LAST BUT NOT LEAST! Rahr & Sons Brewing Company is our final SAVOR 2012 Brewery Profile! Thanks for following along with us all this time, we hope you’ve enjoyed reading these as much as we’ve, uh, well as much as we’ve spent time writing them.

Rahr & Sons was started in 2004 by Fritz and Erin Rahr. In less than a decade they’ve won 15 national awards as well as doubled annual production from 2,000 barrels to 5,000. Fritz is the latest member of the Rahr family to open a brewery. The family has been producing beer off and on dating back to 1847. You can read more about the history of the brewery here, which is a pretty compelling read.

Type: Production brewery

Available in DC Market: No

Beer #1: Summertime Wheat (Hefeweizen / 5.2%)

Sponsorship

Beer Advocate: 82 (41 Reviews)
Rate Beer: 61 Overall, 85 Style (75 ratings)
Notes: This is a hefeweizen, so expect the traditional banana and clove flavors. Rahr adds some rye to the malt bill, which should complement the yeast’s spicy notes and help to dry out the back end of the beer.

Beer #2: Ugly Pug (Schwarzbier / 4.75%)

Beer Advocate: 82 (135 Reviews)
Rate Beer: 39 Overall, 30 Style (183 ratings)
Notes: Not a ton of Schwarzbiers will be at SAVOR, so if you’re a fan of this style, here’s one of your few options. Named after Fritz Rahr’s mother-in-law’s pug, this beer will be slightly bitter, with a thinner mouthfeel, and some roast notes. Easy drinking and a good palette cleanser between some of the bigger beers at SAVOR.

Summary: Rahr & Sons could be my favorite brewery at SAVOR solely because they represent the last of this year’s SAVOR profiles. But seriously, folks, a hefe and a schwarzbier, two styles you won’t see much of at SAVOR. Stop by, have a sip, and talk to the folks with a long line of family history in the brewing industry.

This profile is a part of the DCBEER.COM SAVOR Brewery Profile series. For more information, follow the link to see profiles of all 2012 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.