I have been receiving numerous comments about the Beer Quest Slowing down and at times being nonexistent. The Quest will never end, however, family takes priority. With twin grandsons you can only imagine the support my Son & Daugher-In-Law need and as proud grandparents the Beer Wife and I cherish the time we spend with Connor and Brayden. In addition I decided to build my dream Beer Cave in the basement of the State College house. This has ben a much larger time drain than I had planned for, however, the end result will be amazing.....more to come on that project. So as you can see the Beer Quest has slowed down, but has not stopped. Occasionally I find the time to get out and discover a new Brewery, so the following is a few random visits made over the past few months.
Quattro Goomba Brewery: Located a few miles south of Leesburg, Va. along Route 15, was a horse farm converted into a winery. The owners then decided to join the Craft Beer Revolution and turn one of the barns into a brewery with tasting room. Virginia Law requires separation between breweries and wineries. So they are located in separate buildings within walking distance of each other. If you have a spouse who prefers wine over beer, then this is a stop that will make both of you happy. Or you can partake in both....wine before beer or beer before wine, however that saying goes.....I'm sticking to the beer. OK back to the brewery.....the day I visited there were six beers available including Dark Vadar black IPA, Rye Not DIPA, Friar Nuts Dubbel, Torque & Cranked both Milk Stouts and Brown Cow Brown Chicken.....you guessed it a Brown Ale. All the brews were good, the tasting room had the barn flare, a very nice visit.
Full Disclosure....the Beer wife's second cousins work at the brewery, so please visit.
The Brew Gentlemen Beer Co.- Growing up in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh, I always remember all of the Steel Mill towns that surrounded Pittsburgh creating the reputation of being "The Steel City" with all of its Mill worker bars poring Iron City Beer, Boilermakers and loving the Steelers. Then the Steel industry collapsed and now these once thriving small industrial towns were abandoned, struggling to survive and being taken over by gangs and the drug pushers. Braddock is one of these towns. The hard times in Braddock created an opportunity that has spurred the rebirth of this town. Two CMU graduates decided to turn one of the old abandoned buildings on Main Street into a Craft Brewery. This late 1800's building that once thrived during the golden days of Andrew Carnegie's Steel Empire was the perfect building for a brewery and taproom. The bar area in the taproom is very nice, when crowded there is a second room with tables to handle the overflow. During my visit there were eight brews on tap, I enjoyed three of their IPA's: Turbid Nightmare, Persica and Legendary Weapons. In my opinion their best brews were the Farmhouse ales: Runaway, Loose Seal and Inquisitive Visitor. In addition to the great taproom experience, there were 8 food trucks in their parking lot providing a nice selection of food to pair with the beer ( my visit was on a Saturday, so that may explain the large number of food trucks). Braddock is far from being the thriving town it once was, however, Brew Gentlemen has given them new life and the town is starting a rebirth using the brewery as the keystone. So for the Craft Beer Revolution non-believers, this is another example of the great positive impact the Beer Revolution can have on a community.
Aslin Beer Company- The growth of the craft beer breweries in Virginia has ben amazing. Every week a new brewery appears to be opening. Aslin Brewery located in Herndon, Va, is one of the latest additions. The location is close to numerous office and shopping complexes, so they draw quite a large crowd for a small tasting room. They also fill crowlers for limited selections of their brews and that has resulted in very log lines to purchase crowlers. They also have a small brew house, so they tend to run out of beer very quickly. This has created high demand for their beer. I find it interesting how social media can create such a hype. Now I'm not saying wether the hype is deserved or not. Just be forewarned that you may be facing a large crowd when attempting to visit their taproom. Aslin has been know to brew very good IPA's. Unfortunately during my visit I was only able to sample Stellar Parallax, which was a very nice imperial IPA. Two of their Imperial Stouts were also worth mentioning, Buongiorno and Delusions of Grandeur. Great visit, if you go be prepared for a crowd.
Quattro Goomba Brewery: Located a few miles south of Leesburg, Va. along Route 15, was a horse farm converted into a winery. The owners then decided to join the Craft Beer Revolution and turn one of the barns into a brewery with tasting room. Virginia Law requires separation between breweries and wineries. So they are located in separate buildings within walking distance of each other. If you have a spouse who prefers wine over beer, then this is a stop that will make both of you happy. Or you can partake in both....wine before beer or beer before wine, however that saying goes.....I'm sticking to the beer. OK back to the brewery.....the day I visited there were six beers available including Dark Vadar black IPA, Rye Not DIPA, Friar Nuts Dubbel, Torque & Cranked both Milk Stouts and Brown Cow Brown Chicken.....you guessed it a Brown Ale. All the brews were good, the tasting room had the barn flare, a very nice visit.
Full Disclosure....the Beer wife's second cousins work at the brewery, so please visit.
The Brew Gentlemen Beer Co.- Growing up in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh, I always remember all of the Steel Mill towns that surrounded Pittsburgh creating the reputation of being "The Steel City" with all of its Mill worker bars poring Iron City Beer, Boilermakers and loving the Steelers. Then the Steel industry collapsed and now these once thriving small industrial towns were abandoned, struggling to survive and being taken over by gangs and the drug pushers. Braddock is one of these towns. The hard times in Braddock created an opportunity that has spurred the rebirth of this town. Two CMU graduates decided to turn one of the old abandoned buildings on Main Street into a Craft Brewery. This late 1800's building that once thrived during the golden days of Andrew Carnegie's Steel Empire was the perfect building for a brewery and taproom. The bar area in the taproom is very nice, when crowded there is a second room with tables to handle the overflow. During my visit there were eight brews on tap, I enjoyed three of their IPA's: Turbid Nightmare, Persica and Legendary Weapons. In my opinion their best brews were the Farmhouse ales: Runaway, Loose Seal and Inquisitive Visitor. In addition to the great taproom experience, there were 8 food trucks in their parking lot providing a nice selection of food to pair with the beer ( my visit was on a Saturday, so that may explain the large number of food trucks). Braddock is far from being the thriving town it once was, however, Brew Gentlemen has given them new life and the town is starting a rebirth using the brewery as the keystone. So for the Craft Beer Revolution non-believers, this is another example of the great positive impact the Beer Revolution can have on a community.
Aslin Beer Company- The growth of the craft beer breweries in Virginia has ben amazing. Every week a new brewery appears to be opening. Aslin Brewery located in Herndon, Va, is one of the latest additions. The location is close to numerous office and shopping complexes, so they draw quite a large crowd for a small tasting room. They also fill crowlers for limited selections of their brews and that has resulted in very log lines to purchase crowlers. They also have a small brew house, so they tend to run out of beer very quickly. This has created high demand for their beer. I find it interesting how social media can create such a hype. Now I'm not saying wether the hype is deserved or not. Just be forewarned that you may be facing a large crowd when attempting to visit their taproom. Aslin has been know to brew very good IPA's. Unfortunately during my visit I was only able to sample Stellar Parallax, which was a very nice imperial IPA. Two of their Imperial Stouts were also worth mentioning, Buongiorno and Delusions of Grandeur. Great visit, if you go be prepared for a crowd.
Bloom Brew- located in the small Youghiogheny River town of West Newton, PA this small brewery is located in the basement of the West Newton Volunteer Fire Department. The tasting room is more of a growler fill area in around the brew works. They will provide you with small samples in plastic cups, the main focus is filling growlers. The brewery sits on the riverbank of the Youghiogheny River and the very busy Youghiogheny Bike trail is located on the other side of the river. So this location could be a prime spot for bikers to cross the bridge and enjoy a brew while taking a break. I beleive some or all of the profit from the brewery is donated to the fire department, which is a very good thing. I sampled four of their brews, nothing really stood out for me. However, they did have a very brisk growler business with the locals. I hope they are successful, they have a very good location for an outdoor tasting area. So if you find yourself on the Youghiogheny Bike Trail, take a break, cross the bridge and enjoy a brew.