Beer of the Week! 02/14/23

Väsen The GrassRoots Otter

Regularly $18.99 / Now on Sale for $17.96
Gose Style Ale with Lemongrass, Ginger, and Hibiscus

Finally! A name that makes sense!

(We don’t mean the “Otter” part; we imagine that’s just an arbitrary choice.) When Richmond’s Väsen Brewing Company started, they did so with a stated affinity for sours. Though they’ve made a big, beery splash with their amazing New England Style IPAs, they still take sours very seriously. Case in point, they have a regular series of Goses with rotating additives that they call Otters. Their latest is the GrassRoots Otter — “Grass” as in Lemongrass; “Roots” as in ginger root, both of which are in there. They also add hibiscus calyces. That’s in there too. (Though that’s not in the name - but what’s not in a name?) Lemongrass, ginger, and hibiscus — we just had to try it … and we’re glad we did.

The GrassRoots Otter is a divinely subtle Gose with an impressively smooth blend of flavors — even the salt is buried. (Goses are salted, unfiltered wheat beers, often mixed with fruit juices to offset their tartness.) We can’t tell where one flavor stops and the other begins, but the gestalt is a mild and beguiling ale with wisps of melon notes. We are very Gose-picky, and we pick this one!

Bonus Beer of the Week (‘Cause, let’s be honest, a Bonus Beer of the Day is too much.)

Right Proper Fear No Art

Regularly $16.99 / Now on Sale for $15.96
New England Style IPA

In the 2013, DC restaurant alums Thor and Leah Cheston opened Right Proper Brewing Company’s brewpub in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood next to the historic Howard Theater. Two years later they turned a car repair shop into a production brewery and tasting room in the Brookland neighborhood. The Chestons are dedicated to having Right Proper be a D.C. thing, a local pub to its people, of and for its various communities. To that end, they’ve gone so far as to open their walls to D.C. artists’ murals. Very cool.

Their Fear No Art is a New England Style IPA packed with goodness. 2-Row Barley is joined with wheat and oats (probably to help with the haziness). They then bitter the wort with Idaho 7 and Simcoe hops before dry-hopping them with Mosaic, Motueka, Citra, and Cashmere hops. (Yikes!) All of these hopinations give the Fear No Art a deep, full juciness (the Idaho 7?) surrounded by a piney, hoppy aura (the Simcoe?). Of course, it also has a bright, fruity aroma. If all art tasted this good, we couldn’t imagine anyone fearing it.

Remember!

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