New River Valley Beer

NRV meaning Blacksburg/Christiansburg area? The only place that brews their own beer in the immediate vicinity is Bulls & Bones. They are a restaurant as well. Your best bet is to head 30 minutes to Roanoke. Parkway Brewing is probably my favorite and they put out some great beers. You also have Soaring Ridge, Roanoke Railhouse and Flying Mouse in the area. Chaos Mountain and Callaway Brewing a little farther out.

Mellow Mushroom opened this past Fall in Blacksburg. My guess is they will have the most taps in the Blackburg/Christinaburg Area.

 

You could also check out Big Lick Brewing, a tiny nano operation in the middle of downtown Roanoke. They brew pretty solid beer. Not necessarily better than Parkway, but they do have far more creative and adventurous offerings. Parkway's beers are good, I just wish they rotated them more. It's always the same beers, with the exception of an occasional limited release.

 

Ah yes! I knew at least one was missing. Actually have them on my list to visit when I'm in Roanoke next.

 

It can be a bit hit or miss for me, but at least they're always trying new things. I know they've done coconut and chocolate hazelnut treatments on their porter, and they tweak the hops on their IPA just about every time they brew it.

 

have you been to the river mill yet? not a brewery but, they have a good draft list and good food.

 

its just typical bar food (burgers, wings, chicken fingers, tacos, etc) nothing special. but they do a good job at what they make and the prices are good.

 

If you're looking to buy actual bottles, obviously you need to check out Vintage Cellar or the beer shop attached to the Cellar restaurant (both on Main St). When it comes to Bull & Bones, the flavors they get are pretty solid but just about everything they do seems a bit weak/watery to me. Like they really cut back on the amt of ingredients they add to brewing to save on cost.

 

Agree with you on SS. They make beers to appeal to the masses. Their newest distributed beer, Slippery When Wit (Hybrid Wit/Gose), tasted like funky sweat on first taste but it's gotten better, although, not by much. I do enjoy their food. South Street is owned by the same couple that has Blue Mountain Brewery and Blue Mountain Barrel House. Much better quality beers out there.

Hopefully you were also able to check out Champion and Three Notch's on the visit. Both less than a 1/2 mile from SS and are the best breweries in town. The brewmaster at Three Notch'd, especially, has been killing it with his recipes lately!

 

Not everything they do is great and some are a little watery, but it's worth checking out the River Company in Radford (maybe 15 mins or so from Blacksburg). They just put out a dipa and a gose that were both pretty solid and worth trying. Plus, it's a cool location w a nice deck overlooking the New River.

 

I'll add that Harrisonburg has some good stuff too. I'm assuming you drive right by it on 81. If not, feel free to disregard the following.

Anyways, if you get a chance, check out Pale Fire and Brother's Craft Brewing. Both downtown and only 2 miles off the interstate. We also have a Three Notch'd Taproom here, a few blocks from the other two breweries. Midtowne Bottleshop is also right in the heart of downtown, and if you're hungry there are tons of solid food options nearby.

 

Oh yeah, the trucks can be absurd on 81. It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't drive side by side, struggling to pass one another for miles at a time. I was actually on 81 this past weekend coming from Roanoke, and must have come to a complete stop 7 or 8 times, seemingly for no reason. No accidents, no cops, no roadwork, nothing. I later saw on the news that there was a high speed chase and a shootout right on the interstate, which explained a hell of a lot.

But yeah, just say the word if you want food recommendations or anything like that. Downtown Harrisonburg is a really neat little area, and I definitely think it's worth checking out.

 

If you want some greasy and delicious bar food, I'd go to Billy Jack's or it's sister restaurant Jack Brown's. Billy Jacks has great burgers, some cool slider combinations, loaded fries (highly recommended), oysters, chicken, and donuts. Jack Brown's exclusively specializes in burgers with wild toppings (mac and cheese + BBQ chips, cream cheese + jalepenos, etc). These places both have good beer selections, but Billy Jacks has 12 taps opposed to 4 at JB's.

I also highly recommend Bella Luna for wood fired pizza, and a newer place called Food Bar Food for a fusion type of restaurant.

Lastly, I think the Local Chop House is probably the best restaurant in town. Just go eat in the bar. It's a nice place, and they have plenty of $25-40 entree options, but also have incredible burgers and sandwiches that come with fries for about 10 bucks. They also have burritos on the bar menu, and have these Jamaican Jerk seasoned wings that I have to order everytime I'm in there.

All these places are within a half mile of one another. Let me know what you think if you end up making the stop!