#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 Craft Beer on Las Vegas Blvd: Sin City Brewing Company

After spending a few days in Las Vegas we found that most casinos craft beer menu is solely defined as Ballast Point Sculpin, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and Lagunitas IPA. And on occasion you can spot the Joseph James Brewing Company Citra Rye from nearby Henderson and a very decent offering. But obviously not a diverse selection and not necessarily small and independent either. Fortunately there are a number of actual craft breweries in Sin City - 14 according to theCompass Craft Beverage Finder. And one of these offers four satellite tasting facilities directly on Las Vegas Blvd: Sin City Brewing Company. This craft brewery was launched by long-time Gordon Biersch Director of Brewing Operations Richard Johnson. 

Two different times we visited their Bally's location, a narrow bar with outside seating tucked in the far corner of the Grand Bazaar Shops fronting Bally’s. Just follow the smell of hot dogs. Not unexpectedly the styles follow what you would expect at Gordon Biersch with a Blonde, Weisse, Amber Ale, Irish Stout, and IPA. The beers were well made and clean with the Miller Lite and InBev drinkers moving seamlessly to the Never Pass Up A Blonde. The Dark Side of Sin Irish Stout passes as a Guinness and the Say Hello to Amber was a contrast to the sweet and malty amber ales that I try to avoid. Although The Ale With A Tale was a decent IPA, I stronger preferred the slightly heavier seasonal Imperial IPA which was big but providing a balanced mouth feel and soft finish.

• Sin City Brewing Co. - Bally’s

• Sin City Brewing Co. - Harmon Corner

• Sin City Brewing Co. - Planet Hollywood

• Sin City Brewing Co. - The Venetian

#SAVOR2016's Top Fifteen Beers That Blew Me Away

I attended SAVOR 2016 on Friday June 3rd and this Brewers Association sponsored event was splendid.  76 breweries poured two beers each and represented a mix of styles from IPAs, Stouts, Porters, Saisons, and sours. Many sours in fact and that's how I started off the evening. Out of the two dozen or so, there were a few that clearly stood out above the noise. Same for the many excellent barrel aged stouts and porters.  And in both categories top honors goes to Crux Fermentation Project. One caveat, I didn't sample many IPAs - just ran out of time trying to sample 152 beers. Cheers.

1. Crux Fermentation Project [Banished] Bretted Farmhouse 
2. D9 Brewing Company Systema Naturae Sour Ale fermented with wild lactobacillus & yeast, naturally conditioned.
3. Crux Fermentation Project [Banished] Tough Love Barrel Aged Imperial Stout banished to used bourbon barrels
4. The Lost Abbey Track #8  Barrel Aged Quad Judgement Day aged 9 months in new bourbon barrels and spiked with cinnamon sticks and dried chili peppers
5. Oskar Blues Ten Fidy Imperial Stout combines hefty amounts of various dark malts with 98 IBUs of hops
6. Urban Chestnut Brewing Company Schnickelfritz Weissbier
7. Center of the Universe Brewing Company IV Quadrupel aged in red wine barrels
8. Southern Tier Brewing Company Salted Caramel Imperial Stout based on a milt stout with Himalayan sea salt and caramelized sugar
9. Right Proper Brewing Company Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne Berliner Weisse brewed with Meyer lemon zest, elderberries, and dry hopped with Sauvin
10. New Belgium Brewing Company Tart Lychee Sour Ale barrel aged with lychee puree and cinnamon sticks
11. Perennial Artisanal Ales Savant Blanc Sour Ale Barrel Aged Belgium Blond Ale (aged in Chardonnay barrels) with Chardonnel wine grapes
12. Deschutes Brewery The Abyss Rye Barrel Aged Imperial Stout brewed with black strap molasses, licorice, cherry bark, augmented with vanilla, then aged 12 months in rye whiskey barrels.
13. Strange Craft Beer Company Cherry Kriek Lambic with loads of cherries
14. Bell's Brewery Bourbon Barrel Aged Expedition Stout
15. Lewis and Clark Brewing Company  Prickly Pear Pale Ale

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)

• Hardywood Park Craft Brewery Bourbon Barrel Raspberry Stout with Vanilla Beans
• Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Seaquenchale Kolsch/Gose/Berliner Weisse Hybrid
• Perennial Artisanal Ales 17 Imperial Stout
• Schlafly Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout
• Lewis and Clark Brewing Company  Miners Gold Hefeweizen
• The Lost Abbey Ad Idem Sour Ale
• Uinta Brewing 23rd Birthday Suit Sour Ale
• Service Brewing Company Old Guard Biere de Garde
• Confluence Brewing Company Stavropol Imperial Stout
• Uncommon Brewers Steamers Lane California Common
• The Spencer Brewery Spencer Trappist Ale
• The Spencer Brewery Spencer Imperial Stout
• Allagash Brewing Company Sixteen Counties Strong Ale
• Stone Brewing Scout Wit
• Insight Brewing Hell Chicken Pale Ale
• Black Tooth Brewing Company 1314 Bourbon Very Strong Ale
• Short's Brewing Company Melt My Brain Golden Ale
• FATE Brewing Company Laimas Kolsch
• Bear Republic Brewery Tartare Sour Ale
• Brewery Ommegang Gnomegang Blonde Ale
• Hoppy Brewing Company Total Eclipse Black Ale Porter
• 4 Noses Brewing Company Vier Neuzen Barrel Aged Tripel
• Troegs Brewing Wild Elf Fruit Beer
• Stickmen Brewery Paddle Board Pale Ale
• Odell Brewing Company Friek Fruit Lambic
• Roadhouse Brewing Company Saison En Regalia
• Newburyport Brewing CompanyDas Kolsch
• Roadhouse Brewing Company Sacred Brett Sour Ale
• Port City Brewing Company COLOSSAL V Old Ale
• Port City Brewing Company Downright Pilsner
• Saranac Brewery Brett Saison
• Worthy Brewing Company Coeur De La Peche Saison
• Center of the Universe Brewing Company Monkey's Uncle Tripel
• Parish Brewing Company Blackalicious Stout
• Parish Brewing Company Ghost in the Machine Double IPA
• Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) Kosmic Mother Funk Grand Cru Belgium Ale
• Saugatuck Brewing Company Neapolitan Mile Stout

Porter and Stout Impress at Jailbreak Brewing Company

Since it's inception two years ago, Maryland's Jailbreak Brewing Company has quickly become a popular local option for craft beer. Their everyday canned lineup of Feed the Monkey Orange Hefeweizen, Welcome to Scoville Jalapeno IPA, and the Big Punisher Double IPA are distributed widely in the DC and Baltimore regions.  And at their spacious tasting room they offer many special releases and cask specials. With a flight scheduled out of BWI we stopped for a short visit where I had the Desserted Chocolate Coconut Porter and the Dark American Stout with Peanuts and Chocolate on cask. These two beers raised my appreciation for the brewery as the porter is on par with or even better than the Oskar Blues Brewery Death By Coconut. The stout on cask took a couple sips to get past the absence of carbonation, but that absence allowed the beer's peanuts and chocolate to dominate the palate. Much better than the DuClaw Brewing Company Sweet Baby Jesus.  Jailbreak will becoe a regular stop when visiting Columbia or heading to the airport. And as usual, theCompass Winery, Brewery, Distillery Locator Mobile App will guide you there. Cheers.

Sin City Brewing Co. Delivers With Three Las Vegas Locations on the Strip

Most casinos on the strip offer a range of craft beer - mostly California brewed and heavy on Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Green Flash Brewing Company, and Ballast Point Brewing Company.  All great options, but if you are looking for a local brew as well as a beer distributed exclusively in Las Vegas then Sin City Brewing Co. is an easy choice. The brewery was "launched by long-time Gordon Biersch Director of Brewing Operations Richard Johnson" and provides three microbrew bars on the strip: Sin City Brewing Co. - Harmon Corner, Sin City Brewing Co. - Planet Hollywood, and Sin City Brewing Co. - The Venetian.

The brewery produces five everyday beers and I was able to try a couple at the Venetian location. The Weisse is Nice (Hefeweizen) is a bready, citrusy beer with a bit of spice and the Never Pass Up A Blonde is your traditional lightly malted beer with a tad of saltiness. Both are not bad offerings. Also on the menu is the Say Hello to Amber, The Ale With A Tale (British IPA), and the The Dark Side of Sin (Stout). These will have to wait for next year's Super Bowl when I allocate more time. And as usual, theCompass Winery, Brewery, Distillery Locator Mobile App will guide you there. Cheers.

More #VABreweryChallenge Along Northern I-95

Building off our previous #VABreweryChallenge post, #VABreweryChallenge - Four Breweries Along Northern I-95, here are two more breweries located off I-95 in Stafford.

Adventure Brewing Company, Stafford (#31)
Although Adventure Brewing is a relatively young brewery, owners Tim Bornholtz, John Viarella, and Stan Johnson having been brewing beer since the 1990s. In 2010 they began brewing together and formed the Stafford Brewers Club. Adventure is just the next step forward. The tasting area is a lively and comfortable environment to enjoy their four year round beers and plethora of seasonal\specialty beers. One of these is the Hop Hash IPA which is hopped using "two experimental hops from Oregon Valley and a special “hop hash” that is a gooey, resinous and super concentrated lupulin punch". Still not sure what I think of this one, but it is worth trying. I stuck with the year round lineup in my canoe sampler consisting of the Backpack Wheat, Super Power Pale Ale, Expedition IPA, and Stiletto Stout. These were all solid beers, particularly the stout. Looking forward to the next couple weeks when the Backpack Sour is released.


Wild Run Brewing Company, Stafford (#32)
This may be the most peculiar tasting room as it is located in the campsite office of Aquia Pines Camp Resort. Talking about having a captive audience; the tasting area is the entire campground. But the campers (and neighboring Suburban Extended Stay Hotel) are better off with fresh craft beer than stale Bud and Miller.  The beers are brewed by Michigan beer alum Matt King who provides a well rounded lineup. I didn't delve deeply into this selection but chose three: Harvest Ale, Souza Hefe, and Cherry Cream Ale. The last is outstanding, a slight velvety body, clean and crisp. The other two were spot on the styles; very pleasant beers. Make sure you visit one of the only campground breweries.

The Next Stop in the #VABreweryChallenge: Manassas with Badwolf Brewing Company and Heritage Brewing

This weekend we continued our #VABreweryChallenge by traveling down Route 66 to the historic Civil War town of Manassas and two very new breweries: Badwolf Brewing Company (#3) and Heritage Brewing (#4). Badwolf is the smaller of the two and opened in July 2013 by Jeremy and Sarah Meyers. Did I mention small? They utilize a one barrel system; yet this nano-size can be a major benefit. There are plenty of unique beers on tap. This weekend featured six beers and I sampled all using their larger than normal sampler (8 ounces? per glass). I started with the Grisette (4.3%), a low alcohol session Saison with a lower spice profile which made it quite enjoyable. Next, was the most interesting, Bad Moon Rising (3.9%), a gose styled beer from Goslar Germany, that is to say, an unfiltered wheat beer brewed with ground coriander seeds and salt. Fails the Reinheitsgebot, but gets an exemption being a regional specialty. And as advertised, it is sweet and salty. Very interesting.  The Chocolate Nutz (6.6%) nut brown ale was spot on as was my favorite, the Simtra Pale (4.4%) - an American pale ale brewed with Simcoe and Citra hops. Surprisingly the highest abv, was their refreshing Hefeweizen, The Wild Rumpus. And we closed out the tasting with the Vanilla Malupa (5.7%),  a full bodied milk stout brewed with vanilla beans. Not bad. The only negative comment I can give the brewery is the cramped quarters on a crowded day; otherwise their beer is solid.

As a more spacious brewery, Heritage Brewing, provides plenty of room along their L-shaped tasting bar.   This veteran owned brewery also opened in 2013 and they claim to use at least 90% organic ingredients. Heritage bases their production around five flagship beers; the Freedom Isn't Free IPA,  Kings Mountain Scotch Ale, Revolution American Amber Ale (brewed with organic oranges), The Teddy East Coast Pale Ale, and the American Expedition - a honey ginger wheat ale. On this visit, I stuck to the Freedom Isn't Free IPA - a solid offering with plenty of IBUs to produce that refreshing hoppy finish. Our tasting neighbor preferred the American Expedition - so that's at least two popular beers. Heritage also has a great deal on their canned beers - $8 a six pack. That's a bargain. Cheers and safe travels with theCompass Mobile App.

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