CulturAle Press

Ten Top Tripels: #9:  Hopkins Ordinary Oventop Tripel, Sperryville, Virginia

Date:  March 2, 2019

The Story—  Hopkins Ordinary is a nearly unique experience for beer drinkers.   A brewery in the basement, a breakfast room on the first floor and a bedroom on the second floor in which, if you make arrangements, beer can be delivered to you.   It’s a wonderful mom and pop operation that offers an above average B&B experience, a serene and welcoming beer garden, a very good nano brewery, and a small town with good food and another, albeit edgier, brewery just a bit of an ambitious walk away.

When we did the search for top ten tripels I was happily surprised to see Hopkins Ordinary in the mix.  The people are so welcoming, the place is so much a labor of love and the night we spent there was a memory we treasure.  The lesson here is that with pretty manageable capital expense, but a lot of dedication, you can make very good beer.

We happened upon a genuine French garage brewery a number of years ago– the Brasserie du Cambier which brewed an interesting tripel-like Iris beer.   It was a one man operation that no longer brews, but we loved the guy’s devotion to his farmhouse tripel-ish beer.   We were reminded a bit of that experience, though when we checked the notes, we found our ratings of Hopkins very much higher.  You can have the same farmhouse experience and vibe– and get better beer at Hopkins Ordinary.

The Beer— Some sugars emerge, but there’s lots more going on.  Stone fruit, lemon and a hint of pepper are all more or less to style, while just an echo of malt is enough to balance.  Very balanced beer even if its reminiscent of a kind of a  garage French or Belgian tripel.  The name comes from a local mountain with three peaks.

Value — Very good.  Hopkins Ordinary charges below-bar prices for very drinkable beers — with some gems like this one sprinkled in

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.

In March we’re featuring our top ten tripels over the past several years– these are wonderfully complex and even delicate strong golden ales.   At their best, Tripels are among the best beers in the world.   At their common norm, they’re heavy handed, big-boozed and barely better than the malt liquors of the 20th century.   Here are ten beers that could show the rest of the country how it’s done.

 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.”