PappyVanWise

One of the best places to eat without a reservation is the bar at Belmont Food Shop. It's a few blocks away from the VMFA in the museum District. It's a price fixe 3 course meal (I think $35 is still the going rate) and they probably can't seat more than 30 people at a time. The tables are for reservations, but since everyone going there basically has a reservation there's not a lot of patrons at the bar waiting for a table, like you'll find at Roosevelt or Heritage. The relatively new Brenner Pass (which Don references above) also has a pretty big bar area for walk-ins, and they turnover their tables pretty fast there. Brenner Pass is in the Scott's Addition area, so you'd only really walk their if you were going to some breweries.

Basically everything posted within the past year looks to still be valid except for Magpie. They closed towards the end of 2015, but Owen Lane opened Vagabond a few months ago, and won chef of the year at the local restaurant awards. L'Opossum was probably the best meal I've had this past year, but the acclaim it has gotten has made getting a reservation a little more difficult, I'd be happy to help out if there's anything more specific you're looking for, gibmrm. Here's the list of this year's winners http://www.styleweekly.com/ShortOrderBlog/archives/2016/02/22/vagabonds-owen-lane-wins-chef-of-the-year-at-the-2016-elby-awards

And here's why everyone should come by my store. Found this just sitting on the shelf at the ABC store three doors over. The clerk said they got three bottles, and I can't believe the first person didn't buy all three of them. They were at normal retail price, which was spectacular. And yes, I do now own two bottles of this gem.

You might want to try DuClaw Colossus, which has nothing in common with 120 other than being a 12 oz bottle and a 17%+ ABV. The Avery Rumpkin and PumpKYN were also 15%+ and in 12 oz bottles. And while I'm not familiar with their entire lineup, Brewdog takes pride in bumping up the ABV on their beers to extreme levels. They might have an IPA that fits the bill.

Working at a bottle shop this past few months as giving me perspective on how quick word can get out about a new beer and how quickly people will gobble it up. We haven't yet been open for Hopslam season or Kentucky Breakfast Stout time, but we've seen our occasional DogFish Head 120 case or some fresh Maine Lunch get bought out in an hour. Along with those standard limited runs, Stone's new collaboration Mocha Stout has been one of the fastest selling "new" beers I've seen. It started with a solid review from a California beer columnist, then a 97 from the crowd on Beer Advocate, a 95 from the Alstrom Brothers at the same site, then a 99 on RateBeer. We sold out of two cases within 48 hours, our second 2 cases over the next three days, and things have finally calmed down as we're halfway through our 6th case heading into the end of this week. To capitalize on the buzz, we also put a keg on for growler fills which should be kicked later this afternoon. After all the build up and hype though, this beer definitely underwhelmed me. It has a lot going on in it for sure, a nice coffee stout base with the addition of chocolate, cinnamon, nutmeg, chile peppers. They're mimicking a Mexican hot chocolate, according to the original home brewer's recipe. There's already a much more limited and well-made style of this beer in Westbrook's Mexican Cake Imperial Stout, and I can't help but see this as an admirable, just not as good, imitation. From the bottle into my glass I was overwhelmed with the cinnamon. It felt like it was sprinkled on dry and sitting on top of the drink, and 50% of the flavor of the first taste. After that it mellowed a bit, but I just couldn't get into as I drank down the bottle. The thinness of the base stout might be what's holding it back. Westbrook's is an imperial stout, which seems to hold up much better to all the added flavors. I do like to try the beers I sell, so I can give honest opinions, and my lack of enthusiasm for this one hasn't hurt our selling it at all. I did think putting it on tap what help people judge for themselves, and like most beers, I feel the taste improves when it was from the tap. I guess I'll swim against the tide on this one, but am curious as to what others think. I've definitely had repeat buyers and growler customers for it, so I'm happy to be in the minority if that's the case. We're retailing the 22oz bottles for $9.99, and I imagine you can find it anywhere you buy your craft beer.

Plans finalized except for the accommodations which are merely narrowed down. We'll be in London Oct 25-28 (after a week in Paris). Anything new and noteworthy or old and noteworthy that hasn't popped up on this thread yet? My wife's birthday and our wedding anniversary coincide with one of the NFL's London game this year, but hopefully that won't add to the difficulty level of getting around or finding our way to some undiscovered gems.

The Stone Enjoy By IPA Series and the regular Stone IPA are different beers. The Enjoy By Series gets brewed every month, but not every location gets every release. The Enjoy By 8-16-14 never hit Va as far as I know. Here's the beer advocate review for Enjoy By

I'll have to agree on that, though it's been a while since I had the doughnut break. The Biscotti has some almond/hazelnut flavors in it while I seem to remember the doughnut have some anise tones. Biscotti is a little sweeter because of it.

Arrowine's beermonger is Nick Anderson. But Perry knows his beer pretty well, too.

Picked up a 32 oz growler of this at a local beer retailer that's not my store. It's still a great beer six months later, but I think I prefer it from the bottle rather than the keg.

Hey Pras, If the DMV market is anything like it was down here, then the beer geek places sold out the day it came in. The grocery stores might still have it sitting around. I'd check Harris Teeter, Giant, Safeway, etc...I know it's still around at Kroger in Richmond (which is the same company as HT).

A growler made up of 33% Founders Rubaeus Raspberry Ale/66% Great Divide Yeti Russian Imperial Stout we mixed at work. Sometimes I love my job.

We got two cases at my store on Thursday, people were definitely on the lookout for this beer and we sold all but a six pack by Saturday night. We did sample a bottle, and they definitely got something right. It might've been better with a gose base rather than their summer ale, but the Old Bay wasn't overpowering and it still managed to taste like a beer. Doubtful I could have more than one or two in a sitting, but I could see that there's a market for it.

Hey EC fans, found a stash of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof at a local ABC store today. And when things are in Richmond, that means they're usually in Northern Virginia as well. I was hunting for Four Roses LE, and ended up with something just as special.

Yeah, that's about what I was thinking. At my store we put the wilds and sours in the same section and use the two terms interchangeably. I think basically wild yeast = sours at this point. Last night I cracked open a Urban Funk from Two Roads Brewing out of Connecticut, and it lived up to its name. Real sour and the nose was super funky. Really delicious, though. Makes me look forward to this style really taking off in the states and becoming more readily available. That combined with all the koelschips being introduced by American brewers is definitely good news.

Jason, I just want to applaud your commitment to this cause.

Glad to hear that about Wicked Weed. Just picked up two bottles of Serenity from Bottle Revolution in Raleigh this past weekend. That place was pretty nice, great selection of Evil Twin, as well as AleSmith and all the local NC stuff. 100% agree on The Kimmie, The Yink, and the Holy Gose. I think our local distributors were all out before my bottle shop opened, otherwise I would've sold out of every can during our soft opening. Heading to Myrtle Beach in August, and planning on loading up the family truckster with some Westbrook offerings. I don't really know how to classify the Goses though, would you lump them in with the sours for now?

Yep, I'll be there this weekend, not sure of my exact hours. We're open 10-11 on Saturday and 12-6 on Sunday. We just had out soft opening on Friday and it went pretty well. Our tap lines aren't in yet, and not sure what the ETA is on those, but there should be "something" to sample if you stop in over the weekend.

I'm now actually employed by an entity selling beer in the city of Richmond (or the suburb of Glen Allen). I doubt there'll be much of a conflict of interest, but in this era of full disclosure I thought it should be on the record. If anyone is heading to RVA, come see me at De Fles Winkel, commonly to be known as The Wink Bottle Shop.

if you ever thought you liked sour beer before, stop what you're doing and try to acquire this gem. I heard some good things about what Almanac Beer Co does, so I asked the state of California to send me some. I'm drinking the Dogpatch sour now, which is brewed with Rainier cherries and aged in wine barrels. It's spectacular.

Not sure the Old Bay has made it to Richmond yet, anyone seen it in NoVa? I'm usually not one for gimmicky beers, but sounds like FD might've gotten something right with this one.

While listening to Anthony Bourdain on the latest Nerdist podcast, he mentioned that Jose Andres serves as the food consultant for Hannibal. As if you needed another reason to watch. This is a great show to catch up on over the summer. Jose Andres Blogs about Hannibal's Food

I've been quiet on the VBT front for a bit, and that's mainly been due to my current bourbon intake. When I have picked up a beer, it is more often than not a sour. All of the boozy, barrel-aged Imperial Stouts are gaining some age on my cellar shelf, and my thoughts have turned to the lower alcohol, tart goodness of sours. I'll plead ignorance on the whole sour ale genre, but I've been drinking my way through some good ones and I thought it might be better to just have a big group sour discussion. Definitely open for some new recommendations. Avery Brewing Rufus Corvus - I think I prefer the tartness of cherries to give that final sour kick to a beer, and Rufus Corvus has this one pretty much perfected. The thing I've begun to notice is that these sours, or wild ales, tend to take on the characteristics of the barrels a lot more than other aged beers. This one was aged in a mix of wine barrels and I think I'm going to sit on my other bottle for a year or so, to see if the flavors mingle a little more. There's also a lot of acid going on here, if you're sensitive to that kind of thing. Strangeways Brewing O.T.I.S (Oh, This Is Sour?) - This is a local RVA brewery, and it's a cucumber/melon sour ale. The description might frighten people off, but the flavors did work really well together. The cucumber is really just a garnish for a pretty light citrus/melon sour ale. The only real drawback is that it's only bottled in bombers with a $15+ price tag to match. Would be interesting to bring to a bottle share, but hard to drink the whole bottle in one sitting. Brouwerij Verhaeghe Duchesse De Bourgogne - While out at a Belgian restaurant here in RVA, Max's on Broad, I asked the server for their sourest sour and this is what he served. Like I said, I'm kind of new to getting into sours, but I did recognize this one as a mainstay at Belgian places. I probably first tried it when Beck was in its infancy. Really great cherry red sour, and actually went pretty well with the food (from what I can remember). This is probably the bottle I'd crack open for wine friends who were interested in what a Belgian Sour tastes like. I also tried some Adroit Theory offerings at a tap takeover they were having at Brew, a beer-focused gastropub down here. I think the sour I had was a barrel-aged GIAA (God is an American). I really enjoyed all of their offerings in their flight, and if I still lived in Nova, joining the Adroit Theory beer club would be a no brainer. I'm hoping they increase their presence in Richmond, since they're doing some good things. I have some California sours that I received in trades, from Almanac, Lost Abbey, and Russian River that I'm looking forward to getting into this summer. Please share some of your favorite sours or breweries that just don't get it right. -Eric

Yeah, since posting I've been able to find the standard black-capped Collingwood, but not the green one. It is a Brown-Forman product distilled at the Canadian Mist facility, so it's not exactly a micro-spirit. The 21 one year old is a real treat, though, if you can find it. I haven't tried the standard version yet.

I used some of those flip top bottles with rubber stoppers and this Manhattan recipe for a picnic a while back. You add water instead of ice, which mimics the dilution of the cocktail the ice and strainer would give it if you were making them individually. Then just store the bottles in the fridge to keep them cool. Super easy to make and the flavors were pretty spot on.