A Roar of Approval for Virginia's Aslin Beer Company

Pete Zuk

Brewery Name: Aslin Beer Company
Type of Brewery: Retail Brewery

Location: Herndon, VA

Website: http://www.aslinbeer.com/
Facebook: Aslin Beer Company
Twitter: @Aslin_BeerCo
Instagram: @aslinbeerco

Growlers: Yes. For 64 oz. growlers only, they do offer crowlers (for those who don’t know, a crowler is a growler in the form of a giant can). ​

Background: So this post will have a little background because this brewery really means that much to me already. Not to sound obnoxious and this is not meant to put anyone down but the DMV area has not been a great brewery destination. The city has a great amount of well-known beer bars which have flourished because of the distribution laws that allow retailers to bypass distributors. This always meant that many residents could drink beer from numerous out of market locations without the need to indulge the local market. It was a beer drinker town, not a beer brewing town. The first true production brewery only opened in 2009, and most breweries around here don't bottle or can a lot.

While many local options that I still adore were popping up (like Right Proper and Ocelot), I still felt that I did not have that amazing brewery I could share with my friends to say hey this is my something special. San Francisco and Boston are much older brewing towns that allowed the craft beer brewing movement to catch on like wild fire with tons of high quality breweries in a small area. I felt like I had an itch I could not scratch after I left New England because there was not that amazing fruit juice bomb IPA that I could calmly turn to and have on a regular basis…Not any more. The DMV finally got a brewery that is about to change the area specializing in soft New England style IPAs and huge fruit forward Florida Style Berliner weisses, Aslin is a brewery that I will be no stranger at for the foreseeable future.

The Beers: Let's dive right into the good stuff. 

Mind the Hop: 100% Citra Double IPA in all of its glory. This is a wonderful spot on interpretation of a juicy new England IPA. There is so much citrus, passionfruit, creamy orange in this beer you would swear it was juice. It’s light and refreshing while also being a mind boggling 9.4% abv that is virtually undetectable. The look is wonderful hazy burnt gold and the aroma and flavor is just so explosive and so enjoyable I still regret only getting 1 crowler of this. Really a joy to drink. And another beer that is slowly turning me more onto citra (I’m still team Mosaic hops, but this is a nice beer to argue over).

Champion of the Sun: 6.2% IPA. An Always Sunny reference and a juicy tangerine/mango beer too.

Berliner Weisse With Passion Fruit And Mango: This is a beer style that I was expecting to find in Florida that I thought was more common. Take a really nice low abv Berliner Weisse (3.5% in this case), and load it full of citrus acidic fruits to really amp up that acidity which makes it really refreshing in the summer months. This is what I always imagined this type of beer would taste like. It looks like juice to start with and tastes so nice and acidic with nice fruit character to balance it out. While it is fruity you still have that essence that it is beer so you get the best qualities of both. So sad this was not available to take home because it was AMAZING.

FLA-mango: A 3.5% abv take on the style with raspberries and mango. Really nice pink hue with amazing dry seediness from the raspberries that pares perfectly with the bright mango. Another sad miss for growler fills.

Gose with Raspberry and Blackberry: A 4.5% gose which is just as amazing as the Berliner. You get that perfect hybrid of berry flavor and salty wheat mouthfeel. Just so easy to drink and again so sad that they didn’t have it for growler fills.

Vibe: They have done a great job here, high top tables, picnic tables, wrap around bar with seats that can look into the brew house. That gives you a lot of seat options if you want to hang out for a couple hours. I love places that have garage doors that allow them to pull them up for the summer to really hang out and enjoy the weather with a great beer. They have games and cool things like a giant robot on top of the bathroom area. You can watch a game there and spend hours or run up to get your growler filled. It already feels like a comfortable local bar that just happens to make great beer. If they had food more frequently I would never leave. Cannot wait to go back.

Dogs: Absolutely.

Price ($ to $$$$$): $$

Food: Not really, they have some food events but don’t count on it.

Final Thoughts: This is beyond ten out of ten.

​-- Pete

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