Sample the Last Hops of Harvest at Fire Works Pizza

Very soon we’ll find out what Ali Berry did at summer camp this year.

A couple months ago we reported that Ali, the wife Mike Berry (beer manager for in Arlington’s Court House neighborhood), was one of 20 happy campers chosen by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. to create a unique brew at their multiple-times-a-month Beer Camp.

Sierra Nevada regularly invites distributors, retailers and other beer professionals to fly to Chico, California and crank out a new beer, but once a year they hold a contest to tap a few lucky homebrewer for the honor. Ali won her spot by submitting a video last May of husband Mike fetching a beer using a Rube Goldbergesque device patterned after the breakfast machine in Peewee’s Big Adventure. Here is the link to her wining You Tube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBg2EIlI_j4

Ali’s Beer Camp, the 58^th such gathering since Sierra Nevada started the program three years ago, took place over three days in late August/early September. She and her collaborators, with assistance from Sierra Nevada brewmaster Scott Jennings exchanged notes and came up with a killer recipe for an imperial red ale. They named it Raiders of the Last Hops because they used the last of Sierra Nevada’s estate-grown Chinook hops for the beer’s flavor and aroma. (Some Bravo and Nelson Sauvin hops also found their way into the beer.) The beer measures 7.6 percent alcohol by volume, and has what the brewery describes as “an earth-forward hop flavor.”

The limited-edition beer was brewed in Sierra Nevada’s pilot brewery. It took three weeks to ferment, and Ali and Mike flew out to sample the finished product before the brewery shipped kegs to distributors in the brewers’ hometowns. Fire Works has an exclusive on the beer in the Virginia/Maryland/DC area.

The coming-out party is scheduled for Nov. 30 at Fire Works. The restaurant will be tapping some other noteworthy Sierra Nevada beers, including Ovila Quad, Torpedo Extra IPA, the 2011 Estate Harvest, and the 2011 Celebration Ale. Buy a Sierra Nevada and you’ll get a free logo glass.

Ali reports having a ball at Beer Camp. The company gave her a $1,000 gift card to cover air fare and hotel expenses, and in between mixing malt and hops, Ali and her fellow brewers got to attend a concert by one of the Neville Brothers. Of course, they got a VIP tour of the Sierra Nevada brewery and were introduced to brewery founder Ken Grossman. “I have a whole new respect for the company and the people that work there,” Ali says.

(And once you’ve sampled Ali’s beer, you can return to Fire Works on Dec. 13 or 14 when the restaurant hosts Northern Virginia’s first beer dinners featuring the brews of Brooklyn microbrewery Sixpoint Craft Ales.)

We’ll be seeing some other Beer Camp brews in Northern Virginia in the coming weeks. According to Sierra Nevada’s local rep Brad Phillips, Devin Hicks of Westover Market in Arlington just returned from Beer Camp, where he helped brew a most unusual beer made with 300 pounds of crushed Petite Sirah and Tempranillo wine grapes.

“This amber-colored beer has an intensely fruity aroma with notes of citrus, strawberry, and green table grapes,” reports Phillips. The category-bridging hybrid, dubbed Birra Vina, is hopped with Nelson Sauvin, an unusual New Zealand hop variety that adds a delicate white wine character to beer.

In addition, Nick Langman, owner of Clarendon establishments Spider Kelley’s, Clarendon Ballroom and Eventide, and Nick Kelley, general manager of Spider Kelley’s, also returned from Sierra Nevada Beer Camp with a brew of their own, which you’ll hear more about in coming weeks. Both Westover Market and Spider Kelley’s plan to do total tap takeovers in conjunction with Sierra Nevada.

Coming into its third year, Beer Camp is BIG, and growing by leaps and bounds. Start working on your video entry describing why you want to come to Camp at Sierra Nevada— a once-in-a-lifetime, hands-on brewing experience. As with last summer, this year, 20 lucky winners will again be chosen to come to Chico and be a brewer for three days of fabulous fun. Featuring retail displays, a dedicated microsite, SierraBeerCamp.com, social media and PR support, Beer Camp is guaranteed to capture the hearts and inner beer geekdom of Sierra Nevada's most loyal beer fans.

Keep reading Burns' Beer Buzz for your invitation to these upcoming beer premiers. And be sure to return next week when I cover the grand opening of Trader Joe’s in Clarendon and all their new brews.