Always unique brews at Weathered Ground

Weathered Ground Brewery never slows it’s impressive string of unique and extremely interesting beer releases. They are a shining star in West Virginia for creative, tasty beers. The Brilliant Stream crew dropped by there the other day and found a bunch of beautiful, summer-friendly brews. We also obtained a preview report on plans for Weathered Ground’s 5th anniversary celebration coming up on August 13.

There’s nothing wrong with a brewery that only makes a tight list of standard beers with a couple of seasonals thrown in across the year. I’ve had some of my best beers ever at breweries like that. But I have to admit, I get a great rush of excitement these days just about every time I visit Weathered Ground Brewery (WGB) to see what extensive list of new specialties they’ve dreamed up for the season. Every visit is like I cracked open the piñata and a stream of goodies pours out.

The beer minds of WGB’s leader Sam Fonda and head brewer Anthony Meador are unsurpassed in our region when it comes to creativity at a very high quality. Creativity with high quality is a combination in brewing that is difficult to achieve. It’s easy to brew some crazy, one-off beer recipe, but it’s not easy to put high quality in it. Think about it: they’ve never made it before; they’re using new ingredients in new combinations; they’re throwing it in a new barrel. Wow. The first time they brew it, they really can’t be sure it will be commercially successful or even drinkable for that matter. But Weathered Ground pulls this off at a very high success rate.

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Two Strawberry beers

Interestingly this year, WGB brewed two beers featuring added fresh strawberries from local TimBukSue Farm. Strawberries are difficult to work with in a beer because their fresh flavor is hard to capture and show.

Sam Fonda says that most of the time when he makes a beer featuring locally-sourced fruits, he likes to plan it well ahead so he can be ready to brew when the fruit is at its peak of ripeness. “But it turned out to be kind of the opposite with these two strawberry beers,” Sam says. In each, the strawberries were simply added to beers that were either already made (the saison) or already planned (the collaboration IPA) ahead of knowing that there would be strawberries available.

Bury Me in Strawberries

This one delivers a lightly tart, fresh fruity flavored saison with loads of delicate strawberry character. Sam tells that Tim and Sue of the TimBukSue Farm, which is about a half a mile down the road from the brewery, contacted him earlier this month to tell him that their strawberries were ripe. WGB already had a freshly made Saison-style beer in the tank. So instead of brewing a special base beer for the strawberries, they decided to just add the fresh strawberry fruit to the saison and rest it a short time in the tank before kegging. (6.3% ABV)

Roaring Rapids & Berry Patches

WGB’s second strawberry beer of the season is their latest collaboration with Tripel C Brewing of Charlotte. Sam says they were about ready to brew a collaboration IPA when he got the call about the strawberries being ready. He told the Triple C’s president Chris Harker about the strawberries and together they made the decision to make a most unusual IPA — a strawberry flavored IPA

Strawberry and IPA: That’s not a combination you’ve likely seen before. They began by brewing an IPA with some very fruity hops (Idaho 7, Mosaic, and HBC 586). “We wanted to make a really good, sort of in-between hazy and West Coast IPA for the base,” says Sam. He included the experimental hop, HBC 586, due to its reputation for having a strawberry-like character.

They ended up with a nicely drinkable, crisp IPA that has a little tart note from the natural fruit acids in the strawberries. The beer’s grain bill included a dose of Streaker oats, which adds a silky mouthfeel to the beer. (6.8% ABV)

100 pound of strawberries each

Both of these beers have over 100 pounds of strawberries in them. Once the strawberries were added to the Roaring Rapids & Berry Patches IPA it was kept chilled in order to prevent further fermentation and maintain a fresh strawberry flavor. Strawberries in the Bury Me in Strawberries Saison were allowed to ferment a little bit in the tank, providing a bit more acidity to the beer.

Sam says the taste of both the strawberry beers keeps changing and evolving as they mature. And he thinks they are headed in a nice direction. “They’re both good beers.”

These two beers are packaged only in kegs. They will be distributed to draft accounts in Weathered Ground’s normal distribution areas. Craft beer bar owners should move quickly to order these two beers because availability is limited and they are selling fast.

Two fruited sours for summer

We also found some additional specialty beers ripe for summer drinking. Sour beer fans will love two of these new beers. The two farmhouse ales, which started out as basic saison recipe beers, were then put into oak barrels with loads of added local fruit, then allowed to rest for around nine months. The results are impressive traditional-style sours. Both Pockets Fulla of Pawpaws and Blood, Sweat & Pears are beautiful works of the brewer’s art.

Sam says these two brews “are the closest thing to traditional Lambic-style beers that we’ve ever done. To me, they’re just right.” Don’t expect to find them in distribution. Get over to Cool Ridge and give them a try soon.

Pockets Fulla of Pawpaws

This one is a richer, maltier ale with a deep fruit backbone. The pawpaw fruit came from Vanishing Point, a farm in Greenbrier County. Last fall, Sam and family went over to the farm and gathered a pickup truck load of pawpaws. Then, they processed the fruit, separating the pulp from peel and seeds, to prepare it for adding to a golden saison-style beer and place it in wine barrels. In the barrels the beer went through a new fermentation from the wild yeasts on the pawpaws. This developed the flavors and added a crisp acidity to the finished beer. (5.8% ABV)

Blood, Sweat & Pears

You’re immediately blessed with ripe pear aroma and flavor as you take a sip. The pears came from their friends at TimBukSue Farm and were processed at the brewery in little hand-cranked grinder, the kind often used to make pulp for apple sauce or apple butter. The base beer was a blonde ale fermented with saison yeast. The pears were added to this and then transferred to former wine barrels. In the barrel for nine months, the beer soured by the action of natural wild yeasts and bacteria on the pears. (6.8% ABV)

And a Dandelion beer

Of Sun and Moon and Stars

One whole day this spring, several members of the brewery crew picked dandelion flowers in WGB’s fields. It takes a lot of flowers to flavor a seven-barrel batch of beer. After picking all day, “My back was sore for a week,” Sam relates. Most of the blooms were added on the hot side when brewing, with the rest added to the tank following fermentation.

This dandelion saison is a light-bodied floral cascade of flavor. The bloom of the dandelion flowers comes through in a pleasant burst as you raise the glass to your lips. The floral aromas are balanced nicely by the earthiness of the saison. It’s bone dry and so drinkable, complementing a hot summer day. Saison fans take note — the beer is a winner. Some should still be available in cans at regular Weathered Ground retailers throughout their normal distribution areas. (5.6% ABV)

Five Year Anniversary celebration preview

WGB already announced that their big 5th anniversary party will take place on Saturday, August 13, and now we have a few details. We were excited to learn from Sam that the 5th anniversary special beer line-up will include Pineapple Haggard IPA along with several others yet to be named. Sam says the El Dorado hops used in Haggard are already very pineapple-forward, so it was natural to design a brew with actual pineapple in it. Graphic artist Andrew Mullins is working on a label for the beer, so they plan to have 16-oz. cans of it available as well.

For the party, WGB will also rebrew a beer they originally brewed in their first year, but one that hasn’t been seen since. Gardening Angels Saison will be brewed this time with with fresh peppers, fresh ginger, and honey added.

Continuous live music is planned at the celebration from noon to 10 PM. Grace Campbell, Matt Deal, Matt Keyser, Long Point String Band, Matt Mullins and the Bringdowns all will perform. Expect 15 arts & crafts vendors to set up shop around the beer garden field. In addition to Weathered Ground’s own kitchen, a BBQ food truck and a dessert food truck will add to the day’s fare.

As a special activity, a community art project will occur where everyone is asked to help paint a large canvas. Another special feature will be a raffle for a brew day with Anthony Meador. The winner will have the beer brewed on that day named after them. (How cool is that?)

You know this brewery will do it up right, and it will be a fun day. So, mark your calendars.

Weathered Ground Brewery Facebook page link