Beer of the Week! 02/15/22

This week — Bixler Beers from Blacksburg!

Moon Hollow Lunar Highlands Scottish Export Ale

Regularly $15.99 / Now on Sale for $14.96
Scottish Export Style Ale

Six or seven years ago, Blacksburg started a project to renovate the unused Old Prices Fork Elementary school into apartments and commercial units … including a brewery. In January of 2020, that brewery became Moon Hollow Brewing Company — one of three Blacksburg breweries started in the last seven years by tech businessman-turned-land owner, Pat Bixler. Moon Hollow’s head brewer is Hannah Lester, making Moon Hollow one of the few women led breweries in the nation, much less in Virginia.

The Lunar Highlands is Lester’s take on the Scottish Export Ale, and it is an exercise in even-handed brewing. Lighter-bodied than a Wee Heavy, the export ale is a Scottish Amber Ale with the requisite caramel notes. However, they’re balanced by earthy notes. The ale’s malt sweetness is also balanced but, get this … not by hops!!

Before hops made it to Scotland, Scottish brewers used various herbs to bitter their beers. Lester — proficient in her beer history — picks up this practice and bitters the Lunar Highlands with heather tips! So the Lunar Highlands sports a slight herbal spiciness to the brew. It would be worth tasting this ale just to say you’ve had a hopless beer. Thankfully Lester’s concocted a really successful recipe, so no sacrifices need be made for novelty’s sake. :)

Bonus Beer of the Week (‘Cause like Miley Cyrus in the 10s, we can’t stop.)

Eastern Divide Fireside Hazy IPA

Regularly $17.99 / Now on Sale for $16.96
New England Style IPA

Back in 2018, Pat Bixler started building his second Blacksburg brewery. However, this was no simple craft enterprise. No, this new operation would be a step forward in New River Valley brewing — an area which had seen farm breweries and micro-breweries and large national brands who examined them and then passed them over. This new brewery would be the first purpose-built brewery in Blacksburg. With its production area, a tasting room, kitchen, and even a 200 person event space (remember 200 person events?), it would be one of the largest breweries in the New River Valley. Bixler tapped Greg Zielske — the head brewer at Bixler’s first brewery, Rising Silo — to do double duty, and in May of 2019, Eastern Divide Brewing Company opened its doors.

The Fireside Hazy IPA is a New England Style IPA made with Citra, Mosaic, and Galaxy hops. On the dry side, it presents a strong citrus backbone with slight tropical fruit notes. If you’re tired of super juicy NEIPAs, this is a hazy for you to try. The Fireside is reportedly a favorite in Eastern Divide’s taproom, and we can easily believe it.

Remember!

You can see our entire beer inventory on Untappd.com!