I live in a beer-soaked town where seemingly every old garage, warehouse and school bus is being turned into a brewery of some sort. I stopped counting the number of breweries in Asheville because I ran out of fingers and toes. There are beers produced a mile from my house that I still haven’t had the chance to try, and yet I’m psyched because a brewery located in a different state, some 200 miles from my house, has started distributing in North Carolina. Devils Backbone is a Virginia craft beer staple, that’s been growing exponentially in the last few years.
Case in point, they took Best Small Brewpub of the Year at Great American Beer Festival in 2012, then Best Small Brewery in 2013, then Best Midsize Brewery in 2014. And yet, I had to drive into Virginia to get one of their beers. First world problems, I know, but it’s been a point of frustration in my life, as I really don’t like leaving my neighborhood, let alone my home state.
So imagine my delight when about a month ago, I found DB Brewing’s flagship Vienna Lager sitting in the fridge at my local beer store. DB does lagers like nobody else, and has the competition hardware to prove it. Vienna Lager is true to this European style. It’s not as light and crisp as American style lagers—in fact it pours red and comes across as more of an amber than the lagers most of us are used to, with a delicious malty backbone. But don’t fret, if you’re dying for a crisp lager—say something that will keep you hydrated during an epic leaf raking session—DB also produces Gold Leaf, which pours light and delivers more of a bready backbone before delivering a crisp finish.
DB is now distributing both lagers in North Carolina, along with their IPA, which means my embarrassment of beer riches just got all the more embarrassing.
