Jeff EgglestonIn 1994, Tom Martin opened opened the Legend Brewing Co. and Pub in Richmond, Va.’s historic Old Manchester district.
It quickly became a popular fixture for the city’s night life scene. Today, the company has expanded into a 180-seat restaurant with a 200-seat deck and beer garden. Hailed as Central Virginia’s oldest brewery, it continues to produce great, consistent beers for the Virginia craft beer consumer.
Today, I will review one of the beers from its Urban Legend Series, Bleeding Nun Oatmeal-Habanero Stout, a 6.66 percent beer first released in November of 2015.
According to the website, this beer was inspired by the urban legend surrounding the notorious Richmond Theatre fire. It was Dec. 26, 1811 and 72 men and women died when theater building, for unknown reasons, erupted into flames. The last play ever performed on the stage was called Bleeding Nun, a play about an evil spirit epitomizing the sin of erotic desires, who haunted the castle of Lindeberg as it cursed its inhabitants.
As I pour this stout into the glass, I see a deep dark brown color with tinges of reddish-mahogany along the edges and several fingers of tan head. Aromas of sweet malt, toffee, light chocolate and hops arise and then mellow very quickly.
The first sip is light and yields flavors of tart cherries, unripe raspberries, a small amount of pepper and a touch of subdued milk chocolate.
The mouth feel is unique as I get a lot of tannic wine characters, yet a still a silky smoothness from the grain. The beer is a lighter than anticipated and as I progress deeper, I get offerings of mildly hot pepper, dark fruits and sweet malt, which balance quite well. Carbonation is ample, almost too much for the style and the finish is extra clean with some tartness and pepper at the end. As the warming of the beer takes effect, I receive more of the habanero, as it leaves a very light burn on the lips
