We got a few new things in this week. First, not a new beer but new to Virginia is Stone Levitation Ale. This is one of their standard beers along with the Pale Ale and IPA, but for some reason hadn’t made its way to Virginia until now. It’s an Amber Ale, not super-hopped like many of their beers are. It’s meant to be more easy drinking. I thought it was quite good, the flavor is dominated by fruity malts.
Next is the third incarnation of this once-per-year release from Dogfish Head, the Black and Blue. This is a Belgian-style Ale brewed with blackberry and blueberry puree. Unlike other fruit beers in which the fruit juice is added after fermentation, this beer is fermented with the puree. That means it’s not as sweet as fruit beers usually are and the fruit flavors mesh with the other flavors better. This is one of my personal favorites from Dogfish Head.
I also have two new beers at the Plank Road store (next to Ukrops) only. Why are they only there? These beers are so difficult to obtain and the quantity was so limited I was only offered one case and forced to choose which store it would go to. Sorry downtowners, you’re going to have to come see me to find out about it. One of them is a returning beer from Dogfish Head that if you’re a fan of the brewery you’ve probably been looking for to no avail. The second you’ll just have to ask me about, but it’s made by a well known American brewery and you’ve almost certainly never had it before. I promise nobody else in the area has these. Okay, Capital Ale House probably does, but no other retail spots do.
