WILK Friday BeerBuzz – 12 July 2013 – Starr Hill Grateful & Northern Lights w/Mark Thompson

We’ve been really lucky on the WILK Friday BeerBuzz to feature some of the world’s best brewmasters on the show.  Some come from famous well-know breweries and many are absolute rock stars in the beer world.  It’s also very cool to feature a brewmaster who is NO less talented and NO less a rock star in his own right, but he’s not a name or a brewery name that most people in the craft beer world may know…..YET!

Today we welcomed Starr Hill Brewing co-founder and Brewmaster Mark Thompson on the show.  While Starr Hill has been around since 1999 and while they are the largest and most awarded brewery in Virginia, they are just finding their way into our PA markets.  With distribution into PA that began in Sept 2012, and 19 GABF medals to his name, Mark Thompson & Starr Hill Brewery will soon be very familiar names and very popular beers in our area.

It was a lot of fun getting all the details on the original and new Starr Hill Breweries from Mark…and I’m always surprised how many Biology graduates go into brewing like Mark did.  It was even more fun to sit down with Mark and sample two of my favorite Starr Hill beers.
Grateful is a really tasty hop-forward Pale Ale.  At 4.7% ABV and with a lighter body than most hoppy beers, it’s really a sessionable beer.  This is Starr Hill’s new summer seasonal, and I expect we’ll see a lot more of it in the future.

Northern Lights is a classic west-coast American IPA with plenty of citrusy & floral hops in the nose, and a really nice flavor & mouthfeel to back it up.  At 6.5% ABV it may sneak up on you a bit, but it’s still a really easy drinking beer with a really well balanced malt/hop character.  I liked Northern Lights a lot and I suspect our local beer lovers will like both beers.

Be sure to get out to Krugel’s Georgetown Deli & Beer tonight (7/12) from 5-7 PM for a special Starr Hill tasting event and see if you agree with me about how good Mark Thompson’s beers are.

Thank you to Mark Thompson from Starr Hill, Nancy, John & Joe for yet another

fun Friday.

The Friday BeerBuzz…bringing good beers and good people together. As always you can check out the video on-line at the WILK Friday BeerBuzz page by clicking HERE.