Not to slight the brewers up here but there are really no stand outs. Yet an hour down the road in Richmond it is highly competitive with breweries. I'm sure there is a big market for craft beer here and I'm sure the average income is pretty high. One of you better than average brewers need to move up here. The restaurant market is the same way. We have that DC money thing going on and we need some talent, not necessarily the big money splash, just more of the entrepreneurial skills that are way more prevalent in Richmond than here.
I will say Red Dragon just put out Morning Dew and that was awesome. I also had DDH Sideways IPA which was great but was only 6% if it was 8% it would've be awesome. I hope they stick to DIPAs.
Fredericksburg, being about halfway between DC and RVA, does seem to lack a hyped up brewery. The per capita income to support a high margin taproom is probably there, but the population is significantly smaller than the aforementioned metro areas. That being said, I'd be grateful to only be an hour away from both The Veil/Triple Crossing/The Answer as well as ChurchKey/Bluejacket. Also, no offense to the Bros, but the most recent All About Beer issue (Mar 2017) has a one-pager on Fredericksburg (page 85). Touches on 6 Bears and a Goat, Red Dragon, Spencer Devon, Adventure and Maltese. So at least there's a good supply, and hopefully one of them starts nailing on-trend styles soon.
I have not been up there since last Summer but was impressed with several beers at Spencer Devon and a few at Adventure. Have heard good things about Highmark Brewery that recently opened up. I'm not a huge fan of their beers but maybe when Strangeways opens up and hopefully has success in the area that will attract some other more well known breweries to open satellite / pilot facilities there.
