Summer Refreshment
| Tickle the Tastebuds - Beers & Breweries |
Breckenridge Mango Mosaic Pale Ale
Greet the warm summer weather with beers that are light and refreshing. When you can’t make it to the beach (or you’re there and want to embrace the sand, surf and spray to the fullest), pop open an ale that will bring to mind the rhythm of the waves.
Breckenridge Mango Mosaic Pale Ale – now year round – can transport you, using Mosaic hops and generous amounts of mango for exotic tropical notes. Though light and refreshing, the body of the beer satisfies. As a pale ale, Mango Mosaic achieves balance: malt flavors on the mid-palate and tropic hops singing “Don’t worry, be happy” on the end.
At 5.5 percent ABV, the brew borders on sessionable, perfect for warm summer days. Or, now that the beer is available year-round, you can enjoy its bright notes après ski – or simply après work – paired with foods like chicken, fish or an easy-eating cheese plate. At only 29 IBUs, its bitterness won’t spoil your palate for other flavors.
In talking about the beer’s creation, Colorado’s Breckenridge Brewery president Todd Usry says, “We’ve used Mosaic hops for several years in other beers, and we love the floral, tropical fruit, earthy characteristics that it gives - great aroma and a sweetness unlike other hops we’ve experimented with. We thought it would pair naturally with a tropical fruit like mango, so we got busy in our pilot brewery up in Breck to find the right balance of hops to fruit.”
Mango Mosaic is available in six-packs of 12-ounce bottles and on draft.
Beer cocktail: Mosaic Mango Mania
Though this beer doesn’t need any flavor enhancements, I couldn’t resist experimenting with spirits that complement the pale ale. For additional summertime flavors and extra kick, pour 1 ½ ounces of your favorite tequila into a tulip glass, then top it with Breckenridge Mango Mosaic. The tequila adds a touch of dry alcohol bite and more essence of summer without overpowering the beauty of the pale ale.
Virginia's New Beer Trail: Drink in the Valley
Shenandoah Beerwerks Trail
For a short time, this will be both America’s and Virginia’s newest craft beer trail. “Come tap into that authenticity you crave,” invites the trail’s promotional materials. “Real fields and farms. Pristine waters. Endless mountain views. Hiking trails. Farmers’ markets. Mountain biking. Music festivals. Fascinating small cities. And local characters. We’re all that and more. Wherever your adventures take you, we’ve got a brewery nearby to quench your thirst. Refresh yourself on the Shenandoah Beerwerks Trail.”
Breweries are friendly places to visit, providing opportunities to enjoy the beer as well as to relax and chat with friends and new acquaintances. Taprooms often host food trucks or other food options, and a few offer a full menu or local snacks or encourage guests to bring food in. Many host live music events, offer growler fills, and are kid- and dog-friendly. The twelve Shenandoah Beerwerks breweries as of the trail’s beginning are: Brothers Brewing, Harrisonburg Pale Fire, Harrisonburg Three Notch’d, Harrisonburg Wolfe Street, Harrisonburg Queen City Brewing, Staunton Redbeard Brewing, Staunton Shenandoah Valley Brewing, Staunton Basic City Beer, Waynesboro Seven Arrows Brewing, Waynesboro Stable Craft Brewing, Waynesboro (the newest brewery on the list) Blue Lab Brewing, Lexington Devils Backbone Outpost, Lexington
To learn more and follow the Shenandoah Beerwerks Trail on social media: Facebook: Shenandoah Beerwerks Instagram: @shenandoahbeerwerks Two New Summer Beers
Just in time for the warm weather...That will allegedly be here soon...Virginia's Starr Hill Brewery has released two new seasonals that pair perfectly with warm weather, The Hook Grapefruit Session IPA and Sublime Citrus Wit. The Hook begins with a carefully chosen malt bill of 2-row, crystal and honey plus golden oats, and uses four hops: Apollo, Citra, Mosaic and Sorachi Ace. The sessionable 4.9% ABV and the light but pleasing taste makes this perfect for a warm day - even when fishing with your hook by the river (or, like me, watching someone else fish). The Hook is hoppy yet with malty notes. It's a medium amber color, with a gentle, light head and hoppy IPA on the nose. The flavor is mild but generous. The Hook sips smooth on the palate. At 38 IBUs, it's not off-putting to those who are turned off by hop bombs. Starr Hill's Sublime Citrus Wit pour a golden yellow, with a light white head and spicy nose. The recipe is simple and the beer reflects the clean simplicity: 2-row malted barley and wheat, with Saaz hops plus lime and lemon zest. The flavor on my palate was dominated by the malt, with the spices and wheat quickly making their gleeful appearance. The limey-citrus flavor is also apparent and is complementary and quite pleasant, like a lightly squeezed fresh wedge has been added to the glass. The beer is light in flavor and of a sessionable ABV (4.7%) and would be perfect with grilled herbed chicken on a warm summer evening. Actually, it went marvelously with the herbed lime chicken I prepared in my slow cooker! Cheers! Pickled & Fermented #RVA @COTUbrew
Join them at Center of the Universe Brewing Company for a day of pickle tastings, live music from Ashland's Buckeville Hootenany, a pickle themed beer and loads of pickle shenanigans! They will also be hosting the very first Best Pickle Competition and are taking entries from Richmond Restaurants and home picklers. Categories include: Sweet Pickles- fruits, vegetables, bread & butter Savory Pickle-fruits, vegetables & dill pickled savory edibles Relishes - Chow-Chow, Pickle Relish, Chutney, Picalilli Cabbage-kimchi & sauerkraut Drinkable Ferments- kombucha, shrubs & kefir (sorry no alcohol allowed) Sourdough bread The pickle panel of judges for includes: Ashley Ray and Larkin Garbee of Artisan Pickle Club, Abbie Toner of Eat Smart, Karen Grisevich of GrowRVA, Stephanie Ganz of RVA News, and Brandon Fox of Style Weekly. Anyone interested in attending and/or entering the pickle competitions can find out more at www.artisanpickles.com. A Winning Pairing of Food and Beer
Renewing a Favorite RelationshipYou know how sometime it’s important to get away with family or the significant other to spend quality time together, to reaffirm what’s best about your relationship? Such was my experience on April 20, 2016 – but with a three-year-old Virginia brewery that, perhaps, I had been taking for granted.
So certainly I’m familiar with Brothers. I’ve enjoyed many of their beers since they opened as Three Brothers over three years ago, including The Great Outdoors, Hoptimization and Good Adweiss, not to mention popular beers such as Resolute, Atramentous and Daylight Cravings. I’ve enjoyed all, from the flagships to the limited-release beers. At the dinner, however, I was reminded of the benefits of partaking of beers at a brewery – not just the freshness, but the range of choices that typically escape one at bars, restaurants and bottle shops. Add to that the food from two Harrisonburg farm-to-table restaurants and appreciation multiplied. Lest you think of Harrisonburg as a little Podunk college town, you should know that its location in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley puts it close to amazing farms – that its population of Mennonite residents has supported a culture of peace, service and sustainability even before it was a thing – and that Harrisonburg’s downtown claims to be the first designated Arts & Cultural District and the first Culinary District in Virginia. So the contributions from the restaurants undoubtedly added to the aura of the evening. Chef Brian Bogan brought his culinary skills from Joshua Wilton House (also a classic, elegant and relaxing downtown Harrisonburg inn). Joshua Wilton House restaurant boasts a “unique Refined-Virginian menu – creatively contouring to seasonally fresh, local products.” The April 20 menu put Chef Bogan’s Virginia blue crab salad slider (filler? What’s that?) with Brothers’ Dalliance tart saison – a nice contrast of mild fresh seafood taste with the tart spicy notes of the saison (see image above). Another Joshua Wilton House course presented the lamb BLT (twice-cooked lamb bacon with sweet potato brioche and Great Outdoors whole grain aioli) with Brothers Brown Out – the nuttiness of the beer toasted the roasty-fresh flavors of the lamb bacon. Another course paired Chef Bogan’s pork belly with cucumber kimchee on house-made steamed buns with Atramentous – the tart kimchee played quite nicely with the sour cherry, Brett and lactobacillus in the beer (see image below)!
Chef Napotnik presented sauerbraten and hopped sauerkraut with Better Times Bock – the richness of the German-style meat with the smooth, clean and biscuity tastes of a classic German-style beer. The next Local course paired smoked sausage taco with Scarlet Empire imperial red ale – not only did the food and drink dance in step like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, the tastes of caramel malts and Galena hop danced in perfect harmony as well. The final course of the evening presented a Local dish with Resolute. As Virginia beer fans know, Resolute is one of the commonwealth’s favorite beers, pulling in long lines for its annual release. Chef Napotnik surprised me by not pairing the big bourbon barrel-aged Russian imperial stout with a dessert but with a charred mushroom stuffed with roasted chilies and a Resolute mole sauce. The rich, sensuous, savory flavors were marvelously compatible with the Brothers beer. At the dinner, menu descriptions promoted the local farm ingredients as well as the dish descriptions. All I can say is, be sure to visit these Harrisonburg restaurants to learn about and experience fresh foods of Shenandoah farms for yourself. And while you’re there, stop in at Brothers Craft Brewing, to appreciate the range of the craft brewery’s beers and to take home bottles of their limited-release brews. You’ll come home renewed and reinvigorated – like the best of your family vacations. |
Virginia’s newest beer trail invites visitors to explore the commonwealth’s great outdoors and enjoy great beer, too. As of May 16, 2016, the Shenandoah Beerwerks Trail is official, incorporating 12 breweries in the Shenandoah Valley, reaching from Harrisonburg in the north down through Staunton and Waynesboro to Lexington.
Besides providing a convenient way for locals and tourists to explore an area’s breweries, beer trails provide efficient and effective tourism hooks, attracting visitors, who spend their money not just on the breweries’ products but on lodging, food and recreation. This trail in Virginia’s mountains is a cooperative effort of Staunton, Augusta, and Waynesboro Tourism; Harrisonburg Tourism; and Lexington & The Rockbridge Area Tourism.
Pickle Lovers Unite! The Artisan Pickle Club is hosting Pickled & Fermented - a celebration of all things pickled and fermented! We're talking more than pickled cucumbers here - they don't discriminate when it comes to pickled things. Pickled fruit, pickled veggies, hot sauce, kimchi, beer, Kombucha – if it's pickled or fermented, we're celebrating it! 
On April 20, I attended a beer dinner at 
The other three courses were prepared by Chef Jakob Napotnik of 
