We're only immortal for a limited time: Part I

I'd like to begin this blog post by dedicating it to perhaps the single-most influential person of my life whom I'd never had the opportunity to meet: Neil Peart. I learned of his untimely passing while we'd just begun our drive to Harpers Ferry, WV, for a quiet weekend of brewery hopping with D&C. Anyone who knows me is obviously familiar with my love of the band Rush. In addition to being my favorite drummer of all time, Neil was also my favorite writer; not just rock lyrics, though. His words altered the course of what rock songs could - and should - embrace. His lyrics provided a welcome change of pace and spoke loudly and clearly to this wanna-be poet-turned-English major. Ultimately,  it was his travel writings that inspired me to return to beer blogging after a two-and-a-half year hiatus. I always anticipated reading about his travels via motorcycle between Rush shows to national parks and other more remote destinations. The world lost a true original artist and - dare I say it - poet on Tuesday, January 7 when Neil succumbed to brain cancer after a valiant three-and-a-half year battle. His words and music - which have provided the soundtrack to my life thus far - will continue to resonate with me until I join him. Rest easy, Ghost Rider.

Sorry for the somewhat maudlin opening paragraph, but it had to be done. Sadly, the ghost of Neil haunted me for the entire weekend, and still continues to sit uneasily with me. Coincidentally, our destination for this weekend is steeped in "ghostlore." Local ghost tours are popular, and given the violent past of the region - especially during the Civil War - ghost stories loom large in the legend of Harpers Ferry. Although we skipped the ghost tours this time, we did get to experience a unique piece of this historic town by way of an old 19th Century house called Highacre. 

Our accommodations for the weekend.

Highacre happened to provide our accommodations for the weekend. D&C are members of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC), which is kind of like a timeshare for cabin aficionados, hikers, and outdoors folk. Overlooking the Potomac River, this Victorian cottage-style home was erected in 1887 and later donated to PATC in 1962, which is how D&C came to acquire this unique lodging for the weekend. Here's another fun fact about the location: On October 25, 1783, Thomas Jefferson visited Harpers Ferry, where he viewed "the passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge" from a rock that is now named after him. Dubbed "Jefferson Rock," the site is actually mere steps from the back of High Acre. 

Our view from the porch.

We were blessed with unseasonably warm weather all weekend. At times, it felt as if it were too warm. However, I'll take 68 degrees in mid-January over a foot of snow any day of the week. Despite some sporadic light rain, we made good use of outside seating at some of the breweries we visited. 

I was really excited to finally return to Abolitionist Ale Works, which ended up on my Top 10 New Breweries Visited in 2018 list. In lieu of worn-out, pedestrian beer styles, Abolitionist offers a handful of varied farmhouse and wild ales, Belgian styles, sour IPAs, and burly barrel-aged concoctions. We decided to sit in the dining room area, which I didn't even know existed. They have a small menu featuring a few appetizers as well as a wide variety of artisan pizzas served on naan bread. Turns out they also have an outside patio area too. I'd perused the tap list in advance, and I was particularly interested in some of the Dirty Beard variants currently available. Once we arrived and settled in, I decided a flight was in order. Here's the low-down:

• Dirty Beard (Chocolate & Coffee) - Imperial Stout conditioned with chocolate and coffee
• Dirty Beard (Rum Raisin) - Rum barrel-aged Imperial Stout conditioned with raisins and loads of vanilla
• Dirty Beard (Mezcal Hot Chocolate) - Mezcal barrel-aged Imperial Stout conditioned w/ cinnamon sticks and habaneros
• Opequon Kriek (Chocolate Cinnamon) - Barrel-aged sour brown ale conditioned with tart cherries, chocolate and cinnamon sticks

All three of the Dirty Beard variants were totally unique, offering different flavors and aromas despite coming from the same base beer. The Chocolate & Coffee variant was probably my favorite, because... well, coffee, of course! The Mezcal Hot Chocolate version was probably the most complex of the three, with a good bit of sweet heat. The Kriek was quite unlike any other I'd encountered. The cherry flavor was obviously apparent, but the slight spicy kick of cinnamon and hint of chocolate really pushed it over the edge. Its slumber in barrels added to the complexity, coaxing notes of vanilla and toasted coconut. All in all, a stellar line-up! 

Pleeps gettin' down in West Funkin' Virginia!

Food-wise, Brewslut and I shared an order of boneless wings and two pizzas: the Blue Buffalo (with chicken, blue cheese and buffalo wing sauce) and the Funky Olive (with olives, grape tomatoes, goat cheese, feta and red sauce). The food was great and filled us up more than adequately. I love naan bread!

After we finished our dinner, we carried on with a few full pours of some other beers. First up was
West Funkin' Virginia, a barrel-aged wild ale fermented with wild local yeast and Brettanomyces, and dry-hopped with Mosaic. Complex and funky, this was like a liquid version of the Blue Ridge Mountains in a glass. I love the subtleties that regional wild yeast and Brett can impart to the flavor of a particular beer. Berry tartness mingled with tropical fruit notes, barnyard funk, oak, vanilla, and stone fruit. Man, this was a totally unique beer and I'm glad I was able to sample it!

Almost funkin' heaven...

By this time a jazz trio started playing and provided some groovy background music. I was hoping for maybe a little YYZ tease as a nod to Neil, but it never happened. Jazz at a brewery is great because it's seldom loud and you can still hold a conversation while listening to all the notes. The music was chill and well executed, so we decided we had one more in us before we moved on. I ended our visit with a pour of Hoppy Saison, a farmhouse-style ale dry-hopped with Mosaic. I'd enjoyed a few saisons during our inaugural visit and thought I'd check out a few others this time around. This one was pretty straightforward with tropical notes amid a somewhat earthy, grassy backdrop. After I finished up this beer, it was time to bid a fond farewell to Abolitionist. Hopefully we'll be back later in 2020 or early 2021.

While we were driving to our second and final brewery of the evening, Harpers Ferry Brewing, Brewslut and I found ourselves in three different states within the matter of three minutes. Despite having GPS, we missed a sharp turn and had to backtrack a bit to find the brewery. But we quickly recovered and reached our destination after a slight delay. Located in Virginia along the banks of the Potomac River with views of West Virginia and Maryland, Harpers Ferry Brewing only recently opened its doors around September 2018. I'll admit that I was definitely more than half in the bag when we arrived, so I had about one beer left in me before we headed back to Highacre.

The owners of another brewery we'd visited some time ago, Old 690, opened Harpers Ferry Brewing back in the fall of 2018. The brewery, which took more than a year to build, is situated on 68 acres surrounded by mountains and views of the Potomac river. It features a lodge-style theme, with several outdoor seating areas and bars and picnic tables to enjoy the views and live music. Of course, it was dark out when we arrived and therefore we didn't get to experience the views or outdoor seating. Instead, we headed inside, ordered some beers, and plopped down at the nearest table we could find.

I decided to try my luck with a West Coast IPA called The Needles. I thought it was a pretty cool name for a West Coast IPA, given that most have a distinct pine resin character. Perhaps intended as a double meaning, the beer itself is also named after one of the Potomac River's famed rapids. Hopped with three classic varietals - Centennial, Warrior and Cascade - this beer definitely blends citrus and piney notes together and finishes up on the bitter side.

Honestly, I wasn't too jazzed about having our beer served in plastic cups. The only time this is acceptable is when you're at a packed bar and they run out of glassware. However, that definitely wasn't the case here, as it wasn't too crowded and everyone - ourselves includes - were drinking out of plastic cups. Even the sampler flight Carolyn ordered was served in plastic. The cupcake tin was a neat touch, but if you're charging $7.50 for a 4.2% sour ale and $8.50 for a DIPA, then you might want to rethink presentation of your beers. Pleeps agrees...

Facepalm!

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We finished the first of two puzzles on Saturday morning. I'd forgotten how much fun assembling a puzzle can be. It's definitely more amusing when it's a team effort, too. Oddly enough, one of the puzzles was beer-themed. We worked on it for a while on Friday night while enjoying some beers we brought to share. The girls stayed up for a bit after I hit the sack and completed a good chunk of it. On Saturday morning, the first thing I did when I got downstairs was grab a cup of coffee and see if I could finish it before they awoke. Deuane was already up (as per usual), but he doesn't "do puzzles." Carolyn soon emerged and the two of us finished it up before Brewslut lumbered downstairs.

Our first stop of the day took place at Hillsborough Vineyards & Brewery, a unique co-existing farm winery/brewery with libations served out of a single tasting room overlooking grapes grown right on the sprawling property. Hillsborough is owned by two brothers; one oversees the wine making and the other the brewing operations. The overall vibe of the place screams winery, so I'd imagine that most of its business comes from the wine side of the operation. I wasn't sure what to expect here, because we'd been to a few wineries that also "make beer," and have been disappointed in the majority of them. Deuane didn't have high expectations, but we ultimately decided to swing by just so we could "cross it off the list."

I decided to start off with a half pour of Hillsbräu, a light and refreshing German-style pilsner brewed exclusively with German malt and French Mistral hops. The nose was quite floral, and the flavor hinted at delicate melon and light grassy notes. It wasn't super-crisp or carbonated, but it was enjoyable in its simplicity.

This led me to try something darker on for size, so I opted for another half pour... this time of a beer called Ol' Bessie. This brown ale features a variety of American malts and Willamette hops to elicit classic flavors of chocolate, caramel, and roasted nuts. While a brown ale isn't a go-to style for me, I'll order one occasionally just for something different. This one was pretty solid overall.

The bartender here was extremely friendly, and she noticed my Tröegs jacket and expressed how much she liked the brewery. We chatted a bit about my job and some upcoming beers we've got in the pipeline, and she seemed genuinely interested in talking shop. I was happy to share some Mad Elf with her, which she'd never had before. Overall, we were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the beers here. While nothing to write home about, the beers are simple, approachable, and flavorful.

When we arrived at Bear Chase, I could sense an impending shitshow of epic proportions. As we parked the car and made our way to the entrance of the brewery, I could hear the strains of an overcrowded space beginning to hover into my periphery. When we entered the space, we were greeted by a cacophony of screaming children, yelping dogs, sub par music through a loud, slightly distorted PA system, and boisterous, slightly inebriated football fans; in my book, not a winning combination by any stretch of the imagination. The tragedy here is that this place has everything else going for it.

Nestled in the rolling, wooded hills west of Loudoun, Bear Chase is one of the newer craft breweries in the area to join the party. Boasting a newly remodeled “Brew Barn” with a 10-bbl brewhouse on one side and a smaller 3.5bbl system on the other, Bear Chase strives to produce perennial favorites as well as limited small-batch releases of experimental beers.

Like many of the other breweries in the region, Bear Chase operates as a "farm brewery." With this in mind, they've re-purposed several parts of the property for the brewery, including the original barn itself for the production brewery. They've also cleverly utilized reclaimed timber in the taproom. For example, the tap handles are all custom-carved from different species of trees found on the property. Bear Chase also plans to plant its own orchard of fruit trees and use the various fruits in its beers. What's not to like about that?

Here's another thing I appreciated about Bear Chase: they had two lines for beer orders. One for "decisive beer drinkers" and another for "indecisive beer drinkers." Deuane and I fall under the former, while - much to the chagrin of myself and the rest of our group - many fair weather beer drinkers fall under the latter. While we stood in line, I regaled Deuane with my story about a group of sixty-something ladies at the small Pelican taproom in Tilamook, OR, during one of our big summer trips. They definitely fell under the latter. I won't get into the full story, but if you feel so inclined you can revisit my little rant by checking out our past blog entry, Adventures in Portlandia: Day 5 - Up the Coast to Tillamook. It's a pretty cool rant if you dig my rants. Just sayin'.

Move bitch... get out the way!

Oooh, can I try a splash of the IPA? I never had an IPA before!

I guess this is as good of a segue as any to the next part of the story. Amidst all the chaos and rigmarole of our surroundings, I glanced outside and noticed a large, decorative rock in the distance. Carolyn noticed there was a sign affixed to it, so I decided to investigate. Here's a close-up shot of the rock and the sign:

Self-explanatory, right?

I walked back up the hill to the group, revealed my findings, and by the time I got back to my table, the rugrats were at it. Notice the clueless parents in the background:

This photograph depicts, in a nutshell, what I loathe about society. Really, people? STAY THE FUCK OFF THE ROCK, SHITBAGS! They didn't put the sign there because it looks nice. Jesus Christ! I was really hoping that one of these little mongrels would fall and break his arm. Then, of course, the parents would probably sue the brewery. I just can't grasp how people are so oblivious and self-absorbed that they can't even keep their little fucking broods of failure from doing something they're not supposed to do. End rant. 

Let's get on to the beer. There were plenty of beers available, and I ultimately settled on the oddly named Cherry, the Ruptured Duck. Described as a dark ale brewed with cherries, it was kind of like a schwarzbier with cherry pie filling.  It was neither sweet nor tart and fell somewhere in between the two. It was a bit thin and under-carbonated, but it tasted decent.

We had a similar experience with our next beer, Thunder Ridge, a chocolate cherry stout. It tasted pretty good, but again it was on the thin side and low on carbonation. I'm fine with lower carbonation when it comes to porters and stouts, but I gotta have that thick, robust body and creamy mouthfeel. It certainly was chocolatey and had a fair bit of cherry sweetness, but it could definitely use a boost in the malt department. Even though the deafening noise had settled to a dull roar, we finished our final beers rather quickly and hit the rocky road. Sometimes the people around you ruin the experience, like our last visit to Vanish. Even though the beers were middle-of-the-road, the place itself was pretty amazing.

A few miles down some quaint country roads from Chase is Dirt Farm, a farm brewery situated on 100 acres in Loudoun County, VA. Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains just a stone's throw away from the village of Bluemont, what once was a quaint weekend retreat built in the 1940’s is now the rustic home of Dirt Farm's tasting room. The farm itself occupies a sprawling 400-acre piece of land that's been family-owned for more than 40 years. The brewery itself opened its doors in 2012, and has become a natural extension of the farm itself with its hop yard, barley fields, a proprietary yeast strain, and fruits and vegetables grown on-site.

I immediately noticed a bourbon barrel-aged barleywine on tap, and I was about to order it... that is, until Brewslut pointed out that a 3-year vertical flight of BBA barleywines was available for just $1 more. Um, yes please! The flight featured 2017, 2018 and 2019 versions of its 13% ABV American-style Barleywine. Each variation was aged in bourbon barrels for 10 months. Both the 2017 and 2018 versions were aged in Buffalo Trace barrels, while the latest 2019 version was aged in a subsidiary distillery in Indiana (the name escapes me) also for 10 months. My order of preference was thus: 2017, 2019, 2018. Surprisingly, the 2018 was quite a bit sweeter than the others, and the 2019 was obviously the booziest. The 2017 was subtle and complex blend of dark caramel, oak, vanilla, and dark fruit.

The place was pretty crowded when we arrived, but we managed to snag a tiny two-person table, so we took turns standing while we enjoyed our drinks. They also had a taco truck on-site, but we decided to eat a bit later, even though Carolyn's tacos looked great.

While I worked on the barleywine flight, I also enjoyed some of Brewslut's and Deuane's Tart 31 Cherry Ale. One of Dirt Farm's signature beers, this fruit-forward brew is packed with farm-fresh Montmorency cherries. The beer itself boasts a beautiful ruby red color and our pour yielded two fingers worth of creamy foam with a pinkish hue. It really was a lovely-looking beer. It tasted pretty damn good, too! Not sour by any means, even the underlying tartness was very delicate and understated. However, the cherry flavor was quite elegant. I really enjoyed this beer a lot and wish I would have had my own pint to enjoy. But alas, we had other breweries to visit.

So I suppose this is as good a place as any to take a breather. We'll continue our story and we close out Saturday with a few more brewery visits followed by our return to PA with several pit-stops in Frederick, MD, including two new places and an old favorite. Until next time...