Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Mid-Atlantic Octoberfest!


Octoberfest is just around the corner and we’re ready to share with you, our faithful Cap City fans, festival improvements and a tentative festival line-up. We recently held a brewer brainstorm session to ruminate on what makes a great festival great. Is it the exceptional variety of beers from across the country? An abundance of overfriendly co-eds from the metro area? Or is it simply enough lavatories to keep the lines flowing? We spent countless hours attending local festivals, sampling brews, glad-handing the glad-handlers, and polling other festival attendees say yes to all of the above.

No detail was overlooked, from an expanded and more comfortable festival area, to more family friendly activities and samplings for the underage ice-cream lovers. This year the tent space will extend past the Signature Theatre and Shirlington Library down to Bear Rock CafĂ©, allowing for more tent and relaxation space. The Library will host several kid-friendly activities, (face painting anyone?) and Johnny Rockets and Roebecks will be handing out free milkshake and smoothie samples. It’s not exactly brewfest daycare, but there should be enough free sugar flowing to allow mom and dad a few more minutes of festival sampling. This year’s stage will be moved to the intersection of Randolph and Campbell, making room for more biergarten tables and dance space for the Edelweiss Band. Other noteworthy improvements to the Shirlington Village include TWO new parking garages, and a new metro bus station. Public transportation is a great option for beerfests and http://www.wmata.com/ is the metro area’s website for bus and rail schedules and itineraries. Now for the important information;

Current Festival Line-up
1. Capitol City
2.Troegs-PA
3. Raven-VA
4. Abita –LA
5. Allagash-VT
6. Northcoast-CA
7. Stoudts-PA
8. Blackthorn-Cider
9. District Chophouse-DC
10. Woodchuck Cider
11. Sam Adams-MA
12. Fullers-England
13. Rogue-OR
14. Southern Tier
15. Hook and Ladder-MD
16. Starr Hill-Charlottesville
17. Vintage 50-Leesburg, VA
18. Sweetwater Tavern-Centerville, VA
19. Sierra Nevada-CA
20. Gordon Biersch-VA
21. Richbrau-Richmond, VA
22. Weihenstephan-Germany
23. Hofbrau-Germany
24. Bells-MI
25. Smuttynose-VT
26. Avery-CA
27. Williamsburg-VA
28. Lagunitas-CA
29. Oskar Blues-CO
30. Stone-CA
31. Anderson Valley-CA
32. New Holland-MI
33. Bear Republic-CA
34. Old Dominion-Ashburn
35. Shenandoah-VA
36. Clipper City-MD
35. Shenandoah-VA
36. Clipper City-MD
37. Lancaster-PA
38. Paulaner
39. Spaten
40. Chimay

Admission $25 for sample glass and free samples from 12-6:00pm

Free for those not sampling

Edelweiss German Band!

October 4th

We’re expecting several more breweries in attendance, and this list does not include the many outside food vendors and Shirlington restaurants that will participate on October 4th.

Interested in volunteering for the event? Contact information and a signup sheet are posted on http://www.capcitybrew.com/. For all other questions about the festival, including whether it’s appropriate to wear your lederhosen (yes it is), or if it’s time to break out the Scottish kilt (no it is not), please email us at brewer@capcitybrew.com.

NEWS FROM POSTAL SQUARE

September is here and its is a perfect time at Postal Square to introduce the newest beer to the Cap City ranks, Orange Blossom Lager. Head brewer Ryan Curley used two row Pilsner malt, wheat and flaked maize to add body to this Standard American Lager. During the whirlpool phase after boiling, 90 lbs. of Orange Blossom honey was added. Any honey introduced at this point will allow the yeast to ferment the added sugar, leaving only the honey’s aroma and flavor. Check the taps on September 5th for this delicious and delicate lager.

OG 1.049

FG 1. 011

IBU 12

ABV 4.9 %

Soon to be tapped:

Oktoberfest October 1st

Pumpkinator October 27th

Capitol City is gearing up for the Great American Beer Festival, October 10-12, in Denver. This year CCBC will have ten beers entered to try and go for the gold, Michael Phelps style! Included are three from Postal Square and seven from the Shirlington store: Hefeweizen, Kolsch, Saison , American Brown, Amber, English Summer, Orange Blossom Lager, Porter, Fuel, and Oatmilk Stout.

Good luck and god speed, CCBC’s hardworking Brewmasters!

NEWS FROM SHIRLINGTON

Labor day has come and gone, school is in session, and Capitol City Shirlington is hard at work preparing our fantastic fall seasonal beers for the cool weather. On October 1st we’ll be tapping our heavenly malty Oktoberfest in anticipation of October 4th’s festival. But don’t keep those lederhosen on too long, because November 2nd is just around the corner and we’ll be preparing you early on for a long and emotional election coverage with our Election Ale, a light, crisp ale, pale in color with a bold, citrusy American hop aroma. Later, as the leaves begin to change and October grows spookier, we’ll be throwing a tapping party for our Pumpkinator Ale, reminiscent of the pumpkin pie mom used to make at Thanksgiving.


See you October 4th!