Roanoke, So Far, So Good:  Starr Hill Pilot Brewery and Side Stage Brainstorm Sesh Session IPA

Date: May 11, 2019

We’ve featured Starr Hill’s Roanoke’s Pilot Brewery and Side Stage before.  Click here for a brief overview of Roanoke and a description of the Pilot Brewery’s Brut IPA.  Today as part of our Roanoke series, we’ll take a taste of the mini-brewery’s Brainstorm Sesh Session IPA.

The Story— Virginia, like most of the United States, is almost awash in breweries.  The intense competition among craft breweries within what is still a relatively small segment of the overall beer market has resulted in game-changing shifts in strategies.  This week’s top beer story is Samuel Adams’s purchase of Dogfish Head since the mergers and buyouts grab the headlines.  However, more incremental moves to try to shore up market share have at least as great an impact on the average beer drinker.   In Virginia the rise of satellite breweries is second only to the wave of farm breweries in increasing available choices for craft beer seekers.

Breweries in Virginia can’t usually set up non-brewing tap houses apart from tasting rooms at the brewery, but they can establish establish satellite or pilot breweries which sell a mix of on-premise brew as well as a range of beer from the mother brewery.   Some of these breweries opened taprooms with breweries barely larger than a chemistry set and mostly sold their home brewery’s products.   The Virginia Legislature  narrowed the loophole by passing a bill that required brewery satellites to produce at least 20% of the beer they sell on-site.  (Come back Monday for more on the one exception to the bill: Deschutes’s Roanoke Taproom.)

Of the three satellite breweries in Roanoke, Starr Hill seems to be the most fully compliant with the on-premise requirement.  The brewery had over twenty beers on tap on our late-March visit and several were brewed in-house.  The 20% requirement not only works to ensure worthwhile brewery visits to beer hunters, but it means the in house beers have to be good enough to sell well up against those from the mother brewery.   Our trio of Roanoke-brewed Starr Hill beers were very good indeed and included a very nice session IPA.

“Session beers” have long been popular in England where a group of six drinkers is usually going to down a half-dozen 20 ounce pints as each member of the group buys a round. Beers almost never rise above 4% and many hover in the middle threes.   In the US session beers aren’t rigidly defined and mostly the term implies that there’s less alcohol than the style usually has.  Schmaltz Brewing’s Jeremy Cowan  produced a tongue-in-cheek Wishbone Session Double IPA that rang up 8% abv.– suitable for a very short session indeed.  As a very rough guide, though, more often than not a Session Pale Ale will be at or near 4% and a Session IPA 4.5% to 5.5%.

The Beer—Starr Hill’s fit the range for a SIPA at 5.3% and provided much of the taste of a full fledged IPA.   Chalky, chewy and toasty malts with lots of herbal and spicy hops provide plenty of flavor.  Citrus and fruits grow in the aftertaste.  Surprisingly full-bodied for a 5.3% beer.  We assume there are some unfermented sugars that might, if consumed in a long session, make the next morning unexpectedly challenging,  We didn’t do the full required research, though; investigating eight breweries in three days imposes limits to even session beers, alas.

Value —  Good.  $6.50 for a US “pint” is no bargain, but the beer was good enough to make us happy enough to spend the money.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

We’re kicking off May with some of the best beers we found on a recent trip to Roanoke, Virginia.  Roanoke is a haul from any of the population centers of the Mid Atlantic.  But Roanoke is a wonderful railroad center that still vibrates from rattling freights passing through all hours of the day and night, an d arich music  scene makes its own music.  National brewers are aware of its charms– Deschutes almost built a brewery here (and might still) and Deschutes as well as Virginia brewers Three Notch’d and Starr Hill have opened tap rooms.  The real charm of the city, however, lies in the trio of truly local breweries.   Combined, though, you can visit a half dozen breweries and brewery taps.  Most of them walkable and none are quite the same as any other; this city is a gift than the vast majority of Germans can only dream about anymore.

 We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers,   and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”

Roanoke, So Far, So Good: Soaring Ridge Rebellious Monk, Roanoke, Virginia

Date: May 10, 2019

The Story—  Continuing our Roanoke quest, we walk back across the track from Big Lick for less than ten minutes (less if you catch the lights) to Soaring Ridge.   If you stand outside and lean, you can see the soaring ridge of the Blue Ridge that hovers beyond the town; form inside the soaring ridge might refer to the length of the bar.  But what it lacks in scenery, it makes up in ambiance.  A brew kettle looks eerily like one we saw decommissioned in Scotland 35 years ago, but it’s a anachronistic nostalgic treasure in this new brewery.  There’s space for big events– enough that we’re not sure it every achieves intimacy– but the staff is welcoming and it’s an enjoyable place to explore beers.

We chose this beers among many of their food ones because for all the beer in Roanoke, we didn’t see a whole lot of Belgians.   Belgian IPAs have been brewed on both sides of the Atlantic — and even in countries that aren’t American or Belgian, but we’ve always felt that the American gut understanding of the role of hops in IPAs have made the US versions better.   The question for the Belgians has been:  “that much hop?   Really? What do we do with it??”   The question for the Americans is “Well, what is ‘Belgian’ anyway?”   Soaring Ridge has answered the last question by creating a beer with some funk that edges to fecal more than most Belgians would choose, but handle the hops well and create a beer than may or may not be moreish, but is surely interesting.

The Beer—A bit of slightly fecal funk that’s more in the aroma than in the taste, but much more candied malt and herbal hops. Echoes more of a farmhouse than a monastery. Very creamy with a bit of citrus.  Flavorful and both of us found this compellingly interesting.

Value —good.  You get what you pay for.   Go there, drink it.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

We’re kicking off May with some of the best beers we found on a recent trip to Roanoke, Virginia.  Roanoke is a haul from any of the population centers of the Mid Atlantic.  But Roanoke is a wonderful railroad center that still vibrates from rattling freights passing through all hours of the day and night, an d arich music  scene makes its own music.  National brewers are aware of its charms– Deschutes almost built a brewery here (and might still) and Deschutes as well as Virginia brewers Three Notch’d and Starr Hill have opened tap rooms.  The real charm of the city, however, lies in the trio of truly local breweries.   Combined, though, you can visit a half dozen breweries and brewery taps.  Most of them walkable and none are quite the same as any other; this city is a gift than the vast majority of Germans can only dream about anymore.

 We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers,   and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”

Roanoke, So Far, So Good: Big Lick Resilience IPA, Roanoke, Va.

Date: May 9, 2019

The Story— We’re in Roanoke for the week (we wish — it was two days several weeks ago).  We reluctantly leave the Goats to head closer to downtown.

Big Lick is a big garage-type brewery with a good local following, a big range of beers, and a way above average way of serving you food that they don’t make. The Mexican restaurant across the street has a rep at the door– you order from him, he takes your card and rings you up, and the food appears for you soon after.

At peak times, the staff works hard to keep what could be discouragingly long lines moving well and, remarkably, still finds time to make you feel welcome.  They brew a good range of beers and all of them were fine.  If they have a style they do better than the others we didn’t find it, but didn’t regret any of the several beers we tried.   We picked their IPA for this post because it might have beer the beer we settled in with despite the risk of an evening’s romance with a 6.7% beer.

The Beer— Chewy and toasty caramel malt with just a bit of an edge to it.  Plentiful hops run to spicy and give along bitter with some metal.  This is what you’d expect from an IPA a few years ago, and what we’re grateful for in an IPA today.

Value — good.  Like the goats, they can’t stay in business without a pretty good price for the beer.  Other than a few hats, this is all the income they get.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

We’re kicking off May with some of the best beers we found on a recent trip to Roanoke, Virginia.  Roanoke is a haul from any of the population centers of the Mid Atlantic.  But Roanoke is a wonderful railroad center that still vibrates from rattling freights passing through all hours of the day and night, an d arich music  scene makes its own music.  National brewers are aware of its charms– Deschutes almost built a brewery here (and might still) and Deschutes as well as Virginia brewers Three Notch’d and Starr Hill have opened tap rooms.  The real charm of the city, however, lies in the trio of truly local breweries.   Combined, though, you can visit a half dozen breweries and brewery taps.  Most of them walkable and none are quite the same as any other; this city is a gift than the vast majority of Germans can only dream about anymore.

 We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers,   and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”

Roanoke, So Far, So Good:  A Few Old Goats Great Scot!, Scotch Ale (sort of), Roanoke, Va.

Date: May 8, 2019

The Story—  We’re in Roanoke for a couple of nights (not now, thieves, duh, we don’t post our whereabouts in real time) to explore a small city that three outside breweries have chosen as a premier destination.  We found the local guys aren’t half bad either.

Roanoke was born as a railroad town and still is a remarkable railroad junction.  From our room at the old railroad hotel (upgraded to a top flight Hilton Curio Collection gem) we saw at least a half a dozen long freights pass below us each day.  The Starr Hill brewery was on a different line and the trains thundered though that area as well.   A marvelous, if somewhat small-town, railroad museum is a must see when you’re there.  Beer and music abounds, if you run out of breweries there are late-night bars that serve local suds, and even the upscale hotel bar serves good Virginia craft beer.

You probably will want to take a ride share (easy, quick and cheap) for AFOG and Starr Hill, but the other four are in easy walking range.  Deschutes has pulled back from a large East Coast brewing operation, but left their tap room open, Three Notch’d has brewing space in place and will be brewing small batch beers soon, and Starr Hill brews a small number of beers on premise to go with a good range of its Crozet beers.

But we had great experiences with the locals — we’ll feature Soaring Ridge and Big Lick next, but the Old Goats won our hearts. We wrote this yesterday about A Few Old Goats, a wonderfully endearing off-the-main-drag barely google-able brewery that just turns out really good beer:  We’ve spend over 40 years hunting overlooked brewery gems and it still thrills us to find one.  It’s what we do.  But what set these goats apart was the universal respect they’ve earned from other Roanoke brewers.  They’re very small, their brewery should be marginally dysfunctional and yet they brew beers that not only gained our interloper attention but commanded respect throughout the town.

They do a really good IPA (well, who doesn’t if they want to), but we picked this not altogether authentic Scot’s ale because the Scots don’t make it into these posts all that often and because this is a beer that shouldn’t be anything better than OK, and is actually very very good.  We’re friends with Bruce Williams, a very-Scot, who has dumped in everything from elderberries to seaweed in beers after hitting a home run with his Heather Ale.   But we don’t think even Bruce ever used oranges.   It just ain’t done.   But these goats made it work.

The Beer—  Unusually, here the orange is a team player.  The wood and whiskey is big enough and the duel between the barrel and the fruit so balanced that the Wee Heavy essence slips through with remarkable clarity.   We wondered if it might actually drink stronger than the advertised 6.3%.

Value — Good.  If they sold at a bargain, they’d be out of business in a month.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

We’re kicking off May with some of the best beers we found on a recent trip to Roanoke, Virginia.  Roanoke is a haul from any of the population centers of the Mid Atlantic.  But Roanoke is a wonderful railroad center that still vibrates from rattling freights passing through all hours of the day and night, an d arich music  scene makes its own music.  National brewers are aware of its charms– Deschutes almost built a brewery here (and might still) and Deschutes as well as Virginia brewers Three Notch’d and Starr Hill have opened tap rooms.  The real charm of the city, however, lies in the trio of truly local breweries.   Combined, though, you can visit a half dozen breweries and brewery taps.  Most of them walkable and none are quite the same as any other; this city is a gift than the vast majority of Germans can only dream about anymore.

 We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers,   and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”

Roanoke, So Far, So Good: A Few Old Goats Milk Stout Draft and Milk Stout Nitro.  Roanoke, Virginia

Date: May 7, 2019

The Story— We’ll talk more about Roanoke in future posts.  Here it’s enough to focus on just one of many reasons to make the drive– or ride the rails.

A Few Old Goats is as endearing a brewery as the name implies.  Some “old goats” — enthusiasts that include a college professor, have opened a brewery in a backwater section of Roanoke that our Uber driver suggested we not try to walk around in after dark.  Happily lots of other people suggested that the Uber driver had probably hadn’t been around Roanoke for a while — which turned out to be right.  The area is, we hear, safe enough, though still a long walk from the other Roanoke breweries.

The building is a brick for brick reconstruction of where you went to elementary school, but it’s actually a former health center, with a stage for graduation ceremonies and a layout that’s a deal ringer for Fernbank Elementary School in Charleston, West Virginia or Cherokee Junior High in Madison, Wisconsin.  Shake off the ambivalend memories and enter past an array of apartments to get to the brewery-taproom.  It’s a three barrel open fermenting system that countless brewers have installed — they’re cheap– and usually produce pretty mediocre, but locally acceptable beers. They’re kind of a low grade Peter Austin system today.  However, a handful of gifted– and maybe lucky– brewers can wield exceptional beers from the close to craft toy.   Gentlemans Brew near Pittsburg was our first encounter with these sorcerers, but these old goats are surely another with the gift

We’ve spend over 40 years hunting overlooked brewery gems and it still thrills us to find one.  It’s what we do.  But what set these goats apart was the universal respect they’ve earned from other Roanoke brewers.  They’re very small, their brewery should be marginally dysfunctional and yet they brew beers that not only gained our interloper attention but commanded respect throughout the town.

The Beer— The draft version is a lovely strong mild stout.  AT 7.5% it’s the sort of legendary “old ladies in tennis shoes” afternoon tipple, but sorry ladies, this has to be shared with football linemen.  It’s full bodied and rich.  It is sweet, which is appropriate for the style, but it’s not so sweet that it cloys. Very smooth.  Big deep roast with some cocoa and a bit of acrid char that serves to create a bit of balance.   The Nitro has the same big body, but the Nitro seems to pull the darkness back and allow the fruit to show more.  Interestingly drier.  Chocolate, more than the cocoa of the draft, and chocolate milk at the end and as it drinks.

Value —  Good.  Decent, but not cheap, brewpub prices here.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

We’re kicking off May with some of the best beers we found on a recent trip to Roanoke, Virginia.  Roanoke is a haul from any of the population centers of the Mid Atlantic.  But Roanoke is a wonderful railroad center that still vibrates from rattling freights passing through all hours of the day and night, an d arich music  scene makes its own music.  National brewers are aware of its charms– Deschutes almost built a brewery here (and might still) and Deschutes as well as Virginia brewers Three Notch’d and Starr Hill have opened tap rooms.  The real charm of the city, however, lies in the trio of truly local breweries.   Combined, though, you can visit a half dozen breweries and brewery taps.  Most of them walkable and none are quite the same as any other; this city is a gift than the vast majority of Germans can only dream about anymore.

 We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers,   and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”