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When Green Flash Brewing Company announced in March that it had closed its brewery and tasting room in Virginia Beach, many craft beer lovers have seen the brutal closure as a barometer of the industry. of maturation. New Realm Brewing Company saw it as a lucky chance.
Less than a month after Green Flash put the facility up for sale, New Realm officials announced that they were going to settle in the space of 58 000 square feet. The transaction was surprising both in Virginia Beach and Atlanta, where the brewery and New Realm restaurant is only open since January. The company will be active in both cities.
The Founders of the New Kingdom (LR) Carey Falcone, Bob Powers, Mitch Steele
Virginians may wonder what kind of neighbor is moving in, but the team New Realm's management is confident the New Realm Brewery is led by a trio of veterans of the beer industry who have the professional skills necessary to make a good run in a 40,000-barrel brewery, which is the most Great Hampton Roads. . But will they be able to operate the relatively large operation at Virginia Beach?
Absolutely, says Mitch Steele, master brewer of New Realm, formerly at Stone Brewing, and author of the acclaimed volume, IPA: Brewing Techniques, Recipes and Evolution of India's Pale Ale. Steele is considered a national authority on craft beer.
New Realm does not follow the same business model that thwarted Green Flash's national aspirations. According to Steele, the brewery will retain its strict geographic footprint in the Southeast instead of trying to "expand nationally by the time the industry slows down." The brewery plans to sell only its beers in the states where it is located. ] +3
Brewer at New Realm in Atlanta works with tanks
Stylistically, Steele says that New Realm will not only master conventional styles, but also tinker with ingredients and processes to innovate. Steele and his colleagues brewed over 50 beers during their first six months of operation in Atlanta
Among them was IPA's Technohop, exclusively comprised of new forms of the bittering ingredient: a pourable hops extract , a lupulin powder called Cryo Hops. and Hopzoil
The brewery was the first in Georgia to brew an emerging style called Gross IPA, characterized by its extreme drought. Steele and his colleagues were also brewing a breakfast beer with coffee, maple syrup and pancakes.
Virginia Beach, says Steele, offers the opportunity to extend New Realm's creative efforts.
New Realm will be offering a wide range of beers at the new facility, in part because Steele and its business partners are benefiting from innovation and novelty that stem from constant experimentation, but also because the brewery recognizes that it will serve both locals and tourists in both Virginia Beach and Atlanta. "We have enough styles of beer to please any taste profile," he says.
Signs at the door of the Green Flash brewery read "closed for business" in Virginia Beach, Va., Monday, March 26, 2018.
This range of inventive styles is one of the attributes that the national beer writer, critic and resident of Atlanta Dennis Malcolm Byron, who goes by Ale Sharpton, finds interesting from New Realm. Sharpton says it's encouraging that Steele, whom he calls the "legendary IPA king," has chosen not to specialize in his signature style at New Realm, but "introduces his rendition of". a wide range of styles, including porters, pils and tripels, to name a few. "
Sharpton feels that New Realm's leadership is an enterprising and pragmatic team who can find success in the special occasion that the sudden departure of Green Flash has provided. According to Sharpton, New Realm Atlanta is the result of 10 years of travel and development in the world. "They show both patience and, in this case, immediacy when it comes to such an important agreement."
Locally, craft breweries greet the arrival of New Realm on the premises. Greg Fleehart is head brewer at the Williamsburg Precarious Beer Project and formerly held the position at Commonwealth Brewing Company in Virginia Beach. Fleehart says his colleagues in the Tidewater brewing community see the arrival of New Realm as an affirmation that the area is a destination for craft beers.
"I have seen the brewing scene of Hampton Roads dramatically improve in quality and ingenuity over the past three years. he says. "The presence of New Realm seems to validate all the hard work that the brewers in the region have implemented to make their product better and more interesting."
