Best Brewery in Va.?

IMO, they are all so different, it all depends on what you are looking for.

As far as seasonals/specials/one-offs, Aleworks is the best. Bourbon Barrel Porter and Cafe Royale are excellent barrel offerings, Bitter Valentine is in my top 10 DIPAs and their Pumpkin Ale is in the top 3, if not the best in the land. However, their regular lineup is mediocre at best and terrible at worst.

Hardywood is coming up on them hard but they are not there yet. The Bourbon Mocha Belgique and Bourbon Cru are delicious but I am not a fan of their Singel or Hoplar. Still have yet to try the Gingerbread and the Pumpkin though so stay tuned! They also do not have any regular offerings which knocks them down in my eyes.

Devil's Backbone is by far the best at German styles, especially lagers. Their Vienna Lager is delicious and their pales are pretty solid as well. However, they don't really do darker beers well and don't do special beers.

Blue Mountain has Full Nelson and Dark Hollow but is otherwise mediocre. Same with Starr Hill except more mediocre.

Other than barrel aging, I think I give Mad Fox the overall nod. Their IPAs (Orange Whip, Molotov Hoptail, Dingo, Broad Street, Tinner Hill, etc.) are the best in VA not named Bitter Valentine and their fall offerings (Hemisphere Wet Hop and Pumpkinator) are delicious. They also do a great Saison and their sessionable ales (English Summer, Fennec, etc.) are mostly excellent. Like DB, they suffer a bit on their dark beers and their "barleywines" are terrible but overall, it is almost impossible to get a bad beer from them. And their food is delicious!

Super excited about the state of brewing in the Old Dominion; hopefully there is more good stuff to come!

 

I definitely agree with this. My buddy and I went to both after the Hardywood Bourbon Cru release and DB's lineup was overall much better.

 

Alewerks needs to go year round with Bitter Valentine, I know the name would be silly but it was one of the few things I had access to that traders seeked.

 

Geoff has stated that due to a hops shortage Bitter Valentine batch 3 will have to wait till next year.

 

Thanks for the bad news!

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Both of you are lucky. I was at DB two weeks ago and their lineup was disappointing. It was basically all lagers. I know it is summer time and that is their specailty but at least one dark beer would be nice. I have been to a tap takeover with some of their other beers which were more my style and liked them.

 

IrishColonial speaks truth, BM was a huge disappointment not only on the beer front, but on the "vibe" front as well. The building itself felt corporate and "model home"-ish (though it does sport spectacular views) and the service was just "meh". DB, however, had a live band, a really cool looking brew pub, and an equally gorgeous location. Their beers were significantly better, though I agree with an earlier poster that their one-offs/seasonals impressed me more than their mainstays. I figure we just caught BM at a bad time, too, because everyone else I know who has gone down there has raved about them.

My favorite breweries are:

1) Williamsburg Alewerks: The excellence of Bitter Valentine, Cafe Royale, BB Porter, and Pumpkin Ale make this a no-brainer for me.
2) Mad Fox Brewery: They get this on Orange Whip alone, though a lot of their other APA's and IPA's are also amazingly delicious. Their English Summer Ale taps soon and it is a very special beer, IMO. As stated earlier, though, what the hell is up with their horrid excuses for Barleywines? The American BW tastes more like an English, the English BW more like an American, and both are below average.
3) Hardywood: Gotta go to these guys simply for the interesting things they are trying. I didn't have anything that blew me away at the Bourbon Cru release, but I have high hopes for Pumpkin Saison and Gingerbread and I really liked all the experimentation I saw down there.
4) BM/DB: I basically view these two as the same brewery, because my (albeit) few experiences with them haven't provided much by which to differentiate. Both champion lighter lagers and pale ales that, while excellent, seem to all taste alike. Both have the occasional bourbon barrel stout or darker beer that is solid to quite solid, but they both seem to market a "brewery as a whole" image rather than trying to build up their core line-up.

This thread has made me thirsty for Alewerks Pumpkin Ale...buying a case or two of that this year.

 

Can't believe I'm this late to the party. I'm in Charlottesville, so the best local choice is Blue Mountain. I cordially disagree with some of the assessments of the vibe at Blue Mountain, although they might have gotten a little big a little too fast. Devil's Backbone and Blue Mountain make consistently solid beers across the board, but to date neither has made that signature, "put the beer on the national scene" beer. Maybe that will change with the Blue Mountain Barrel House. Overall I'd say the beer lineup at Mad Fox is as consistent with the highs being a little higher. Alewerks is making better specialty beers but their regular lineup is just eh.

I've only had the double IPA from Hardywood and that was interesting. Do they pan distribute to more of the state?

 

This may or may not be related to the topic but I tried my first Bourbon Barrel Porter last night from Alewerks and all I could taste was bourbon. It was extremely one note for me. Just so I understand it, Washingtons porter is what they use to make BB Porter, then what is Cafe Royale?

 

Washingtons Porter is not the base for BB Porter. it's closer to the olde(er) Rapidou Porter.
Cafe Royale uses a bigger/imperial version of Coffeehouse Stout as its base

 

Gotcha, I am guessing I'll be a much bigger fan of Cafe Royal then.

 

I think Devils Backbone just makes more beers. some good, some just ok. I almost hate the cheesy hunter/lodge vibe going on there... great food though, much better than BM.

with Blue Mtn, they dont have the 10-15 taps DB has but what they make is usually better. I think their Big Blue DIPA is almost up there with Bitter Val and Mandolin may be the best beer in the state. period. very good bock/dopplebocks as well. overpriced, average food...

 

No knock on Alwerks or some of the other comments about the other breweries, but.... In my opinion what makes a great brew pub or brewery is the consistency of their "everday" beers. Sure, seasonals and specialties are nice to round out a brewers lineup, but to consider a brewery great because of their seasonal/specialties doesn't make sense to me. One man's opinion.

 

they posted just a little earlier today that they were filling up the barrels with FiF now so that means either the BB Porter has just been bottled or is in the bright tank getting ready to be bottled...

 

Agree. The the stuffed animals were creepy and the service kind of sucked at DB. Kind of felt like a Golden Coral with good beers to me. Blue Mountain seemed a lot more laid back and had a much better outdoor seating area. And +1 on your opinion of the DIPA. Almost might not even be the correct word. However I would have to do a side by side with both on draft before saying much more about that.

 

Edit: I'm an idiot. I meant Cracker Barrel.

 

I'd have to give it to Hardywood with Alewerks a close second. Gingerbread stout and Bourbon Cru were badass, and Singel's good, too. Cafe Royale, B.V., and Springhouse are awesome, and Drake Tail when fresh isn't half bad. It's very close for me, but those two special releases from Hardywood give them the slight edge.