Triple Crossing or The Answer?

I view it as if you are not local and/or have not been to RVA very much then you go to Veil and The Answer because those are the ones most people bring up and have the most recognition across the country. If you visit them and love the vibe and beers each visit then definitely keep going and make that your "go to" when in town. And if you are in the trade game, of which I am not, you can grab their package stuff to flip pretty easily. Triple Crossing has a good reputation but they fly under the radar to those not familiar with RVA. I love TBC but they are right on the fringe of having that name recognition of the other two from people outside the local area or even VA for that matter.

A term I have heard quite a bit recently is a "brewer's brewery." What are the breweries that a brewer likes to go for really well done beers after finishing their day? Most probably don't go to spots with a taplist full of hopped up hazy IPAa, heavily fruited sours and pastry stouts. If you ask me for this type of place in RVA then Ardent, Bingo and Final Gravity come to mind.

 

This is mostly what I meant about Veil being more for beer nerds. Out of town beer nerds (which I'm one of as I don't live in town, though have visited a half dozen times or so) always make sure to hit Veil.

Having 10-15 different hoppy beers on tap is a 'beer nerd' kind of action to me. Having a number of sours, especially non-kettle sours, is a 'beer nerd' kind of action to me. I didn't realize they were making fruit smoothies now, but cocktail inspired beers and wine barrel aged beers definitely sounds beer nerdy. Their draft menu and to go list is a whose-who of the current beer trends for the beer nerds. Not saying there's anything wrong with it at all, they're trends for a reason, that's just what I associate The Veil with.

On the other hand, I'll absolutely agree with you that every time I've been there's been a contingent of people that look like they're their primarily to be seen (nothing wrong with that either!).

Maybe 'trendy' was the better description that 'beer nerdy'.

 

I think the primary disagreement here is our differing definitions of "beer nerd." Beer nerds, to me, are more of a sub-sect of those into beer and don't necessarily have to do with beer trends.

 

Non-kettle sours are trendy/'beer nerd'-y? All I ever see now are fruited kettle sours, many with lactose.

 

I don't see the line ups for fruited kettle sours. Not sure if that's because of Covid making lineups not a thing or its because making fruited kettle sours are generally easy enough that breweries typically just make enough. But, for example, Veil's VAST series is definitely beer nerdy to me My litmus test for whether something is beer nerdy is 'would a beer nerd stand in line for this beer when its released?'.

 

"Nerds" is a very generous name to give people who stand in line for beer at this point in the game.

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Yeah, I don't agree with @RKP1967 often, but I don't think haze bois are necessarily beer nerds. I think specifically to be a "beer nerd," it takes a certain amount of knowledge (beer making or brewery).

In relation to this thread, my general impression has been that The Veil has been mostly hazebois or cut from that cloth if the folks are actually into beer. Triple Crossing - I've only been to each location once, unfortunately, but I got more of a local vibe. People brought their parents. It wasn't even beer nerdy (besides me and maybe a couple others). It was more down to earth.

I specifically would cite Ardent as one of those beer nerd places though.

 

I realize I come off as a complete gatekeeping snob in this argument, and while won't deny being a snob, I would also say that I feel that there's a beer for everyone. If that beer is a slushie from the Veil or the Answer, so be it. At the same time, I do feel like there is good beer and bad beer and IPAs that feature hops well, like Triple Crossing or Final Gravity do, are going to get more credibility from me than the coniferous hop burn bombs I've recently had from The Veil.

 

I personally know a number of people that really like/frequent Ardent, and exactly zero of them would describe themselves as beer nerds. In fact the opposite, they trend older & like Ardent bc they are making the same ipa as they did in 2004. (Which is fine, imo). But they aren’t going there specifically to appreciate the “nerdy” subtle nuances of x or y.

 

Before someone corrects me - 2014 but still….point remains. Ardent is doing their thing & I respect it.

 

Might want to try posting this in dedicated The Answer (2021) thread as well. I will also PM you something that could help too.