Style: Lager    
ABV: 5.0%    
IBU: 20    
Package: Draft or 32oz. Crowler Cans to-go!!

The main flavors and aromas associated with wheat, such as in a Witbier or Hefeweizen, are actually yeast driven, so wheat rarely gets an opportunity to to be the showcase of a beer, without being overpowered by other elements. Our objective with this lager was to give wheat an opportunity to take center stage by pairing it with clean fermenting yeast, and a simple recipe. We chose Virginia grown, and malted, Soft Red Wheat, from Murphy & Rude, and paired it with Virgina grown Greenmont Mother hops to produce a simple lager with a robust wheat-forward profile.

The aroma leads with flour and biscuit dough, with more subtle notes of lilac and dried lemon peel in the background. The flavor is a mix of toasted baguette and sun-dried hay, alongside delicate orange blossom and a subtle hop spice. Wheat is known for its contributions to the texture of beer, and that is no exception in this lager, it contributes a round creamy mouthfeel that fades into a pleasantly dry finish with just a hint of refreshing bitterness.

Grains: Pilsner, Murphy & Rude Soft Red Wheat, Munich, Acid
Hops: Greenmont Hopworks, Greenmont Mother
Yeast: House Lager

Style: West Coast Pilsner    
ABV: 5.8%    
IBU: 45    
Package: Draft Only

West Coast Pilsner combines the technique, process, and ingredients of two styles, to produce a beer with the crispness of a Pilsner and the hop intensity of a West Coast IPA. To brew ours we combined equal parts European Pilsner malt and Murphy & Rude English Pale. We then hopped it aggressively with a blend of Citra, Vista, and El Dorado and fermented with our preferred House Lager yeast.

The resulting beer has a fruity, hop forward, aroma of mandarin orange, ripe pear, and lemon zest. Past the hop notes, softer malt tones of toasted pretzel and fresh bread support the aromatics of the beer. The flavor displays specific fruity notes of ripe honeydew, floral lychee, and Asian pear. There is an orange pith like bitterness, but it slowly mellows, as the beer dries on the palate, producing a crisp snappy finish.      

Grains: Murphy & Rude English Pale, Pilsner, Murphy & Rude Chit Malt, Acid Malt
Hops: Citra, Vista, El Dorado
Yeast: House Lager

Style: American Amber Lager  
ABV: 5.5%    
IBU: 24    
Package: Draft & 500ml Bottles to-go!!

Designed to showcase both malt and hops in a harmonious balance, American Amber Lagers combine toasty malt tones with enough hop character and bitterness to remain refreshing. Ours was brewed with a blend of Murphy & Rude malts, and traditional American hops, that together, produce an aroma of multigrain bread and biscuits, alongside fruity notes of red apple and fresh pine needles. The flavor is hoppy at first, leading with spice and resin, but this is quickly subdued by sweeter tones of burnt sugar and whole wheat bread. Up front there is a mild sweetness but it is followed by enough bitterness to produce and even balance, and a pleasantly dry finish.    

Grains: Pilsner, Red Malt, Murphy & Rude Biscuit, Honey Malt, Murphy & Rude Crystal, Murphy & Rude Cimmerian Wheat
Hops: Simcoe
Yeast: House Lager

Style: Graf    
ABV: 4.4%    
IBU: 12    
Package: Draft & 500ml Bottles to-go!!

Anytime we get to collaborate on a beer we try to do our best to incorporate elements from all the partners involved. So when we started talking with Blue Bee Cider about a collaboration, we knew we wanted to produce something that had elements of both beer and cider. Which is why we chose to make a Graf, a hybrid of both fermented beverages. This particular Graf is modeled off an English Mild Ale, but in addition to a blend of some of our favorite Murphy & Rude Malts we also added, almost equal parts, apple pomace to the mash. 

Pomace is what remains from apples after they have been pressed for cider. The pomace we used for this project was from Hewe's Crab and Cox's Orange Pippin Apples, grown by Stony Creek Orchard, and pressed by Blue Bee Cider. Mashing the pomace with the grains this way allowed us to extract some of the remaining sugar from the apples as well as much of their flavor and aroma. The resulting beer is lighter bodied and drier than a typical English Mild, but still has plenty of toasty malt tones, accompanied by fruity apple and cider notes throughout.     

Grains: Murphy & Rude English Pale, Murphy & Rude Honey Light, Murphy & Rude Brown, Murphy & Rude Crystal 260
Hops: American Noble Simcoe
Yeast: House Ale
Other: Hewe's Crab & Cox's Orange Pippin Apple Pomace from Blue Bee Cider

Style: IPA      
ABV: 7.5%       
IBU: 9      
Package: Draft & 32oz. Crowler Cans to-go!!

Tricknology is a hop forward IPA primarily hopped with Azacca and Mosaic. It smells strongly of both tropical and orchard fruit with a ripe mango note throughout. The flavor is more citrus forward, tasting of orange juice, ripe pineapple, and subtle pine. Its soft mouthfeel is owed to a high percentage of oats and wheat but the hops provide enough bitterness to leave the beer with balance. 

Grains: Pilsner, Murphy & Rude Malted Wheat, Flaked Oats, Flaked Wheat, Chit Malt, Acid Malt,
Hops: Azacca, Cashmere, Citra, Mosaic  
Yeast: Kveik

Style: Black IPA    
ABV: 7.5%    
IBU: 42    
Package: Draft & 32oz. Crowler cans to-go!!

Shadow Crop is a Black IPA that is intended to represent the harmonious merging of roasty dark malts and pungent hops. A combination of Columbus and Chinook deliver an aroma that is dank and woody with top notes of pine resin and orange peel. Behind this Murphy & Rude specialty malts layer in tones of cold brew coffee and hints of char. The flavor is robust and leads with grapefruit, but also showcases earthy, spicy, notes and a restrained black coffee character. While there is a medium body, it is blanched against a dry finish that showcases a growing bitterness and light roasty tones.

Grains: Pale, Murphy & Rude Honey Light, Murphy & Rude Crystal 15, Chocolate Malt, Black Malt, Murphy & Rude Cimmerian Wheat
Hops: Columbus, Chinook, Simcoe, Cryo Pop
Yeast: House Ale

Style: Brown Ale    
ABV: 6.0    
IBU: 30    
Package: Draft & 500ml Bottles

Turf & Twig is a dark semi-sweet brown ale that leans toward the darker side of the style. The aroma is nutty with notes of baker’s cocoa, toffee, and pumpernickel bread. The flavor has a rich maltiness that highlights nutty, bready, grains and subtle roasted tones. The medium body fades to a clean finish with just a hint of sweetness.

Grains: Pale Malt, Munich, Murphy & Rude Brown Malt, Honey Malt, Chocolate Malt, Crystal Malt, Acid Malt
Hops: Nugget
Yeast: House Ale

Style: Smoked Stout    
ABV: 7.0    
IBU: 50    
Package: Draft & 500ml Bottles to-go!!

We typically try to approach smoked beers with a delicate hand, hoping to produce beers that are approachable first and smokey second, this is not the case for this stout. We relied on the rich profile of our American Stout to stand up to the largest quantity of smoked malt we have ever used. The base of Murphy & Rude’s English Pale malt sweetens and tempers the robust character of Cherrywood Smoked Malt, producing a balanced, but very smoke forward, stout. 

The aroma is a blend of charred and roasty aromas with specific notes of bonfire, espresso, and treacle. The flavor showcases classic stout flavors of roasted cocoa nibs and dark roast coffee alongside a sweet, fruity, bacon-like smoke character. The end result is a smooth, dark, ale with a medium, semi-sweet, body that is balanced by a robust smoky profile and mellow dry finish. 

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

Style: Gose    
ABV: 5.6%    
IBU: 10      
Package: Draft & 500ml Bottles to-go!!

We do our best to make good use of the limited space we have for growing fruit, and after several years of tending to our trees and brambles we finally had a large enough crop to make a beer with them. While we grow many different things, our blackberries and plums tend to be the most bountiful, and their complementary flavors made them a natural addition to our mixed culture Gose.

The base Gose was brewed with Murphy & Rude barley and organic raw wheat, grown just down the road, from Greater Richmond Grains. It was fermented with our wild-caught culture, before being aged for just over six months in oak. After this aging we then conditioned it on over 300 pounds of Fine Creek grown blackberries and plums. Like all of our mixed culture beers, we then packaged it and allowed it to naturally carbonate and condition in bottles and kegs.

The finished beer has a fruity aroma of fresh plums, grape skins, and blackberry blossoms. The flavor is sour with specific notes of tart wild blackberries, green plums, and freshly squeezed lemon juice. While there is a juice-like texture to the body of this beer, the level of acidity, and subtle tannins from the blackberries, make it feel much lighter, and dry out the finish considerably, producing a tart, refreshing profile with subtle fruit notes throughout.  

Grains: Murphy & Rude 6-Row Pale, Greater Richmond Grains Raw Organic Wheat, Murphy & Rude Virginia Pils, Flaked Wheat
Hops: House Aged Hersbrucker, American Nobel Citra, El Dorado
Yeast: “Slashes” Wild Culture from Ashland, VA, Belgian Ale Yeast
Other: Fine Creek Grown Blackberries, Plums, Figs, Blueberries, & Cherries, Fresh Ground Coriander, Mediterranean Sea Salt, Sweet Orange Peel

Style: Bière de Coupage  
ABV: 6.7%    
IBU: 20      
Package: Draft & 750ml Bottles

Bière de Coupage is a phrase that has been used in different ways over the years, but in general refers to a blend of young and old beer. Inspired by this tradition of blending, we took fresh Avec Frère 7, Belgian Style Dubbel, and blended it with two beers that both spent over two years in barrels, each conditioning with a different culture. This blend allows us to display mature mixed culture beer, with a complex profile and acidity, alongside fresher beer with a mellower profile and balancing bitterness, that would normally stunt the development of our other mixed cultures.

The fruit forward aroma leads with notes of black plums, dried cherries, and red grapes but also has layers of sweet vanilla, toffee, and toasted malt. Meanwhile the flavor displays a much brighter acidity than the aroma would suggest, with tart notes of red currant and unripe raspberry, that slowly mellow into notes of red wine and burnt sugar. The body has mild round juice like quality but quickly fades to a dry finish with pleasant toasty oak notes and mild tannins. This is a beer that will continue to develop in bottles and can be enjoyed fresh or after some aging.  

Below are the beers blended in this year’s Bière de Coupage:

-Sour Red Ale, aged over two years in barrels with our “Slashes” Wild Culture

-Spelt Saison, aged two years in Blenheim Vineyards Petit Verdot Barrels with a single strain of Brettanomyces bruxellensis

-Avec Frère 7, Belgian Style Dubbel, fermented in stainless steel with Belgian Ale yeast

Grains: Murphy & Rude 6-Row Pale, Murphy & Rude Malted Spelt, Epiphany Malted Wheat, Greater Richmond Grains Organic Raw Wheat, Murphy & Rude Soft Red Wheat, Murphy & Rude Belgian Amber, Red Malt, Vienna, Crystal Malt,
Hops: American Nobel Citra, American Nobel Simcoe, Nugget, House Aged Hersbrucker,
Yeast: “Resettle” Culture, “Slashes” Wild Culture, Brettanomyces bruxellensis, House Saison, Belgian Ale, Lactobacillus Blend
Other: Belgian Candi Syrup

Style: Mixed Culture Farmhouse Ale 
ABV: 11.0%    
IBU: 20    
Package: Draft & 500ml Bottles to-go!!

This beer is a blend of a fresh, dark, Belgian inspired, Farmhouse Ale with a smaller portion of mature mixed culture beer that was aged in barrels for over two years. The fresher portion of the beer helps to temper the acidity and funkiness of the barrel aged portion, but still allows the complexity of the barrel aged portion to come through. The resulting beer is a varied blend of dark malt with mixed culture overtones and specific notes of tart cherry, dark chocolate, and baking spice.

Grains:Vienna, Pilsner, Red Malt, Special B, Murphy & Rude 6-Row Pale, Murphy & Rude Malted Spelt, Epiphany Malted Wheat, Greater Richmond Grains Organic Raw Wheat, Murphy & Rude Soft Red Wheat, Murphy & Rude Belgian Amber
Hops: Greenmont Mother, American Nobel Citra, American Nobel Simcoe, Nugget, House Aged Hersbrucker 
Yeast: “Resettle” Culture, “Slashes” Wild Culture, Brettanomyces bruxellensis, House Saison, Belgian Ale, Lactobacillus Blend
Other: Belgian Candi Syrup