Country Hospitality
I think my favorite Virginia brewery is Lickinghole Creek, don’t let the name and their horrible website put you off. The brewery was named for a stream running through a farm in Goochland county (yes, that’s a real place). Lickinghole is a real farmhouse brewery utilizing homegrown ingredients. Somehow, I always stumble on their beers whether at the fancy beer store or the Trader Joe’s.
First, we sampled Three Chopt (another actual location) their yeasty Belgian Tripel. It’s a spicy, banana scented, bready malt, full bodied beer. A little too full maybe. It finishes sweeter than the Belgian original. It’s a rich beer, but I prefered last year’s tea infused Darjeeling variation.
Nuclear Nugget, on the other hand is a big double IPA brewed with honey. It’s a powerful brew, 10% ABV and bursting with flavor. The honey adds a floral flavor that plays well with the hops – they used Nuggets, naturally. Nugget hops are an old variety, once prized for their high alpha acid content, adding more bitterness in smaller quantities. The Nuggets lay down a bitter, earthy bass note while Centennial hops add some citrusy treble. Maybe it’s the honey, but their is a definite farmhouse quality to the beer. It’s a heavy brew, definitely playing on the line between barleywine and double IPA, but both of us loved Nuclear Nugget.
