Best Brew Pubs

The Quest for the Holy Grain - Best Brew Pubs

Virginia

Ashburn

Lost Barrel Brewing
36138 Little River Tpke
Middleburg, VA 20117

Lost Barrel is a brewpub located in scenic Northern Virginia. The area is rich in history, wineries, and breweries.
According to their mission statement, Lost Barrel's goal is "to create a place for friends and family to gather, to provide top-quality beer and food while ensuring a friendly and enjoyable experience for our guests, and to be an integral and helpful partner in our local community."
Lost Barrel had 20 taps flowing at the time of our visit, with 17 of them serving beer.
Among the selections, were a red ale, a barrel-aged stout, an IPA, a nitro stout, a toasted lager, a double IPA, and...well, you get the picture.
Did somebody say they were hungry?
The "artisanal menu selections are created to complement our beverages using fresh seasonal high-quality ingredients to make every “bite and sip” memorable."
We at the Quest for the Holy Grain suggest that you visit some of the breweries in Loudon County as soon a possible.
And make one of them Lost Barrel.

Wharf Hill Brewing Company
25 Main Street
Smithfield, Virginia
Phone: (757) 357-7100

Wharf Hill Brewing is a brewpub in historic downtown Smithfield, VA.
Located a block from the Smithfield Ham world headquarters, Wharf Hill is the only bar or restaurant in town, thus it gets quite crowded.
The building dates from 1906, and at various times has housed an Inn, a Pool Hall, and a Dentist's Office.
Once inside the door, one goes up about 6 steps to the working level, although there are two tables by the door.
The bar fills most of it's room and there is a separate dining area.
Wharf Hill currently makes 2 beers and have 6 very nice guest taps.
The food is mostly pub grub, but the portions are large and quite reasonably priced.

Wasserhund Brewing Company
1805 Laskin Rd
Virginia Beach, VA 23454
(757) 351-1326

Wasserhund Brewing is a brew pub in a strip mall far from the beach in Virginia Beach.
Wasserhund offers 8 of their own mostly German-style beers on tap.
According to the mission statement, Wasserhund " aspires to bring the German beer culture to Virginia Beach in the best way... by brewing the highest quality ales and lagers and providing the environment to enjoy them with family, friends, and strangers."
They make pizza, but have an otherwise limited menu.
The 2-barrel brewing operation is in the back room.
However, on the day of this visit, the brewer was busy climbing the rafters in the next room installing a 15-barrel system.
The beers were good and apparently there will be more to come.

Legend Brewing Co.
321 West 7th Street
Richmond, VA 23224
(804) 232-3446

Legend brews up quite a variety of standard and seasonal beers.
Since they have an in-house bottling plant and distribute their beer regionally for retail sale, all of their previous seasonal beers are always available in bottles.
This is a nice feature that other brewpubs could well emulate.
The pub is large and comfortable, and there is just as much outdoor as indoor seating, so in decent weather the customer really has a lot of seating options.
Also worth noting: a dedicated smoking room, keeping smokers and non-smokers (but not the Nicotine Nazis) happy.
The menu features lots of standard pub fare - sandwiches, fries, burgers, nachos - all done well.
Legend taps a firkin (in our case, a Belgian Quad with whiskey barrel chips) every Friday evening.
Richmond has a very vibrant downtown, and the Legend brewpub is a great example of why it is so popular.

Bull & Bones Brewhaus and Grill
420 Peppers Ferry Rd NW
Christiansburg, VA 24073 (540) 251-3327

The Bull & Bones Brewhaus is a large, modern brewpub in an upscale "Avenue" shopping area of Blacksburg, Virginia.
The large bar is built around the brewing operation with a large dining area further back.
The brew works actually separate the dining section from the sports bar area containing TV's and pool tables.
There are six full time beers on tap as well as a seasonal. The 10 bbl. system also produces beer for their other location.
The food was tasty and inexpensive.

Lost Rhino Brewing Company
21730 Red Rum Drive, Suite 142
Ashburn , Virginia 20147
P: 571.291.2083

Lost Rhino Brewing Company sits in an industrial park in subrural Ashburn, Virginia, not too far from where Old Dominion used to craft their beers.
The pub is actually more of a tasting room, where one can get samples, fill growlers, talk with friends, and get something to eat.
Becky, the chef, was extremely hospitable and a great source of information on the operation of the brewery.
The Tasting Room is spacious, and had a good crowd at about 2:00 PM on a Friday.
The patrons seemed mostly made up of professionals on holiday, or those who had skipped out of work early on this glorious Friday afternoon.
Next to the tasting room is a game room with 7 pinball machines and several cocktail-style tables. The main room is spacious and seats about 75 patrons with lots of standing-around space.

Lost Rhino is a great stop along the Route 7 brewing corridor on the way from the DC area to the beertowns of Leesburg and Purcellville.

Sweetwater Tavern

45980 Waterview Plaza
Sterling, VA 20166
(571) 434-6500

There was nothing not to like about our visit to Sweetwater Tavern in Sterling, VA. The outside bar afforded a beautiful view of the lake and was a cool place to sip a hand-crafted beer on a very hot day. Brewmaster Nick Funnell has a repertoire of about 35 beers, of which 5 were on tap. The Wild West Fest was possibly the best beer I've had this summer. Inside, the spacious bar area has seating for about 60 Questors, and is surrounded by a large dining area. Their beer is fresh and popular; manager Chris informed us that they fill about 250 growlers per week. Much, but not all, of the talk around the bar was beer-related. Our bartender, Sandi, was a gem...attentive, professional, and personable. Sweetwater has two other locations in Northern Virginia but I see no reason not to return to this one.