Art Walk becoming known for beer events

Charleston’s Art Walk evenings are becoming beer event evenings. And they’re drawing a crowd for the brewers’ art.

April’s third Thursday Art Walk saw two super beer events downtown: Bridge Brew Works “The Blunt” release and tap-takeover at Boulevard Tavern and the “WV Road Trippin’ Beer Adventure” at Timothy’s at the Quarrier Diner.

4-20 brings out the Blunt

At 4:20 P.M. on 4/20/17, the first Boulevard Tavern tap opened and out streamed this year’s version of The Blunt. Bridge Brew Work’s brewing brothers Nathan and Adam Herrold were on hand to greet beer fans and explain all eight of their beers on tap.

According to the official release notes The Blunt is an English-style ale using Scottish malt and English hops (Fuggle and EKG). It is aged on Spanish cedar and American oak. They used a hopback on this one to provide a nice English tea flavor.
The brewery says a “Blunt” is the name of a cool kayak move. I guess they would know. We found no dankness in this blunt, just a richly malty and well-balanced English-style ale.

The brewery says a “Blunt” is the name of a cool kayak move. I guess they would know. We found no dankness in this blunt, just a richly malty and well-balanced English-style ale.

Besides the Blunt, BBW intro’d this year’s version of Iapetus Gose. This project of brewer Adam Herrold is slightly tweaked from last year. This lightly tart and fruity brew was drinking beautifully well on Thursday. This year, we loved the light hopping that accentuated but did not conflict with the lemony/citrus character produced by the lactobacillus fermentation. The J.Q. Dickinson salt was definitely there in the background doing its thing to brighten all the other flavor components. The market is going to enjoy this BBW spring seasonal.

All in all, Bridge Brew Works produced a superb line up for the season.

Brent Ligon travels to bring us beer

At Timothy’s, bar manager Brent Ligon told me he put over 2,000 miles on his vehicle to drive around the state collecting beer for his WV Road Trippin’ Beer Adventure. What a trooper he is.

Thursday evening his masterpiece debuted when 24 beers from West Virginia breweries hit Timothy’s taps. Many of these brews had never previously been served in Charleston. Several others made rare appearances.

The place was packed with beer enthusiasts and Art Walkers who all seemed to find something they enjoyed. Some highlights for beer geeks included the new Berliner Weisse from Parkersburg Brewing and two Stumptown IPAs. The Berliner was so masterfully light, but so absolutely delicious. Stumptown’s Bewildered Hippie IPA and Big Boy Pants Triple IPA didn’t disappoint. In their first appearance in Charleston, they delivered the luscious hop aroma and flavors today’s hop heads desire. Another good one new to the area was Brewstel’s Big Peter Porter. Honestly, there was a lot of good beer there.

Here is the event tap list. Most of these beers should be available through the weekend.

Parkersburg Brewing Hip Hef
Parkersburg Brewing Berliner Weisse
Bad Shepherd How Ewe Doin’ Blonde
Bad Shepherd LOUD! IPA
Chestnut Brew Works Class II Wheat Ale
Chestnut Brew Works Halleck Pale Ale
Screech Owl Buckwheat Porter
Screech Owl Whoo’s You Daddy IPA
Blackwater 3200 Altbier
Blackwater Wood Hick Porter
Big Timber Logger Lager
Big Timber Sluice Dry Stout
Morgantown Jesco White IPA
Morgantown Farmhouse Saison
Berkeley Springs Berkeley Brown Ale
Berkeley Springs Warm Springs Pale Ale
Stumptown Bewildered Hippie IPA
Stumptown Big Boy Pants Triple IPA
Greenbrier Valley Mothman Black IPA
Greenbrier Valley Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout
Bridge Brew Works The Blunt Red Ale
Bridge Brew Works Black Diamond Black Lager
Brewstel Big Peter’s Porter
Brewstel House GPA Golden Pale Ale

Our kudos go out to Timothy’s for this exceptional WV beer event. See Timothy’s Facebook page for more information on their beer happenings.

Keep this momentum going

It seems that downtown beer bars are learning to take advantage of the extra crowds that Art Walk produces. Wouldn’t it be great to see the brewer’s art featured each month with special events on Art Walk evenings. April’s Art Walk beer events worked out well and our West Virginia breweries got plenty of attention. Now, what will our beer bars do to top this in May?