Name: LoneRider Brewing Company
Location: Raleigh, NC
Type: Production brewery
Available in DC Market?: No
What you need to know: Probably one of the youngest breweries at SAVOR this year, LoneRider opened in January of 2009. This brewery is part of a growing wave of solid beers in North Carolina, especially near Raleigh and Asheville. Their beers have a Wild West/cowboy-type theme that reminds me vaguely of Heavy Seas’ pirate theme. This brewery has three year-round beers and a handful of rotating seasonal releases.
Beer #1: Shotgun Betty
Notes: This is one of the year-round beers that LoneRider brews. This is a hefeweizen that weighs in at 5.8%, one of the few examples of this style that will be at SAVOR.
BeerAdvocate Grade: B+ (37 reviews)
Ratebeer Grade: 53 overall; 73 style
Beer #2: Sweet Josie
Notes: Sweet Josie is another of LoneRider’s year-round beers. This is an American brown beer described as having a “nice hop bitterness” but being balanced by chocolate and aromatic malts. This beer receives pretty good reviews, and, oh, by the way, it was a 2010 GABF Gold Medal Winner for American-style brown ale, so if you’re a fan of American browns, you should definitely stop by and try one from a brewery I’m betting you haven’t tried before.
BeerAdvocate Grade: B+
Ratebeer Grade: 79 overall; 85 style
Summary: LoneRider is a relatively unknown entity in DC. Their beers receive pretty decent reviews at BeerAdvocate and Ratebeer, and they’ll be bringing two styles of beer that will be under-represented at this year’s SAVOR. Plus, you’ll get to try a 2010 GABF Gold Medal Winner. If you’re a big fan of hefes or browns, stop by and say hi, you might find a reason to take a little beer field trip down to Raleigh!
This profile is a part of the DCBEER.COM SAVOR Brewery Profile series. For more information, follow the link to see profiles of all 2011 SAVOR participants.
Beer Review Disclaimer: The beer reviews found on Beer Advocate and Rate Beer do not represent the opinions of this site. We provide these in the hope that they will serve as a resource showing what some craft beer fans have thought of the beers. These reviews can be a helpful guideline, but are not the be-all end-all about a beer’s strengths or weaknesses.