The Great American Ale Trail - Christian DeBenedetti [153]
Roseland
DEVIL’S BACKBONE
200 Mosbys Run • Roseland, VA 22967 • (434) 361-1001 dbbrewingcompany.com • Established: 2008
SCENE & STORY
Devils Backbone, a two-and-a-half story mountain-lodge-style brewpub in a tiny town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Nelson County, Virginia, burst onto the national craft brewing radar at the 2009 Great American Beer Festival and 2010 World Beer Cup in Chicago by racking up no less than twelve medals, including Champion Brewery and Brewmaster at the WBC (in the Small Brewpub category, 2010). Despite having only opened some two years ago, the brewery was suddenly Virginia’s most award-winning brewery, and the little 8 bbl brewpub near the Wintergreen ski area in a town of less than 2,000 was sharing the stage with some truly heavy hitters in the industry. Those 2,000 locals were ecstatic, naturally, and plans to expand with a second location with a 30 bbl brewhouse and packaging line near Charlottesville came together rapidly. The original location is a handsome structure made of materials repurposed from a 1900s dairy barn, a horse farm, and a tobacco plantation barn.
PHILOSOPHY
Brewer Jason Oliver tends to brew and naturally carbonate subtle twists on sessionable old-world styles that might seem tame compared to the fare on draft in some craft beer destinations, but are well made nonetheless.
KEY BEER
There are ten beers on tap at all times including four year-round beers and six rotating seasonal beers created by Oliver. Gold Leaf Lager, a 4.5% ABV international style Pilsner, the brewery’s flagship, is a good place to start. Lately Oliver has been working on bigger styles, from Wheat Stouts to Black IPAs and Imperial Coffee Stouts. Surely there are more medals to come.
Afton
BLUE MOUNTAIN BREWERY
9519 Critzers Shop Rd. • Afton, VA 22920 • (540) 456-8020 bluemountainbrewery.com • Established: 2007
SCENE & STORY
As the name suggests this is another brewery with a proud connection to the Blue Ridge Mountains of central Virginia, and resides in a beautiful white building outside of Charlottesville along the Monticello Wine Trail. But the connection to the land here goes even deeper: Starting in 2006, owner and head brewer Taylor Smack began growing his own hops, and is now wrangling some five hundred plants of Cascade and Centennial, which are irrigated with brewery runoff and used in the brewing process.
PHILOSOPHY
Innovative brewing with a Southern touch—and a green heart. Smack is keeping an eye on Virginia Tech experiments aiming to develop strains of barley that could flourish locally, and the brewpub is serving beef from cattle raised on his spent grains.
KEY BEER
Look for his Summer Haze, a lush and fruity, dry-hopped 8% ABV brew approximately the color of a lazy Appalachian sunset.
DETOUR
JEFFERSONIAN
ZYMURGY:
931 Thomas Jefferson Pkwy. • Charlottesville, VA 22902 (434) 984-9822 • monticello.org
It’s a relatively minor point of interest among historians but one enormous point of pride for craft beer aficionados that Thomas Jefferson was highly involved in brewing. Beer was considered one of the “table liquors” traditionally served with meals, and there was a dedicated cellar for aging the house ales before they’d be served upstairs. Beer was in the picture early on. According to records from 1772, Jefferson’s wife, Martha, was used to brewing 15-gallon casks of small beer every two weeks. (Small beers can be made with the spent grain of stronger batches or simply with less grain; either way the technique results in a lower alcohol brew.) By 1794 he’d planted hops, and Monticello, which had been conceived with a brewery in the