In much the same way domestic cider traditions have been revitalized over the last decade or so, Great Britain has seen their cider traditions return as well. The mass produced pub ciders have always been present in the UK, but the old school artisan producers have been pushed to the background and exist more as regional curiosities. The farming region of England's 'West Country' is the most traditional of their cider regions, with dozens of producers still making a variety authentic ciders from a broad spectrum of apple varieties. Importer B. United, (Schneider Weisse, Alvinne Sours, Hanssens Gueuze, and many many others) has been importing kegs from both the Hecks and Sandford Orchard cider houses, but the packaged versions are new here, and in typical B. United fashion they are not the everyday versions. These both have unique local twists that make them utterly distinct, and it is exciting to compare them for the first time here with noted ciders from France and Virginia. Starting at 4pm Friday we will have both the Hecks 'Tremletts Bitter' Single variety cider and the Sandford Orchards Chestnut Cask cider open to taste, along with a Normandy cider and two Virginia cider from our collection. Final tasting selection will be posted on our Facebook page. Hope to see you here! With Evil Twin releasing several beers in the pint can format recently (and more on the way!), we decided to cap off our 22n Anniversary celebration with a tasting of several favorites using the format. With cans in general seeing overwhelmingly positive performance in the craft beer scene over the last decade, we are now starting to see the evolution into providing variety and choices in can sizes as well. 12oz will always be the vast consumer favorite as it has become imprinet into our consciousness as our 'single serving' for most beverages. But most beer drinkers are tired of seeing their pint glasses not getting filled to the top when drinking at home, so this format is very welcome. It also plays into the cost effectiveness of cans, shipping costs, and even use of shelf space; we love them here, as a full case of pints make a nice tidy stack on our shelves. A lot of 'big' beers are getting packaged in this form now, and the cost to the customer is generally greatly improved from bottle, and the pint is the ideal single serving size for many, as well as a fair size to share between two people. For the lighter beers, it's a hearty full glass you can pour to the top, finally! We have really dug this format since the beginning, and are thrilled they have caught on full force across the craft beer community. On deck for the tasting today are the Escutcheon '4th & 1' Pilsner, Peak Organic 'Super Fresh' Dry Hopped Pilsner, Evil Twin 'Imperial Simcoe Slacker' Imperial IPA, Against The Grain 'Brown Note' Brown Ale, Fullsteam 'Coffee Is For Closers' Iced Coffee Porter, and Evil Twin 'Even More Jesus' Imperial Stout. Hope to see you here! With the new Virginia Beach facility due to come on-line very soon (though judging by their live feed images, Memorial Day may not be that likely unless they are going for an extreme 'open concept') we wanted to give them a feature and remind people why Green Flash and the recently purchased Alpine brands have been one of the great breweries in San Diego. Once the facility goes active, all their beer under both the Green Flash and Alpine labels available in the eastern United States will be out of the 100K barrel facility. Both breweries made their names on their West Coast styled IPAs and other hoppy beers, but as green Flash has evolved they have developed high quality Stouts and malty beers, as well as developing a facility for Brett aged and sour beers called Cellar 3. For the tasting we will be featuring from the Alpine label the Duet IPA and Hoppy Birthday Session IPA; and from the Green Flash label the Styrian Golding Single Hop Pale Ale, Cosmic Ristretta Baltic Porter w/Espresso, and Dia de los Serranos Double Stout w/Serrano Chilies. Hope to see you here!
Part 2 of our tasting through the extensive line of Evil Twin bottlings. On deck today is the Retro IPA (because we did the Modern last week), Geyser Gose (Collaboration with Two Roads Brewery, using Icelandic ingredients), Joey Pepper (spiced Saison collaboration with Saint Adairus Rustic Ales), Imperial Petit Four Break (a 'second run' beer made from Imperial Biscotti Break), and Even More Jesus (Imperial Stout). These and all the other Evil Twin beers will take the featured brewery discounts through this Sunday April 24th Hope to see you here! As our featured brewery until next Sunday April 24th, all of the 20+ Evil Twin beers in the store are available for the discount (10% off any one beer, 15% off any mix of 4 different beers), but we can only fit 5 of them out for tasting today. Don't worry, there will be another 5 completely different beers available to taste next Friday as well. On deck for today are: 'Nomader Weiss' Berlinerweiss 12oz Can 4pack 'Justin Blaeber' Blueberry Berlinerweiss 22oz 'Pils Al Pastor' Imperial Pilsner w/Pineapple, Lime, and Ancho Chili 'Modern' IPA 12oz Can 4pack 'Molotov Cocktail' Imperial IPA Single Hop Simcoe 22oz Hope to see you here! One of the great local natural resources is the extensive apple orchards throughout central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. In recent years the boom in both the ‘eat and drink local’ movement and the craft beer industry have helped to inspire the development of Virginia craft ciders. The growth in producers in just a few years is impressive not only in the speed it has evolved, but the diversity each producer brings to the table. Everyone has their own style, a different perspective they bring out of the many apple varieties that are present throughout the many orchards, some of which can trace their origins back to colonial times. Apples are part of Virginia’s history, and the producers that are part of the craft cider movement are an important voice in telling that history. To help celebrate Virginia’s craft ciders, the producers came together to create Cider Week Virginia, a statewide series of tastings, dinners, classes and events that has now grown to nine days, running from November 14th to the 23rd. As a part of the event Wine Warehouse will be doing in-store tastings each day this week from Monday through Friday featuring the different Virginia cider producers we represent. The schedule for each day is listed below; for more information on each producer, please click on the links provided. We look forward to opening the eyes for those of you that may have never tried Virginia ciders before, as well as perhaps bringing something new to those that have. Monday: Foggy Ridge Cider Tuesday: Old Hill Cider Wednesday: Blue Bee Cider Thursday: Potter’s Craft Cider Friday: Albemarle CiderWorks
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Special Tastings and MoreSee what's happening at Wine Warehouse this week! Archives
June 2022
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