Style: Helles Lager    
ABV: 4.5%    
IBU: 25    
Package: Draft Only

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: Pilsner    
ABV: 5.2%    
IBU: 30    
Package: Draft

A big part of what makes this Pilsner unique is that the hops used to make it weren’t just grown locally; they were found growing wild at Greenmont Hopworks. Genetically, the hops are completely American, lacking the European parentage common in most hops grown in North America. The bines grow longer than most commercial varieties, are more resistant to mildew, and harvest later in the season because they've adapted to our soil and weather. To showcase these Greenmont Mother hops we made a straight forward Pilsner with a base of Murphy & Rude Virginia Pils malt. The combination of ingredients in this style allows the subtlety and nuances of both ingredients to be on full display.  

The aroma is a beautiful blend of ripe bartlett pear alongside freesia blossoms and more subtle notes of sweetgrass and straw. Meanwhile, the flavor leads with herbal and spicy hop notes that giveaway to dried hay and jasmine-like flora tones. Overall, the flavor and aroma are well balanced, with a dry finish and enough mellow bitterness to accent it.

Grains: Murphy & Rude Virginia Pils, Chit, Honey Malt
Hops: Greenmont Hopworks Greenmont Mother, Greenmont Hopworks Chinook
Yeast: House Lager

Style: Hazy IPA    
ABV: 7.0%    
IBU: 7    
Package: Draft

This Hazy IPA was designed to showcase two newer hop varieties: Alora & Erebus. We only added hops in a chilled 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 red wheat, and tons of flaked oats, to produce a soft body. The result is a beer with predominant notes of candied orange, yuzu and pomelo, and more subtle tones of tropical fruit, dried blueberries and floral rose. It has a soft round mouthfeel, and a bittersweet, grapefruit pith like finish.

Grains: Pilsner, Murphy & Rude Soft Red Wheat, Flaked Oats, Acid Malt
Hops: Alora, Erebus
Yeast: Kveik

Style: American Stout    
ABV: 6.4%    
IBU: 50    
Package: Draft

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: Rye Lager    
ABV: 5.0%    
IBU: 35    
Package: 500ml Bottles

Rye is so commonly paired with darker malts that many folks seem to think that the two are related. The reality is that rye adds an array of unique flavors, aromas, and textural elements that do not have to be paired with richer dark malts. We brewed this light hued lager with a healthy amount of Murphy & Rude’s malted Rye to help illustrate what we love about rye, and to show what it is capable of on its own. 

The resulting beer has mild aromas of soda cracker and toasted seeds alongside a pleasant fruitiness from Mosaic hops. The flavor brings our more traditional rye spice character, but also showcases the pleasant clean earthiness that rye can deliver. The malted rye also allows this dry lager to have a full, almost slick, mouthfeel which is balanced with a refreshing bitterness and a crisp snappy finish. 

Grains: Pilsner, Murphy & Rude Abruzzi Rye Malt, Flaked Rye, Acid Malt
Hops: Mosaic
Yeast: House Lager

Style: Wheat Lager    
ABV: 4.8%    
IBU: ?    
Package: Draft & 500ml Bottles to-go!!

Virginia isn’t ideally suited for the cultivation of hops, so it is no small undertaking that we tend to a modest hop yard every year. Our climate, daylight hours, and soil aren’t quite right for them, but despite this we are able to get a reasonable harvest each season. This requires a significant investment of time and effort from many members of our team, and we are constantly learning and trying to improve our methods for cultivating them. On top of the difficulty of growing them, they also present a number of challenges to harvest and use. We pick them all by hand and work with them fresh from the field, meaning that we brew with them no more than 24 hours from when we pick them.    

Regardless of the work involved, we take pride in our hops, and the beers we brew with them. We feel that this process, like many of the ones we use in the production of our beers, helps to keep us firmly rooted in beer’s agricultural lineage, and it acts as a powerful reminder of the many hands that labor so that we are able to make beer. On top of all of this, we find that the Cascade that we grow has some unique nuances and is unlike Cascade grown anywhere else in the world.

This Farmhouse Lager was brewed as a celebration of these hops. We modeled it after a Wheat Lager and brewed it with Virginia grown barley and wheat, malted by our friends at Murphy & Rude, in Charlottesville. It has a floral aroma, leading with hydrangea and lilac, that is balanced against notes of bread dough and unripe pear. The flavor begins with a mild sweetness and displays freshly baked bread, citrus blossom, and sun-dried hay. Wheat is known for its contributions to the texture of beer, and that is no exception in this lager, where it contributes a round creamy mouthfeel that fades into a pleasantly dry finish with just a hint of refreshing bitterness.

Grains: Murphy & Rude Virginia Pils, Murphy & Rude Soft Red Wheat, Munich, Acid
Hops: Fine Creek Grown Fresh Cascade
Yeast: House Lager

Style: Belgian Style Wit    
ABV: 4.7%    
IBU: 15    
Package: 500ml Bottles

Our Belgian Wit is brewed with Murphy & Rude Soft White Wheat, made from a variety of wheat that Murphy & Rude brought back from the brink of extinction. The variety, Venus, was developed at Virginia Tech in the 2000s, but the rights to it were sold to the Michigan Crop Improvement Association in 2012. Despite hopes of broader uptake by the milling industry, MCIA moved on to other varieties but not before Murphy & Rude secured the last available certified seed stock in 2019. Working with Grapewood Farm (Montross) to sow initial trial acreage, licensing the variety with Virginia Tech in 2021, and sowing additional certified seed stock with Virginia Crop Improvement Association in 2022, Murphy & Rude had successfully brought Venus back to Virginia.

Venus’ bread-dough forward profile makes it incredibly well suited for a Belgian style, and was a natural addition to our Wit. The aroma is fruit-forward with specific notes of Meyer lemon, sweet orange, and rising bread dough. The flavor starts off sweet with a floral honey tone that fades into orange zest, before giving way to subtle clove in the finish. The beer is medium bodied and round on the palate, but it has a vigorous natural carbonation that helps to produce a refreshing dry finish with minimal bitterness. 

Grains: Pilsner, Murphy & Rude Soft White Wheat, Flaked Wheat
Hops: American Noble Citra
Yeast: Belgian Wit
Other: Coriander, Orange Peel, Lemon Peel

Style: Saison    
ABV: 5%    
IBU: 30    
Package: Draft & 500ml Bottles to-go!!

Featuring Murphy & Rude malted spelt and German Saphir hops, our House Saison is a classic interpretation of the style. It has an aromatic bouquet that is floral and fruity with faint tones of white peppercorn and sundried hay. It is dry with a subtle bitterness that helps to elevate flavors of unripe pear and bread dough. The spelt contributes to a soft texture which is paired with a lively carbonation producing a round and refreshing beer.

Grains: Pilsner, Murphy & Rude Malted Spelt, Acid Malt  
Hops: Saphir, Nugget 
Yeast: House Saison

Style: American Amber Lager  
ABV: 5.5%    
IBU: 24    
Package: 500ml Bottles

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: Norwegian Farmhouse Ale  
ABV: 9.0%    
IBU: 20    
Package: 500ml Bottles to-go!!

This beer was inspired by the Farmhouse brewing traditions of Norway and brewed in collaboration with our friends at the Wish You Were Beer Show, a live weekly craft beer show that you can catch every Thursday on YouTube.

Vossaøl is an old Norwegian farmhouse style that is traditionally brewed with juniper and pale colored malt, but boiled for a prolonged period of time to produce a mild sweetness and unique smokey profile. We brewed ours with a combination of Murphy & Rude Alderwood Smoked Pale and Virginia Pils before boiling it for four hours. For flavor we also added freshly harvested juniper boughs, as well as Greenmont Mother hops from Greenmont Hopworks.

The result is a truly unique marriage of unlikely elements that provides layers of complexity. The aroma is a boisterous blend of fruity black currant, herbal juniper, and woody alderwood smoke. The flavor has waves of juniper boughs, roasted apples, and burning oak logs alongside a semi sweet malt profile of freshly baked bread. Despite some sweetness up front, the finish is dry with a lingering note that alternates between subtle smoke and juniper.  

Grains: Murphy & Rude Alderwood Smoked Pale, Murphy & Rude Virginia Pils
Hops: Greenmont Hopworks, Greenmont Mother
Yeast: Kveik
Other: Juniper Boughs (Juniperus virginiana) A note on this, some people call this Eastern Red Cedar, it is not actually cedar but instead is a variety of juniper native to our region.

Style: Dry Irish Stout   
ABV: 5.0%    
IBU: 25    
Package: 500ml Bottles 

Despite a dark color and flavorful roasty profile, Dry Irish Stouts are meant to be incredibly easy drinking and remarkably smooth. To achieve this, we started with Murphy & Rude’s English Pale malt and added a bit of their Baker’s Cocoa, alongside English Roasted Barley. We then hopped it gently and fermented it with our preferred house ale strain. 

This produced a dark hued beer with an aroma of cold brew coffee, cocoa nibs, and shortbread cookies. The flavor is similar with a profile reminiscent of iced coffee, baker’s chocolate, and campfire toast. It has a creamy texture, soft round mouthfeel, and a mellow dry finish with a hint of roasty bitterness.     

Grains: Murphy & Rude English Pale, Flaked Oats, Murphy & Rude Baker’s Cocoa, Roasted Barley
Hops: American Nobel Citra
Yeast: House Ale

Style: Bière de Printemps  
ABV: 7.5%   
IBU: 42     
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 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 Saison, Brettanomyces bruxellensis
Other: Clear Belgian Candi Sugar

Style: Bière de Printemps  
ABV: 6.5%   
IBU: 35     
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 vintage is a Farmhouse Ale, brewed with Fine Creek grown coriander, Greenmont Mother hops, and a base of Murphy & Rude 6-Row Pale and Buena Vista Corn. It was fermented with RVA Yeast Labs, Ghost Ale yeast before being packaged and allowed to naturally condition with a strain of Brettanomyces, also from RVA Yeast Lab.

The result is a fruity, citrusy, display of Brett alongside, a soft round texture and minimal bitterness. Natural carbonation balances the body, keeping it dry and refreshing. Making this year one of the most approachable and easy drinking Brett beers we have made. The aroma displays meyer lemon alongside dried pineapple and fragrant ripe pawpaw. The flavor has some funkier Brett undertones, but they are balanced by more prominent notes of lemon zest, dried orange blossom, and freshly cut straw.

Grains: Murphy & Rude 6-Row Pale, Murphy & Rude Malted Corn: Buena Vista
Hops: Greenmont Mother 
Yeast: RVA Yeast Labs, Ghost Ale, RVA Yeast Labs Brettanomyces “Beersel”
Other: Fine Creek Grown Coriander, Grains of Paradise

Style: Bière de Vin  
ABV: 6.8%   
IBU: 30     
Package: 750ml Bottles

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 Vin  
ABV: 6.8%   
IBU: 7     
Package: 750ml Bottles

This Bière de Vin is a blend of two Farmhouse Ale that we conditioned on Merlot and Pinot Noir grape skins from our friends at Blenheim Vineyards. One was fermented with a co-pitch of Saison yeast and our house wild culture, while the other was aged in wine barrels for two years. After blending they were both conditioned on the grape skins for six months before being packaged and naturally carbonated.

Conditioning on the Merlot and Pinot Noir pomace transformed the beer significantly, lending it a beautiful plum hue and a fruit-forward aroma of blackberry, sweet cherry, and red grape. The flavor has a pleasant subtle tartness and specific notes of cranberry, pomegranate, and dry red wine. At first sip, there is a smooth round body, but this is cut by natural carbonation, and an incredibly dry finish with noticeable wine-like tannins.   

Grains: Murphy & Rude 6-Row Pale, Murphy & Rude Virginia Pils, Epiphany Malted Triticale, Murphy & Rude Biscuit  
Hops: Nugget, House Aged Hersbrucker
Yeast: “Slashes” Wild Culture, House Saison, Kveik 
Other: Blenheim Vineyards Merlot & Pinot Noir Pomace

Style: Bière de Coupage  
ABV: 6.2%   
IBU: 10     
Package: 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 younger, hop-forward Virginia Wet Hop Saison and blended it with two beers that both spent time aging 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 aroma is dominated by tart notes of red currant, ripe raspberry, and fruit forward red wine. Meanwhile the flavor displays a softer acidity than the aroma would suggest, and has a balanced profile of cranberry, fresh lemonade, black cherry, and hints of oak driven vanilla that is cut by an ever present but balanced tartness. The body has a round juice like quality but quickly fades to a dry finish thanks to a mild bitterness and subtle oaky tannins.

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

Golden Sour Ale, aged four years in barrels with our “Resettle” Culture

Sour Red Ale, aged for 15 months in barrels with our “Slashes” Wild Culture

Virginia Wet Hop Saison, fermented in stainless steel with Ghost Ale yeast from RVA Yeast Labs

Grains: Murphy & Rude VA Pils, Murphy & Rude 6-Row Pale, Murphy & Rude Malted Spelt, Epiphany Malted Wheat, Greater Richmond Grains Organic Raw Wheat, Red Malt, Vienna, Crystal Malt 
Hops: L&M Farms Fresh Comet, Cascade, Nugget, House Aged Hersbrucker,
Yeast: RVA Yeast Labs, Ghost Ale, “Resettle” Culture, “Slashes” Wild Culture, House Saison
Other: Belgian Candi Syrup

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

…full notes coming soon…

Style: American Sour Ale  
ABV: 5.4%  
IBU: 10  
Package: 500ml Bottles 

This beer is a blend of two different barrels of Norwegian Farmhouse Ale that were both brewed entirely with Murphy & Rude 6-Row Pale, and fermented with Kviek yeast, before being barrel aged for just over two years, with two unique cultures. Our “Slashes” wild culture, caught in Ashland VA, dominates the aroma, leading with a tart profile of peach skin, red currants, and fresh cranberries. The flavor, on the other hand, displays more of our “Resettle” culture with a sour profile of gooseberry, lemon juice, and green plum. This blend is light bodied, and its tart profile gives it a refreshing character that is accented by subtle tannins and a dry finish.

Grains: Murphy & Rude 6-Row Pale
Hops: Nugget
Yeast: Kviek, “Slashes” Wild Culture from Ashland, VA, Resettle Culture
Other: Foraged Virginia Pine Tips, Foraged Loblolly Pine Tips

Style: Belgian Sour Brown    
ABV: 6.0%   
IBU: 20    
Package: 500ml Bottles

We brewed this beer to pay tribute to the Brown Ales of Belgium, which we adore for their complexity and wide range of profiles. To achieve its beautiful brown hue, and desired malt profile, we relied on a blend of some of our favorite Murphy & Rude speciality malts. We then fermented this beer with our preferred Belgian Ale yeast, before letting it condition for almost six months with a mixed culture that blends our house wild culture with Lactobacillus and Bretanomyces.

The resulting beer has an aroma that combines cocoa nibs and toffee with fruity notes of dried cherries and damson plums. The flavor leads with a notable sourness and specific notes of tamarind, caramel, tart cherries, and bready malt. It has a medium body that is cut by a drying acidity and pleasantly clean finish.   

Grains: Vienna, Flaked Oats, Murphy & Rude Biscuit Malt, Murphy & Rude Brown Malt, Murphy & Rude Chocolate Wheat
Hops: American Nobel Simcoe
Yeast: Belgian Ale, “Slashes” Wild Culture, Brettanomyces bruxellensis, Lactobacillus Blend