The Roanoke area was once devoid of microbreweries that produce so-called “craft beers,” small production batches of carefully formulated beers with more taste and body than your average Budweiser.
Not any more – since 2009 Roanoke Railhouse has produced its popular Track One lager. Parkway Brewery in Salem came along, offering a tasting room with music and a food truck on Thursday night and weekends. And now there is Sunken City at Smith Mountain Lake as well as another microbrewery set to open in Franklin County soon.
The former “Big Daddy” microbrewer will reopen as “Soaring Ridge” in downtown Roanoke in the old Flowers Bakery building within the next month or so. Big Daddy’s Virginia Creeper and other beers were favorites at Awful Arthur’s and the now-defunct Growlers at Towers Shopping Center.
Also new on the scene since last September is Flying Mouse Brewery in Troutville, which brews “session beers,” as President Frank Moeller calls it.
The engineer-turned-brewmeister said session beers are lower in alcohol content, allowing drinkers to enjoy several at a time without being overwhelmed by the alcohol content. “It’s a pretty good hobby for an old mechanical engineer,” said Moeller, who spent part of a recent Saturday explaining the process to tasters that had ventured out to Troutville to sample Flying Mouse numbers 3, 5 and 8, along with a seasonal winter ale.
He started home brewing in the 90’s but took the plunge last year with partners to open Flying Mouse in an industrial building that took them about seven months to convert. Brewing beer is about “cooking and science,” said Moeller, “and it is a neat process . . . the fermentation process is really cool.”
Moeller wants to steer away from the notion that microbrews are for an elite group, akin to those that sample wine perhaps at local vineyards. “Our feeling is that a brewery is more of a place for family fellowship, doing some activities and hanging out with your friends.”
Staying away from a beer that’s overpowering in taste, one that can be brought along on picnics and hikes is what Moeller is shooting for. Flying Mouse, available at some restaurants now, plans to install a canning line in-house this spring.
“We’ll try to get the cans into convenience stores and grocery stores,” added Moeller, who likes beer he can keep in a cooler. Those are go-to beers,” that he can enjoy more than one at a time. “We want to make beer people can drink by the gallon, not by the glass. Really have a nice enjoyable day with some beers that are easy to drink. That’s kind of the way we’re developing the [product].”
Like Parkway Brewery in Salem, Flying Mouse has started offering live music and a food truck on Saturdays. The company is also not the only microbrewery set to produce its beer in larger quantities for easier distribution: Roanoke Railhouse – located in back of the Wimmer Tire store on McClanahan Street – has entered into an agreement with Blue Mountain Barrelhouse in Amherst to put its Track One flagship brew in popular 12 oz. bottles.
A region not known for microbrews a few short years ago the Roanoke Valley is suddenly a hotspot for aficionados of craft beers.
By Gene Marrano
