by Shelby Mertens / DN-R

Theater lovers can now transport back to 1616 England by guzzling an old English-style beer during a performance of “King Lear” or “Twelfth Night” at the American Shakespeare Center.

Brothers Craft Brewing now has a beer to honor the 15th anniversary of the American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse.

With roots in Harrisonburg, the American Shakespeare Center is coming full circle by partnering with the Harrisonburg brewery for the traditional English-style beer relabeled as “Blackfriars Bitter.”

Blackfriars Bitter, a style known as Ordinary Bitter, won Brothers Craft an award last year. The beer won under the name Ordinary Bitter.

“It was entered into the Virginia Craft Brewers Festival, so it’s a statewide competition,” said Jason Shifflett, co-owner of Brothers Craft. “We actually won gold last year.”

The Ordinary Bitter was then given a name and relabeled for the American Shakespeare Center, which Shifflett said complements the theater. The beer will take its drinkers back to 1616 England.

“With having this style, which is an English style, to kind of go with the English history of the theater, it just seemed like a cool fit,” he said. “This is an old style … it’s very traditional. It’s not a cask version, but the flavor profile and stylistically, it’s very true to what you would have seen at some taverns [in Shakespeare’s time].”

Blackfriars Bitter, with an amber glow, is a light beer with a tint of bitter flavor, fruity esters and a smooth finish. The low 3.4 percent alcohol content makes it easy to wash down.

“It’s [got] a little bit of bitter, but not overpowering,” said Benjamin Reed, an actor in his fourth season at the American Shakespeare Center. “It’s malty and toasty. It’s also a really easy-to-drink beer, which I think is perfect for the theater.”

Reed and a group of his fellow actors and actresses visited Brothers Craft on Sept. 19 to taste Blackfriars Bitter themselves and tour the brewery.

Cathy Bagwell Marsh, the director of marketing and sales for the American Shakespeare Center, said the “delicious” beer brings the theater back home to its roots.

“We were happy because our company was started in Harrisonburg at JMU and toured around for a long time, so we thought it would be a nice partnership with the Harrisonburg brewery to brew a beer in honor of our 15th anniversary in Staunton, because it was thanks to Harrisonburg and the surrounding community in Staunton to let us have a home,” she said.

The American Shakespeare Center was founded in 1988 by James Madison University English professor Ralph Alan Cohen and former student Jim Warren. The first performance was at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg.

The Blackfriars Playhouse opened Sept. 21, 2001, in Staunton. Today, the theater sees 63,000 ticket holders each year as well as an additional 20,000 on tour. The Shakespeare Center was recently awarded the Circle of Excellence award by the Forbes Center for the Performing Arts, JMU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts and the Arts Council of the Valley.

The American Shakespeare Center hosted a fundraiser on Sept. 24 to celebrate the playhouse’s 15th anniversary, with Blackfriars Bitter making its debut at the gala at the Stonewall Jackson Hotel. The special beer will now be sold during the American Shakespeare Center’s performances.

However, Shifflett said the brew, as of now, will only be offered for the playhouse’s anniversary this year. Outside of the theater, Shifflett said Blackfriars Bitter, in its special black and orange label, may appear in local restaurants.

“We’re still in the works to set up some events around the Staunton area where they would potentially have it on draft or in a restaurant, something that would maybe happen after a show, so you could see it out at a local restaurant and on draft too,” Shifflett said.

At Brothers Craft’s taproom, the beer is on draft under the name “Lonely Runner.” The special Shakespeare bottles can only be found at the American Shakespeare Center as of now.

In the past, Brothers Craft collaborated with Massanutten Resort for a special beer that was served during the ski season, Shifflett said, but this is the first time the brewery has collaborated with a venue for a relabeled beer.

“It’s pretty neat to go down that avenue,” Shifflett said.

Source: Dairy News-Record, September 28, 2016
http://www.dnronline.com/features/shakesbeer/article_5619ba0a-84e6-11e6-ba8c-0325405470ac.html