain mineral, vitamin, and water loss due to physical activity. This is old news to the Belgian farmer, keep running and drinking yuppie (old news).
    I don't really know much about the two breweries who got friendly on this brew. I have had friends who have suggested that I try the hop bombs that put green flash on the map. St-Feuillien is a Belgian brewery that has been around for almost 1000 years. The subtle adjustment of yeast over the years that this brewery has been around is responsible for the incredible flavor. San Diego based Green Flash brewery is best known for their "west coast" IPA's and hop bombs. This brewery is not afraid to produce beers that will assault your palate and have been know to put their own spin on Belgian classics.
     I shared this beer with a true friend in the company of good family. I really appreciate how awesome that they are and they allow my family to meld into theirs and use their kitchen as a backdrop for my low rotation blog. Luck is coming our way folks and we know just what to drink when we can celebrate.

Burbon DIPA (Hardywood Park Craft Brewery)

          This remote post was experienced at the Lakeside Rockers MC clubhouse. I did not realize all the dodo splatters on the refrigerator in the picture but lets proceed. I bought a three pack of these Bourbon DIPA's over a month ago and have been itching to crack one open ever since. Sure I could have drank one by myself in my cave of solitude, but I really enjoy sharing the experience of big beers like this one. We have drank waaaay to much Busch, bud, and loose cannon in this garage recently. Bring out the glassware.

        Hardywood has released two of their barrel series this year, the Bourbon Cru and now this Bourbon DIPA. I believed I have heard they will be doing a Bourbon Gingerbread stout. I really liked the fresh Bourbon Cru but I had a sneaky suspicion that it would age well. I have two 750's left from that series and after drinking a two month old Bourbon DIPA, I am sure they are aging well. The fresh versions of this series taste very similar and Bourbon heavy, the flavor was very subdued even after two months. I suggest storing corked and caged big bottles on their side for aging so that the cork doesn't dry out.

       I get a bit ridiculous about my big bottle beers. I buy something that I have been sold as special and I hold onto it. I have a Brooklyn Black Ops from this time last year that I have been saving. Originally there were two. My friend Robert bought the other one then held it hostage. We drank it when we got his scooter running. Why hold onto these beers so long? special occasion, or a holiday, maybe it is that I want to share it with someone who will appreciate the complexity? I am thinking I will take this to Thanksgiving this year, or maybe wait until the dutch year 10 trip in January, but those guys don't really appreciate big beers.    

     There is a group in Richmond that does a beer dig in March every year. I wish I had enough friends who would get into it. You go buy good beers, live yeasty bold beers and bury them in the ground for a year. The following year you mostly dig them up and let people discover them one by one and enjoy the fruits of your patience. I met the guy who does Richmond beer dig, maybe I should just get in with his peeps.