Style: Helles Lager    
ABV: 4.5%    
IBU: 25    
Package: Draft & 32oz. Crowlers

We revisited our Helles recipe to give it a cleaner finish, a breadier body, and touch more hop flavor and aroma. It still relies on a fairly simple and traditional recipe, producing a beer that presents as a classic example of the popular Southern German lager. It has a round body with a rich but mild malt character that leans toward fresh baked bread and raw dough, the hops deliver floral and subtlety spicy noble character and a restrained bitterness that aids the dry finish, making for an incredibly easy drinking beer.

Grains: Pilsner, Chit Malt, Honey Malt, Acid Malt
Hops: Hallertauer Mittelfrüh
Yeast: House Lager

Style: Vienna Lager     
ABV: 5.0%   
IBU: 25   
Package: Draft & 32oz. Crowler Cans to-go!

Our Vienna Lager is a bready display of smooth malt tones and subtle German hops. While we brew many beers that embrace balance and tradition, this lager exemplifies that approach. 

It has a sweet leaning rich malt tone but with a fairly dry and crisp finish that is elevated by floral hop notes. It displays a profile full of fresh biscuits, toast, and nutty multigrain bread. It leans toward caramel but with a much more restrained sweetness that allows its medium body to be balanced by subdued bitterness and a dry finish.

Grains: Vienna, Chit Malt, Acid Malt
Hops: Nugget, Saaz
Yeast: House Lager

Style: Norwegian Farmhouse Ale
ABV: 5.8% 
IBU: 30   
Package: Draft Only

The sassafras leaves we gathered for this project grow wildly on a forested mountain in Warm Springs Mountain Preserve. Composed of thousands of acres in the western part of Virginia, this preserve is part of the Allegheny Highlands Conservation program, managed by The Nature Conservancy. 

These leaves are something we could sustainably collect in a large quantity, and we knew they would contribute a beautiful aroma and flavor to the finished beer. The team from the Nature Conservancy were kind enough to share this magnificent space with our team, teach us about the conservation work being done there, and gather almost 40 pounds of sassafras leaves.

To showcase this ingredient, we chose a Norwegian inspired Farmhouse Ale. We knew that its light refreshing body and mild estery yeast would enhance the fruity characteristics of the leaves, while not masking or competing with their fragrant profile. We worked entirely with Virginia grown, and malted grains, combining Murphy & Rude 6-Row Pale with Greater Richmond Grains Organic Wheat, to produce a malt profile of sun-dried straw and fresh dough. This grist also contributes to a round soft mouthfeel that doesn’t linger, allowing for a dry but mellow finish.

The profile of this beer is an expressive display of fruity sassafras leaves. The aroma is a combination of fresh ginger, lemongrass, and citrus peel. The flavor is earthy and fruity, with a profile reminiscent of candied ginger, mountain mint, and lemon candy. Throughout the profile there is a unique spice-like quality and a robust fruitiness that the sassafras leaves deliver. They bring a brightness to the beer as well as a welcomed rustic earthiness that balances the intensity of their aroma. 

Grains: Murphy & Rude 6-Row Pale, Greater Richmond Grains Organic Raw Wheat, Murphy & Rude Cimmerian Wheat
Hops: Elixir, El Dorado
Yeast: Kveik 
Other: Sassafras Leaves Gathered From Warm Springs Mountain Preserve 

Style: Belgian Style Single    
ABV: 5.0%    
IBU: 40      
Package: Draft & 500ml Bottles to-go!!

Belgian Singles are an often misunderstood style. They aren’t as sweet as a Belgian Blonde nor as hoppy as a Belgian Pale, instead they are more akin to a German Pilsner but fermented with expressive Abbey ale yeast. They strike a balance between a present and supportive malt profile and a spicy and floral hop profile.

Built on a base of Murphy & Rude Virgina Pils, Avec Frère 5 is our attempt to highlight this balance. It is bitter and highly attenuated with aromas that are spicy, floral, and fruity. The flavor begins with bready malt tones but quickly moves toward pome fruit, citrus and spicy, yeast-driven phenolics. The finish is dry and bitter with hop notes of dried flowers and earthy herbs.

Grains: Murphy & Rude Virginia Pils, Pilsner, Honey Malt, Acid Malt
Hops: Hallertauer Mittelfrüh
Yeast: Belgian Ale

Style: Belgian Style Tripel
ABV: 9.0%
IBU: 30     
Package: Draft & 500ml Bottles to-go!!

Brewed with Murphy & Rude Virginia Pils, Avec Frère 9 is a complex beer that begins sweet and finishes dry, with a pleasant warmth that hints to its significant ABV. Aromas of pear, apple, and citrus, mingle with subtle clove and spice that give way to straw like malt tones and a surprisingly refreshing body. 

Grains: Murphy & Rude Virginia Pils, Flaked Wheat, Acid Malt
Hops: El Dorado
Yeast: Belgian Ale
Other:  Belgian Clear Candi Syrup

Style: Belgian Style Quadrupel    
ABV: 11.0%    
IBU: 20    
Package: Draft & 500ml Bottles 

Modeled after a Belgian Quadrupel, Avec Frère 11 is the biggest beer in our Belgian Abbey Beer series, and pays homage to many of the Belgian Dark Strong Ales that helped inspire the series. The nose is rich and sweet with aromas of cherry, rose, and bready malt. The flavor is similar to the aroma, but with impressions of dried fruit, persimmon, spicy yeast, and a rich, sweet, malty character that leaves hints of vanilla. This beer’s mouthfeel is round and full bodied but mellows to a pleasantly dry and warming finish.

Grains: Vienna, Pilsner, Red X, Special B
Hops: Greenmont Mother
Yeast: Belgian Ale
Other: Belgian Extra Dark Candi Syrup

Style: American Stout    
ABV: 7.0%    
IBU: 50    
Package: Draft & 16oz 4-packs to-go!!

Our American stout is built on a base of English Pale malt from Murphy & Rude Malting Co. out of Charlottesville VA. That malt produces a nutty and sweet backbone that we combined with a blend of their Crystal malts, as well as their Chocolate Wheat, to build up sweeter tones of whole grain bread, graham cracker, mocha, and roasty black coffee. The end result is a smooth, dark, ale with a medium semi-sweet body that is balanced by a subtle hop flavor and a drying bitterness.

Grains: Murphy & Rude English Pale, Murphy & Rude Crystal Malt, Murphy & Rude Chocolate Wheat, Roasted Barley
Hops: Nugget
Yeast: House Ale

Style: West Coast IPA    
ABV: 7.0%   
IBU: 45    
Package: Draft & 32oz. Crowelr Cans to-go!

Like most of our West Coast IPAs, Wisdom of Wombats was brewed to have a bold and expressive hop character, alongside a noticeable bitterness, and dry refreshing finish. To balance the bitterness of this IPA, we relied on the mildly sweet, and flour-like, profile of Murphy & Rude Soft Red Wheat. While the aroma is reminiscent of freshly zested citrus, orange blossoms, and Douglas Fir, the flavor leans toward a more earthy profile, with notes of pine resin, grapefruit, and soft floral undertones.

Grains: BEST Pilsen Malt, Murphy & Rude Soft Red Wheat, BEST Chit Malt, BEST Acidulated Malt
Hops: HS Sequoia, Citra
Yeast: House Ale

Style: Hazy IPA    
ABV: 6.8%    
IBU: 9    
Package: Draft & 32oz. Crowler Cans to-go!!

Cowboy Couture was designed to showcase Enigma, a unique Australian hop developed by the Hop Products Australia breeding program. They describe Enigma as being “a bit of a chameleon” because it can display a wide array of flavors and aromas depending on how it is utilized. We combined copious amounts of Enigma with, more modest, amounts of Citra and Mosaic, to steer the profile toward tropical fruit and citrus. We only added hops in the whirlpool and in a multi-stage dry hop, to minimize bitterness and maximize their aromatic potential. This was combined with a grain bill composed of Murphy & Rude’s malted wheat, and tons of flaked oats, to produce a velvety, creamy body, and sweet honey cracker malt profile. The result is a beer with predominant notes of passion fruit and white pine, and more subtle tones of redcurrant and chamomile. Cowboy Couture has a soft round mouthfeel, and a bittersweet finish.

Grains: Pilsner, Murphy & Rude Soft Red Wheat, Flaked Oats, Acid Malt
Hops: Enigma, Citra, Mosaic
Yeast: Kveik

Style: Bière de Vin  
ABV: 6.8%    
IBU: 30      
Package: Draft (Bottles coming soon)

This Bière de Vin is the culmination of conditioning our open fermented brett Saison on Albariño grape skins from Blenheim Vineyards. Prior to conditioning, this beer was a fruity and funky Saison with floral notes, and a crisp minerality. It had some mild yeast derived spice, alongside earthy malt tones of straw and dried grass from a grist of Murphy & Rude Virginia Pils, and Malted Corn, as well as Deep Roots Milling Buckwheat Flour.

Conditioning on the Albariño grape skins transformed the beer, developing a gentle acidity, and a floral aroma of white grape, persevered lemon, and barnyard funk. The flavor is much fruitier with notes of dried grapefruit, white strawberry, and fresh grape skins. Natural carbonation adds a liveliness to the tart mouthfeel, and brings the floral and fruity elements to the forefront. Meanwhile, the finish highlights another addition from the grape skins: pleasant drying tannins that cut through the otherwise round body.

Grains: Murphy & Rude Virginia Pils, Murphy & Rude Malted Corn (blend of Bloody Butcher & Buena Vista), Deep Roots Milling Buckwheat Flour, Acid Malt
Hops: Greemont Mother, Greenmont Hopworks Chinook
Yeast: House Farmhouse Blend
Other: Blenheim Vineyards Albariño Pomace

Style: Bière de Printemps  
ABV: 7.5%    
IBU: 42      
Package: Draft & 750ml Bottles

Literally meaning “Spring Beer,” our Bière de Printemps is brewed as a celebration of the return of warmer weather. While every year’s version is different, they are always beers that are designed to be refreshing, highly drinkable, and brett forward. This year's version is a Farmhouse Ale, brewed with a base of Murphy & Rude Virginia Pils and Malted Spelt. It was fermented with our preferred Saison yeast strain before being packaged and allowed to naturally condition with Brettanomyces bruxellensis.

The aroma is very floral and fruity, displaying notes of lychee and honeysuckle alongside dried pineapple and chamomile. The flavor retains a traditional Saison profile but combines it with funkier, fruity, Brett undertones, with specific notes of Tellicherry Peppercorn, citron, dried flowers, and lemon rind. This year’s version is very light bodied with a vigorous, and softly textured, natural carbonation and a dry finish that highlights a noticeable and refreshing bitterness.

Grains: Murphy & Rude Virginia Pils, Murphy & Rude Malted Spelt, Murphy & Rude Belgian Amber
Hops: Southern Tropic, Southern Sublime, American Nobel Citra
Yeast House Saion, Brettanomyces bruxellensis
Other: Clear Belgian Candi Sugar

Style: Mixed Fermentation Saison    
ABV: 7.2%    
IBU: 30    
Package: Draft & 500ml Bottles to-go!!

We are very fortunate that the creek that gives our brewery its name also happens to be an amazing habitat for pawpaw trees. During the peak of pawpaw season, you can actually smell the fruit before you see them, parts of the forests around our creek develop a heady aroma of overripe tropical fruit, notes of brown bananas and funky mango linger in the summer air. Despite an abundance of trees, individual seasons can be fickle, but recently we were lucky enough to get our biggest harvest ever: 370 POUNDS of pawpaws. To compliment them, we conditioned them on a blend of Saison and Belgian Tripel.

The blend was conditioned on pawpaws for 3 months. In addition to imbuing the beer with much of their unique character, this also introduced the wild culture of microbes living on the pawpaws. This culture produced acidity, and many of the characteristics you might expect from some of our Wild Ales. Finally, we conditioned this beer in bottles and kegs for 6 months with one of our favorite isolates of Brettanomyces.  

The aroma is funky and tropical with a nose that is reminiscent of cherimoya, green mango, and caramelized pineapple. The flavor is tart up front, and leads with tropical flavors of papaya and pineapple, that give way to fresh lemon and melon rind. The body is light and accompanied by a pleasant rounding carbonation that accents its dry finish.

Grains: Murphy & Rude Virginia Pils, Murphy & Rude 6-Row Pale, Malted Spelt, Flaked Wheat, Chit Malt, Acid Malt
Hops: Taiheke, El Dorado, Moutere, Southern Cross, Kohatu, Motueka
Yeast: House Saison, Belgian Ale, Wild Culture From Pawpaws, Brettanomyces bruxellensis
Other: Wild Pawpaws, Belgian Clear Candi Syrup

Style: Bière de Printemps
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: 30
Package: 750ml Bottles

Literally meaning “Spring Beer,” our Bière de Printemps is brewed as a celebration of the return of warmer weather. While every year’s version is different, they are always beers that are designed to be refreshing, highly drinkable, and brett forward. This year's version is an open fermented Farmhouse Ale, brewed with a base of Murphy & Rude Virginia Pils, as well as European malted spelt. It was fermented with a co-pitch of Saison yeast and Brett Brux before being packaged and allowed to naturally carbonate and condition.

The culture that fermented this beer dominates its aroma, which is fruit forward, displaying notes of tart calamansi, alongside funky muscadine, and citrusy chamomile. The flavor allows notes from the malt to come through, creating a blend of dried grass and hay, with funkier notes of over-ripe papaya and pineapple. The body has some roundness but is quickly cut by vigorous natural carbonation and a dry finish that highlights a subdued refreshing bitterness.

Grains: Murphy & Rude Virginia Pils, Malted Spelt
Hops: Hallertau Blanc
Yeast: House Farmhouse Blend
Other: Clear Belgian Candi Sugar

Style: Bière de Vin 

ABV: 5.5% 

IBU: 35 

Package: 750ml Bottles

This Bière de Vin is a blend of two Brett Saisons, one aged in wine barrels for 20 months and the other for 9 months, that were blended and then conditioned on Cabernet Sauvignon grape skins from our friends at Blenheim Vineyards.

Prior to conditioning, this blend was a fruity and funky Saison with floral notes and a crisp minerality. It had some mild yeast derived spice, alongside light malt tones of hay and wheat flour from a grist of Murphy & Rude 6-Row and Epiphany malted Triticale

Conditioning on the Cabernet Sauvignon for three months transformed the beer significantly, lending it a beautiful garnet hue and a fruit forward aroma of cranberry and tart cherry. The brett in this beer still makes itself known, blending a pleasant leathery funk with aromatics of dry red wine. Natural carbonation adds a liveliness to the mouthfeel, and brings flavors of strawberry and raspberry to the foreground, while allowing darker notes of pomegranate and oak to still shine through. The finish is incredibly dry with noticeable tannins and a very gentle acidity.

Grains: Murphy & Rude 6-Row Pale, Epiphany Modern Pilsner, Epiphany Malted Triticale, Murphy & Rude Soft Red Wheat
Hops: Nugget, Elixir, Barbe Rouge

Yeast: House Saion, Brettanomyces Bruxellensis

Other: Blenheim Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Pomace, Mountain House Wildflower Honey