Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2013 - 70

courtesy Blue Mountain BreWery

Michelle Watkins taliaferro

Above: Lost River
Brewing Company is
housed in a historic
building in a small West
Virginia town.
Right: This flight of Blue
Mountain Brewery beers
is complemented by a
beautiful view of Virginia
mountains.

The business quickly expanded to bottling and
recently opened a new brewing facility to increase its
capacity. As a testament to the quality of its beer, the
brewery cleaned up at the 2012 Great American Beer
Festival, capturing the 2012 Champion Small
Brewpub & Brewmaster Award plus eight beer-specific medals.
The food at Devil’s Backbone is upscale pub fare,
and the year-round beers are flag bearers of traditional beer styles and, as such, easily drinkable. The
award-winning Vienna lager is smooth and malty,
medium-bodied and sessionable at 4.9%. EightPoint IPA (5.9%), one of my favorites, represents the
flavorful West Coast American India Pale Ale, with
American-grown varieties of hops. Both of these
beers are bottled and available at retailers. Another
noteworthy flagship beer is their Wintergreen Weiss
(4.9%), a Bavarian-style wheat beer with standard

notes of bananas and cloves. To gain the attention of
beer geeks, Devil’s Backbone also produces more
extreme beers, like the Sixteen-Point Imperial IPA
– twice as potent as their Eight-Point IPA.
Though the next stop on my beer tour doesn’t
technically qualify as a beer, the beverage has been
getting the attention of the craft beer world. At the
2012 Virginia Craft Beer Cup, the judges gave hard
ciders a taste, if not an award category.
In fact, one Virginia cidery is specifically targeting
the craft beer connoisseur, bottling in standard sixpack formats and attending regional beer festivals.
Using only Virginia apples, Bold Rock Hard Cider
in Nelson County is bottling the clean, crisp Virginia
Apple and the darker, richer Virginia Draft. Though
I’m not a hard cider fan, I enjoyed both of these ciders
in the big Bold Rock barn tasting room and in the
bottles I took home.

beer styles guide : how to tell an ipa from a stout

By using the many varieties of malts, hops and
even yeasts and varying the brewing processes,
brewers create endless distinctions among their
brews. A few you’re likely to come upon are:
Lager: Brewed with cool-fermenting lager yeasts
(as opposed to the more predominant ale yeasts),
a lager’s longer fermentation time creates a
cleaner, simpler flavor that generally highlights the
malts. Variations: black lagers with a more roasty
malt; pilsners. Typical profile: 4-6% ABV, 20-30
IBU
Brown ale: Despite the darker color, this is a very
approachable beer. The color comes from barley
that has been roasted a little longer, for a toasty
palate and a hint of sweetness, pushing the edge
of hoppiness. Typical profile: 4-5%, 20-45 IBU
Sour ale: This surprising style often appeals to
70 | BlueRidgeCountry.com

wine drinkers because of the acidity profile. Sours
are tart or sweet and sour, complex, and low in
hops. Typical profile: 4.8-5.2% ABV, 15-25 IBU
Amber: This American creation provides a balance
of medium-roast caramel malts and delicate,
almost floral hops while keeping a lower IBU.
Typical profile: 4.5-6%, 30-40 IBU
Flavored beers: Craft brewers are experimenting
with added ingredients like berries, pumpkin,
chocolate, ginger, and even chili peppers, to make
exceptional brews taste even better. Many are
aging their beers in bourbon barrels and other
flavor-infused containers. Profiles range from 3.85% and 15-25 IBU for fruity wheat beers to >10%
ABV for bourbon-barrel aged imperial stouts.
Porters and stouts: Porters are hearty, toasty dark
beers with darker roasted malts and moderate bit-

terness. Stouts are more robust. Common variations: milk stout (with milk sugar lactose), oatmeal
stout (with oats), and added flavors like coffee or
cocoa nibs. Typical profile: 4-6.5%, 20-40 IBU
IPA: Americans have taken the British-born India
Pale Ale and increased the hops and attending
bitterness. With hops smacking of pine, citrus, and
new-mown hay, the flavor is as amped as the IBUs.
Typical profile: 5.5-6.3% ABV, 35-70 IBU. Also
popular are the double or Imperial IPAs – more of
a great thing.
Hard cider: This beverage is by no measures a beer,
but it’s gaining attention in the craft beer world. It’s
a beverage that appeals to beer and wine drinkers
alike. Fermented apple cider provides a clean, crisp
taste, with a blend of sweet and tart and the same
relaxing finish as a good beer. –AT

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Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2013

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