Celebrating Craft Beer Month

BY DOUGLAS RODGERS

On a recent trip to Charleston, SC, to watch my 13-year-old son play for his travel baseball team, I spent a lot of time with other Loudoun dads. Apart from being into baseball, I learned they were also into beer.

They all had their favorite Loudoun brewery. One said he regularly biked to breweries on the Washington & Old Dominion Trail and two told me they even made their own beer. I assumed they meant in their basement, but I was wrong. One made an IPA at Kettle & Grains in Leesburg, a facility that provides everything from grain, hops, yeast, and equipment to amateur brewers, while the other frequents The Craft of Brewing in Ashburn where he rents a 20-liter “brew station” and experiments with dry hopping, bottling, and kegging with experts on hand to offer advice.

Who knew?

August is Virginia Craft Beer Month and as we celebrate with a cold one it’s worth raising a glass to the dynamic, varied and innovative craft beer scene in Loudoun—easily one of the most exciting in the U.S.

Beer and bikes, you say? There are several breweries on or near the W&OD Trail as it dissects the county, but did you know you can do an organized tour via electric bike? Leesburg-based Pedego Electric Bikes Co. offers a self-guided Electric Bike Ale Trail Brewery Tour for groups of up to 20 that includes stops at Crooked Run Fermentation, the Craft of Brewing and Old Ox Brewery in Ashburn.

Speaking of Old Ox, Washington Commanders football legend, biking enthusiast and 106.7 FM sports radio host Brian Mitchell recently led a charity bike ride, “Bike to the Breweries,” from Georgetown to Old Ox and back, all to raise money to fight autism. His favorite beer from the trip? Old Ox’s “Bye Dan,” a bitter IPA made to mockingly celebrate the recent sale of the Commanders by long-time owner Dan Snyder. What about new breweries on the scene? While it won’t be open in time for Craft Beer Month, the veteran-owned Honor Brewing Co, which already has outposts in Fairfax and Chantilly, is set to open in Sterling in September, across from Solace. An enormous 30,000-squarefoot facility, it will have 16 beers on tap, a full restaurant and a contract facility brewing for smaller brewers.

As for styles and tastes, Loudoun brewers are always innovating.

“The latest trend is a move towards crisp, European-style lagers,” said Jasper Akerboom, of Loudoun-based Jasper Yeast which provides yeast strains to local brewers. “Every Loudoun brewery is doing them—Pilsners and Helles-style lagers—and they are doing them really well.”

He also says to look out for the first Oktoberfest beers that are due out in August.

Looking for the best way to explore the craft beer scene? Grab a LoCo Ale Trail Passport at the Visit Loudoun Visitor Center in Market Station to collect stamps at breweries and win prizes.

Happy Craft Beer Month!