So, I will be heading down to Charlottesville for the Pitt-UVA game in mid October. We will be in Charlottesville on Thursday and Saturday, squeezing in a Richmond trip on Friday. Charlottesville seems to have an amount of places that we should be able to hit over the 2 day span. But of anyone has any advice or can't miss places in downtown Charlottesville, let me know. On Friday we plan to hit a few of the breweries outside of Charlottesville. Do to us driving, we are limiting ourselves to 3. The ones that seemed to come up the most are Devil's Backbone, Starr Hill, and Blue Mountain. The first 2 for there reputation in the area. I believe Devil's won many awards at the GABF. Blue Mountain just seemed like a cool place with some nice scenery. Are these the 3 you would pick for this area? My main question comes with Richmond, since we only have 1 day there. Is it worth hitting Stone, even though it is not fully completed. I can get Stone back here, so that was the only reason for that question. I like getting things I can't get back in Pittsburgh. I sit worth hitting that one area where there are 5 breweries (Ardent, Veil, Isley, Castleburg, Hardywood)? I like the proximity, but don't want to miss something better because of the easy access. We tend to like IPA's so if one of the breweries does one real well, let me know. Although during that time of year, a nice dark beer may in order (port/stout, or even Oktoberfest). I've been to The Capital Alehouse before, so I think I'll have to stop back there again. Lastly, if you know any bars/breweries/restaurants with either good pizza or wings, and a decent beer selection, let me know. I can read all the reviews on sites like yelp, but I feel get better info on this site. Ok,1 more. Any sports bars in Charlottesville? Were hoping to hit a place Thursday night to watch a little hockey. It seems like all I found was the chain places like Buffalo Wild Wings, which I'm not a big fan of. Sorry for the length, but I just wanted to cover everything. Thanks for the assistance!
I'll hit your sections one by one if you are going to visit the breweries on the western side of Charlottesville (Rt 151) then you can't really go wrong. They are all solid. If you must stick to three then what you said would be just fine. Starr Hill has been doing great things lately so definitely check them out. Blue Mountain has outstanding pizza and gorgeous views.Of course very good beer. Since DBB finished their renovation to the exterior of their property it is a sight to see. I'll leave my opinions of their recent purchase by InBev to myelf. If you did not want to drive out to DBB (It's another 20 minutes past Blue Mountain) then Pro re Nata would be a great 3rd option. It's in between Starr Hill and Blue Mountain. If you are going to also hit the breweries downtown Charlottesville then you could very easily walk to all of them if it's a nice day. Less than 2 miles separate them all. Three Notch'd, Champion, South Street and C'Ville Brew Co (in that order) would be my ranking. Random Row Brewing is opening up next weekend and from early tastings they are getting really good reviews. The Charlottesville location for Hardywood is also supposed to be opening up around the time you are in town so that could be available. RICHMOND - If you are into IPAs then without a doubt your must visits will have to be Veil, The Answer and Triple Crossing. I personally would skip Stone unless you just want to check the place out. They tend to have long waits on the weekends and it's not like they are producing much yet that you can't get elsewhere. The sexiness by some locals is being able to get Stone beer that is brewed in RVA. A brewery that flies under the radar and not alot of people bring up is Final Gravity Brewing. They put out really good beer! Mekong is also a spot to check. It's been named the best beer bar in the country a few times. Same ownership and building as The Answer. Both spots alone combine for about 100 different taps. Just try a couple "Andalls" and thank me after you have them. PIZZA/WINGS - I LOVE Mellow Mushroom! By far my favorite pizza in town. It's right on the edge of UVAs campus so there will be a lot of the college aged crowd there but they do have about 46 taps and often a few good gems. As mentioned above, Blue Mountain Brewery has great pizza. Crozet Pizza is out by Starr Hill and is very popular as well. There's a new sports bar on the north side of town called Hurley's Tavern. They originated out of Richmond. Their wings are very good and the Richmond location has been voted best wings and best burgers in RVA before. Each booth has its own TV for you to control. Not for pizza and wings but Beer Run, Kardinal Hall, Sedona Taphouse and Citizen Burger are a few other spots to look up. There's a placed called Wild Wing Cafe which is awesome for watching games but it's similar to a Buffalo Wild Wings. Just an average beer selction. If you are planning to bring some beers back with you then the best bottle shop in town is Beer Run.
I'd say knock off Castleburg of your Richmond list and definitely add The Answer. Great food and amazing beers! As for Charlottesville, definitely check out Champion (they're just off the downtown mall). As for the rest, I'd be inclined to agree with TomCat11 above me.
Tomcat pretty much nailed it. I'd consider checking out lickinghole creek since it's not far out of the way when travelling between Richmond and C-ville. Their IPA's aren't anything special, but they do some good other stuff, and it's a pretty cool spot.
Don't sleep on the wings at Mekong and the Answer, both with an asian-flavor profile, but they're outstanding! And plenty of great beer to pair with em
Answer/Mekong has won best beer bar in the country multiple times just FYI @rturkaly Hardywood is worth checking out but they probably won't have anything awesome on tap the weekend you're coming down. You're most likely going to miss Trickery and GBS (and varaints) don't come out until December.
Thanks for the info. And Tomcat, thanks for the details. It sounds like Mekong needs to be added to the list. I'm not really into a lot of Asian food, besides maybe General Tso, but if they got a good beer list and wings, I'll check them out. Good to hear that a new brewery is opening up (Random Row). I did hear that the Pizza was great at Blue Mountain, so that could be a lunch or dinner destination. I'll probably skip Stone, since there are so many other places to check out, that we can't get here in PA. Richmond is going to be a bit overwhelming, but I'm going to try to get to as many as I can. I mean when you got around 10 breweries in a 5 mile area, that's pretty awesome.
The Answer/Mekong and The Veil should be at the top of your "must hit" list, everything else is secondary.
If you're in C'ville, make an effort to hit Three Notchd, Champion, and South Street, all very respectable. Crozet is about 10-15 miles out of town where you can hit Starr Hill, and Blue Mt is just off the interstate on the top of Aspen (also not far out of town). Dark Hollow at Blue Mountain = must.
I thought of one more thing. Say I'm at a beer bar, like Mekong for example and they have a ton of VA breweries on the list. Is there a brewery outside of the Richmond/Charlottesville area that produce consistently good beer? There are so many breweries in VA now that I want to make sure I don't pass up something good and get something average. Or even if it's a brewery from DC or NC that is usually on tap in Richmond that would be worth sampling. Thanks!
If you see something from Ocelot or Aslin, try it. They're both in the Northern VA area and make awesome beers.
An was once given a keg of BVDL by the guys from 3 Floyd's..... I'm not saying he always has mega-whales like that on tap but his tap list is the best in VA. You would have to drive up to DC and visit Churchkey to find a tap list that would rival it. Also 2nd the tip on Aslin and Ocelot. They are up there near Dulles and absolutely crushing it.
I would 2nd the Ocelot and Aslin comment for breweries outside of RVA/C'Ville. Ocelot recently started a small distribution in RVA so you can find it on some taps around town. Can't find Aslin in either place yet but if you are driving down from PA and it's not on your way then it would definitely be worth it to detour if they are open when you pass through.
