beer

Editor’s Note: This biweekly column is sponsored by Dominion Wine and Beer (107 Rowell Court, Falls Church). It is written by Garrett Cruce, a Cicerone Program Certified Beer Server.

The Oxford Companion to Beer mentions several pre-20th century Winter beer concoctions that used heated ale and dessert ingredients like spices and egg and bread. With names like “ale posset” and “egg flip,” these drinks were like drinking beer bread pudding or custard. Since the early 20th century, however, we’ve moved on to styles similar to what’s available now.

Since a beer called Burton ale (generically referred to as an Old ale), Winter ales have been mostly brown ales that are stronger than your average beer. American craft brewers brought back the concept of adding spices beginning with Anchor Brewing Company’s Christmas Ale in 1975. Whether they are called Christmas ales or Holiday ales or Winter ales, these beers will provide a nice respite from the blistering cold outside.

Despite not containing any food like those old beer drinks, Winter ales can still be a bit like having your dessert in a glass. Not as syrupy as a flavored cocktail, but full of the sweet flavors of Winter baked goods. Whether it’s a heavy, boozy fruit cake or Christmas pudding or cookies — there’s a whole array of sweet flavors to be enjoyed.

Below are four Winter ales that take the chill off.

Blue Mountain Brewery Lights Out Holiday Ale (7.0% ABV)
Located in the Blue Ridge mountains, Blue Mountain brews this Winter ale at their Blue Mountain Barrel House in Arrington, VA. It’s available through December. This relatively light Old ale is bursting with the aroma and flavor of bread pudding with raisins. Bready malts and spicy hops combine with a slightly sweet finish to evoke the dessert. Lights Out stands up well on its own and is just light enough to go well with a hearty stew or roast.

Great Lakes Brewing Company (GLBC) Christmas Ale (7.5% ABV)
Cleveland, Ohio’s Great Lakes Brewing Company started as a pub in 1986, but had expanded to include a separate brewing space by the time Christmas Ale was born in the 90s. An early entrant in the spiced ale category, Christmas Ale has a solid fan base. Brewed with honey from the region, cinnamon and ginger, this beer jollily evokes cinnamon graham crackers. In fact, my nostalgia for the ubiquitous children’s snack made me want some chocolate and toasted marshmallow to complete the dessert as a s’more. It’s good that Christmas Ale only comes once a year, because its delicious flavor and light body might make moderation difficult. GLBC is even getting social with their #ChristmasAleSpirit contest. It doesn’t even require the possibility of winning something to put drinkers of Christmas Ale in the #ChristmasAleSpirit.

St. Bernardus Christmas Ale (10.0% ABV)
Brewed at one of the few remaining Abbey breweries in Belgium, St. Bernardus, Christmas Ale is a traditional Quadrupel or strong dark ale. Like a good fruit cake — an oft maligned, but tasty treat when fresh — this beer is redolent of fruit like tropical papaya and banana, as well as molasses and dried figs. Belgian ales tend to be quite effervescent as their special yeast tends to continue creating carbon dioxide in the bottle (this is know as bottle conditioning), but Christmas Ale avoids the bubbly bite with a fine mouthfeel. The result is a smooth and strong ale that is just sweet enough to please without being cloying. This is great paired with roasted meat like fowl or pork or enjoy it on its own.

Avery Brewing Company Old Jubilation Ale (8.3% ABV)
This Boulder, Colorado-brewed Old ale even looks like it’s from a different time. The Currier and Ives-style painting on the can and the ornate script in the name gives this traditional ale a traditional look. If we’ve had bread pudding, graham crackers and fruit cake so far, it seems we’re missing a good old fashioned Christmas pudding. Those beguiling British desserts that are prepared by boiling in cheese cloth and are topped with a brandy-infused butter called “hard sauce” have a particular flavor combination of the caramel of dark sugar and the bright sweetness of the sauce. Similarly, Old Jubilation is a swirl of molasses and brown sugar from the combination of malts that is brightened by the light booziness of alcohol. This beer is a fantastic sipper fresh or aged. It’s just the thing to pop open after a commute in 20 degree weather!

What Winter ales are you enjoying? Tell me below. Cheers!

Editor’s Note: This biweekly column is sponsored by Dominion Wine and Beer (107 Rowell Court, Falls Church). It is written by Garrett Cruce, a Cicerone Program Certified Beer Server.

Yesterday was the first day of December and while it might not quite feel like Winter, I think it’s safe to say that we feel like it’s time for Winter to come. The seasonal releases of barrel-aged or spiced or flavored or Imperial stouts (sometimes all of the above!) cannot come at a better time. Done right, a strong stout is a balancing act of roasted malts and sweet alcohol. That dance of flavors works well in these days that can start out frigid and end mild — they’re just bitter enough to be interesting and sweet enough to warm you.

Whether you’re standing in line for the latest release of Hardywood’s Gingerbread Stout or breaking up a four pack of Dogfish Head World Wide Stouts, there is no shortage of strong stouts on the market. The stouts in this article aren’t going to blow up your Instagram feed or earn you a rare badge on Untappd, but they are delicious. And they’re on the shelves now!

Lagunitas Brewing Company, High West-ified Imperial Coffee Stout (12.2% ABV)
Hands down this is the strongest beer in this article, though it trails the aforementioned World Wide Stout by a few percentage points. But who’s counting? This is a total sipper. Brewed using coffee from Chicago coffee roaster, Metropolis Coffee and aged for more than 15 months in rye and bourbon barrels from Utah’s Hight West Distillery, this is one flavorful beer. These whiskey barrels have mellowed what was no doubt a boozy beer. I expected my first sniff to be slightly shocking with the sting of alcohol, but it never happened. Inhaling conjures up Christmas pudding — dark stone fruit and black strap molasses. Big flavor and no alcohol burn are the highlights of the sip. Despite having coffee in the mix, there seems to be little of its flavor remaining. Instead, there’s a huge fruity sweetness that makes this a fine dessert pairing.

Stone Brewing Company, Xocoveza Mocha Stout (8.1% ABV)
As we move through the stouts in this article, the ingredient lists get longer. Xocoveza was made with coffee, cocoa, pasilla peppers, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and lactose. The end result is more horchata than hot chocolate, but that’s just fine. The lactose — sugar derived from milk — makes this a milk stout and gives it a creamy sweetness. When you combine that with the big cinnamon bite, this beer warms while painting a picture of the sunshine and warm weather of San Diego. Unlike the coffee stout above, a good long sniff brings out coffee and cinnamon with a hint of char from the roasted malts. The horchata I already alluded to is tempered by an espresso coffee flavor. Though no session stout, this beer is lighter tasting than its ABV suggests. With all that cinnamon and sweetness, enjoy this on its own or even with some tres leches cake.

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Beer for Breakfast Stout (7.4% ABV)
I just returned refreshed and rejuvenated from a two-night stay at the Dogfish Inn in Lewes, DE — see my July column about their craft beer tourism for more information about what they have to offer. My stay included the behind-the-scenes “All-Innclusive” tour of the brewery with other inn guests, a lunch with the group and our designated driver Dogfish co-worker, and culminated with an hour-long fireside chat with founder and craft beer evangelist, Sam Calagione. During my two days in the Dogfish bubble I heard one repeated refrain from “Uncle” John, who led our tour, to our innkeepers to Sam himself — Dogfish prides itself on using whole, real ingredients in its beers.

It’s on their new packaging and it’s particularly apparent in this beer. Are you ready for the list of ingredients in this one? There’s cold-pressed Guatemalan Antigua coffee, maple syrup, Rapa brand scrapple, molasses, lactose, brown sugar and chicory along with a diverse grain bill that includes a smoked barley. Just reading about this beer is a real doozy, and, if you’re adverse to scrapple like I am, perhaps a bit intimidating as well. Let me put your mind at ease. This complex, drinkable stout is definitely not the soup that its ingredients suggests. While I definitely got some of the meatiness in the aroma — more corned beef than processed meat — I also got a good nose of smoke and delightful Turkish coffee. The flavor all but avoids the strong umami flavor that meat provides, instead favoring a sweet and darkly bitter coffee and finishing with a distinct smokiness. This is a special release right now, but I hope that it makes it’s way into the line up like Flesh and Blood and Seaquench ales have managed to. This is one of my favorite beers of the year.

What stouts can you just not get enough of? Let me know below. Cheers!

Editor’s Note: This biweekly column is sponsored by Dominion Wine and Beer (107 Rowell Court, Falls Church). This column is written by Dominion owner Arash Tafakor.

A brewer once told me that it’s not just ingredients and skill that makes a beer taste delicious; that it’s the love and passion for brewing that makes a beer shine.

You begin to discover these special beers more and more as a result of brewery collaborations. The magic of collaborations occur when breweries, restaurants and/or bottle shops from all over the world combine to brew something unique and limited. These beers are brewed based on each participant’s strengths, passion and craft trends. A couple of key factors that make the product extra special are the love and fun that flows into the process.

In a growing and rapidly changing beer industry, collabs are nothing new. They’ve been around our industry for a very long time. But in a market with increased competition between breweries, distributors and bottle shops, collaborations are an escape from our increasingly evolving industry. Sharing ideas, developing long term relationships, and bringing people together help bring a sense of community within the Craft beer world.

Dominion Wine and Beer is no stranger to collaborations. Recently, we coordinated a collaboration called All Eyez on Me with Aslin Beer Company (Herndon, VA). All Eyez on Me was a New England Style Double IPA with a unique hop profile. Aslin is well known regionally and nationally for brewing incredibly juicy IPAs. The opportunity to brew a beer with such a fine brewery was an incredible experience for Dominion. Dominion also brewed a Citra Hopped low IBU IPA beer with Three Notch’d Brewing Company (Richmond, VA) that turned out fantastic and we can’t wait to brew again.

Three Notch’d also recently launched a new project called “RVA Collab House,” to enable individuals or groups in the Richmond community to leave their mark through the art of Craft Beer. If anyone is interested, the signup form is attached HERE. Both collaborations proved to be a huge hit and very popular among the beer community. The Aslin / Dominion All Eyez on Me lasted about 15 minutes, flying out of the cooler in our pre-filled crowlers. Similarly, our Three Notch’d collaboration lasted only a couple of days on the menu and sold out quickly at the brewery. These results exceeded our expectations.

Jace Gonnerman, the Beverage Director of Meridian Pint, Brookland Pint, and Smoke & Barrel, three craft beer centered restaurant establishments in Washington D.C., is the “King of Collaborations” in my opinion. I spoke to Jace about this article and he explained to me how collaborations are an integral part of his restaurant group’s identity.

If a local brewery crosses your mind, there’s a good chance that Jace has already been there to brew a collaboration. Jace noted that collaborations help support local breweries and foster lifelong personal and business relationships with brewers and breweries. Jace’s collaborations are also legendary. His collaboration with Ocelot Brewing Company (Dulles, VA), called Talking Backwards, is an extremely drinkable high ABV Triple IPA, was considered one of the best IPAs ever brewed in Virginia. The industry cannot thank Jace enough for all his hard work and dedication to the craft. He sets out and pursues collabs, invites friends of his in the industry to come share the wonderful experience.

Be on the lookout for the following upcoming collaborations:

1. Boulevard Collaboration No. 6 Barrel Aged Blend with Firestone Walker, a blend of each breweries barrel aged beers.
2. Aslin and Manor Hill out of Ellicott City Maryland are brewing an IPA, bringing MD and VA together.
3. Meridian Pint, Downtown Crown Wine and Beer, and Union out of Baltimore have a collab scheduled for early next year.

What are your some of your favorite collabs? Any we should be on the lookout for to put on tap?

Editor’s Note: This biweekly column is sponsored by Dominion Wine and Beer (107 Rowell Court, Falls Church). It is written by Garrett Cruce, a Cicerone Program Certified Beer Server.

Three Notch’d Brewing Company and Oskar Blues Brewery Black & Goldings black ale (6.3% ABV)

Dave Warwick of Three Notch’d and Tim Matthews of Oskar Blues first met when they were starting their careers in Pittsburgh. Black & Goldings is their tribute to that time. This beer is pretty simple — the black malt adds a welcome bitterness that you don’t get with the refined Golding hops. Simple is not bad. This is classified as an American black ale, but it’s more porter (a black ale) than black IPA. Freshly poured, Black & Goldings smells enticingly of coffee and dark chocolate. The tangy bitterness imparted by the black malt borders on smoky giving this beer an unexpected flavor kick. This a limited offering, so I’d pick one up soon.

Old Ox Brewery Black Ox rye porter (6.0% ABV)

Back in August the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild held the Virginia Craft Brewers Cup — Black Ox won gold in the American Dark Ale category. It’s really no surprise why. Old Ox Brewery of Loudoun County brews this porter almost like a black IPA, with the rye really spicing things up — so to speak. The aroma blends the expected coffee with exotic licorice and a hint of floury biscuit. I’m no porter purist — I definitely love a hoppy black IPA — so this beer is pretty exciting. Despite the description on the web site, Black Ox in the can appeared to be hop-forward. It combined the bitter tang of the black malt, the peppery spice of the rye with a bit of the dankness that hops impart. This was the kind of beer that you finish and immediately think of pouring another. It’s frankly delicious.

AleSmith Brewing Company Anvil ESB (5.5% ABV)

San Diego’s AleSmith Brewing Company considers Anvil its flagship beer. This American take on the classic British pub ale, the Extra Special Bitter, is both classic and fresh seeming. Essentially, a bitter is a pale ale. When brewed with mild British hops, however, the malt tends to take over. Anvil, brewed with appropriate hops, nevertheless manages to balance the malty tendencies of the bitter. Before I even took a sip, I picked up the pumpernickel and brown sugar in the aroma. I was surprised, however, by the complexity of the flavor. I expected a malt bomb, but I got winey raisin with a malt backbone that is clipped by a slight bitterness in the finish. Overall, this was a super drinkable beer that wasn’t too much of any one thing. At 5.5% it’s even sessionable — share a 22 oz. bottle or enjoy it all to yourself.

Bell’s Brewery Roundhouse India Red Ale brewed with honey (7.5% ABV)

Ranked 7th among all craft breweries in America by the Brewer’s Association in 2015, Bell’s is large enough to offer great variety in its beers. Whether you’re looking for the reliably hoppy Two Hearted Ale or the hop bomb Hop Slam or one of their milder malt forward offerings, there’s plenty for you. Neither plain nor extra fancy, Roundhouse — with its playful boxing ring turnbuckle on the can — brings the hops and the malt to the party. Just smelling it gave me the impression that I was about to be assaulted by a malt-forward beer — bready malt mingled with earthy hops. Despite the aroma, Roundhouse starts out with a peach black tea bite that is softened by the malt in the finish. While I definitely don’t mind a good wallop from hops — and kind of expect it from a beer that puts “India” in it’s name — this beer pulls its punches. In the end though, it’s still a tasty brew that goes down much easier than its 7.5% ABV might suggest.

Though Halloween is over, there are plenty of treats to be had. These are just several of the delicious new offerings that this Fall is ushering in.

Editor’s Note: This biweekly column is sponsored by Dominion Wine and Beer (107 Rowell Court, Falls Church). It is written by Garrett Cruce, a Cicerone Program Certified Beer Server.

In the mid-nineties two breweries opened across the United States from each other. One in a former mechanic shop in Utah and the other in a brew pub in Delaware. They each had a philosophy that drove them. They each developed an aesthetic that defined them. In 2016, they both underwent a facelift, a redesign of their core beer labels.

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery started in 1995 as a brew pub in Rehoboth, Delaware. From the beginning, Sam Calagione saw his beers as intrinsically connected to food. Whether it was his use of the wine-bottle sized bottles to encourage sharing over a meal or the exploration of beers that used culinary ingredients, the brewery was establishing a consistent approach. In the 21 years since opening, Dogfish Head built a recognizable brand with the shark logo and Sam-inspired “Doggy” typeface.

The importance of the ingredients and the basic elements of Dogfish Head’s design have come together to create the new look of their core releases — their IPAs and other year-round releases. Prior to this year, Dogfish labeled its core beers with a plain label that used “Doggy” and the shark, while its ancient ales had unique labels that featured imagery that evoked the origin of the beer. Now all of the core releases, which includes some ancient ales, sport colorful labels that feature painterly illustrations of key ingredients along with brewery ID and beer name/description in playfully set “Doggy.” Off-centered, like it’s beers, is the shark logo as it breaks out of the label. Dogfish Head’s in-house department worked with Boulder, CO-based food and beverage packaging design studio, Interact, to develop the new look.

Uinta Brewing Company

Out west, in 1993 Uinta Brewing Company set up shop in the state with the fewest beer drinkers. Their first beers included three that remain in their core beers to this day: Cutthroat Pale Ale, King’s Peak Porter and Trader IPA. In 2005, Uinta created the specialty brewery called Four +, which was responsible for beers like Monkshine and Wyld. In 2011, they introduced the compass to their brand. This year, the compass at the center of their brand and their various 12 oz. releases finally came together to form a consistent Uinta-infused look.

Working with studios like Portland-based Sincerely, Truman and Nashville-based Anderson Design Group, Uinta introduced both a new logo and refined look that ties all their core releases together. Starting with a new logo that streamlines the well-known compass and mountain range mark to feature a simple east-west pointing diamond with a clean, bold typeface. The labels tie together beers like Punk’N and Monkshine — whose labels were simple and type only — with their illustration-based releases like Dubhe and Cutthroat. Prior to this redesign, the illustration-based labels used WPA-style images that evoked National Parks posters. Now all of their labels feature the colorful nature images, uniting all their beers and making them stand out on the shelf.

In this age of Instagram and Untappd, breweries’ core releases are increasingly considered passé by beer drinkers looking for the next big thing. A good redesign generates fresh buzz. A good redesign gets at the essence of a brand — the personality and the visual style. A good redesign re-introduces a brewery to beer drinkers. We all win with these two redesigns, since we get attractive packaging and delicious beer. Go ahead and judge these beers by their labels, you won’t be disappointed.

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Midas Touch Ancient Ale (9% ABV)

Part of the Ancient Ales category, Midas Touch always had a unique label. An oversized golden fingerprint sat a top a solid purple label with the words “Midas Touch” in an evocative typeface that suggested Mesopotamia. Now, the purple carries forward with the gold transferring to the beer name. Rather than referring the golden touch that King Midas was said to have, Dogfish focuses on the ingredients. That, after all, is what makes this beer so unique. The illustration under the Dogfish shark logo depicts generous amounts of muscat grapes, barley and honey comb.

Midas Touch has been in the Dogfish Head line up since it first arrived in 1999. This early example of the wine hybrid beer adds mead to the mix — based on analysis of residue in vessels taken from the tomb of King Midas in Gordion, Turkey. Make no mistake about this beer — it’s not in the same vein as their much loved IPAs — this is a sweet, delicate brew with grapes, honey and malt at the fore. Let Midas Touch warm slightly out of the refrigerator and you’ll get a nose full of ice wine. If you have a taste for dessert wines, you’ll enjoy the sweet fruitiness up front. A malty finish keeps you from forgetting that this is still a beer. Despite its sweetness, I always feel that the honey takes a backseat to the grapes. Enjoy this winey beer with some cheese or a creamy alfredo.

Uinta Brewing Company Dubhe Imperial Black IPA (9.2% ABV)

Uinta’s year-round black IPA made a modest change from its previous look. Dubhe’s previous label featured a nighttime scene in a Monument Valley-like setting featuring the name swooping underneath the mountains. Now, the setting is the same, but at twilight as the smallest amount of orange light remains on the horizon. In the foreground is a red VW bus, which sits directly above the name, which is now set in a condensed sans serif typeface that appears hand drawn like the illustration above. Shining brightly in the dark sky is the official star of Utah, Dubhe, which makes up part of the big dipper.

Dubhe pours stout black with a rich, creamy head. Between the appearance and the aroma, which balances black coffee and cocoa with the cardamom sharpness of pine sap, you’d be excused for confusing it with a spiced Turkish coffee. This beer is appropriately sweet, thanks to the alcohol, but the dark roasted malt combines with the dank hops to create a richly flavored beer that evokes the spiced coffee that is hinted at in the aroma. Black IPAs are one of my favorite emerging categories and this beer is regularly a go-to for me.