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Food & Drink Living

Spirited debate: Tasting and talking Virginia whiskey (and one rum)

Whiskey goes way back in Virginia. In 1620, English settler George Thorpe made the first batch of spirits in Jamestown using corn—not barley, as was the tradition in Europe—obtained in a trade with the indigenous Powhatan people. George Washington added to the commonwealth’s whiskey heritage, distilling a rye mash in Mount Vernon in the 1770s. Of greater relevance today is Culpeper’s Chuck Miller. He rescued an abandoned 3,000-gallon copper pot still from a hillside in Nelson County, and, with his wife Jeanette, became the first licensed craft distiller in Virginia in 1988. “I feel like I started a revolution,” says Miller.

In the decades since, a growing number of new distillers have followed the small-batch path in Virginia. With the cold weather blowing in, we decided it was time to sample some of those local efforts. So we gathered a few experts and enthusiasts to try two of Miller’s Belmont Farm creations and six other brown liquors made in and around Charlottesville. See our tasting notes below, and then find your own favorite to warm up the chilly nights ahead.

Belmont Farm Virginia Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Culpeper

92 proof. Aged two years in charred white oak barrels.

Nose: “Baking spice.” “Floral.” “Chocolate.” “Fruit tart.”

Palate: “Maple-driven sweetness.” “Pears and malt.” “Heat builds on the tongue.” “Too hot.” “Rough around the edges.”

Notes: “A little cloying for my taste.” “Long finish with corn and smoke at the end.”

Spirit Lab Distilling Single Malt Whiskey, Batch 5, Charlottesville

96 proof. Cured in charred white oak and bourbon barrels, finished in sherry and port casks. Total aging of 42 months.

Nose: “Toasted pear crumble.” “Maple syrup.” “Malt.”

Palate: “A little malty.” “Complex citrus notes.” “Balanced flavors.” “Hint of cinnamon.” “Anise.” “Fig.” “Light on the tongue.” “Mellow.”

Notes: “A complete whiskey.” “Yeah, dog! There’s some serious flavor here.” “Austere sweetness.”

Ragged Branch Farm, Signature Bourbon, Albemarle County

90 proof. Aged four years in charred white oak barrels.

Nose: “Raw grain.” “Honey.” “Tangy and sweet.”

Palate: “Maple.” “Burnt caramel.” “Caramel.” “Spicy.” “Molasses.” “Continuously hot.” “Spicy.”

Notes: “Good, young bourbon.” “It’s a little like candy your grandmother would give you, in a good way.” “Interesting late-night sipper with some ice.”

Virginia Distilling Company, Prelude American Single Malt Whiskey, Lovingston

92 proof. Aged three years-plus in sherry, cuvée and bourbon casks.

Nose: “Baked goods.” “Floral.” “Smoke.” “Chocolate-covered cherries.”

Palate: “Malty.” “Orange peel.” “Tobacco.” “Toffee.” “Sharp.” “Opens up the more you sip.”

Notes: “Very good American/Virginian example of a Scottish single malt.” “Light for a malt but hard to pigeon-hole, which is a good thing.”

Ragged Branch Farm, Wheated Bourbon, Albemarle County

90 proof. Double oaked, twice barreled (no aging duration given).

Nose: “Grassy.” “Young grain.” “Caramel.” “Sweet.”

Palate: “Spice.” “Fresh wood shavings.” “Heavy wheat, less oak presence.” “Expansive.” “Smoother than the [Ragged Branch] Signature Bourbon, but still a little hot.”

Notes: “Hot on the palate at the beginning but slightly mellows at the end.” “A little on the sour side.”

Belmont Farm Bonded Virginia Whiskey, Culpeper

100 proof. Aged six years in apple wood and Virginia white oak.

Nose: “Rice pudding.” “Cinnamon-raisin oatmeal.”

Palate: “Cinnamon and smoke.” “Caramel.” “Sorghum.” “Orange creme brulée.” “Smooth, slow release of flavors.”

Notes: “Needs a drop of water to open it up. After that, you get the apple wood right away.” “Another complete whiskey.” “Has a lot of depth.” “+++!”

Vitae Spirits, Barrel-Aged Rum, Charlottesville

90 proof. Unspecified aging period in bourbon and wine barrels.

Nose: “Bright, orange peel.” “Butterscotch.” “Molasses.”

Palate: “Buttery.” “Cocoa.” “French toast.” “Round.” “Full but thins out to a peppery finish.”

Notes: “Not as sweet as I’d expect a rum to be.” “Almost like an Armagnac.”

Silverback Distillery, Blackback Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Nelson County

86 proof. Two-and-a-half years in charred white oak barrels.

Nose: “Freshly split oak.” “Caramel.” “Butterscotch.”

Palate: “Graham cracker.” “Grain—something light, like wheat, as well as corn?” “Initially bracing but rounds out.”

Notes: “A young bourbon that shows characteristics of an older one. It sips well and has staying power.”

Tasting team

Ivar Aass: Co-founder and co-owner of Spirit Lab Distilling. (Aass reserved comment on his own product.)

Joe Bargmann: Living/Special Publications Editor, C-VILLE Weekly.

Larry Bleiberg: USA Today columnist, veteran travel and food writer, president-elect of the Society of American Travel Writers.

Will Curley: Co-owner, The Wine Guild of Charlottesville.

Rebecca Edwards: Nationally recognized mixologist who works at Tavola.

Max March: C-VILLE Weekly editorial designer, food and drink enthusiast.

Jake Mooney: C-VILLE Weekly contributor, former New York Times columnist, trenchant observer of life (including whiskey).

Whiskies

Belmont Farm, Virginia Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Spirit Lab Distilling, Single Malt Whiskey Batch 5

Ragged Branch Farm, Signature Bourbon

Virginia Distilling Co., Prelude American Single Malt Whisky

Ragged Branch Farm, Wheated Bourbon

Belmont Farm, Bonded Virginia Whiskey

Vitae Spirits, Barrel-Aged Rum

Silverback Distillery, Blackback Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Categories
Living

MarieBetter: Bakery adds downtown location

MarieBette Café & Bakery spin-off Petite MarieBette is now open at 105 E. Water St., offering coffee and baked goods (of course!), as well as breakfast sandwiches and grab-and-go lunch. Longtime MarieBette employee Will Darsie co-owns the new spot, and will manage it. The son of a chef (mom) and a farmer (dad), Darsie moved from his native California to Charlottesville in 2015. He found work at MarieBette, starting as a busboy and rising to general manager. “I never had any intention of working in this industry, but now I can’t see myself doing anything else,” Darsie says.

Music to your mouth

Prime 109 has a new menu available Wednesday nights to accompany weekly live jazz. Guests can enjoy a more casual midweek bite, while the cooks get to create “experimental dishes that don’t necessarily fit the structure of the dining room,” Executive Chef Ian Redshaw says. In keeping with the improvisational theme, the menu changes weekly. Past offerings have included housemade pastrami banh mi and an “octo dog”—octopus poached in olive oil and served on a Parker House-style hot dog bun with shishito peppers, shallots, harissa, and cilantro. Music, from 6-9pm, is courtesy of jazz trio Adam Larrabee, Brian Caputo, and Randall Pharr.

Winning spirit

For the third year in a row, Lovingston’s Virginia Distillery Co. has taken home a top prize at the U.K.-based World Whiskies Awards. The distillery’s Port Cask Finished Virginia-Highland Whisky earned a medal for Best American Blended Malt, the same award it won in 2018. Aged in Virginia port-style wine barrels, the spirit blends American single-malt whiskey distilled on-site with single-malt whiskey from Scotland. In 2017, the distillery’s flagship Virginia-Highland Malt won Best American Single Malt.

Categories
Living

Mudhouse to open third stand-alone location

By Sam Padgett and Erin O’Hare
eatdrink@c-ville.com

A third full-size Mudhouse will soon open on 10th Street NW, in the former Cville Classic Cars space. The local roastery and coffee shop’s new location will offer the usual Mudhouse coffee and atmosphere, plus an extended array of bakery items. Mudhouse co-owner Lynelle Lawrence is excited to add yet another java option to the already robust caffeine community in Charlottesville. For Lawrence, community is most important to the archetypal coffee shop environment where people can bring their laptops and business partners to a welcoming (and fragrant) place.

Lawrence plans to extend the community aspect of the new Mudhouse by making the brewing and roasting process more transparent.

“The thing about coffee is, we can’t grow it in our backyard,” says Lawrence. “This means we have to connect to other communities in Central America and Africa.”

There are plenty of quality coffee joints all over town, and Mudhouse’s new building of brew is intended to be accessible to a new group of people. “We want to serve that part of the community who knows about us, but can’t get to us as easily,” says Lawrence.

Smokehouse closed

According to a message posted to the restaurant’s website, The Local Smokehouse closed its doors at 816 Hinton Ave. in Belmont on March 30. Fans of Matthew Hart’s barbecue can still get it via The Local Catering.

Common vision

Matt Greene, the chef who consulted on Common House’s food and beverage program before the membership-driven social club at 206 W. Market St. opened last May, is back in the club’s kitchen as executive chef and culinary director. Greene, who worked at Marlow & Sons in New York, takes over for executive chef Antwon Brinson, who left to work with the City of Charlottesville to start a program teaching life skills through what can be learned in the kitchen (see our most recent issue of Knife & Fork magazine for more on that).

In advance of its first birthday, Common House has launched two new food initiatives that open the club’s ground floor to the public. One of those is Street Food Sundays, where local chefs cook street food-inspired menus served out of the social club’s chef’s counter on the ground floor Vinegar Hall room. Frank Paris of Heirloom at the Graduate Charlottesville hotel (and formerly of Miso Sweet) cooked ramen for the first Street Food Sunday last month. Ryan Collins is up next, on Sunday, April 15.

Collins, who previously cooked at Early Mountain Vineyards and some of José Andrés’ Washington, D.C., establishments, will offer a menu of Mexican-inspired cuisine similar to the food that will be served at Little Star, his forthcoming restaurant that will open sometime this year in the former Threepenny Café space at 420 W. Main St.

Proceeds from this week’s Street Food Sundays will benefit Andrés’ World Central Kitchen, which aims to create solutions for ending hunger and poverty around the world. Service starts at 4pm, and will go until they run out.

Also on April 15, Common House begins a community brunch series open to the public, each meal benefiting a different local community organization. The Virginia Institute of Autism is the beneficiary of the first brunch’s proceeds.

Winning whiskies

Virginia Distillery Co.’s whiskies continue to rack up the accolades. Its Cider Cask Finished Virginia-Highland Whisky was named best of class in the certified blended spirits category at this year’s American Distilling Institute Judging of Craft Spirits, where craft spirits from small, independently owned distillers are tasted blind and evaluated by a panel of dozens of spirits experts. Additionally, the Lovingston-based distillery’s Port Cask Finished Virginia-Highland Whisky was named America’s Best Blended Malt at Whisky Magazine’s 2018 World Whiskies Awards.

Dining royalty

The Castle, UVA’s former late-night snack bar nestled deep within the old dorms, is making a comeback (and getting a facelift in preparation) as part of the Bonnycastle dormitory remodeling project. Since the spot is primarily frequented by students (it’s literally attached to a dorm), student input directed the remodel. The most significant change to The Castle is that it will no longer serve any meat, pushing UVA’s food provider Aramark to figure out a customizable series of bowls, salads and sandwiches. Additionally, The Castle’s new seating arrangement is described as “mindful,” focusing on soft chairs and open spaces, surely a welcome upgrade from cafeteria tables and bean bags. The Castle is expected to open in time for classes in the fall.

Categories
Living

LIVING Picks: Week of March 7-13

FAMILY

Caromont Farm open house

Thursday, March 8

Stop by Caromont Farm for a tour, to browse the pop-up shop selling cheese-centric items, and—the main attraction—baby goat snuggling. Reserve slots in advance to spend quality time with the kids. $10 (ages 4 and under free), 11am-4pm. Caromont Farm, 9261 Old Green Mountain Rd., Esmont. 831-1393.

NONPROFIT

Know Your Rights session

Monday, March 12

Side by Side is leading a community dialogue about the rights of LGBTQ students in K-12 schools in Virginia. Free, 5pm. Northside Library, 705 Rio Rd. W. jmrl.org

FOOD & DRINK

Whiskey school

Saturday, March 10

A behind-the-scenes look at how Virginia Distillery Co. finishes its Virginia-Highland Whisky series, with information on the ways individual barrels impact color, aroma and flavor. Includes samples and a welcome cocktail. $35, 4-6pm. Virginia Distillery Co., 299 Eades Ln., Lovingston. 285-2900.

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Run for Home 8K/4K

Saturday, March 10

This seventh annual race starts and ends at the pavilion on the Downtown Mall, and winds its way through historic and scenic neighborhoods. Participants receive a Haven hat and breakfast at The Haven, which benefits from race proceeds. $25-40; 8-11am. runsignup.com

Categories
Living

LIVING Picks: Week of April 5-11

Nonprofit

C’ville Walk-a-Mile
Saturday, April 8

In support of the Sexual Assault Resource Agency, community members are invited to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. Free for kids under 10, $25 for adults; noon. Start in front of Main Street Arena, 230 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. sara cville.org

Family

Charlottesville Dogwood Festival carnival
Thursday, April 6-Sunday, April 23

The Charlottesville Dogwood Festival celebration continues with a carnival in McIntire Park, as well as fireworks the night of April 7. Free, various times. McIntire Park, U.S. Route 250 Bypass. 961-9824.

Food & Drink

Spring Fling party
Saturday, April 8

Enjoy the spring weather while sipping seasonally inspired cocktails on Virginia Distillery Co.’s back patio or deck, while listening to music from Beatles tribute band Das Homage from 2-5pm. Free, 11am-6pm. Virginia Distillery Co., 299 Eades Ln., Lovingston. 285-2900.

Health & Wellness

BE BOLD 4 Miler
Saturday, April 8

After taking in panoramic mountain views in this four-mile race along Route 151, enjoy a post-race party with cider samples from Bold Rock, along with live music and an awards ceremony. $45, 9am. Bold Rock Nellysford Cider Barn, 1020 Rockfish Valley Hwy., Nellysford. 361-1030.

Categories
Living

Sheepdog Café offers breakfast, lunch and dinner

The café located on the ground floor of the Graduate Charlottesville hotel on West Main Street has a new name, a new look and a new menu. Formerly Sheepdog Coffee, the 2,000- square-foot indoor/outdoor space is now Sheepdog Café and can seat up to 66 people for breakfast, lunch and dinner service, plus a full bar. Sheepdog’s chef Allen Flint—a former U.S. Army chef and member of the highly competitive Fort Carson Culinary team who’s worked as an executive chef for various major hotel brands—created the new menu with students and travelers in mind. “We wanted to offer dishes that were easy to carry out or eat in,” says Flint. Menu items include salads, pressed sandwiches, mini donuts and, Flint’s favorite, biscuits made fresh daily and paired with eggs and cheese. The café is open every day from 6am to midnight.

Wish granted

In an effort to increase community access to healthy food, the Local Food Hub applied for—and received—a $10,000 grant from The Conservation Fund and CSX Transportation. With the money, the nonprofit organization will purchase an additional cold storage unit for its 3,000-square-foot warehouse off of Morgantown Road in Ivy.

The warehouse currently features a loading dock and a staging area for preparing pick-ups and deliveries, plus two cool-temperature-zone rooms. One of those cool rooms contains a freezer for meat and a walk-in cooler for leafy greens and other vegetables.

The walk-in spaces are great, but they’re narrow, and it’s difficult to get a pallet in and out, says Local Food Hub Chief of Staff Laura Brown. Having more space for pallets means increased efficiency and organization and a greater ability to serve more customers. The organization provides food to more than 250 customers in Virginia and the Maryland/Washington, D.C., area.

Brown says they plan to use the new cold storage unit to store fresh, non-frozen meat and other foods for various Local Food Hub initiatives. “People don’t often think about people in Charlottesville needing access to healthy food,” says Brown, but the reality is that not everyone in town can afford to buy farm-fresh produce, meats and other goods.

Winning whiskey

When people think of whiskey, they don’t necessarily think of Virginia…but maybe they should. The Lovingston-based Virginia Distillery Co.’s Virginia Highland Malt Whisky won Best American Single Malt Whisky at the World Whiskies Awards presented by Whisky magazine.

This is the first time Virginia Distillery Co. has entered the competition, and it beat out three-time Best American Single Malt Whisky champ Balcones Distilling’s Balcones “1” Texas Single Malt, which won the title in 2013, 2014 and 2016.

The Virginia Highland Malt Whisky arrives at the distillery as a malt whiskey from the Scottish Highlands and is finished for nine to 18 months in port-style wine casks from local wineries such as King Family Vineyards and Veritas Vineyards.

“There are a lot of interesting things about being in Virginia that apply to making whiskey here,” says Ian Thomas, Virginia Distillery’s director. The unique climate of hot, hot summers and cold winters “affects that maturation of the whiskey in a really great way,” he says. The casks are kept in a warehouse, and, as temperatures rise, the cask and the whiskey inside expand and are influenced by the wood; as temperatures fall, the spirit and the cask come together more closely.

Categories
Living

Greenberry’s Coffee Co. goes to Japan

Roughly translated, the Japanese word “kodawari” means a relentless devotion to practicing an art or a craft, where one is sensitive to even the smallest details. It’s the thing that has most surprised Brandon Bishop, Greenberry’s Coffee Co.’s director of franchise operations, about the employees at the local coffee roaster’s new location in Japan.

Greenberry’s café in Takarazuka City in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, is set to open October 13 just down the street from the Takarazuka Revue, a popular Japanese all-female musical theater troupe—“think Broadway,” Bishop says. Greenberry’s Japan will carry the shop’s core menu (coffees and espresso drinks) but “with certain flavor adjustments made for Japanese customers’ palates.”

Bishop points out that vending machine coffee has reigned supreme in Japan for many years, but the country is moving towards “kodawari” for the art of brewing a delicious cup of joe. American specialty coffee franchises like Blue Bottle Coffee and Verve Coffee Roasters are popping up all over Tokyo, says Bishop. Greenberry’s Japanese franchise partners “are hoping to bring the new wave of coffee shop experience to Japan, creating an environment of customer education in specialty coffee and the home-away-from-home feeling that Greenberry’s has honed over its 25 years.”

Virginia Distillery Co.’s Commonwealth Collection

Looking for a whiskey to sip by the fire through the colder months? The Virginia Distillery Co.’s got you covered with its new Commonwealth Collection. According to the company’s website, each Commonwealth Collection release will feature a different finish by a local Virginia winery, cidery or brewery. The first release, a cider barrel-matured Virginia Highland Malt Whisky, will be available later this month. It features Virginia Highland Malt Whisky cask-finished in Potter’s Craft Cider barrels, promising notes of vanilla, apple and pear. Enthusiasts can get an early dram at a the distillery on October 21 (tickets are required); beginning October 22, the whisky will be for sale at the visitor’s center in Lovingston, and at “very select stores throughout Virginia and D.C.” by late October.

Bold addition

Bold Rock Hard Cider’s fall/winter seasonal flavor is on its way to a refrigerator case near you. On November 1, the cidery will release Bold Rock Blood Orange, its first unfiltered cider, says brand development manager Traci Mierzwa. It’s made from a blend of blood orange juice and locally harvested Blue Ridge apples “featuring the light and refreshing apple cider finish that Bold Rock devotees have come to expect, coupled with the crisp tartness and tangy citrus brightness of blood orange,” according to a press release.

They got our hopes up…

Last week, an article surfaced on breakfast and brunch website Extra Crispy with the headline “The Best Bagels in the World Are in Charlottesville, Virginia.” We agree. But the article got people talking once again about that onetime April Fool’s joke claiming that Bodo’s plans to turn one of its locations into a 24-hour operation. Bodo’s co-owner John Kokola confirms that Bodo’s is not—we repeat, Bodo’s is NOT—planning a 24-hour operation at any of its locations. (We’re bummed about it, too.)

The last last call

After two and a half years brewing and serving beer on West Main Street, C’Ville-ian brewery has closed. This past Saturday, October 8, bartenders hollered the final last call at the nanobrewery that owner Stephen Gibbs had hoped would be, among other things, a gathering place for local military veterans. While operating the brewery has been a “wonderful experience, it’s time for me to move on to other opportunities,” Gibbs says. “I want to say thank you to everyone for their support; it’s been a pleasure serving you.”

E-mail food and drink news to Erin O’Hare at eatdrink@c-ville.com.