What happens at a speed tasting with six breweries at BBC18?
Tickle the Tastebuds - Beers & Breweries |
SPEED TASTING
Six Virginia breweries show off to Beer Bloggers and Writers
As part of the Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference 2018, attendees came to Lost Rhino to "speed taste" beers from around Virginia – like speed dating but your favorite beer won't diss you. The following notes demonstrate what happens when 10 brewery reps are trying to fit in pouring and providing an overview of the brewery and the beer in five minutes, tasters are trying to listen, chat, taste, take photos and make notes, everyone's having serious fun, and the noise level goes up in proportion to the alcohol consumed. These notes remind me of a day of research at various breweries – the notes become much more sparse as the day wears on – but this time I'll blame the noise level!
Port City, Alexandria
Optimal Wit
Nice coriander and pepper notes, richness from the wheat,
1/3 production, top-selling, medal winning
2015, GABF Best Small Brewery
8-year anniversary coming up, first in NOVA
Oktoberfest
Märzen style
Rich, caramel and spicy-malt forward, carbonation on the palate
SWITCH!
Old Bust Head, Fauquier County
4th-year anniversary today
Table Talk Belgian Style Wit
Richness from the wheat and Belgian spices
Started with paw paw, but too expensive to source since not easily accessible so went with passionfruit and guava?
5.3% but powerful flavor from the yeasty esters
SWITCH!
Lost Rhino
7 years now
Focus-on-lager brewery from the beginning
Pilsner
First beer - #2 seller (Face Plant IPA is #1)
Clean, showcasing the crackery malts with subtle hops offsetting sweetness. Easy-drinking
SWITCH!
Legend Brewing
Started 1993
Imperial Brown Ale
Sweet, caramel, chocolate pie – smoother than a typical big beer
#legendbrewingco
8.3%
Well-received by everyone at our table!
SWITCH!
Blue Mountain Brewery
Dark Hollow
Bourbon B-A Imperial Stout
Blue Mountain has a dedicated barrel room that changes temps to encourage expansion and contraction of the barrels to impart more flavor to the beers. Taylor Smack brought his Goose Island brewing and barrel-aging experience to Blue Mountain
Chocolate, coffee, barrel beauty! One of my long-time favorites!
SWITCH!
Ardent Craft Ales
Pilsner
They like doing lagers
Clean, easy-drinking; showcases the biscuity malt flavors – a lager doesn’t hide anything, and there’s nothing to hide here
SWITCH!
AleWerks Brewing
Weekend Lager
5.1%
Clean (and not enough time for a more in-depth description!)
Pumpkin
Spices on the nose make me want to pull out the sweater. Definitely like a pumpkin pie in a glass. Sweet.
SWITCH!
Vanish
Peach IPA
Lactose, ton of local peaches, vanilla, lactose
Full mouthfeel, peaches on the back. Low on hops. Added some kettle soured for a small touch of sour. Nice balance of cinnamon, spice.
SWITCH!
Reason
Blonde
4%
Peppery, flavors I'm not able to articulate
SWITCH!
Starr Hill
Last Leaf Maple Brown
Nice blend of maple and caramelly sweetness! Balanced.
Part of the Fall Tour Variety Pack
And the fun continued
On this the final evening of the Beer Bloggers Conference, the speed tasting was but the appetizer. The breweries continued to pour for the attendees, each setting up a station to provide more beer and to provide information. The event was held at Lost Rhino Brewing in Loudoun County.
And Virginia beer bloggers and writers were well-represented at the event!
< Prev | Next > |
---|