Two New Breweries!

I am going to continue my recent trend of writing about new breweries because, quite frankly, new breweries make me happy. And at the end of the day, that’s what this bloggity blog is all about – raising a glass to craft-brewed happiness (see the tag line at the end of all my blog posts).

I’m starting to think we are blessed to be living in the day and age we live in, particularly here in Northern Virginia, where more and more brewers are honing their crafts and taking their beer making operations commercial. Last time, I wrote about a relatively new nano-brewery in Manassas, VA called BadWolf. Today, I've got TWO MORE NEWBIES to tout, announce, and discuss. Let’s stop wasting time! Let’s get to it already!

Two weeks ago, I caught wind of the subtle announcement that Forge Brew Works in Lorton, VA was finally ready to open, and that they would be having a soft opening that weekend. I, of course, dropped everything I was doing and drove over there to check them out. For those of you who are from around here, they are located in Lorton at the end of Terminal Road (near the Fairfax County Parkway and I-95 intersection). Forge is not very advertised as of yet, so once you find yourself in the clump of warehouses at the end of Terminal Road, you will have to drive around for a minute or two until you see a big banner that reads “Forge Brew Works.” Other than that, there is no way to know that you’re in the right place.

As you may have guessed, Forge is located in a warehouse district, and they themselves have a very industrial vibe going on – inside and out. Their tap room is a wide open warehouse floor with a bar at the end of it and an awkward afterthought restroom jutting out into the middle of the room. There are no tables or chairs (at least, not as of two weeks ago when I went in) and all patrons and employees (including the owner/brew master) are huddled around the bar drinking and chatting.

The beer is phenomenal. You get the obvious first impression from these brews that the brewer (Matt) is very passionate about his craft and talented as well. On flight when I was there was their Petite Saison, Single Hop IPA: Centennial, Single Hop IPA: Galaxy, Roggenbier, Oatmeal Stout, and Abbey Ale.

The Saison tasted like a Saison, which I know sounds like a ridiculous thing to say, but in a world where people are always trying to add things to Saisons to flavor them up, drinking one that tastes like they’re supposed to taste is a welcome change. It is very crisp and quite sessionable at 3.3% ABV.

The Single Hop IPAs were interesting. As you know by now, most IPAs and IPA makers pride themselves on going extreme with hoppiness, seaking either to make a hop bomb that hurts your teeth or going for complex hop bills that have 25 different hops in them. And there is nothing wrong with either of those ideas. But Forge’s Single Hop IPAs (as the name would suggest) only use one, so you get a good idea of what the unique strand of hop used in the beer tastes like by itself, and what sorts of characteristics it imparts. Plus, when you have more than one of them back to back (like I did with the Centennial and Galaxy), you can compare and contract different hops as you drink them. It’s a pretty cool idea.

The Roggenbier was my favorite, partially because I am newly obsessed with rye beers, but also because it is a rare style, and of course, it was delicious. Roggenbier is a German style of beer that is brewed exactly like a Hefeweissen, but with rye instead of wheat. Everything else, from the yeast to the water and hop bill are identical. It gives you a hazy, refreshing beer that is darker than a Hefe and has that coveted rye spiciness to it. It was so good, I had a full pint of it and filled my newly acquired Forge stainless steel growler with delicious Roggenbier so that I could keep on drinking it after I left.

The Oatmeal Stout was excellent. Unlike many Oatmeal Stouts that you’ll find, this one was made with a lot of oatmeal, and that oatmeal was definitely the star of the show. The flavor was very robust and sweet, and the beer sat with you for a moment while you were drinking it. Quite wonderful.

The final brew from Forge was their Abbey Ale, which is Belgian Strong Dark Ale. Like all the others on Forge’s flight, their Abbey lives up to the hallmarks of the style. It hits heavier than the others at 9% ABV, so it’s much more of a sipping beer, but the flavor profile is complex and sublime, and makes you want to go to Belgium.

The current one-barrel pilot rig at Forge, soon to be joined by a 10 barrel production rig

At the moment, Forge is running a single-barrel system, but they intend to install a 10 barrel system here shortly. Once in place, I imagine that their hours will increase, and they may even start distributing locally as 10 barrels of beer is a lot for their current operation. They are open Friday during happy hour (5-8), Saturday (12-4ish), and usually for growler pours only on Sunday (11-12:30). As of last night, they were pouring Petite Saison, Roggenbier, Belgian Pale Ale, Abbey Ale, Centennial IPA, Oatmeal Stout, and Nugget IPA. You can check out their website and Facebook page for more details.

BUT WAIT – THERE’S MORE!!! This is the blog that keeps on giving.

You will never have to fear missing any important beer or beer brewery news. The Sous Brewer is so tuned-in the local beer scene, and so willing to share his findings with all of you loyal readers. Hurray interwebs!

So yesterday, while poking around on BadWolf’s social media exploits, I found a picture of a pint glass bearing a brewery logo I didn't recognize. With a name I didn't recognize. A few grueling moments of Googling later, I stumbled upon the website for a BRAND NEW BREWERY that is about to open in Manassas, VA called Heritage Brewing Company. Heritage is a future 20 barrel brewery that is slated to open in late-fall 2013. They plan to bring both large scale 20 barrel hand crafted batches to the market along with small 1/2 barrel artisanal batches and an oak aged cellar program from day one. Interestingly enough, they are located literally directly across the street from BadWolf, so brewery-crawling in Manassas will be a breeze.

According to their website, their staple beers will be their Revolution Organic American Amber, The Teddy Full Bodied American Pale, Ironsides American Session Ale, and King’s Mountain Scot-American Ale. They will also offer three seasonals – American Expedition (a light bodied American Wheat Ale) in the summer, Bradford (a full bodied amber brown ale with pumpkins, cinnamon and bourbon) in the fall, and Battle of White Marsh (a spiced imperial winter ale) in the winter. Additionally, they will offer limited releases like General Will-A-Mett’s Tar Mouth Porter (which is a chocolate mint porter), Concord (which is an organic oak-aged amber) and Ferguson’s Revenge (which is a Scotch Witbier with Muscat wine).

You can check these guys out on their website or their Facebook page for more details, and I be sure to keep everyone apprised of their pending opening.

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!