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: 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: Hazy IPA    
ABV: 6.8%    
IBU: 13    
Package: Draft & 16oz. 4-packs to-go!!!

Holtzman Effect was brewed with a combination of New Zealand Nelson Sauvin and Australian Vic Secret hops. Together they deliver striking and pronounced elements of passionfruit, pineapple, key lime, white peach, and red berries. This incredible aroma and flavor is paired with minimal bitterness and a soft full body, thanks to a generous addition of Murphy & Rude Soft Red Wheat. 

Grains: Pilsner, Murphy & Rude Soft Red Wheat, Flaked Oats, Acid Malt
Hops: Nelson Sauvin, Vic Secret
Yeast: Kviek

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: 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