On Saturday, September 30, Black Narrows Brewing Company will host 14 breweries on the island of Chincoteague for a festival unlike any other.
What’s unique about this festival is its focus on the educational component and the ways in which brewers are contributing to the mission of The Nature Conservancy in Virginia. Tickets aren’t necessary, but if you’re planning on attending you should bring a healthy dose of curiosity, your listening ears, and partici-pants.
Josh Chapman started the festival last year by working with three Virginia breweries to use Virginia-grown ingredients. The four styles of beer that came out last year were produced at Black Narrows, Väsen, Crooked Run, and Fine Creek. Despite the intense amount of labor, time, and effort that went into these foraged beers with added local ingredient components, Chapman is set to do it again and has asked participating breweries to do so, too.
This year, the festival has grown from four brewers to fifteen. The breweries participating are eleven in total from Virginia, three from DC and one from Maryland. They are:
Benchtop Brewing
Black Narrows
Bluejacket
Crooked Run Fermentation
Elation
Fine Creek Brewing Company
Garden Grove
Heliotrope
Landmade
Lost Generation
Ocelot
Right Proper
Sojourn
Tabol Brewing
Väsen
Some of the brewers are bringing beer brewed at their facility, like Lost Generation, and some of these beers are coming out of the Black Narrows cellar, like their collaboration with Ocelot.
When we last spoke to Chapman, the Ocelot collaboration was gaining carbonation in his brite tank and the beer was showcasing large floral notes with a candied lemon aroma in the nose, alongside white pepper and a mild tannin at close with a bright shining impression of bayberry that “really shines.”
As with the Ocelot collaboration Black Narrows hosted, Right Proper Brewing Company used local and more off-the-beaten-path ingredients. Brewer Bobby Bump used rice grits and black turtle beans from Maryland’s Next Step Produce for the small batch produced at the Right Proper Shaw brewpub. The original plan was to use grapes from Right Proper co-founder and co-owner Thor Cheston’s yard but “they got eaten.” Director of Brewing Operations Barrett Lauer came to the rescue with Sunbeam hops from his backyard; you may have previously sampled them in WHIP, wet-hopped Italian Pilsner, one of DC’s only wet-hopped beers. On the topic of DC brewpubs, Bluejacket will also be pouring at the festival.
According to Lost Generation’s head brewer/owner Jared Puliam, “We are bringing two beers to the fest. We know most people are taking the theme “Time and Place” in regards to using local ingredients as Josh [Chapman] often does, but we did our own twist on it. In a nod to our theme (Lost Gen era) and my own family history, we are doing beers that focus on Prohibition for the time and DC as the place.”
Per Pulliam:
First up is Call The Owl, a 5.2% Pre-Prohibition Pilsner. This one is modeled after the lagers that most area breweries were churning out before the Drys came and mucked it all up. Pilsner malt heavy, but also a sizeable amount of corn and accentuated with Cluster hops (not the easiest to find in the modern market). The name is based on the following story (as also seen on the label).
On January 3rd, 1920 Beverly Ransom Pulliam posted this ad in the Washington Herald (now the Post). Two weeks later Prohibition took effect and his garage at 6th and L Streets NW would become notorious modifying suspensions for rum runners looking to avoid detection when bringing heavy loads of hooch into the city from neighboring PG County. A century later, the Pulliam name is still working to keep spirits flowing in Washington DC. This one is for you, great gramps. I hope I’ve made you proud. – Jared Pulliam Head Brewer/Owner
Next up: Gaslight, a 8% Hazy IPA brewed with local wheat and Eggers Hops Riwaka (“we even had Eggers himself in house from New Zealand on the brewday–seriously,” notes Pulliam). “We wanted this one to highlight the ingredients from two farms and the wonderful impact they have. As you’ll see below it is themed after a famed DC speakeasy, which just happened to have been a few blocks down L from my great gramps’ spot. I’d like to believe The Gaslight Club deliveries came from modified rum runners that he himself had done.” Story included below:
During Prohibition, The Gaslight Club was a famed speakeasy that operated at 16th and L St NW. And so while the country was technically dry, The Gaslight kept D.C. wet with homebrew and hooch from neighboring farms and even some imported spirits from around the world. And while The Gaslight inevitably got shut down, we make this beer to honor the men and women who kept the party going and the farmers near and far that gave them the goods to make it happen. Cheers.
Part of the reason the Oktoberforestfest differs from the rest of the festivals we’ve seen is that it served as proof of concept last year and will be extended into a partnership with the Nature Conservancy for Oktoberforest: A Taste of Virginia. We will highlight that more next week so stay tuned. In the meantime, see you in Chincoteague on Saturday, September 30.
Can’t make it to the Eastern Shore? Oktoberforestfest comes closer to us on Thursday, September 12th at Rustico.
