New breweries and expansions in NoVa

The couple of beers I've had by Fair Winds have been really good.

 

There are a ton in planning! Check out http://www.vabeertrail.net/directory/categories/northern-va-breweries. They have a bunch listed on there that are in the works.

As far as NOVA goes, my fiancee and I have hit Adroit Theory, Corcoran, Old Ox, Lost Rhino, Mad Fox, and Port City. If you include DC, we've been to DC Brau, Right Proper, and 3 Stars. Some are hits, some are misses. One of my favorites is Right Proper. Their Really Rosie was the perfect nostalgia incuding beer for me. It reminded me of this guava paste that my grand mother used to bring me when she visited from Puerto Rico, and I absolutely loved it.

One of the more memorable for me, and the one I've been back to most, is Adroit Theory. Some beers kill it, and some are just good, but they've got a very unique thing going on for the area without a doubt. Not Yo Mama's Milk Stout was really good, and I dig how much off the wall sort of stuff they do. I definitely suggest checking it out. Everybody there (except for one bartender who I'm sure was just having a really bad day, so I shrugged it off) has been super friendly and stoked to talk beer, even down to the pricing of their labels.

I'm stoked for Flying Dog's Farmworks Brewery, focusing on barrel again and sour beers, to open up in Lucketts this summer. Looks like that could be a lot of fun as it'll be situated on what is intended to be the area's first large scale commercial hop farm.

This area is going to explode over the next few months/years with new breweries. Whether they are going to be solid or not is the question though .

 

In addition to those mentioned, Ocelot just opened near Dulles Airport. They seem to be really focused on styles I enjoy: IPAs, big stouts/porters and sours. They currently only have three beers (IPA, Hoppy Wheat beer and an Imperial Stout) since they just opened, but they are all very good.

The space is also pretty cool. It's family friendly, wide open and seems to be pet friendly also.

The people working there are very focused on quality. I brought home two growlers last night and they used nitrogen and filled the growlers all the way to the top (a pet peeve of mine when it doesn't happen). These little things mean a lot and signal great things to come in my opinion.

 

That sounds awesome, I love those styles too. Did they say they will be making sours?

 

They said they should have a sour out relatively soon. Not sure how soon, but they did mention they just dumped a DIPA when it didn't meet their standard. Given that, I'll trust when they finally release a sour, it will be good.

 

Another thumbs up for Ocelot. Went the past two weekends and the 3 beers currently on (with two also available on nitro) were really solid. I tend to give breweries a little slack when they first open in order to smooth out the rough edges, so to see such a strong start out of these guys bodes promise for their future offerings. And like Cpmitchno1 said, the fact they were willing to dump a beer so soon shows how much they care about quality.

 

Could not agree more on the Ocelot, this place has the kind of crazy potential real beer people dream about... It's a must try, and a stand by for the bigger and badder styles as they get closer to open.. I've seen a lot of breweries, this one is legit!

 

What do you mean "closer to open"? I was/am gonna head up there on Saturday and check it out.

 

Sorry, @beernuts it was a typo, meant to write as they get further from just opening, which they did! Enjoy man!

 

My girlfriend and I stopped by Quattro Goomba's winery in Aldie, VA over the weekend and saw that they are opening their own brewery next door. They said the grand opening is next weekend 5/2-5/3. I know very little about wine and opted for one of the wine slushies and we had a couple slices of their Sicilian pizza, which were both great. We also spotted a number of bourbon barrels around the dining room area, so I'm excited to see what their beer program will bring.

 

they've been having soft openings on weekends for a little while now. I went towards the end of march or early april. I wasn't too impressed with the beer, after tasting everything. my advice would be to let the newness die down, and hopefully the beers get better before trying them again.

I am sure they will be successful though with the wine combination and location.

 

Good to know, they did tell me that they had a few beers available on previous weekends, but were closed last weekend to prep for the grand opening. I also looked them up on Untappd and saw that their beers received pretty average scores, which I've come to expect from many of the brand new breweries that are popping up. Even if the beer isn't amazing, I really like the idea of being able to grab a few beers and some pizza while my girlfriend gets her wine fix .

 

Just went and checked out Ocelot, really great beer, I especially loved the stout. It sounds like they have some good beers in the works too, I'm excited to see what comes from them.

 

Just hit Belly Love and Ocelot today. Belly Love was the winner of the two, for sure, but I liked them both. Ocelot, with their setup and future plans, I can definitively see being stellar within the next 6 months.

 

+1 for Ocelot. Went there a week back, great beers.

 

I am trying to find out more information/details, but there was an announcement made by Flying Dog yesterday that they are cancelling plans to open Farmworks Brewery unfortunately. The release is posted is right on the website. Bummer, was looking forward to this opening.

Pure speculation on my part, but I know there was another brewery (Loudmouth Brewing) that was set to open recently Fairfax/Clifton area that shut down plans to open based on feedback from local residents, I wonder if something similar happened here? If anyone one else can provide any additional details about the reason for them pulling the plug, please share.

 

Damn, that sucks

 

This does stink for NOVA and most likely is due to public opinion or even their plans of being a farm brewery. There are a lot of great breweries in the northern part of the state but I'm so very glad to live in Central Va. There's still a lot of politics at play here but I can't imagine the hoops and red tape there has to be up in those parts.

 

I've been to both and would say the exact opposite.