I’ve been drinking heavier beers of late - porters and complex IPAs - and this felt bright and refreshing by comparison. Smell– Slight aroma of hops with a citrus top. bottle boasts that purchase of the beer helps fund the education and restoration programs of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.Īppearance – Light amber with a nice one-finger head that quickly faded and left only traces of lacing. The Striped Bass Pale Ale was unveiled at the Blue Ridge Oyster Festival in April of 2012 and the 22 oz. I passed it up that day due to the longest lines I’d ever seen in that story but then picked it up at the Vintage Cellar in Blacksburg yesterday. Its Striped Bass Pale Ale was not one of the medal-winners but caught my eye at the “Taj Mahal” Kroger in Roanoke last week. just 20 minutes east of my hometown and an hour north of Roanoke.ĭevils Backbone has quickly become a darling of the craft beer world, bringing home eight medals - two of them gold - from the Great American Beer Festival. I’ve enjoyed watching western Virginia’s craft beer industry grow from having one “local” beer (New River Pale Ale) that was actually brewed in a different part of the state to boasting not just a growing number of restaurants and retail outlets with 40+ beer selections but also a growing number of craft breweries.ĭevils Backbone Brewing Company started up in Roseland, Va., in Nelson County, but last year built a production facility and tap room in Lexington, Va. And it's an avenue for even the smallest and newest microbreweries to join the rush to aluminum.Devils Backbone Striped Bass Pale Ale. "It's an easy way to dabble in canning without going into debt to buy a high-speed line," notes Josh West, operations manager for Devil's Backbone. Owner Mike Horn says he hopes to line up 20 to 30 clients within the next two years. Seven Virginia breweries have deals with Old Dominion Mobile Canning, a company with a portable cannery, which can package up to 60 barrels in a day, according to the company's Web site. Matt Brewing in Utica, N.Y., which possesses a higher-speed packaging line. Heavy Seas Beer in Baltimore is contract-canning its brands at F.X. Oskar Blues has been packaging the metal bottles on a two-head manual filler, which can't spit out enough liquid for the brewery's 32-state territory.īut that's a problem even for many breweries sticking with the standard flat-top can. The big obstacle is cobbling an assembly line to fill and seal the uniquely shaped cans. (Both are collaborations with Sun King Brewery in Indianapolis.) Distribution has been limited to Colorado and Indiana, says Oskar Blues spokesperson Chad Melis, but the brewery would like to go national. So far the brewery has released two beers in the container: Chaka, a Belgian-style pale ale, and the Deuce, a hoppy brown ale. Oskar Blues, which fomented the revolution 11 years ago by releasing its Dale's Pale Ale in cans, is experimenting with a more radical package: a pint-sized metal bottle with a resealable screw-top cap. Sly Fox has released two brands - Helles Golden Lager and Pikeland Pils - in the package. The Pottstown, Pa., brewery recently became the first North American company to market a beer can with a lid that peels off completely, turning the can into a drinking vessel. Sly Fox Brewing has found a foolproof way to eliminate the glug-glug-glugging of a can being poured. "It makes a slight but noticeable difference," he maintains.īoston Beer isn't the only craft brewery pioneering a new design. The design, says Koch, forces you to open your mouth wider, letting in more air, which enhances the beer's aroma and flavor. At first glance, it looks identical to the standard model, but closer examination reveals a wider lid and an opening positioned farther from the edge. Nevertheless, Koch says he has spent the past two years and about $1 million designing a better beer can. "They've proven out, but I wanted to make sure. What's more, "the new linings are more flexible," he contends, less likely to tear and allow the beer to come into contact with metal. "Beer used to pick up a solvent-like character from the solvent-based linings. "What changed is the quality of the can lining," explained Koch of his about-face. Samuel Adams Oktoberfest will join them later this year. Fast forward to 2013: The first 12-packs of Samuel Adams Boston Lager and Samuel Adams Summer Ale cans are stacked in supermarkets.
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