Date
6/6/09
Locations
Star Hill - 5391 Three Notched Rd, Crozet, VA 22932
Blue Mountain - 9519 Critzers Shop Road, Afton, VA 22920
Devil's Backbone - 200 Mosby's Run, Roseland, VA 22967
What I ate
Blue Mountain - veggie pizza
Devil's Backbone - fruit and cheese plate
What I drank
Starr Hill - Dark Starr Stout, The Love
Blue Mountain - Sampler: Blue Mountain Lager; Rockfish Wheat; Full Nelson Pale Ale; Krolsch 151; Nitro Porter; Evil 8 Dubbel Ale
Devil's Backbone - House flight: Gold Leaf Lager; Vienna Lager; Wintergreen Weiss; Eight-point IPA
Who came
Matt, Rice, Xander, Jim, Nora, Suzie, Kim, Kat
Websites
Starr Hill
Blue Mountain
Devil's Backbone
Thoughts
If you couldn't tell already, this day was a bit of a departure from the usual WEDS. It was not a weekday, nor did it take place in the evening, and we didn't really eat dinner, but it's a profile of local fare, so I think it fits here. I have to admit that I stole the idea from an article in Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine but I'm pretty sure that was the idea of the article. We left my apartment just after noon and drove to Starr Hill. We had some samples and took a tour, then headed to Blue Mountain where we ate a bit, tried their sampler, and took another tour. After that, we drove to Devil's Backbone where we snacked and sampled even more beer. We were back to my place a little after 7 o'clock and a few of us had souvenirs from each brewery. The weather cooperated giving us an awesome day overall. I'll try to review each brewery quickly, but I highly recommend you, umm, do your own research. For your hops lovers out there, you might not get the best information from my review since I don't generally like really hoppy beers. Consult some other sources for more information on IPAs.
Starr Hill
By far the biggest and oldest operation of the three. The place is really just the brewery with a little bar inside where you can just get free samples. The tour gave us a really good picture of the brewing process and it was really cool to see how everything is done; they produce a whole lot of beer and are able to do it all in what feels like a pretty small space. I've already had most of their beers so I know which I wanted to drink. The Dark Starr is just a really good stout and The Love is delicious. The Amber Ale is also great, but I had some of that at a wedding the night prior, so I didn't have any of that on our tour.
Blue Mountain
I was a little worried about this one going in - the Full Nelson Pale Ale is their flagship beer and, while I knew their other ones should be fine, I was concerned everything would be very hoppy. I'm very happy to report my fears were completely unfounded. The porter was great and I actually really liked the Full Nelson; I'm pretty sure it's the only hoppy beer I like, but I guess I should start paying attention to IBU ratings when listed. The Evil 8 (I'm pretty sure it was that one) was tasty, too. The lager was a little boring and the two weiss beers were good, but nothing special. After eating, we took a tour of their relatively small brewing facilities. It was a very intimate look at what they do; they even had some people working on another brew while our guide explained the process. The pizza was delicious and I heard nothing but "mmm" from everyone else around the table. The place also just looks great - they grow some of their own hops out front and it feels like a bit of a ski lodge inside with high ceilings, a fireplace, and the other furniture.
Devil's Backbone
If you're going to visit here (and you should) I hope they have another sign up to show you were to go. If you're traveling south on Critzer's Shop Road, Devil's Backbone is right next to the Ski Barn on your right side. The sign is facing those traveling north but it's really difficult to see traveling south. Our cool waitress told us the owner doesn't like putting up signs in general but I'm sure he'll get over it.
As far as the beers, it's well worth the trip. I wasn't feeling up to the full flight of 9 (the 3 IPAs scared me away) but I had the house flight, which is one each of the four house brews. The Vienna Lager was the best of the bunch and the Weiss wasn't far behind. The Gold Leaf Lager was just a little boring and the Eight Point was just too hoppy for my liking. As far as the other beers, I would've liked to try their porter, Rice and Kat couldn't stop talking about the Congo IPA, and they were out of the Apple Blossom Wheat which sounded delicious. The cheese plate was full of tasty cheeses and awesome local honey and the place felt nice and warm inside; it was a little less ski lodge than Blue Mountain, but was a nice place.
Recap
Take this trip. The weather cooperated so even the driving was a lot of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and spent about $35 between the beer, food, and a pint glass from each place. If you like beer or are curious about it, you'll really enjoy yourself. I'd like to visit Blue Mountain and Devil's Backbone for dinner, especially on Devil's Backbone artisinal burger night. Visit the Brew Ridge Trail site for more details about this region.
4 comments:
You speak of hoppiness as if it's a bad thing Steve. That's the official flavor of the Pacific Northwest you're talking about :P
Seriously, 2 beers you need to track down and try at all costs are 1)Dogfishead 90min IPA - seriously the greatest IPA I've ever had, from Delaware of all places, shouldn't have a problem finding this in VA, and 2) Lagunitas Undercover Shutdown - might be a bit harder to find, it's a 9%er with a strong though very well balanced flavor. There's nothing else quite like it.
the porter at devil's backbone was really nice - a lot more smoky than the ones at starr hill and blue mountain.
the belgian congo ale should be tried by everyone, even those who dislike hoppy beers. i couldn't stop talking about it precisley because it wasn't at all hoppy! i just couldn't get over how smooth it was. i suspect it's a seasonal, so those who want to try it should do so sooner rather than later.
overall, this trip was awesome. i'm kind of glad we didn't get to do south street, since i'm not sure i could have handled that much more beer. we'll just have to go another day. :)
I think, upon further inspection, I need to give IPAs and hoppy beers another chance. The first tme I really tried hoppy beers was at the Vermont Beer Brewers Festival. If I recall correctly, their beers had something like 90 IBUs. The beers I had on this trip topped out in the 50s. I did a little research and found that the stouts I so enjoy are actually supposed to be relatively hoppy compared to most beers.
For anyone interested, the Wikipedia article on the IBU scale is really helpful. It also gives a reason for me loving imperial stouts despite their high IBU rating.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Bitterness_Units_scale
I got a growler of the Starr Hill Maibeck, which is only seasonal direct from the brewery. It was delicious, and I'm excited about refilling the growler with the Love and the Stout.
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