MeridianFC
01-19-2004, 11:06 AM
I am such a mook. In all this time that I've lived in DC I've never taken the tour at Old Dominion. Living downtown it's a bit of a hassle to get out to the wilds of VA. I'd been buggin' the missus about doing this for some time. This weekend I finally just got the gumption to go and do it. Besides the missus wasn't drinking this weekend and agreed to drive.
The tour was great and it's always interesting to see a full production brewery, true industrial scale brewing. Apparently they brew around the clock until Friday evening and take the weekend off. I was impressed with the ammount of speicalty malts on hand (including bags of melanoidin malt!). We got to taste beer right out of the fermenter:
Belgian Ale - (nice sweetness, very fruity belgian yeast flavors, but with a good crispness). The brewer mentioned that they had not been sastisifed with the results in the past, which I was glad he said because I always thought they missed the mark myself. He said this time around they simplified everything and I think the results will speak for themselves. This will be available keg only.
Millenium - much improved over the past. I think they finally have hit hopped correctly. 10-11%abv make this formidable.
Tupper's Hop Pocket Pils - it was interesting to try one so young. It was probably a mistake to try this after having the above two, but what are you gonna do?
I was really impressed with the quality of work they put into their brews. I know sometimes I take the Dominion products for granted. They do 3 month (or more!) lagering for lagers which they actually do a decoction mash for. Real German malts in that one too. While they use mostly pellets, it's all whole flower for the dry hopping (not surprising I guess). None of the beers are pastuerised.
The brewer mentioned that they are considered a regional and he says they're ranked #47 in the US in terms of size.
I ended up hanging out with the brewer for a while afterwards talking some about the business and the beers. It was mentioned that they're going to try to reclaim some of the business they've lost in the city. They're going to be doing their own distribution! I'm curious about the legal issues there, but I think in the end it will be a good thing.
As an aside have any of you ever noticed that there seems to invaribly be a bunch of chuckleheads when you take a tour. I'm not talking about the people who don't seem to know a single thing about beer, which for some reason there always are one or two, but the ones, usually male fraternity types (not casting aspertions just sayin') who never shut up and could seem to care less about the brewery process then the cups of free beer they get. That ended up as a rant didn't it? My apologies.
Anyhow it was a great time out. I'm sure most you folks hereabouts have done this, but if you haven't I highly recommend it.
BTW they had cases of a mistake batch, where the New River Pale Ale and the Dominion Lager got put into the bottling tank together. It's pretty interesting.
The tour was great and it's always interesting to see a full production brewery, true industrial scale brewing. Apparently they brew around the clock until Friday evening and take the weekend off. I was impressed with the ammount of speicalty malts on hand (including bags of melanoidin malt!). We got to taste beer right out of the fermenter:
Belgian Ale - (nice sweetness, very fruity belgian yeast flavors, but with a good crispness). The brewer mentioned that they had not been sastisifed with the results in the past, which I was glad he said because I always thought they missed the mark myself. He said this time around they simplified everything and I think the results will speak for themselves. This will be available keg only.
Millenium - much improved over the past. I think they finally have hit hopped correctly. 10-11%abv make this formidable.
Tupper's Hop Pocket Pils - it was interesting to try one so young. It was probably a mistake to try this after having the above two, but what are you gonna do?
I was really impressed with the quality of work they put into their brews. I know sometimes I take the Dominion products for granted. They do 3 month (or more!) lagering for lagers which they actually do a decoction mash for. Real German malts in that one too. While they use mostly pellets, it's all whole flower for the dry hopping (not surprising I guess). None of the beers are pastuerised.
The brewer mentioned that they are considered a regional and he says they're ranked #47 in the US in terms of size.
I ended up hanging out with the brewer for a while afterwards talking some about the business and the beers. It was mentioned that they're going to try to reclaim some of the business they've lost in the city. They're going to be doing their own distribution! I'm curious about the legal issues there, but I think in the end it will be a good thing.
As an aside have any of you ever noticed that there seems to invaribly be a bunch of chuckleheads when you take a tour. I'm not talking about the people who don't seem to know a single thing about beer, which for some reason there always are one or two, but the ones, usually male fraternity types (not casting aspertions just sayin') who never shut up and could seem to care less about the brewery process then the cups of free beer they get. That ended up as a rant didn't it? My apologies.
Anyhow it was a great time out. I'm sure most you folks hereabouts have done this, but if you haven't I highly recommend it.
BTW they had cases of a mistake batch, where the New River Pale Ale and the Dominion Lager got put into the bottling tank together. It's pretty interesting.