Lackadaisical Vienna-lagered winter bock is stylishly thin and apprehensive. Meager caramel-toasted toffee sweetness and faint honeyed molasses sugaring fade quickly. Wispy hop spicing and dry peat whim need a severe push up.
FOOLPROOF AUGTOBERFEST
On tap at Doherty’s, delightful autumnal moderation (circa 2015) works well within its limited stylistic range. Sweet honey-glazed orange spritz and dry lemon tartness dampened by leafy hop resin above light caramel malting. In the deep recess, dry earthen wood tones contrast sugared citrus spicing.
REVIVAL BURNSIDER PALE ALE
On tap at Doherty’s, extremely dry pale ale brings briskly hop-embittered citric fruiting to dewy herbal dankness. Zesty grapefruit and orange rind sharpness infiltrates green tea musk at midst, gaining astringent acidity along the way. Serve to hop-headed English IPA lovers.
CAPE ANN CABERNET BARREL AGED BELGIAN STOUT
On tap at Doherty’s, leathery white oak-dried Cabernet Sauvignon wining, acidic brettanomyces souring and tannic white grape esters overtake mocha-spiced stout attributes. Subtle gooseberry-like blackcurrant sweetness lies beneath soft-toned white wine finish.
NEWPORT STORM RLEZES STRONG ALE
On tap at Doherty’s, rum barrel-aged Belgian pale ale provides Scotch-sweetened Chardonnay wining, brown-sugared raisin toasting and wispy navel orange bruise with dainty candi-sugared Belgian yeast. Mild beet-spiced rum soaks floral-fruited Saaz hop whim and baked bread spine.
DOGFISH HEAD CHOC LOBSTER PORTER
On tap at Doherty’s, daring crustacean-spiced mocha peculiarities abound above unique briny lobster broth, creating bittersweet chocolate truffle ambiance and dark cocoa powdering for wafting Old World Middle East spicing. Dry ginger-spiced turmeric, curry and cumin seasoning as well as basil tea herbage outline the sweet brown chocolate finish. Another amazingly detailed, weirdly concocted and ‘off-centered’ Dogfish header.
MIKKELLER/ SIREN BEER GEEK DAYDREAM WHITE STOUT
On tap at Doherty’s, colossal golden-bronzed ‘white stout’ collaboration with strong ale aspirations (and well-hidden 12% ABV) brings creamy caramelized coffee sweetness to vanilla-caked brown chocolate sugaring and insistent creme de cacao reminder. Casual red wine tannins delicately affect tertiary cinnamon-spiced chocolate mint, marshmallow, amaretto, almond biscotti and coconut whims.
BERKSHIRE FARMSTAND RASPBERRY BARLEYWINE
On tap at Doherty’s, soft-toned raspberry tartness guides ruby-hazed summertime wheat wine (with disguised 9% ABV). Over time, syrupy raspberry sweetness fades above light citric hop spritz and candied cherry-apple-cranberry wisp. Light whiskey malting stays down under.
ADROIT THEORY IMAGINATION ATROPHY CARAMEL MACCHIATO
Virtually unrelenting with its rich brown chocolate sugaring, creamy caramel malting and luscious macchiato overtones, marvelous milk stout reaches its zenith at bourbon-sweetened mocha finish. Complementary vanilla latte, hazelnut coffee, cappuccino, amaretto and black cherry liqueur undertones add further complexity.
ADROIT THEORY BREWING COMPANY
PURCELLVILLE, VIRGINIA
One of the most interesting and bold nanobrewery gone wild!
Specializing in experimental barrel-aged elixirs and a few solid hybridized regulars, ‘esoteric’ Purcellville-based ADROIT THEORY BREWING COMPANY crafts some of Virginia’s finest Big Beers in small batches at its rustic light industrial warehouse. Wood-barreled tables and a large L-shaped bar furnish the cavernous interior and heavy metal music plays loudly during tasting hours. Head brewer Greg Skotzko’s rangy ales usually top out above 9% ABV, though a few equally fine fruitier choices were deviously sessionable.
Serving at least twenty different brews at any given time, I sit at the wood-and-metal stooled bar on a Friday evening, September ’15, to enjoy ten varied selections going from moderate India Pale Ale to rum-soaked porter during a most intriguing two-hour session. The crowd heightens by 7PM, as young and old alike buy growlers, 4-ounce servings or pints. Some visitors grab a seat on the deck to enjoy sundown beneath blue umbrellas at green plastic tables.
Open since January 2014, Adroit Theory has already crafted over 150 different small batch beers in less than twenty months. Liberated old rockers screaming along to Metallica and Judas Priest settle next to younger folks more concerned with the headier-than-usual liquid fare this clean and friendly hotspot offers in spades. A destination for any serious beer connoisseur traveling thru the Old Dominion State, Adroit Theory’s ever-changing recipes just keep-a coming.
For starters, I reached for sumptuous perfume-brandied mainstay, Angels Trumpet IPA, a sharply spice-hopped medium body with tantalizing lemony grapefruit-mango-pineapple tropicalia and brisk orange peel bittering receiving astringent ethanol boozing. Interestingly, its mezcal-barreled version added light agave hints to cotton-candied malt sweetness and juicy mango-grapefruit-orange-tangerine tang for a soft-toned delight.
A few more fruity concoctions really caught my attention as well. Easygoing Mango Fook Yourself (7% ABV) placed syrupy mango above its lemony IPA-styled pineapple-tangerine-peach tang and sugared wheat backbone.
Cult 010 Blue’s Berry, a nifty Belgian dubbel, brought blueberry ripeness to raisin-dried cranberry, blackberry, boysenberry and gooseberry souring.
Lightly creamed Belgian-spiced dessert treat, Lemon Tripel, brought candied lemondrop tartness to peachy vanilla sweetness.
Ambitious Cult 013 Nova Initia Quad benefited from whiskey-nipped dried fruiting and brown chocolate sweetness as black cherry, fig and raisin tones carried the load.
Truly rewarding Death March Imperial IPA loaded floral fruitiness and piney hop resin atop richly caramelized chocolate malting. Its candied red cherry sweetness and zesty grapefruit-orange tang really zing the senses.
On the dark side were four alcohol-fueled faves. Cult 008 Evil Grace Imperial Stout proved worthy gathering stylish coffee-roasted black chocolate richness for ancillary milk-creamed espresso, cacao nibs and toffee illusions as well as dried raisin nuances and a hint of whiskey.
Its more complex companion, B/A/Y/S V20 Imperial Stout, lined its smoked mocha mass with hop-charred dried fruiting and a bourbon wisp, gaining coffee-roasted chocolate prominence and subtle cocoa remnant along the way.
Before heading out, dazzlingly hybridized Black Celebration Imperial Porter offered black lava-salted brine to rum-soaked chocolate roast and molasses-sapped sugaring, picking up light oak tannins at the chewy caramelized mocha finish.
PALE FIRE BREWING COMPANY
HARRISONBURG, VIRGINIA
After cookie-cutter chain restaurants and malls replaced once-thriving ’70s department stores, Shenandoah Valley county seat Harrisonburg decided to revamp local businesses and revitalize apartments by the ’90s while James Madison University continued to thrive.
In the light industrial section a few blocks away from midtown at the Ice House mall, PALE FIRE BREWING COMPANY continues to gain popularity with its sterling operation. Shiny glass-encased silver brew tanks hold a nice array of brews served at the U-shaped central bar.
Mild Golden Hour American Wheat Ale, a well-rounded Amarillo-hopped moderation countered dry lemon-pined bitterness with caramelized wheat sweetness, leaving lemon-pitted sourness and lemongrass herbage at the back end.
Hybridized Foxy Roxy Rocktown Wheat (a collaboration with Brothers Brewery) brought IPA-styled dark fruited spicing to dewy carafa malts and barley-roasted red wheat.
Fruity American hops and dewy English malts formulated Deadly Rhythm Pale Ale, a dry medium body meshing raw-honeyed peat earthiness, fig-sugared spicing and dark floral accents.
Highly expressive farmhouse ale, Saving Grace Table Beer, led herbal-citric saison yeast to pilsner-malted Saaz hops, allowing white-peppered lemon tartness and salty lemongrass brininess to pick up a bubbly mandarin orange spritz.
In comparison, Salad Days American Saison loaded barley-roasted rye malting onto Amarillo/Simcoe/Cascade hops, leaving yellow grapefruit, white peach and pineapple fruiting as well as lemon-rotted herbal snips in its lightly creamed caramel-malted wake.
Residual-sugared Munich malt sweetness fronted Red Molly Irish Red, a mildly hopped moderation with dewy earthen tones, chocolate-roasted wheat malts, nutty notions, sugared spices and red cherry licks.
Tropical Galaxy hops informed Major Tom IPA, delicately placing bright lemon-peeled grapefruit bittering atop crystal-sugared Maris Otter malting.
Stylishly approachable Village Green Double IPA gained a sharp citrus spicing while staying easygoing. Floral-perfumed lemon zest, grapefruit, pineapple, peach and passionfruit illusions illuminate.
Silkily smooth Lucille Oatmeal Stout worked oats-flaked chocolate malting into milk-steamed coffee bean sedation, cocoa bean bittering and dark cherry wisps.
www.palefirebrewing.com
WILD WOLF BREWING COMPANY
NELLYSFORD, VIRGINIA
Just up the road from Devil’s Backbone Brewery on the Blue Ridge Trail in its own 10-acre shopping village, Nellyford’s WILD WOLF BREWING COMPANY opened November 2011 (then closed January ’22). An impressive all-purpose brewpub serving the local rural community extremely well, it’s also a full-fledged restaurant and worthy sportsbar spread across several disparate rooms. A former schoolhouse, Wild Wolf is packed on this Saturday evening following the fabulous Virginia Craft Beer Festival.
Adding to the bucolic splendor, an authentic biergarten, spacious pavilion, several decks, working water wheel, gazebo and koi pond surround the centralized rustic wood cabin while a bouncyhouse provides child-oriented activity. Inside the main space, ten taps service the 26-seat bar and surrounding dining areas. Though my wife and I cannot get a seat anytime soon, we picked up a few brews for outside consumption (listed in Beer Index).