Drink up: Virginia Tech beer racks up honors with Nielsen, international contest

Radford might be recognized for being the best “party” school in Virginia – but Virginia Tech students, faculty and alumni certainly know their beer.

The official beer of Hokie Nation – Fightin’ Hokies Lager by Hardywood Park Craft Brewery – was named Virginia’s bestselling new craft beer in 2021, its first year on the market, according to Nielsen.

“While Fightin’ Hokies Lager has broken sales records, what we find most special about Hardywood’s partnership with Virginia Tech is the opportunity to collaborate with food science faculty and leverage their decades of knowledge and experience to create a beer of exceptional quality,” said Hardywood co-founder and CEO Eric McKay.

And it isn’t just alums who love the taste of the Virginia Tech lager, more than 60 judges at the 2022 Australian International Beer Awards also got a taste of the Hokie spirit this summer.

The largest annual beer competition of its kind awarded Virginia Tech and Hardywood’s collaboration Fightin’ Hokies Lager a silver medal in its Munich-style helles category.

“Receiving this award is really exciting for our program and our partnership with Hardywood,” said Brian Wiersema, the pilot plant manager who oversees Virginia Tech’s on-campus brewery. “This competition focuses on style criteria, and it’s great to see that we were headed in the right direction, especially when you see the list of other international beers that medaled for this style.”

Fightin’ Hokies Lager, the first beer to come out of Virginia Tech’s partnership with Hardywood, is the culmination of nearly a decade of research, inspiration, and collaboration. What began as a conversation between Department of Food Science and Technology faculty members and eventual Fightin’ Hokies Lager co-creators Wiersema, O’Keefe, and Herbert Bruce about their fondness for the helles style after one of the department’s annual student brewing exchanges in Munich has turned into a fruitful partnership that has launched two original beers: the Fightin’ Hokies Lager and the All Hail to Thee amber ale.

All Hail to Thee, the team’s newest brew, is a limited edition dry-hopped amber ale that hit the market in May in celebration of Virginia Tech’s sesquicentennial. The hoppy, full-bodied ale is available for a limited time in select Kroger, Giant, Wegman, Total Wine and independent bottle shops across Virginia.

And to everyone drinking up the Virginia Tech creations, you can sleep well knowing that buying the VT-inspired beers supports food science scholarships, research, lab renovations, and the very brewing exchange on which Fightin’ Hokies Lager was first conceived.

Hardywood – Virginia’s largest craft brewer – is no stranger to accolades, having earned major international awards for several of its beers, including its Richmond Lager and Hardywood Pils.

To find the Fightin’ Hokies Lager or All Hail to Thee Ale, visit Hardywood’s beer finder.