Specialties abound at The Rambling Root

Josh Clarke may have moved to the snowy northlands of Vermont, but his presence is still felt around Fairmont’s The Rambling Root brewery. That’s because Clarke, who was one of the brewery’s founders and a former brewer there, now comes back down to West Virginia occasionally to help brew some special Rambling Root beers.

Clarke, who has been sharpening his skills while working part-time with several Vermont breweries, loves getting back home for visits. During his most recent visit to Fairmont, Clarke, Rambling Root owner DJ Cassel, and a crew of others held a weekend-long brew day during which they made four, really cool sounding specialty brews. Leave it to the creative Clarke to come up with some stellar beer names and beer inspirations only he could imagine.

Rambling Root brew card

Here’s what the guys brewed recently at The Rambling Root.

Weird Ale Yankovitch – This is a traditional Gruit-style beer featuring five classic gruit herbs and no hops. Gruits are a historical beer style that was brewed in northern Europe before brewing with hops became common. For the Rambling Root version, the herbs rosemary, yarrow,  and mugwort were added in the boil. Fresh heather and lemon balm were added to the beer after the primary fermentation had finished (in sort of a “dry-hopping” technique, but with herbs instead of hops) . Why the name? Clarke says he and DJ are both huge fans of Weird Al and his music. That’s good enough for me.

Speaking of Gruit, Clarke said he thinks they are an under-appreciated part of beer’s history. “I like to brew them every once in a while just to illustrate to patrons just how many possibilities beer has and new ways to look at it, especially through the lens of the past — what it was then and how it’s changed over the centuries.”

Scruffy-Lookin Nerfherder — This one is a hazy New England-style white IPA. A few Amarillo hop additions were added throughout the boil and a bunch of Citra and HBC 438 Neomexicanus hops were added to the whirlpool to obtain a ton of juicy hop flavor on the finish. Clarke calls this beer a tribute to his favorite Vermont IPAs and to one of his favorite movies: Star Wars.

“Working at Frost Beer Works in Vermont,” says Clarke, “I was fascinated with the sheer variety of flavors and interpretations solely within the NEIPA style, so I decided to take my crack at it and go with my gut for some of my personal favorite flavors. I took a page out of Frost’s book and whirlpooled all my late hops at 180º F to bring that citrusy-hop juiciness to the forefront.”

I Don’t Roll on Shabbos This beer is anything but traditional even though it begins as a traditional wheat hefeweizen. Lactose is added that is aged on peaches & raspberries.  This one is a tribute to another of Clarke’s film favorites: The Big Lebowski.  

“My main idea was a day spent doing absolutely nothing — like Walter on Shabbos — and being able to slip into a beer that feels like a robe and cozy slippers: a smooth, creamy Hef with two different types of fruit.  I mean, why not, right?”

Do Androids Dream of Electric Beer? A lacto-soured Gose using coriander, this brew is kicked up by the addition of ghost pepper sea salt from Steel City Saltworks in Pittsburgh. The beer is then aged on mango puree.  And for the name, Clarke says he loves the original Blade Runner film and just recently read the Philip K. Dick novel that inspired it.  And they inspired the brewer in him. Hold onto your hats.

“I wanted this beer to taste like neon light & electricity,” Clarke explains.  “Like it was a beer an android would drink to charge their batteries.  Hope it doesn’t short-circuit too many of our human patrons.”

Flagship brewed too

The Rambling Root’s brewery set up.

The guys also brewed a batch of Rambling Root’s Spanky Double IPA, which is one of their two flagship beers. The other is Regular Beer Cream Ale. Those are the beers you can find on tap year-round at the Root.

I love seeing a brewery’s creativity extend beyond the actual beer. To a label, for instance. The Rambling Root got local artists Eddie Maier to do their Spanky Double IPA label art and Liz Urse to do the label for Regular Beer Cream Ale.

It’s great to see a new brewery with such an interesting personality. The Rambling Root’s bar and restaurant have been strong since they opened in 2017. Now it’s beginning to look like they are finding a winning formula as a brewery too. I should expect no less.

Brewery owner DJ Cassel describes it this way: “We love beer and are always looking for the best new beers from around the state and the world. Variety is the spice of life, and we can’t get enough of it. People always come in just asking what is new and weird, and they can’t get enough.”

Beyond  Clarke and Cassel, others joining in the weekend-long brew day crew were Austin Weser, Troy Freels, Brandon Riley, Bob Layne, Andy Herberger, and Roger Harris. I’d say the guys had a great time.

When can you try the beers

You are probably looking at mid-February to March release dates for the specialty beers above. Rambling Root likes to release a special one each week, so watch their Facebook page for details.

Photo credit — Thanks to Josh Clarke for providing use of his photos.

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The Rambling Root

The Rambling Root is a full service bar, restaurant and brewery located in downtown Fairmont.

601 Fairmont Avenue
Fairmont, WV

Hours
Tues.-Thur., 12:00 noon – 11:00 PM
Fri.-Sat., 12 noon – 12 midnight

(304) 534-8475
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