Williamsburg Ale Werks

Stopped by again today and the place looks great. Picked up a growler, some porter, and a couple pint glasses. The porter is excellent... going down as I write this.

Nate said:

Stopped by again today and the place looks great. Picked up a growler, some porter, and a couple pint glasses. The porter is excellent... going down as I write this.

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Weird you posted this....I'm headed up there Wednesday.

What other beers do they have available?

They had 3 others on tap but I was in a hurry... the porter just grabbed my eye. I believe two of the others were the pale ale and the IPA but I'm not sure. Give us the report after your visit.

Ahhhhh...got to try all the beers at the homebrew club meeting last Thursday night.

Porter--awesome stuff. Just about as classic of a porter as you can get--very drinkable.
Pale Ale--Awesome. When he told us the hop he bitters with, I was kind of dismayed--but it works well. Great pale ale very similar to SNPA.
IPA--I'm guessing this was really young--because although it was a good beer--I think it was a little bit harsh at first. The aftertaste was much more mellow and very good.
Tavern Ale--also very, very nice. I think it is supposed to be along the lines of a brown ale, but I heard someone say Mike couldn't get the exact ingredients that he wanted, so this version was going to be tweaked next time. Don't know if that is true or not, but at any rate the Tavern Ale was great. To me it was kind of a cross between a brown ale and a porter.
Colonial Wheat--This was only a few days old and still in the fermenter, but he let us sample it anyway. It was awesome if you like American wheats. Spicy from the wheat but not overly phenolic like a classic German hefe. Super beer.

All in all, he's making great beer. What I'm really impressed with is how he gets his bitterness integrated--it is just real smooth and crisp--in every beer. They taste professional, for sure. I'm also impressed that all of the beers I tasted you can definitely taste hops. He's not afraid to use the hops, which is awesome. He also really gave out a lot of info on the recipes--which also surprised me.

Dude said:

What I'm really impressed with is how he gets his bitterness integrated--it is just real smooth and crisp--in every beer. .

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Did he give any clues as how he's doing this? Is he using more late hop additions or FWH or some other secret technique?

Are these brewed in Old Williamsburg? My wife and I stopped in there about 6yrs ago on the way down to Parris Island for our sons graduation from boot camp. Can't remember the one I tried except I still have the empties from the Pale Ale and the Wheat.

Chairman Cheyco said:

Did he give any clues as how he's doing this? Is he using more late hop additions or FWH or some other secret technique?

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Not really, he didn't give hints on amounts or anything--but I know that he uses hop bags--which surprised me as well. I'm thinking it is probably just fresh ingredients, more than any kind of special technique. I've also heard before that adding gypsum to the brewing liquor will sharpen the hops flavor as well--which I've been meaning to try. That could possibly be it as well?

2nd Street--I'm not sure where those came from.....

Dude said:

Not really, he didn't give hints on amounts or anything--but I know that he uses hop bags--which surprised me as well. I'm thinking it is probably just fresh ingredients, more than any kind of special technique. I've also heard before that adding gypsum to the brewing liquor will sharpen the hops flavor as well--which I've been meaning to try. That could possibly be it as well?

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Well I know gypsum increases the perception of bitternes, but I've never heard anyone say it also changes the flavor charateristics of the hops. You're probably right about the freshness of the ingredients, but I'm thinking that since you were surprised by a hop that you normally don't like and all the beers had a noticable (yet pleasant) hop flavor, something more is at work here.

Chairman Cheyco said:

Well I know gypsum increases the perception of bitternes,

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Yes, yes, that's what I meant. I dunno, I'll ask him next time I'm up there.

2nd Street Brewery said:

Are these brewed in Old Williamsburg? My wife and I stopped in there about 6yrs ago on the way down to Parris Island for our sons graduation from boot camp. Can't remember the one I tried except I still have the empties from the Pale Ale and the Wheat.

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Those are from one of the local taverns here in town but it appears that they're brewed by Old Dominion brewery... not in Williamsburg.


http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/raleigh-tavern-williamsburg-pale-ale/7184/

Is this Williamsburg Va? We are set to take a trip to Colonial Williamsburg in the next eight mos for the anniversary. I love the Ales in the taverns.

I saw 3 types of Willamsburg Alewerks beers in Kroger today, 1st time I've seen them. I would have bought some but my fridge is too full at this point. Anyone try this stuff yet?

todd_k said:

I saw 3 types of Willamsburg Alewerks beers in Kroger today, 1st time I've seen them. I would have bought some but my fridge is too full at this point. Anyone try this stuff yet?

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I have. I love the Tavern Ale. Pale Ale is good too but the IPA is kind of harsh. I think it is perle hops in it. Tried the wheat at the brewery from the bright tank and it kicked ass.

Try the porter... it's excellent. My wife and I decided to invest in this brewery. I may try to join a few brew sessions once my new job settles down a little...

I saw the tavern ale, pale ale, and porter. Hopefully I can get 1 bottle of each at Total Wine or some place like that.
What made you decide to invest and if you don't mind saying, how much did you invest, and what does that investment get you? (i'm not sure if this is taboo to be asking so if you don't want to answer, that's fine with me).

todd_k said:

I saw the tavern ale, pale ale, and porter. Hopefully I can get 1 bottle of each at Total Wine or some place like that.
What made you decide to invest and if you don't mind saying, how much did you invest, and what does that investment get you? (i'm not sure if this is taboo to be asking so if you don't want to answer, that's fine with me).

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Hey Todd,

The last I heard they still had one spot left for the initial offering. If you're interested, it's probably best that you talk to someone there directly to get the details. You can reach them at their website or, if you'd like, I can PM you some contact info.

We decided to invest because it's a brewery and it's local... quite the financial wizards.

I considered doing it as well, but at that time it was a little bit more than I could "afford". Mike told me a while back they have smaller investments now--but now that we recently bought our house, that is enough investing for a while.

dcarter said:

Is this Williamsburg Va? We are set to take a trip to Colonial Williamsburg in the next eight mos for the anniversary. I love the Ales in the taverns.

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Did anyone ever answer this? Yeah, it's Williamsburg VA and it's about 10 minutes away from the colonial area.

Dude said:

I considered doing it as well, but at that time it was a little bit more than I could "afford". Mike told me a while back they have smaller investments now--but now that we recently bought our house, that is enough investing for a while.

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Yeah, you can go in pretty small right now but I expect that will change as they grow. It looks like they're really trying to do things right so hopefully they'll be successful.

I'm in Dude's boat, just bought a house so I'm not looking to spend any more money. I just picked up a bottle of the Pale Ale and a sixer of the Porter.

I just picked up the 2 limited edition beers....they did 2 recipes, an Imperial IPA and a barleywine and only bottled 2007 bottles of each. I picked up 2 of each. I also got the "400" ale which I guess is a strong ale styled along the lines of early colonial beer. Should be interesting.

If anyone wants one of these let me know and I'll reserve them for you--the inaugural limited edition beers might be worth something someday! At the very least you'll get to drink a brew from a very solid brewer!

WOW...I busted into a "400" tonight, what a great beer!

"400" Ale commemorates the founding of the first Virginia Settlement and with it, the founding of the American brewing industry. Beer was an essential component of everyday life in Jamestown, only the security and shelter provided by the triangular shaped fort and cultivation of edible (no doubt including barley) crops outranked the production of beer in importance. Fresh water flowing in local streams and the recently excavated well provided a source of potable water, but beer and other "processed liquids, primarily beer" were preferred drinks.
This ale, like the ales of the time, is brown in color. This beer may be more robust than 18th century brews, a liberty we chose to take. How could we possibly do justice to so important an event of 400 years ago, with anything other than a truly robust, full flavored contemporary "Imperial Brown Ale." Cheers

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Imperial Brown is right! Chocolatey, rich, but deceptively light--no harsh alc burn--very, very nicely done.