Craft a BIG Adventure

Spring is almost here and it’s time to elevate your sense of adventure. Canned beer has become the darling of the craft beer industry and for good reason – beer stays fresher in cans, cans recycle easily and when you’re ready to head outdoors, they are more portable than bottles.

Devils Backbone Brewing Company’s basecamp, its original location, is in the heart of Nelson County, Virginia and touches on the Appalachian Trail. Who better to come up with a collection of canned beers that encourages you to get outdoors and have some fun? Their canned offerings include the Daypack seasonal collection and new this spring, their award-winning Vienna Lager and Eight Point IPA will be available in cans.

The Daypack series is a collection of four seasonal beers and one beer available year-round: Goldleaf Lager.  First in the series and available now is Cran-Gose, a 4 percent cranberry ale that is brewed in the “gose” style.

“A gose is an old Germanic-style sour ale, lightly flavored with salt,” says Brewmaster Jason Oliver. “It’s a really great base to build upon and for this beer, we added hundreds of pounds of pureed cranberry. The natural tartness of cranberry works well with the fruity character of the beer.”

In May, Trail Angel Weiss, winner of a 2010 Great American Beer Festival gold medal, is the featured beer of the series.Trail Angel is a Bavarian-style Hefeweizen brewed with Tettnang hops. It has a honey colored, light-to-medium body with a fruity, spicy finish, and carries flavors of banana, honey and clove.

Bravo Four Point ushers in fall, and while it keeps to the under 5 percent ABV level of all of the beers in the Daypack series, it has a bolder, hoppier flavor well-suited to the season. Ginger Brau, a honey-hued lager infused with three types of ginger, wraps up the year in November.

Devils Backbone is one of the fastest-growing breweries in the country, and much of that growth is courtesy of its flagship brews, Vienna Lager and Eight Point IPA. Both beers have won numerous accolades and in 2015, Vienna Lager received a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival. Devils Backbone beers have been so successful that the company has had to expand capacity at its outpost production brewery in Lexington, Va. from an estimated 10,000 barrels in 2011 to 250,000 barrels currently. And now for the first time, the beers that have driven that expansion will be available in cans. Vienna Lager will be offered in 12 and 16 oz. cans, and Eight Point IPA will be offered in 16 oz. single-serve cans.

Single-serve cans are a newer but fast-growing package option for craft beer. The appeal of the larger can includes all the benefits of a regular can – easier to take places and more suited to concerts and sports venues, but also offers the opportunity for consumers to sample new products. Rather than commit to a full six or 12-pack, the 16 oz. can gives the beer drinker the chance to try a beer they may not have had before at a friendly price point, and without fear of wasting beers if it’s not to their liking.  Speaking from experience, the larger size is also a nice option when you are at a show or event, as it’s certainly a little more beer per trip to the bar!

So for those ready to craft an adventure, be it on the trail or at the show, Devils Backbone has a beer that can suit your needs. Look for their beers at area retail and restaurant locations.

To learn more about Devils Backbone or to get more information on their award -winning beers, visit  www.dbbrewingcompany.com.