theCompass Craft Beverage Finder: Visited 100 Craft Beverage Establishments So Far in 2023

During 2022 we visited a little less than 70 craft beverage establishments, a paltry figure which is embarrassing for an entity that professes to publicize the craft beverage industry. And we created theCompass Craft Beverage Finder specifically for individuals to find these establishments anywhere in North America. We initially vowed to get to at least 100 in 2023, which was further increased to 200 after a quick start to this endeavor.  And at the end of June, we visited our 100th craft beverage establishment in 2023: Box Office Brewery.

This was my second visit to this Shenandoah Valley brewery located inside the historic Strand Theatre in Strasburg, Virginia. The theatre was originally built in 1918 and Box Office utilizes several historical items such as a 1930s Lucky Strike bowling lane for the main bar. As they offer a pentagon of tastings in a flight, visitors can obtain a reasonable representation of their beer offerings. For your flight, I would recommend the Old Valley Pike American Pale Ale, Prohibition Pilsner, Signal Knob IPA, Massanutty Brown Ale, and Curtain Call Coconut Porter. And ask your server about the history behind each beer name. 

Six months to visit 100 more establishments. Any suggestions? 

And follow theCompass Craft Beverage App on Instagram to view the first 100 visits and follow our progress in the second half of 2023.

100 Visits in 2023 (so far)

Mother's Day at Maryland's Rocklands Farm Winery

It definitely was not an original idea to visit Rocklands Farm Winery on Mother's Day, but this Maryland farm winery had plenty of staff and tasting areas to accommodate the large volume of visitors. The winery farms 16 acres of estate grapes and works with multiple regional partners to produce an interesting portfolio of "low-intervention" wines. And in the estate vineyard, they prohibit the use of herbicides - unheard of in the hot and humid mid-Atlantic summers.  According to the winery, "Overall, our goal is for our vines and soils to be healthy with a strong immune system necessary to thrive with minimal spray intervention..."

We started our visit with two wine flights providing a representation of their white, rosé, and orange wine portfolio. The 2020 Sungold ($34) is one such orange wine, made from 100% skin-macerated Petit Manseng sourced from neighboring Virginia vineyards. It was fermented and aged for 15 days on the skins and 8 months in neutral French oak. Lots of tropical fruit with tart honey. The dry 2021 Anna's Rosé ($29) was very appreciated -- a refreshing blend of 49% Merlot, 27% Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot -- sourced from Maryland vineyards. I was a fan of the 2021 Ancestry Pet-Nat ($38) which is 100% Chardonnay with a bready green apple profile. However, the favorite of our group was the 2021 Fieldwork ($29) a blend of 71% Sauvignon Blanc and 29% Chardonnay with a strong floral aroma and a refreshing grapefruit core. 

We only tried two red wines, starting with the 2021 Hillside ($34) from our Spring Flight. This is a blend of 86% Petit Verdot, 7% Malbec, and 7% Cabernet Franc (sourced from Virginia) and aged nine months neutral French oak. Very approachable with silky dark fruit flavors. Very suitable for Spring.  I also purchased a bottle of their almost depleted 2021 Rockridge ($38), a barrel-aged and Maryland-grown Blaufränkisch that was (like the Hillside) aged nine months in neutral French oak. This wine is an appropriate example of their low-intervention approach as it was fermented using natural yeast and bottled unrefined and unfiltered. The 2021 Rockridge is one of the best Mid-Atlantic representations of Blaufränkisch that I have tasted -- red fruit, a little earthy, and lasting spice.

A Craft Beverage Road Trip along Route 340 in the Shenandoah Valley

On a trip home from Waynesboro, I decided to ditch the tractor-trailer-laden Route 81 and ventured north on the more peaceful and bucolic Route 340.  This allowed me to follow portions of both the Shenandoah Beerwerks Trail and the Shenandoah Spirits Trail while passing through the towns of Elkton, Shenandoah, and Luray. In total, I stopped at eight establishments, most for the first time, and returned home with enough beverages to carry me through the rest of the month. 

Basic City Beer Company
The Shenandoah Beerwerks Trail runs from the Harrisonburg area south to Lexington and Rockbridge County. Waynesboro is basically halfway between the two borders and is home to a favorite brewery Basic City Beer Co. and #thecompasscbf stop number 45. The brewery is housed in the former Virginia Metalcrafters building and is a destination itself with pizza and various arcade games (shuffleboard, pinball, etc), plus a large selection of beer. I usually stock up on two staples the Our Daily Pils German Pilsner and whatever Grin's Casket is available. On this visit, it was the Cherry Quad aged in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels with almonds. Can't wait to open during a firepit night.

Elkton Brewing Company
Remaining on the Shenandoah Beerwerks Trail, we headed north on Rt 340 to Elkton -- a small town situated between Massanutten Mountain and Skyline Drive -- and settled by German and Scots-Irish immigrants similar to the founders of Elkton Brewing (#thecompasscbf stop number 46). The Napotnik family opened the brewery in a building originally built in 1890 to house the Elkton Milling Company. They brew a large array of beers and had 14 on tap on our arrival. Our flight consisted of the Nekid Crik Kolsch, Blonde Bear Blonde Ale, Uncommon Elk California Common, and the BoysenTuley Pie Boysenberry + Graham Cracker + Vanilla GOSE / Sour. I can't imagine the thought process of Colonel Gos Tuley, who was responsible for killing the last known indigenous Virginia Elk in 1855. The Uncommon Elk was the favorite and worked well with the Bayou Gumbo available at the food truck.

Chateau Virginia
After leaving Elkton Brewing I noticed a Winery sign a block away and stopped to discover Chateau Virginia - a new Virginia winery that officially just opened in April. The winery is producing wine from Shenandoah grapes that hopefully will be available in the near future. Winemaker and founder Andrew Starkey studied and worked for two years in Champagne specifically at Crezancy. Andrew's sister Amanda is the resident sommelier. She also studied in France and was the sommelier at Pippen Hill Winery and The Inn at Little Washington. The winery also offers a wide selection of wines from around the world starting close to home with Williamsburg Winery but also with a special emphasis on Bordeaux, Beaujolais, Piemonte Italy, and Mendoza.

Wisteria Farm and Vineyard
From Elkton, we continued North on Rt 340 towards Luray, diverging onto Business 340 and Wisteria Farm and Vineyard. The farm is situated in the Page Valley enclosed by the Massenutten range to the west and Skyline Drive to the east and still within the Shenandoah Valley proper. And is fully part of the Shenandoah Spirits Trail. Not only do they produce wine from their estate grapes, but have a small flock of natural-colored Romney sheep as well as free-roaming chickens. I indulged in a flight consisting of the dry Seyval ($21), Persephone dry rose ($24), Chambourcin ($24), and Ashtaroot Petnat ($23). The Seyval was rather satisfying and I purchased a bottle of the Persephone primarily because of its unique flavor profile where the blend includes some Norton.

River Hill Wine and Spirits
This was our second visit to River Hill Wine and Spirits, the first precipitated after purchasing a bottle of their Corn Whiskey and Bourbon at an ABC store. This is a very small operation, located just minutes outside of Luray. On this visit, I discovered they just released a Rye Whiskey -- aged 12 months in oak. It's quite different from the spicier versions coming out of Kentucky - grassy and earthy, with a little chalk, dark chocolate, and licorice. Loads of flavors.

Blue Shepherd Spirits
We reached a milestone last weekend, visiting our 50th craft beverage establishment in 2023. This was Blue Shepherd Spirits, a distillery that opened in August 2022, very close to the caverns. Their three main spirits are vodka, gin, and rum with the mash for the first two based on local corn and sugar. The New World Gin has a citrus profile that is complimented by the juniper. The Dog Days of Summer Rum (90 proof) is distilled using both molasses and cane juice and infused with various spices. Not overly spiced however and has a nice balance with the traditional rum flavor. We purchased a bottle to use with our iiCiNG Pina Colada flavoring. Unfortunately, we couldn't purchase a bottle of our favorite spirit, their 6-month-aged Whiskey because of limited production. This is a complex whiskey made from a 70% corn, 20% rye, and 10% malted barley mash. Plenty of vanilla, caramel, honey, and a little rye spice.

Hawksbill Brewing Co.
Our final stop in downtown Luray was Hawksbill Brewing Co., a six-year-old brewery that specifically targets using Page County grown ingredients. This was a bustling brewery with lots of beer drinkers with their dogs enjoying an interesting array of beer. My flight consisted of The Haymaker Cream Ale (a few cans came home with us), Bearfence Black Lager, Farmer's Brown Ale, and the Brown Cow Nitro Stout. Solid beers.

Castle Vineyards
It was appropriate that we started our trip in Waynesboro -- not far from Fishersville and Barren Ridge Vineyards -- and ended it at Castle Vineyards, a satellite tasting room for that winery. Actually, it's a joint venture between the descendants of Ralph Castle Davis (thus Castle Vineyards), a local businessman and farmer. R. Steven Davis (Uncle) and Jeremy A. McCoy (nephew) planted Viognier within their working cattle farm and partnered with Barren Ridge to host their wines surrounded by excellent views of the Shenandoah Valley and Blie Ridge Mountains. After a tasting of most of their portfolio, we returned home with our three favorites starting with the delicious 2020 Cabernet Franc. Two white blends also caught our fancy, first, the 2021 Harmony blends Petit Manseng, Viognier, Vidal Blanc, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc. Imagine the aroma in that bottle. Second was the 2021 Tinkling Spring, a blend of Riesling, Traminette, and Vidal -- more strong aromas and tropical fruit and saline.

How Many Craft Beverage Establishments Will You Visit in 2023?

In 2022, we visited a paltry 68 craft beverage establishments which was actually an above-average year since 2015 when we would average at least 100 visits. Thus, our goal is to up our game and average ten visits a month to get us close to 120 visits in 2023. So far we are on pace, visiting 12 establishments in January 2023 and you can follow our progress using #thecompasscbf hashtag on Instagram and Facebook. Moving forward locating craft beverage establishments will be easy for us using our self-developed theCompass Craft Beverage finder available for free on the Google Play Store.  At some point in the future, we will resurrect the iPhone version. 

theCompass Craft Beverage finder mobile application displays wineries, breweries, cider houses, and distilleries for North America. Establishments can be mapped using a radius search of the device's location or by the establishment name, city, or zip code. Users can also browse establishments by state for the United States or by province for Canada. All results can be filtered by industry type (winery, brewery, distillery, or cidery).

Information on individual establishments can be accessed by clicking the applicable map icon or from the list view. This information includes the establishment's address, phone, email, web address, a navigation link from your device, weather forecast, as well as links to the establishment's Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram pages. You can also share your experience at the establishment on various social networking sites.

Louisiana's Three Roll Estate: Rhum Agicole From Cane to Glass

Louisana is the second most abundent producer of sugar cane in the United States, following Florida with over 1,500 thousand short tons of harvested sugar. Baton Rouge's Three Roll Estate provides a small portion of this figure through their sugar cane estate. They are also a certified Farm to Table producer through their Cane to Glass process where the sugar cane is grown on a single estate in the delta and crushed at their mill as it passes through three steel rolls. The juice is then fermented and distilled in the French Caribbean rhum agricole style which provides a more grassy and intense rum. 

Their signature product is the Three Roll Estate Rhum Agricole Premium Rum which is produced once a year at harvest where the sugar cane juice is fermented 90 minutes after pressing. This rum is the truest expression of the Cane to Glass process and is the rum we purchased after our visit. It's extremely smooth, yet intense with plenty of vegetable and grassy notes and even a bit herbaceous. They also bottle a Three Roll Rhum Agricole White Rum from the juice fermented during the three-month harvest. 

Another product worth considering is the Three Roll Rhum Agricole Brazilian-Style Rum produced by fermenting the cane juice with yeast sourced from Brazil. A Cachaça throughout. The one rum I didn't care for was the Three Roll Rhum Agricole Dark Rum where the cane juice is processed into sugar and the molasses byproduct is fermented and aged in French oak vats, before being finished in American oak. I think the oak overwhelms the white rum and loses the fresh grassy and honey notes. 

It appears our future may entail more visits to Louisana so we looking forward to returning and spending more time in the tasting room and perhaps a visit during harvest. Cheers and thanks to theCompass Craft Beverage Finder. 

Virginia Distillery Company's VHW and Courage & Conviction Through a Life of Miniatures

The Virginia Distillery Company has a couple of enticing series of whiskeys available with the first branded Courage & Conviction; their American Single Malt whisky finished in various used casks. The whisky is made using malted barley and fresh spring water fed from the Blue Ridge Mountains with the mash distilled using hand-hammered copper pot stills crafted in Scotland. The second series is branded Virginia-Highland Whiskey which blends their Virginia-made American Single Malt whisky with aged Scotch malt whisky and then aging in various used casks. The American Single Malt whisky is the base for the Courage & Conviction line.  The Scotch malt whisky comes from a stock they purchased many years ago when building out their distillery and needing a product to release.   And even more enticing is their release of miniatures allowing consumers to taste the series without spending the $70-80 per bottle. 

According to the distillery, "the whiskies of Courage & Conviction, developed under the tutelage of Dr. Jim Swan, feature three core cask types:

• Bourbon casks: These barrels formerly held Kentucky bourbon from well-known distilleries. Aging in American oak bourbon casks add notes of vanilla, caramel, butterscotch, oak, smoke and cinnamon. 

• Sherry casks:  The distillery uses Sherry cask types, including Fino, Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez. These casks give the whisky notes of tart cherry, golden raisin, fig, caramelized plum, brown sugar and spice. 

• Cuvée casks:  This innovative barrel is sourced from premium European red wine producers. After the wine is removed, the cask is broken down, the interior shaved, re-toasted and re-charred, and then put back together again. The re-toasting and re-charring of the cask energize the wood sugars and brings forward barrel spice, bright red fruit and toasted pecan.

The flagship Courage & Conviction American Single Malt Whisky is a target recipe of 50% Bourbon Cask, 25% Sherry Cask and 25%. The base spirit definitely provides a Scottish cerealy, salty, and peaty profile. Then the fresh and dried fruit flavors surface which continue through to a lengthy low burning finish. 

The Courage & Conviction Bourbon Cask is blunt and harsh. There's a burnt toast feel that ends with a strong coughing burn. 

The Courage & Conviction Sherry Cask is, contrastingly, outstanding. There's a complex aroma, figs and nuts, that continue into the core where it combines with more dense fruit A bit of funk lingers with the smooth tail. This is bottle-worthy.

The Courage & Conviction Cuvée Cask starts with red fruit on the nose which leads to cherry notes, a little chocolate, and a sweeter caramelized and less cerealy, salty, and peaty profile. Little to no burn.  This may be bottle-worthy.

The VHW Port Cask Finished Whisky is made from the base Virginia-Highland Whiskey which is then finished in a combination of Port-style wine casks from Virginia and traditional Tawny Port casks for a minimum of 12 months. The Scotch takes primary focus but eventually yields to dried fruits (figs) and hints of coffee and cocoa. It's a pleasant sipper - even while just enjoying the aroma. 

Thirsty for Small-Batch & Local Spirits with the Kozuba & Sons Distillery Quince Cordial

Throughout the American experience, there have been hundreds - perhaps thousands - of individuals immigrating to this country who then opened a brewery, distillery, or planted vines corresponding to the practices in their home countries. But how many have literally migrated the complete operation from their home country to the United States? That's what occurred with Florida's Kozuba & Sons Distillery where Zbigniew Kozuba and his sons Matthias and Jacob moved their Polish distillery from Jablonka to St. Petersburg. 

During the latter part of the 2000s, the Kozuba family opened the distillery in order to fulfill escalating requests for cordials that Zbigniew had starting infusing in retirement from a biochemist career. Soon they augmented their portfolio with vodka distilled from a  hybrid copper still and became the " first family-owned and operated micro-distillery in post-war Poland".   In 2012 they started distilling the first Polish single malt whiskey along with other experimental whiskeys but eventually discovered that "Poland’s highly monopolized industry did not have room for a small, family-operated craft operation". 

They then decided to move to a country "thirsty for small-batch, local spirits" and the most logical choice was the United States and St. Petersburg’s Grand Central District. In 2014, they migrated their operation to the Sunshine State including two hybrid copper stills, both hand-made by Arnold Holstein in Germany. One still is dedicated to vodka production, and the other to whiskey production. 

During our recent trip to the area for a brewery - baseball tour, I quickly ran into the distillery in order to purchase and bring home their Quince Cordial ($20, 32.5%  abv,  375ml). I have been a consumer of Serbian Quince brandies for a number of years and have noticed generally tropical aromas and pear flavors. Quince is a pome fruit, related to apples and pears, that when ripe is bright yellow and looks like a fuzzy, short-necked pear. As a raw fruit, it is too sour and astringent to eat so is most often used in jams, cakes, and rakija. The Kozuba & Sons Quince Cordial is made macerating whole quince fruits and then aging for several years.  No preservatives, artificial colors, or flavors are used in the production process. 

Drinking neat, the Quince Cordial shows excellent dense fruit, both quince and fig;  but the syrupy texture begs for a cocktail. I found The Quinclet online and it packs a wallop but my favorite use was a recommendation by Keli Rivers when discussing her book, Negroni: More than 30 Classic and Modern Recipes for Italy's Iconic Cocktail. She likes to order a cider, take a large swig and then top off with Campari. I replicated with the cordial and it works by augmenting the refreshing apple flavors with denser pomme fruit. Na Zdrowie!

The Quinclet

The quince gives the finished article a more rounded flavor than a straight gimlet, however, the lime juice and bitters lend a pleasing bite to the finish.

Ingredients & Equipment:

40ml Dry Gin
20ml Quince Cordial
20ml Lime juice
Liberal dash, Angostura Bitters
Lime zest, to garnish
Cocktail shaker
Ice
Martini glass, chilled

Procedure:
Pour a couple of drops of bitters into the martini glass.
Give the gin, cordial, and lemon juice a jolt in a shaker with a couple of ice cubes.
Strain into the martini glass and garnish with a strip of lime zest.
Sit down before drinking!

Milicevic Family Vineyards: Wine from Louisiana and Herzegovina

While conducting a review of craft beverage establishments by state for theCompass Craft Beverage Finder, I noticed a new winery in Louisana with ties to a unique wine region: Herzegovina. In 1950, Milicevic Family Vineyards opened in the Croatian area of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as a young man, Ivan Milicevic worked on his family-owned vineyards. He immigrated to the United States in 1989 settling in Louisiana where he eventually purchased land in Abita Springs. In 2015 he planted a vineyard on this property in order to open a U.S. version of Milicevic Family Vineyards. This vineyard included Blatina and Zilavka, two grapevines that exist only in his native Herzegovina.  This decision presented two challenges. Can these vines prosper in the Bayou State's extreme humidity? And could the female Blatina grapevine be pollinated by the other grapevines planted in the vineyard?  

Through VinoShipper, I thought I had purchased wines from this estate vineyard in order to answer these questions; but instead, the wines were actually produced by the MFV in Herzegovina. In this regard, they were a little overvalued - but very well made and enjoyable.  After a little research, I think these wines are from the Citluk Winery, the largest winery in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and also the source of a similar wine - the Wines of Illyria Blatina.  

Milicevic Family Vineyards Red Table Wine ($28)
This is 100% Blatina which closely resembles those I had previously sampled. Think dark cherries and black raspberries and traces of mint, chocolate, and toffee. It also provides a very smooth finish with easy tannins. 

Milicevic Family Vineyards White Table Wine ($28)
This wine is comprised of 85% Žilavka (Zhi-luv-kah) with 15% Bena with the former providing the robust flavor and alcohol and the latter acidity.  Žilavka also contains a slight nutty profile which is more prevalent in this wine's aroma. The core is fresh grapefruits and lemons with a chewy and acidic boost at the tail 

Picaroon Single Barrel Rum from Blackwater Distilling™

Heading to or from the Delmarva beaches leads to the Bay Bridge, Kent Island, and a chance to taste and tour Maryland's oldest post-prohibition distillery: Blackwater Distilling™. They were founded in 2008 and gained traction with their Sloop Betty Handcrafted Wheat Vodka - a vodka labeled "Produced and Bottled by Blackwater Distilling” since they don't actually distill the vodka or the cane sugar (Cachaça) used in this unique blend. 

On the other hand, their Picaroon Maryland Rum is labeled with "Distilled and Bottled by Blackwater Distilling" since the rum is distilled entirely onsite using raw cane sugar based on the French Caribbean tradition. And the cane juice is fermented using a yeast strain that was isolated during a natural sugar cane fermentation in the island of Martinique and at temperatures present on that island.  

Blackwater traditionally releases three versions of this Picaroon Maryland Rum, a White, Gold, and Dark. Interestingly, the Gold is colored using caramel made in-house (the distillery is a stickler for quality).  The Dark is a barrel-aged Picaroon Rum, which has been stored in new, 53-gallon, charred, American oak barrels. During bottling the rum is mellowed by blending in some of the un-aged Picaroon White Rum. 

More recently, the distillery has released a new member to the family -- the Picaroon Single Barrel Rum. As its name implies, all bottles in the series come from a single barrel and each batch is one-of-a-kind, labeled with handwritten barrel and bottle numbers.  I purchased a bottle and am baffled with each sip. Don't misunderstand. It's very good, but the complexity reminds me more of a soft whiskey with a hint of cane sugar sweetness.  The 50% abv is tempered somewhat by cinnamon and other baking spices and overall, a very intriguing rum.

Grape Spotlight: Old Mission Peninsula, Michigan Pinot Blanc

Pinot Blanc, the pale-skinned Pinot mutation that shares a genetic fingerprint with Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, is favored in cold climate regions such as the Alto Adige region of Italy (Pinot Bianco), Alsace in northeast France, Baden and Pfalz in Germany (Weissburgunder), Niederosterreich and Burgenland in Austria (Weisser Burgunder), Canada's Okanagan Valley, and in Michigan.  The grape itself is quite versatile where globally it is used in the production of still, sparkling, and sweet dessert wines and in general produces a medium to full-bodied style of wine with apple and almond characters and finishing with abundant acidity. Oak treatments are possible but often overwhelm and mute the mineral and smoky characteristics.

In Michigan, Pinot Blanc thrives in the cool conditions and sandy soils of the Old Mission Peninsula AVA where Lake Michigan creates a very favorable grape growing environment. The “lake effect” snow protects the vines in the winter from freezing temperatures and provides a diurnal change in temperatures during the summer. Think refreshing acidity which is the case for the Left Foot Charley Old Mission Peninsula Michigan Pinot Blanc ($18).  This wine also features green apple and pear flavors along with racy saline and a round mouthfeel. Left Foot Charley also produces a single vineyard Pinot Blanc, the 2017 Island View Vineyard Pinot Blanc ($25) which is Michigan's oldest Pinot Blanc planting dating back to 1995. Cheers.

River Outpost Brewing - the Hudson Valley's Entertainment Center

River Outpost Brewing may be the most entertaining family venture brewery in the U.S. This New York brewery features about a dozen craft beers, a kitchen, an adventure park with a rock-climbing wall and rope course, and a full-throttled gaming area including virtual reality stations. There's also plenty of live music and big-screen televisions - making this as much an adult escape. As for the beer, the Beast-Club Porter is delicious. Its development is reminiscent of the stories where porters would grab a quick beer by combining a portion from each tap. In this case, the porter is a 50/50 blend of their Basic Beast and Dub-Cub, the former a stout brewed with pumpkin, spices, vanilla, coffee, and milk sugar and the later a rather interesting English Brown Ale on its own. The Toad Alley ESB is an extra special bitter that also nails the English pub-style - and goes down quite smoothly. Finally, the Haze BAE is a New England styled IPA that is brewed with NY grown oats - and with lots of citrus and pineapple and not over the top with hop characters. Cheers.

Explore #WeAreMarylandWine During Maryland Wine Month

The Maryland Wineries Association has designated March as Maryland Wine Month and to follow the action they are promoting the #WeAreMarylandWine (in addition to #MDWine #MDWineTrails & #MDWineMonth) tag on all social media platforms. There are also numerous events and activities scheduled at various wineries and retailers across the state -- all listed on the MD Wine website. So we decided to dedicate more time this month to visit the Free State and visited two that are open seven days a week - navigating with theCompass Craft Beverage Finder.

We started at Catoctin Breeze Vineyard, located north of Frederick on the Route 15 Wine Road. Being a club member, our tastings were complimentary so we went through both their Signature ($10) and Sweet ($8) tastings. After previous visits, I have discussed their wonderful dry Estate Syrah, Estate Cabernet Franc, and Chardonnay among others. So let me venture into the Sweet Wine tasting and the first impression is that out of the five, only the two meads comes across as sweet. For instance, the 2016 Rhapsody ($24) contains only .5% RS which is easily balanced by the Chardonnay's acidity. The sugar just rounds out the wine. The same is also true with the 2016 Bolero Blend ($22), a 50-50 blend of Syrah and Merlot. And finally, the 2017 Prelude Vidal Blanc ($20) has a Riesling character in that once again is balanced by the grape's acids. The two meads are definitely sweeter but the 2010 Honeymoon Mead ($25) is cut with orange juice providing more relief and the spices in the 2010 Amber Mead ($23) blend nicely into the honey flavor.

From Catoctin Breeze, we navigated the back roads, through a couple covered bridges to Linganore Winecellars. Interestingly, this winery is traditionally known for its sweeter festival friendly wines but has mad a concerted effort to enhance its dry wine portfolio. These wines were our focus through the Reserve Tasting ($10), which consisted of nine wines. These ranged from the dessert 2015 Midnight Bramble ($46) through a couple off-dry to several dry.  The 2017 White Raven ($14; Cayuga & Chardonnay) and 2018 Terrapin ($14; Melody & Vidal) were both light and refreshing with the later providing a distinct apple profile. The crux of the whites was the 2017 Reserve Chardonnay ($27) fermented in oak then aged an additional six months in barrel. This is a full bodied wine, depth and creamy with lifting acids. Nicely done. The reds were Chambourcin centric with three wines showing the flexibility of that prolific grape. The 2016 Exposure ($46) is a classic Bordeaux blend but I preferred the 2017 Cabernet Franc ($35) that we received a sneak peek and has more creamy texture than green character.  The fact that Linganore produces 50,000 cases of wine using practically all estate grapes is worth a visit and tour - whether festival season, Maryland Wine Month, or year round. Cheers.

Visit the Las Vegas Arts District & Hop Nuts Brewing

When visiting Las Vegas, it's usually a wise idea to leave the casinos and partake in the surrounding environment. After touring the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, and Red Rocks turn to the local craft beer scene. One suggestion is Hop Nuts Brewing - located in the Downtown Las Vegas Arts District. The tasting room is long and dark - providing a dive bar feel - with plenty of craft beer on tap. These included several styles of IPAs, Lagers, and Saisons. I started with small pours of the robust Bourbon Barrel Aged Omniscient Imperial Stout (10% ABV 69 IBU’s) and the smooth Harry Porter (6.8% ABV 46 IBU’s). The former was aged one year in Woodford Reserve Bourbon barrels and the whiskey profile dominates the chocolate coffee. On the other hand, the chocolate dominated the porter. However, my serial beverage was the Hell of a Helles (4.9% ABV 16 IBU's) a collaboration with Albertshöfer Sternbräu. This is a clean and fresh beer - spot on inviting easy and probably exceeding consumption. And as always, theCompass Craft Beverage Finder will guide you to any craft beverage destination.  Cheers.

Duclaw Sausage Twins Featuring the Bad Moon Porter and Blonde Ale

Who's visited DuClaw Brewing Company - Arundel Mills or DuClaw Brewing Company - BWI and had the Duclaw Sausage Twins. Unbelievably good sandwich -- two sausages poached in Blonde Ale with Old Bay, topped with crab meat, Bacon, cheddar, tomatoes, and chipotle mayo on toasted pretzel rolls. Includes sliced pickles and a side of Bad Moon Porter Mustard. These restaurants pair their pub food with a sizable local craft beer menu including several from their parent Baltimore's DuClaw Brewing Company. Perhaps their most known beer is the Sweet Baby Jesus! Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter. This unique beer comes across sweet just like a Reese's. However, I learned while devouring one of the sausage twins that the Sweet Baby Java Espresso Infused SBJ actually counters the sweetness and makes drinking a pint enjoyable rather than a challenge.  As stated above, the Bad Moon Porter and Bare Ass Blonde Ale are mentioned as ingredients to the sausage twins and both are drinkable beers on their own. Particularly the Blonde Ale with its inherent minerality.  For those looking for more options Duclaw has available the Misfit Red Amber Ale, Enjoy Your Time Away IPA, and Funk Blueberry Citrus Wheat Ale. Cheers.

Finally, a Trip to Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

This month I finally was able to visit the holy grail of east coast brewing, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery.  In my opinion, this brewery isn't lionized because of its iconic brands such as the 90 Minute series but because co-founder Sam Calagione freed us from the Reinheitsgebot. Before Dogfish Head opened in 1995, almost all American beers adhered to the key features of this German law -- brewing with just malted barley, yeast, hops, and water. Calagione blew this stagnation out of the water by not only creating non-conformist beers but also becoming a mini-archeologist and brewing craft beverages enjoyed by ancient cultures. Think of excellent and provoking beers such as Midus Touch, Chateau Jiahu, or Theobroma. Then there is his innovation combining wine must and beer as with Noble Rot and Siracusa Nera. Or think of the special oak treatments such as the Palo Santo Marron. Thus, for those who love any of the funky, sour, or just crazy beers brewed by the thousands of craft breweries today, Dogfish Head was the pioneer.

The brewery is located in Milton Delaware, far from Sam's New England heritage and Dogfish Head, Maine in which the brewery is named. Instead, Delaware is the home state of co-founder and current VP Mariah Calagione -- Sam's wife. The brewery first opened in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware as a brewpub which is still operating today as Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats. After those early days the brewery's growth mandated a relocation to a larger facility in Milton, which has continued to expand as demand dictates.

Visitors to Dogfish Head first notice how the facility is massive, with fermenting tanks erected through ceilings and the long, long warehouse. Most are probably unaware of the equally large packaging facility located a football field behind the brewery.  Dogfish Head is easily the largest brewery I've ever seen outside a stop in Golden, Colorado. In fact, their experimental R&D unit alone is larger than most craft breweries. According to the Brewers Association, in 2017 Dogfish Head produced 276,243 barrels of beer. In comparison neighboring Crooked Hammock Brewing released 1,300 barrels and Burley Oak Brewing Company in Berlin, Maryland 2,800 barrels.  Yet Dogfish Head is still only the 12th largest independent craft brewery as defined by the Brewers Association.

In contrast to the brewing size, the tasting room is rather small - more comparable to a routine craft brewery. Obviously then, off season is the most opportune time to visit as I heard horror stories of long summer queues.  And there is no shortage of beers available as they pour close to two dozen beers as samples, pints, crowlers, or growlers. Where else can you find the 120 Minute IPA, Bourbon Barrel-Aged Palo Santo Marron, Pennsylvania Tuxedo, Viniferous IPA, or Wood-Aged Bitches Brew all in one spot. They even pour beers that have graduated from their R&D system but are not intended for wider distribution.

The tasting room is also where visitors schedule tours - and Dogfish Head offers several varieties. The shortest is the Quick Sip a 25 minute free tour that includes four free samples of beer. The hour long Off-Centered tour is most recommended where for $10 participants receive four samples and stops at " our 200-barrel brewhouse, Off-Centered Center and even our new R&D system where you’ll have a chance to sample one of our experimental brews and we finish the tour out at our packaging facility where we show you have everything is kegged, canned and bottled".  Of notable interest is the original brewing equipment (a bucket and electronic football game) used by Calagione to develop the 90 Minutes series. And on our tour we sampled an excellent IPA that most likely won't even make it into the tasting room. And for visitors who really plan ahead look for the limited Grain To Glass, Randall Jr., and Distillery tours with access to normally off-limit parts of the brewery. And yes the distillery official relocated from the Rehoboth Beach brewpub to a larger pasture in Milton.

For those heading to the Maryland or Delaware beaches, visiting Dogfish Head takes just a slight adjustment from your route.  For those brewery tourists, visit nearby Lewes and Rehoboth Beach to broaden your craft beverage trip. And as always, theCompass Craft Beverage Finder will guide you there.

#VABreweryChallenge (#64): Chubby Squirrel Brewing Co. Opens in Fairfax City

There are nine craft breweries within Fairfax County with the newest finally populating Fairfax City: Chubby Squirrel Brewing Co.. This facility is located quite close to George Mason University and owners Boyd Harrison and Josh Paine plan to accommodate the thirsts of both age appropriate students and local residents. They also offer an interesting mix of brewpub cuisine such as wings, pierogies, poutine, sliders, and fries as well as wine and cider for those inclined.   Bu craft beer is the main attraction and out of the gate Chubby Squirrel created a diverse and tasty portfolio.  On our visit the lineup consisted of Hefeweizen, WereSquirrel Black IPA,  Squirrel In the Rye, Blonde Squirrel Blonde Ale, Pumpkin Eater (Nitro) Pumpkin - Yam Beer,  Golden Squirrel (Cask) Belgian Tripel.  The blonde, rye, and tripel were our favorites, but in general all were respectful for their styles and worth a taste.  And as always theCompass Craft Beverage Finder will guide you there. Cheers.

Finding Riesling and Gamay in the Niagara Escarpment & Back 10 Cellars

The Canadian Province of Ontario consists of four major wine regions: Lake Erie North Shore, Prince Edward County, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Niagara Escarpment & Twenty Valley. Whereas Niagara-on-the-Lake (40 wineries) was the birthplace of Ontario’s modern wine industry, the largest and most populous region is the Niagara Escarpment & Twenty Valley (47 wineries).  "The Niagara Escarpment (a ridge carved by ancient glaciers) is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve" for not only the  hundreds of plant and animal species, but also includes  Niagara Falls and the distinctive micro-climate that supports Ontario’s most active wine region.

While driving from Buffalo to Toronto to catch the Nationals-Blue Jays series our craft beer-centric group stopped at one of these active wineries Back 10 Cellars just outside Beamsville. We only had a few minutes at the tasting room but we learned that the name refers to the 10 acre estate and that it took the owners 10 years to produce their first bottle of wine. The wines are mostly produced from this estate which is farmed utilizing some organic and biodynamic practices and hand harvested. Since there was no time for a formal tasting we grabbed bottles of three wines I thought would be interesting and representative of the region. Cheers to UncorkOntario for the tip and as always you can explore Wine Country Ontario using theCompass Craft Beverage Finder.

The Big Reach 2017 (CA$22.95) This Riesling was crafted from whole pressed free run” juice. It is off dry but the sugar isn't noticeable as the wine's acidity compensates. It shows a delicious combination of citrus, ripe apples, and petrol.

Smitten Sparkling 2017 (CA$24.95) This Riesling sparkling wine is produced using the Charmat process where the secondary fermentation occurs in sealed pressurized tanks. Like the still version, the Smitten's acidity blows by any hint of sweetness and shares common characteristics sans the petrol.

Everything At Stake Gamay 2017 (CA$24.95) The Gamay for this wine was sourced from the Bonamo Vineyard in the same Lincoln Lakeshore DVA. After fermentation the wine is aged four months in neutral American Oak and helps provide a lighter bodied fruit forward wine with soft but chewy tannins and powerful acids. An acid hound's dream and popular among this beer drinking crowd.