Visiting Western Virginia

Someone will chime in shortly, but from what I know Roanoke is where the action is. Where will you be exactly?

 

That's a big territory. And beautiful. Hot Springs, N.C. is a very cool place with the AT directly through town. The area offers everything and is close to Asheville, but it is remote, close to Tennessee. Up north in Virginia there are tons of options and the locals will steer you in. Have a nice trip. It is a gorgeous region.

 

Parkway Brewing in Salem is rather popular. Deschutes plans to have a tasting room in Roanoke in the near future (website says late August). Blue Mountain brewery in Afton, VA (about ten minutes from the south entrance of Shenandoah Natl Park) is solid, good food and good beer. Brothers brewing in Harrisonburg turns out some good brews. Seven Arrows in Waynesboro is fairly solid and their in house restaurant Nobos is good though can get bogged down on service when busy. Stable Craft in Fishersville has I think average beer but some good food and is located on a farm. Ballast Point is in Daleville, north of Roanoke.

View wise, I think Blue Mountain and Stable Craft have the best views. Blue Mountain, Stable Craft, Ballast Point, and Seven Arrows all serve food.

Those are the ones I've either been to or would consider notable.

 

From right down 81 from Harrisonburg to Bristol these would be a few I would definitely check out.

- Harrisonburg: Three Notch'd Brewing and Brothers

- Waynesboro: Basic City (about 15 minutes from 81/Staunton)

- Lexington: Devils Backbone Outpost: My opinions aside on them selling out to big beer and not really being a fan of most of the distributed stuff they do brew some fantastic one offs and tap room only beers. The Dead Bear and variants (Wood Bear, Morning Bear, Cocoa Bear) are all awesome

- Natural Bridge: Great Valley Farm Brewery - I have not personally been yet but people I know who have are impressed with the beer and say it has great views

- Daleville: Ballast Point - Impressive place. Not a big of of how they just pump out fruited adjunts again and again but something to tick off the "been there" list

- Roanoke: Parkway and Big Lick are my favorite there. There is also a bottle shop in southern part of the county called Barrel Chest Wine and Beer that brews. Again, one I have not vbisited but everyone I have spoken to who has are extremely impressed with them. Side Note: The Deschutes downtown Tasting Room opens up this Monday (Aug 28th). They are not brewing there yet but will have I think 23 taps going on opening day.

- Bristol, Va/Tn: Studio Brew - Had the pleasure of trying a couple of their beers last weekend at the Va Craft Brewers Fest and was very impressed.

 

Totally checked this thread to make sure you were actually speaking about Western Virginia and not West Virginia! HAH!

 

Piling on:

H'burg: You gotta hit Wolfe Street too, as its practically in the middle of 3 Notchd and Brothers. Pale Fire is here, too.

Waynesboro: There's also 7 Arrows (mentioned above as well), relatively in town, as well as Stable (also mentioned), which... isn't really downtown. Pretty sure my droid was taking me someplace to get murdered when I went. But its cool, nonetheless.

Nat Bridge: Yes to Great Valley views... you have the Blue Ridge on one side and the Alleghenies on the other.

Daleville: Think Flying Mouse is here, too. A huge facility.

Roanoke: Soaring Ridge is deep downtown, parking was tight when I went, but I liked the place nonetheless.

 

Speaking of Flying Mouse. They set up a stand at a local beer festival this summer. Tried their Brown Ale, Super Wheat, and Kolsch. It was all awful. As in, I couldn't believe they were letting people taste it awful.

 

So not much has changed since I visited them 3 years ago....I really do like their place as it is very big and welcoming, the artwork is awesome but the beer was marginal at best. The staff behind the bar pouring were not engaging. I grabbed a flight as I was passing through the area. I think one of the owners was there that day too. They basically poured the beer, handed them to me and then walked right back over to the other staff and kept chatting away. I was expecting some story about the beer, how it came about, etc but there was none of that. I even went so far as walking over to where the staff were huddled on the other end of the bar and asked them if they wouldn't mind telling me what I was drinking and a little more about the beer. Still not much. Basically the style I was drinking along with abv.

Ballast Point is less than 4 miles away on that same road so maybe as more people stop in on their way to BP the owers / staff gets a lot more feedback about how their beer is not very good and that forces them to switch things up.

 

When I did a Roanoke/Salem brew tour years ago, I hit Parkway, then Soaring Ridge, then Flying Mouse. And I would rate the beers I had in that order as well.

Which is a shame, because Flying Mouse looked like that bought that place for the room to grow.

I don't like the Flying Mouse model of naming your beers just numerals, with no indication of the style (or, well, you need to ask). Trapezium also does this, but they also include the style with the name of the beer.

 

Going to be out in the Woodstock, VA area this weekend. Any picks among the breweries nearby (Ridge Runner, Swover, Woodstock Brewhouse, others...)?

 

Shenandoah Autumn Fest is Saturday in Woodstock. Its pretty fun, beer, bbq, state taxed moonshine, wood splittng, horse racing. You wont find anything special or rare at the festival but should be able to find good enough.
http://shenandoahcountychamber.com/AutumnFest

I liked Woodstock Brew House when I was there, decent beer, cool vibe & good food.

If you want to hit a few up in a short drive that are walking distance a part you could head to Harrisonburg for Pale Fire, Brothers, Three Notch'd & Restless Moons or Winchester for Broken Window, Alesatian, Winchester Brew Works & Escutcheon Brewing.

If youre taking the scenic route (RT 211) over the blue ridge and over shenandoah back to DC a stop a Pen Druid in Sperryville is worth it. They use a on-site harvested wild yeast, brew over an open fire, use a coolship, barrel age things. Can always find a good and unique beer there.