Style: Historical Beer: Small Beer  
ABV: 2.8%    
IBU: 15    
Package: Draft & 500ml Bottles to-go!!

In celebration of VA250 , and as part of the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild Revolutionary Brews program, we brewed a historically inspired beer based on George Washington’s 1757 recipe for small beer.

Much of the history of brewing in the colonial period involves folks having to be fairly innovative, because they didn’t have more traditional brewing ingredients on hand. The original recipe for Washington’s Small Beer is a good example of this innovation. It is a molasses beer, flavored with hops and brewed with wheat bran, it contains no malted grains and relies primarily on molasses as its source of sugar.

Fortunately for us we do have access to malt, so for our version we used malt as our primary sugar source and added locally grown, pressed, and boiled Sorghum Molasses from Bear Bottom Farm for flavor and aroma. Keeping to the original recipe, we still brewed it with wheat bran, and flavored it with an early addition of VA grown hops from Greenmont Hopworks.

In choosing the malt to use, we still wanted something that felt historically accurate, so we turned to historical records from that time period. Records mentioned that bere barley was being grown in VA for use in brewing and distilling. Colonial Americans mainly grew bere barely, a hardy 6-Row variety, because it was suited for cold climates and poor soil. The tradition of brewing with 6-Row is still alive in America and we were fortunate to be able to use Murphy & Rude 6-Row Pale Malt as the base malt for this recipe, but the pale color and lighter flavor of this malt wasn’t true to the brewing traditions of the time. “Brown” malt was still the predominant base malt being used in the colonies, so we added some additional Murphy & Rude specialty malts to try to reproduce that profile

The resulting beer is a refreshing small beer with fruity aromas of crushed red apples, multigrain toast and buckwheat honey. The flavor is similar, leading with toasted biscuits and sundried straw before giving way to freshly pressed cider. While very light bodied, a mild natural carbonation gives some fullness to the palate before shifting to a pleasantly dry finish.  

Grains: Murphy & Rude 6-Row Pale, Murphy & Rude Brown Malt, Murphy & Rude Melanoidin, Wheat Bran
Hops: Greenmont Hopworks Crystal
Yeast: House Ale
Other: Bear Bottom Farms Sorghum Molasses

Style: American Wheat Ale      
ABV: 4.8%     
IBU: 20     
Package: Draft & 32oz. Crowler Cans to-go!!

American Wheat Ales owe their heritage to the Weissbiers of Germany, but while both feature significant amounts of wheat, the American version allows clean fermenting yeast to provide a more neutral background note. Additionally American brewers adapted the style to have a more significant hop presence. The resulting beer is medium bodied with a slightly creamy mouthfeel and a dry and refreshing finish. Our interpretation of the style has flavors and aromas that are bready and doughy, with a grainy wheat character from Murphy & Rude Malted Wheat. These elements are elevated by the citrusy and floral characteristics of Greenmont Hopworks Cascade.

Grains: Pilsner, Murphy & Rude Soft Red Wheat
Hops: Greenmont Cascade
Yeast: House Ale

Style: Rotbier    
ABV: 5.8%    
IBU: 28    
Package: Draft & 32oz. Crowler Cans to-go!!

Rotbier, in German, simply means red beer, but it generally refers to a lesser known lager that derives its amber, to red, hue entirely from malted barley. This style is closely associated with the city where it originated: Nuremberg. Traditionally it is known for having a rich malt profile with notes of toasted bread, caramel, and biscuit. This is paired with a mild hop character that helps to create a clean and crisp finish. Our interpretation of this style has all of those elements, owing its color and semi sweet body to a blend of German Malts and Murphy & Rude’s Belgian Amber. To this we added German noble hops, before fermenting it with our preferred house lager strain. The result is a refreshing and easy drinking lager with a malt forward flavor and a floral and spicy hop aroma.

 Grains: Pilsner, Red Malt, Murphy & Rude Belgian Amber, Crystal Malt
Hops: Hallertau Mittelfrüh
Yeast: House Lager

Style: Roggenbier    
ABV: 6.0%    
IBU: 15    
Package: Draft & 500ml Bottles

This year the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild launched an all–new Professional–Amateur (Pro-Am) collaboration category for the 2026 Virginia Craft Beer Cup. The goal of this category is to showcase the innovative spirit and shared talent of Virginia’s breweries and homebrewers. In celebration of this new category, we brewed this collaboration with Mike Drago, a talented home brewer and Fine Creek regular who had previously won a medal for his Roggenbier in the 2024 Dominion Cup.

Roggenbier is akin to a dark Hefeweizen but brewed with rye rather than wheat. This produces a beer with a round body, mild dark malt tones, some pleasant rye spice, and a refreshing finish that is accented by yeast forward notes of banana and clove. Drago’s recipe is true to style and combines traditional German malts and rye, with Hefeweizen yeast, which we sourced from RVA Yeast labs.

The resulting beer has an aroma that blends rye spice, subtle vanilla, and clove with fruit forward notes of pear and banana. The flavor displays a wider range of malt, with notes of toasted pumpernickel, Tellicherry peppercorns, and whole wheat biscuits mingling with fruity and spicy supporting yeast notes. While initially greeting the palate with a fruity round body, the finish is dry and refreshing with a hint of noble hop spice and mild bitterness.  

Grains: Munich, Malted Rye, Pale, Caramel Malts, Roasted Malts
Hops: Styrian Golding Celeia
Yeast: RVA Yeast Labs 401 Hefeweizen I

… full notes coming soon …

Style: Wheatwine   
ABV: 11.8%    
IBU: 30    
Package: Draft & 500ml Bottles to-go!!

This uniquely American style was created with the goal of replacing the hop forwardness of English Barleywine with a more fruit forward yeast presence, and a lighter color. Ours is a strong, malt forward ale brewed with a massive amount of Murphy & Rude Soft Red Wheat. It has pronounced fruity aromas of candied pineapples, fresh glazed pastries, and cooked cherries. Its rich sweet body has notes of caramel, peach, and honey. The beer finishes with an ample sweetness that is balanced by a subtle warmth and a soft carbonation.

Grains: Pale, Murphy & Rude Soft Red Wheat, Murphy & Rude CaraMel Light, Honey Malt, Acid Malt
Hops: Alora, American Noble Citra
Yeast: House Ale
Other: Dry Malt Extract, Maltodextrin 

Style: IPA    
ABV: 7.0%    
IBU: 8    
Package: Draft & 32oz. Crowler Cans to-go!!

Vitalism is a hazy IPA dry hopped with Mosaic and Cashmere. Combined these two hops produce a bright aroma of tropical fruit, with notes of freshly cut papaya and peach nectar. The flavor carries some of these fruity tropical tones but also introduces bergamot, citrus zest, and mild floral notes. Vitalism has a medium body and a round mouthfeel that is paired with enough bitterness to avoid feeling too rich.      

Grains: Pilsner, Flaked Oats, Flaked Wheat, Chit Malt, Acid Malt
Hops: Mosaic, Cashmere, Cryopop  
Yeast: Kveik

Style: New Zealand IPA    
ABV: 6.8%    
IBU: 50    
Package: Draft & 32oz. Crowler Cans to-go!!

Prince of Parties has always been a celebration of New Zealand hops, but for the first time we chose to model this recipe after a West Coast IPA. We felt that a more neutral yeast profile, and a snappy bitter finish, would better showcase what makes hops grown in New Zealand unique. The resulting beer does not disappoint, and the specific hops notes are much more distinct.

The aroma is a blend of fruity and citrus hops with notes of dried limes, Valencia orange, and subtle tropical fruit. The flavor has a hint of sweetness up front but slowly fades into a pithy bitterness and dry finish, transitioning from candied lime to white grape and eventually finishing with bitter and citrusy grapefruit juice.

Grains: Pilsner, Acid Malt 
Hops: Moutere, Nelson Sauvin, Motueka, Taiheke 
Yeast: House Ale

Style: Belgian Style IPA    
ABV: 7.0%    
IBU: 38    
Package: Draft & 32oz. Crowler Cans to-go!!

This beer highlights a combination of our favorite elements of IPAs with the traditions and methods of Belgian brewing. Leaning on a blend of American and New Zealand hops, the aroma is fruity and floral with leading notes of peach and apple blossom, but background tones of citrus and Belgian yeast help to round out the aroma. The flavor strikes a delicate balance between hop and yeast character, showcasing fresh grapefruit and dried lime alongside white peppercorn and and subdued clove. Finally the finish is very dry, akin to a Saison in balance, with subdued but evident spicy yeast notes and an assertive but pleasant bitterness.

Grains: Pilsner, Murphy & Rude Soft White Wheat, Flaked Wheat, Murphy & Rude Crimson Roast
Hops: Cashmere, Motueka, Citra
Yeast: House Saison
Other: Dextrose

Style: Grisette    
ABV: 5.0%    
IBU: 2    
Package: Draft & 500ml Bottles to-go!!

To produce this beer, we conditioned a blend of two batches of mixed culture Grisette with a massive addition of red grape skins from our friends at Blenheim Vineyards. The grapes had been pressed for use in Blenheim’s Rosé, and were a blend of Malbec & Merlot. Traditionally red wines are fermented and/or conditioned on the skins, but Rosé is unique because it is produced with very minimal skin contact. This means that when we produce beers with grapes that have been pressed for Rosé, they take on a lot more color, tannins, flavor, and structure from conditioning with those skins.

As a result, this Grisette pours a deep reddish purple and has an expressive tart aroma of red currants, raspberries, and lingonberries. Despite the sharp aroma, the flavor is rounder and is a mix of plum, red wine, and tart cherry. The culture delivers a subtle acidity that pairs beautifully with red wine like tannins, and a more subdued minerality, to produce an easy drinking tart beer with layers of red berry notes.    

Grains: Murphy & Rude 6-Row Pale, Murphy & Rude English Pale, Murphy & Rude Soft Red Wheat
Hops: House Aged Hersbrucker
Yeast: “Slashes” Wild Culture from Ashland, VA, House Saison
Other: Blenheim Vineyards Rosé red grape skins: Malbec & Merlot

Style: Brett Saison    
ABV: 6.0%    
IBU: 30    
Package: Draft & 500ml Bottles to-go!!

Chamomile, the whole plant, roots to flowers, has been used in brewing for thousands of years, and predates the use of hops. Today most brewers only use the flower heads, and miss out on much of the plant's potential. By growing it ourselves and working with the whole plant we are able to showcase the depth of flavor and aroma that this plant is capable of.

To showcase our chamomile, we combined it with a Saison that we open fermented in barrels from Blenheim Vineyards and brewed with Greater Richmond Grains organic raw wheat, as well as Murphy & Rude 6-Row Pale. On its own it's an incredibly dry Saison with some oaky tannins and robust fruity esters, but the chamomile transforms the beer substantially. The chamomile delivers a fruit-forward character that is herbal and woody, with delicate floral notes of tea and more subtle tropical tones. The Brett accents these characteristics and adds notes of white wine. These flavors and aromas come together in a dry, crisp, body that is accented by mild bitterness and a generous, but soft, natural carbonation.

Grains: Murphy & Rude 6-Row Pale, Greater Richmond Grains Organic Raw Wheat
Hops: Barbe Rouge
Yeast: House Saison, Brettanomyces bruxellensis
Other: Fine Creek Grown and Dried Chamomile

Style: Bière de Coupage  
ABV: 7.0%    
IBU: 5      
Package: Draft & 750ml Bottles to-go!!

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 a freshly fermented Sour Red Ale and blended it with two beers that both spent over twenty months 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 blackberry, tamarind, and white cranberry, with subtle hints of clove and oak in the background. The flavor displays a much brighter acidity than the aroma would suggest, with tart notes of fresh lemon, sour cherry, and crabapple, that slowly mellow into notes of red wine and dried fruit. 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:

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

• Dark Sour, aged over one and a half years in barrels with our “Resettle” Culture

• Sour Red Ale, fermented and aged in stainless steel with Belgian Ale yeast and a Lactobacillus blend

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 Pungo Creek Bloody Butcher Corn, Murphy & Rude Belgian Amber, Red Malt, Vienna, Crystal Malt
Hops: House Aged Hersbrucker
Yeast: “Slashes” Wild Culture, “Resettle” Culture, Belgian Ale, Kveik, Lactobacillus Blend, Brettanomyces bruxellensis
Other: Belgian Candi Syrup