Beer News: Mead, awards, gravity, puns, and Slimer

Help Ardent test out some new beers, try some new-old mead, vote for Mekong of course, and remember the 80s.

September 4, 2015; 3:45 PM • by Ross Catrow

Photo by: Thunderbolt Tea

Pilot to co-pilot

Tonight, Ardent hosts their 3rd Pilot Night–a chance for you to try pilot batches of beer that they may never again see the inside of a glass. Beers include:

• Gluten-free Belgian Lawnmower Beer • 4% ABV
• Prohibition Pils • 5.5% ABV
• 404 Weizen Bock • 6.3% ABV

I asked Ardent if they make the gluten-free beer using that magic enzyme or with gluten-free ingredients, and they said it’s the latter plus they use a gluten-free yeast–which I did not know was a thing.

Finally, Original Gravity opens a brewery

Last week saw the opening of Final Gravity, the brewery attached to the Original Gravity homebrew store. Robey Martin at Richmond Magazine tells me that they have nine beers on tap including an Irish Goodbye Stout, which, obviously, is not an Irish Stout. SOLID PLAY ON WORDS ALERT.

Be the Queen Bee

Drink old-style mead this coming Tuesday at the Virginia Historical Society! Don’t worry, it’s not old mead, just mead made in the old style, like really, really old style (circa 1802). These History on Tap events are really neat, and I hope the VHS at least puts together a couple more.

Mekong forever

If you must, you can vote for America’s best beer bar. At this point, is it even worth it? We all know Mekong’s going to dominate the competition. Sorry lesser beer bars in lesser parts of the country! Although, I guess you’d want to make sure Mekong doesn’t get Eric Cantor’d…

Growler fills on the south side of the river

O’Toole’s now offers growler fills! This applies to those of you that live on the Southside and are in need of more places to fill your growlers. Other options: Crossroads, Boka Grill & Growlers, and Legend.

— ∮∮∮ —

Elsewhere…

The delicious Founders All Day IPA is fueling a $40 million expansion to that brewery. That’s a lot of folks drinking a lot of session beer!

Don’t worry, this Ecto Cooler-inspired beer is not made with Hi-C Ecto-Cooler (RIP).

Other releases, takeovers, and things

• The Brewer & Artist series continues at Hardywood. This installment features a dry farmhouse saison brewed by Chris Rommel and label art by artist Tyler Thomas. Get it starting tomorrow at the brewery!
• This Saturday at Jack Brown’s, Ballast Point takes over the taps and you can get Ballast Point bucket special all day.
• The Answer will put a bunch of pumpkin beers on tap on Labor Day. I say this is too soon for pumpkin beers, but I’m over here still desperately clinging to summer.
• Also on Saturday, Ardent releases their Barrel Aged Dark Rye.
• ALSO on Saturday, Lickinghole will release their Darjeeling Tripel–a beer infused with legit Darjeeling tea. So many releases this weekend, and so few hours of the day to convince a DD to drive me around to every brewery in town.

‘Gram: @hardywood

Whoa, whoa, whoa: Hardywood and Trader Joe’s are in cahoots with this Hibiscus Tripel! Available at Virginia stores or at the brewery starting…now!

https://instagram.com/p/7LlkSSx0ak/?taken-by=hardywood

September 4, 2015 3:45 PM · in Hills and Heights, Near West End News, and more 0