Alewerks Hop Marrow - For Both Of Us

Long time readers of these Musings will know that Colleen and I have different tastes in our "go to" beer preferences. She will most often gravitate to the dark, roasted, and chocolate flavors. The hoppy beers feature prominently on my lists. Colleen will also enjoy the strongly hopped beer on occasion, but when we're out for a meal it's the Stout section of the menu that gets her attention.

On occasion, after stealing a sip of her order, I will switch to the same beer for my next round. But the power of suggestion rarely moves in the opposite direction. While out for dinner recently, it did just that.

It so happened that on this occasion we had both gone the Stout route. Colleen was enjoying the excellent Hardywood Gingerbread Stout while I sipped a Chili Chocolate Stout from Old Bust Head Brewing. Finishing my beer I went with Hop Marrow IPA from Alewerks Brewing.

I was quite impressed with the Hop Marrow. The aroma was very strong pine. In fact I remarked, "It smells like Christmas tree." The citrus and piney hops in the flavor were delightful. After taking the requisite shared sip, Colleen noted that while she rarely has a second beer with dinner, she just might have a Hop Marrow.

Sure enough, a second glass of Hop Marrow soon was set at her place. That's high praise for the beer indeed.

AleWerks Red Marker Ale

Six years ago when I started writing these Musings, I had in the back of my mind that I'd get around to trying all the beers from all the Virginia breweries. Well, I've long forgotten that goal — I can hardly keep up with the ever growing list of breweries, much less their beers. Despite that, I'm often reminded that I've missed even the "easy" ones.

I was looking through photos from our recent vacation and I came across this beer picture I had taken at a lunch stop and was reminded of another tasty Virginia beer I enjoyed recently, one that I don't recall trying previously. We had detoured to the Dog Street Pub in Williamsburg on our drive back from the Outer Banks. I was looking forward to a light lunch, and hopefully a good beer. The pub has a fairly extensive draft beer menu, but I was drawn to a bottle of the locally brewed Red Marker Ale from AleWerks Brewing Company, right there in Williamsburg. This American Red Ale checks in at just 5% ABV, which made it ideal for the quick lunch stop.

A hard pour into a classic nonic pint glass created minimal head but released the rich caramel and bready malt aromas. The beer is a deep red-amber color. The initial flavor is slightly sweet and bread-like. Some mild citrus bitterness comes through at the end. The overall flavor profile is balanced and mild.

Admittedly, I haven't had too many AleWerks beers, probably due to the fact that they are readily available locally, leaving them to be overlooked. However, I've always enjoyed the ones I've tried. Coincidently, the last AleWerks beer I drank was during my last visit to the colonial city.

So many breweries, so little time.

A Pale Ale Surprise

As mentioned earlier I spent this weekend inside a hotel in Williamsburg. It was all for a good cause, even if it did conflict with my desire to participate in the VA/MD USPSA Sectional. I was at a convention with a lot of outstanding people who are devoted to doing good works and helping folks in need. It was quite an inspiring weekend.

During one break, I managed to sneak into the hotel pub for a quick afternoon pint. The usual suspects in the factory beer style were available, the lone craft beer offering being Williamsburg AleWerks Cheaspeake Pale Ale. It was available both on draught and in the bottle.

Chesapeake Pale Ale pours a clear, bright amber color with a moderate frothy head.  The citrus and earthy aromas are easily detected. I found the aroma to be a bit more intense than many pale ales I've tried. The predominant flavor is a juicy, citrus tang that's balanced with a mild bitterness. The dry finish brings ever so mild sweet, malt notes.

Overall, I enjoyed this new-to-me pale ale quite a bit. Given the rest of the available beer options, I was quite happy to find the Chesapeake Pale Ale. I wasn't surprised that Williamsburg Alewerks produced such an enjoyable beer, but I was surprised that I don't recall ever having it previously.

Yes, I did get back for a second round.

They Toy With Me

I'm in Williamsburg, VA for the weekend for an annual meeting / convention event. I open my "goodie bag" and there, right on top of all the touristy brochures, is a coupon promoting Williamsburg AleWerks. It's not too from the hotel. As is typical with these events, the schedule is jammed. There's no open time to escape.

However, they do apparently have the brewery's Chesapeake Pale Ale in the hotel pub. I think I can sneak in there at some point.

WaPo Beer Madness Winner, It's a Secret

The Annual Washington Post Beer Madness Competition has been held, and the winner selected.  The Post asked five readers to join the panel of judges for this year's event. The group got together on two days and worked their way through 64 beers in a blind tasting. Interestingly the beers were placed into brackets based on four "flavor-driven categories."

Malt: These beers derive their sweet, bready, biscuity, toasty and caramel flavors from the specialty grains.

Fruit and spice: Special yeasts are largely responsible for the fruity, peppery and spicy flavors found in these freewheeling Belgian-inspired brews and German-style wheat beers.

Roast: Highly kilned grains give these mahogany-to-ebony-colored brews nuances of coffee, chocolate, licorice and roast.

Hops: The bitter brewing herb dominates these beers, yielding flavors described as citrusy, piny, resiny, herbal and floral.

That's a unique way of grouping for judging, but one that I think mimics how many folks do categorize beers.  It's also a design that will eventually pit hop-heavy beers against malt-rich flavors. Or session beers against high alcohol selections.

Who won? They're not saying. Unlike the Brewing News National IPA Championship, where you make your predictions prior to the judging, in this event, readers make their predictions after the judging is complete. The Washington Post will dole out the results of the bracket eliminations over the next few weeks.

By the way, there where three Virginia beers entered in the competition; Starr Hill Amber Ale, Williamsburg Alewerks Tavern Ale and Port City Brewing Porter.

Williamsburg AleWerks Coffeehouse Stout

We recently took the time for a little more research for our upcoming Winter beer tasting. After all, it's only fair to our guests that we have fresh thoughts in mind on the beers we'll serve. (The sacrifices we make are incredible.)

Coffeehouse Stout is a Winter seasonal from Williamsburg AleWerks. The stout pours opaque black with a very thin and short lived beige head. The head leaves little to no lacing behind. The aroma is that of fresh brewed, medium-bodied coffee. The flavor is roasted coffee with a mild sweetness as expected in a milk stout. This is a medium bodied stout with the pleasing aftertaste of bitter coffee. It's a mild stout that I found myself drinking pretty quickly. That's okay though, at just 5.40% ABV I could certainly have another.

Local Breweries Make Good Showing at USBTC

The Winter session of the United States Beer Tasting Championship was completed recently. In the USBTC competition the beers are judged in regional field trials. The regional winners in each category then move on to a national judging to determine the Grand Champions.

In the Mid-Atlantic regional trials several Virginia breweries made good showings.

Barleywine: Grand Illumination, Williamsburg AleWerks, Williamsburg, VA
Porter: Legend Porter, Legend Brewing Company, Richmond, VA
Porter Honorable Mention: Washington’s Porter, Williamsburg AleWerks, Williamsburg, VA
Brown Ale Honorable Mention: Tavern Ale, Williamsburg AleWerks, Williamsburg, VA
Spice/Smoke Beer: Smoke-Out Rauch Beer, Starr Hill Brewing Company, Crozet, VA

Our friends in Maryland did well also.

Strong/Old Ale: Winter Storm, Clipper City Brewing, Baltimore, MD
Imperial Porter: Gonzo Imperial Porter, Flying Dog, Frederick, MD

Two of these regional winners went on to be named Grand Champions in their categories. Williamsburg AleWerks Grand Illumination won the Barleywine category. In the Imperial Porter category, Flying Gonzo Imperial Porter came out on top.

Congratulations to all the winners! I was happy to several old favorites in the winner's circle. Be sure to check out the complete results here to see how your favorite breweries did in the competition.