Beer of the Week! 06/28/22

Vibrissa Materials and Methods

Regularly $15.99 / Now on Sale for $14.96
Brett Soured Saison

We’ll be honest. We can be a little grumpy about people brewing “summer beers,” ‘cause we figure a good beer is a good beer no matter when you drink it. However this year, darned if we don’t keep running into beers that are tailor-made to fight off the heat, humidity, and a sun which can now hit us straight on — case in point — from Front Royal — Vibrissa’s Materials and Methods.

We’ve had some nice Vibrissa Beer before, but the Materials and Methods seems like a next step, thinking about the difficulties (as we understand them) of souring with Brettanomyces as opposed to kettle souring with Lactobacillus bacteria. Vibrissa starts off with the ingredients for a decent Saison — pale malts, moderate hops — ready to make a brew that’s clean and balanced. Then they ferment some or all of their malt with Brettanomyces yeast, souring the Saison.

Though Brett is in the house, we’d only call this beer a “sour beer” to be technically accurate. This beer is more about being a Saison than being a sour. The sourness is moderate, folding into the overall flavor, doing more to increase the beer’s refreshing nature than its “pucker factor.”

So, true to our grumpiness, we would drink this beer anytime … but boy! Does it turn away a hot day!

Bonus Beer of the Week (‘Cause one pill makes you larger and another makes you small, but the Bonus Beer we give you is better than them all!)

6 Bears & a Goat
Mae West

Regularly $12.99 / Now on Sale for $11.96
Blonde Ale

Goodness knows we’re not ones to shy away from big beers. However, that doesn’t mean those are the only types of beers that we drink and admire. For instance, many years ago, you could find a handful of Blonde Ales made throughout the state, so much so that we wanted to start talking about “the Virginia Blonde Ale.” Sadly, what was hip changed, and the Blonde Ales faded before the fad could start. So, the Mae West from 6 Bears & a Goat in Fredericksburg tastes like a blast from the past.

Our second 6b&ag beer in the shop, the Mae West has a surprising level of taste. Medium-full bodied and off-dry, it immediately delivers vanilla and honey flavors to the palate only to follow them with spicy hops. Blonde ales can be tricky. It’s easy for them to develop a slight acrid edge, but 6 Bears & a Goat keeps the Mae West crisp yet smooth and easy to drink.

Hey sailor, why don’t you come up and see it sometime?

Remember!

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