First-Time Visitor to Virginia Beach / Norfolk

I lived in the area for 3 years and would recommend sticking to Norfolk, especially since going to the beach isn't really an option this time of year. The actual city of Virginia Beach is pretty shitty, its basically just a surburban sprawl, and the "cultural center" is a big mall. Its corporate America at its worst. Norfolk actually has a downtown area with a little bit of charm, some decent restaurants, and a few good beer spots.

 

Its the off season so not as much a reason to stay near the oceanfront for tourists.
However if you are talking about which breweries to visit, some of the best in Norfolk are not that far from some of the best in VB so you can pretty easily hit up both.
For example the area where Benchtop/Birch is located is roughly 25-30mins or so from Commonwealth, Reaver etc.

*beernuts with a very 'beernuts type' of post said some of it better than I did. Don't stay near towncenter vb, it blows. Esoteric at the oceanfront is great tho.

 

I’d recommend staying by the beach if you can. Unbelievable rates and you can still walk along the ocean on the boardwalk.
Hit Commonwealth, Reaver Beach, and Esoteric for dinner.
Wasserhund is another option for a brewery. Their Star Wars beers were pretty good.

Enjoy!

 

Also, swing by the Whole Foods on Laskin Rd in Virginia Beach.
They have a decent local beer inventory and cases of Hardywood GBS and Christmas Morning.
Hit the Porch, their brewpub, good rotation of local and NE beer.
CBS last week and Maine beer this week.

 

Don't listen to those guys trashing my town . Actually its not a bad time to go to the ocean front . You can find cheap rooms right on the water . If you come down the Eastern Shore when you get off the Bridge Tunnel you will be in Virginia Beach and about a mile from Commonwealth .
Other places worth checking out are Lynnhaven Pub /Next Door , Bottlecraft , the Porch at Whole Foods , Tapped , Reaver Beach brewing and Esoteric .

In Norfolk Benchtop brewing is the hot one right now . Haven't had much from them but Lazy Floccuation was really good . I'm going there next week myself . Also Smartmouth brewing and the Birch Bar are right there . The Barrel room is a nice place if you get downtown .

 

I'll vouch for VB here as well.

The newish Vibe district at the Oceanfront is great. Esoteric consistently has one of (and IMO the best) tap lists in Hampton Roads. The food is good but a bit pricey and pretty trendy (the smoked pork sandwich is always a safe and affordable option). There are other quality restaurants near there as well: Hearth, Craft Burger, Commune (breakfast/brunch). If you're a coffee fan Three Ships Coffee is a must stop, that is one of my favorite establishments in this area.

A new Smartmouth Brewing location opened up at 32nd street just this past weekend. I went to the opening and was impressed. They have a barrel aged stout brewed with tart cherries that surprised me and really blew me away, an outstanding beer. Tapped has a decent selection most of the time. Tuesday nights they do $2.50 10 ounce (I think 10 oz) pours, Thursdays is $3 for any Virginia beer on draft.

Commonwealth is 100% worth a visit in the Chick's Beach area. Some great IPAs and they should still have some of their BA stout Marvoloso and the two variants. They also have a variety of Belgians and some sours.

All the other places mentioned above are great. Reaver is great for sours and they have some excellent IPA options as well (most recent batch of Bridge of Bones was pretty solid).

Norfolk is great too, I would suggest splitting to get the most out of what this area has to offer.

 

I would stay in VB and then Uber/taxi to Norfolk. The VA Beach breweries are pretty sprawled out compared to Norfolk.

VA Beach: I'd def. try and visit Commonwealth and Reaver Beach.
Norfolk: I'd def. try and visit Benchtop (and you might as well hit Smartmouth, you can throw a rock and hit it from there). I'd also recommend OConnors and Coelacanth as they're really close by.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Live in Norfolk.

 

Do or do not. There is no try.

Happy holidays!
The Nerd in Me

 

haha, It would be hypocritical for me to trash VB - I'm just trashing town center which I think all locals can agree on - is garbage.

The must hit breweries when visiting the area are Reaver, Commonwealth, and Benchtop. There are supplementary stops nearby those various places as covered above, if you want to hop around, but make sure you hit those three. Get those Marvoloso variants asap.
Also not mentioned is Grape & Gourmet is an excellent bottleshop to take things home, bottlecraft is nice as well.

 

Commonwealth brewery is legit. Go

 

Do they still have cans of these at the brewery? They sold out pretty fast at shops in Richmond. I got a 4-pk of the regular Marvoloso though, I like it a lot.

 

Someone on a local fb group said Sunday they still had quite a few cases of the variants left, so if true I'd assume they are still there now. I haven't been since the weekend of the release personally.

 

Has anyone done the tour at Green Flash? we're coming through this weekend and plan on hitting Benchtop, Commonwealth and then Green Flash before heading to Knotts Island.

 

Jacob, do you ever stay home on weekends?!

 

Just got back from Commonwealth . It looked like they sold a bunch over the Holidays . They didn't have the tripple IPA I wanted to try and they're almost out of the Marvoloso varients . Only about a case each . I grabbed 2 4pks of V2 . That was my favorite when I got to try them at a party recently , the one with the coconut and no coffee . Was pretty quiet there tonight , it might last til tomorrow .

 

Haven't done the official tour at Green Flash but the tasting room is worth checking out . When I was there last pints were $5 and they had a bunch of tap room only beers . Still waiting for them to dial in the Alpine beers . Pure Hoppiness let me down big time . The Windows Up I had recently was pretty tasty though .

 

Never done the tour, but GF is nice to hit up when it's warm & you can enjoy the really impressive outside space. The tasting room is fine for a visit but nothing that special & you've probably had most of the beers before.
If I were you, I'd at least consider substituting Reaver beach for GF, as they are about 5 mins apart but thats jmho.

 

Sometimes it doesnt feel like it. Sucks having family spread all over the South East at times.

Did they have any Big Papi? I've only had their Oranjelo.

 

I believe they had cans , didn't see it on tap . Big Papi is one of my favorites , they should it have it by this weekend anyhow . Several stores in the area have it also . Tapestry is good if you like sours .

Not sure if we will be thawed out by this weekend , we're under a blizzard watch for tonite and tomorrow . Maybe 6-9 inches of snow , that tends to shut down this area .