Fightin’ Hokies Orange Wheat, featuring classic Bavarian hefeweizen and a citrus Hokie twist, is rolling out now to grocery stores, bottle shops, and restaurants across the Commonwealth in 16-ounce cans.
The beer is the latest Hokie-crafted and locally drafted brew to come out of the partnership between Virginia Tech and Hardywood Park Craft Brewery.
Infused orange peel gives the beer the hallmark Virginia Tech orange glow and adds a zest that complements the full-bodied German wheat beer, which is known for its bright, malt-forward sweetness, notes of clove and banana, and creamy mouthfeel.
Fightin’ Hokies Orange Wheat is 5.5 percent ABV and low in bitterness at 15 IBU.
“What’s exciting about Orange Wheat is that it takes a beer style that is a very traditional, over 500-year-old style from Germany, and puts a modern twist on it,” said Brian Wiersema, one of three brewing faculty members in the Department of Food Science and Technology who works on Virginia Tech’s licensed food products.
“Both the orange color and aroma are a play on Virginia Tech’s classic burnt orange color,” Wiersema said.
As with all Virginia Tech and Hardywood collaboration beers, Fightin’ Hokies Orange Wheat won’t just benefit those actively enjoying it: a portion of proceeds from sales of the beverage return to the university to support experiential learning opportunities, scholarships, and more for food science students.
Last year, senior Will Fontaine utilized a beer-funded scholarship he received to go to Weihenstephan as part of the Practical and Theoretical Brewing program. The beer recipe he developed as his final project became his first commercially brewed beer when he returned to Virginia and got a job at a brewery.
Fontaine is now head brewer at The Maroon Door, a brewpub just off Tech’s Blacksburg campus.
“This partnership also gives us an opportunity to provide exposure for our students who might be interested in the brewing industry,” Virginia Tech professor Sean O’Keefe said. “One of the most important things we try to do as a department is give students real life experience, and real life experience in food science often involves companies like Hardywood who make beer.”
The new label design pays homage to its collaborative origins and features classic Virginia Tech iconography, including the vintage Fighting Gobbler trademark, the iconic silhouette of Torgersen Bridge, and an instantly recognizable Hokie Stone motif.
On the back of the can, Burruss Hall looms below a map of Virginia that has the location of the university’s Blacksburg campus marked with a diamond. Lozenges or diamonds from the Bavarian flag are used throughout the design as a nod to the beer’s German background. Orange theming gives consumers a preview of the flavor within. The label’s front graphic bends inward, mirroring the curve of a traditional hefeweizen glass.
Fightin’ Hokies Orange Wheat is the fourth beer produced by Virginia Tech and Hardywood’s ongoing partnership. Fightin’ Hokies Lager, the university’s inaugural brew that launched in 2021, became Virginia’s best-selling new craft beer in its first year on the market. Later that year, it won a silver medal in the prestigious Australian International Beer Awards — the largest annual beer competition in the world.
Fightin’ Hokies Lager was succeeded by All Hail to Thee, a limited edition dry-hopped amber ale released to mark Virginia Tech’s 150th year in 2022, and Fightin’ Hokies Hefeweizen.
Beginning this year, Virginia Tech and Hardywood will adopt a new seasonal release schedule for their collaboration brews. While previous beers have all remained on the market as new ones were launched, beers will now be released seasonally and then vaulted for potential future use as special editions and at events, so fans and collectors should grab them while they can.
Virginia Tech announced a sustainable partnership with Hardywood in the fall of 2020, commending the Richmond brewery’s dedication to technical quality, environmental stewardship, and “Brew with Purpose” philosophy.
The partnership is only the latest example of Virginia Tech’s continued commitment to its land-grant mission of bringing world-class, faculty-led research to market to benefit both the commonwealth and its students.
Those looking to find Fightin’ Hokies Orange Wheat on store shelves near them can check Hardywood’s beer finder tool.
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Chris Graham
