Beer of the Week! 11/01/22
Caboose Rustic Love
Regularly $18.99 / Now on Sale for $17.96
New England Style IPA
One of the notable characteristics of the craft beer world is how many craft breweries — along with their dedication to concocting quality beers — make community engagement and support part of their missions in both word and deed. Take, for example, Caboose Brewing Company and Tavern in Vienna, VA. One way that Caboose accomplishes this goal is with a handful of brews that funnel money to worthy Vienna causes. Such is their Rustic Love New England Style IPA.
Rustic Love Vienna is a not-for-profit organization in Vienna that has an interesting philanthropic model. They solicit volunteers to construct lawn signs with their heart logo and then sell them to people. Of course, owning a simple lawn sign isn’t the point. The purchase is more a donation to Rustic Love, which distributes that money to organizations that fight food insecurity in Vienna. As for Caboose’s contribution, not only do they sell Rustic Love signs in their pub, but a certain amount of the money from the Rustic Love NEIPA goes to the organization. So, how does community support taste?
The Rustic Love is an off-dry, juicy New England Style IPA made from Azacca, Strata, Citra, and Bru-1 hops. Now, Citra finds a seat at any number of brew poker tables, but when you see Azacca, Strata, and the relatively new Bru-1 hop, you can be pretty sure that some sucker is about to play a tropical fruit full house.
Pineapple and passionfruit come out strong in the aroma, and those flavors persist onto the palate where they’re joined with strawberry notes (most likely from the Strata). The whole thing rounds off with a bit of citrus zest on the finish, making the Rustic Love yet another craft beer that you feel good about drinking both because of and beyond its taste.
Bonus Beer of the Week (‘Cause we’re gonna brewgie-oogie-oogie ‘til we just can’t brewgie no more!)
Steam Theory Threat Level Midnight
Regularly $14.99 / Now on Sale for $13.96
American Stout
One thing the global pandemic has done is to show us how fragile our social and financial infrastructure is. A virulent, airborne transmissible virus seems tailor-made to cripple a heavily service-based economy. We all watched many businesses shutter during the first couple of years of the pandemic. One that almost did was Steam Theory Brewing Company in Dallas, TX. However, co-owner Chuck Homola is stubbornly fighting to keep some version of the brew kettle fires burning.
Started by two homebrewers (Homola and Jonathan Barrows), Steam Theory opened its Dallas taproom doors in 2018. Then came the global pandemic and, with it, recession and inflation. Though, Steam Theory received two PPP grants and a Restaurant Revitalization Fund grant, they still could not get back on their feet. They poured their last beer and closed their brewpub doors in June of this year — poured their last beer but not brewed their last … kinda.
For a year prior to that, Steam Theory had been giving its recipes to Bevana (formerly Community Brewing Ventures), a contract brewer / small brewery aggregate distributer with production facilities in North Carolina and Crozet. So, Steam Theory still exists as what Homola calls, “a virtual brewery,” and their easy-drinking, solid beers are still being made and made available.
The Threat Level Midnight is a rare bird — an uninflected, non-imperial stout. Light-medium bodied, it gives you a straight stout taste with coffee flavors that also betray little fruit notes around the edges. It’s great if you’ve moved past the summer’s lagers but don’t want to be run over by something big, rich, and thick. (Just when you thought that kind of beer was all we ever recommended to you!)
Remember!
You can see our entire beer inventory on Untappd.com!