Brewpubs / Microbreweries near Norfolk, VA

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

BigWhitey_FrostBox

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2008
Messages
60
Reaction score
1
Location
Texas Hill Country
I'm heading out to Norfolk in May. This will be my first time visiting Virginia, and I wanted to know if anyone had suggestions for brew pubs or microbreweries in the area. I've found a few places using pubcrawler, but y'alls opinions will carry more weight.

P.S. I'll also be in D.C. for a day so suggestions there would be handy, too!

Many thanks,
Eric
 
Gordon Biersch is the only one worth going to, IMHO. A decent beer place is the Taphouse in Norfolk or Hampton. If you can get to Portsmouth, The Biergarden is nice with awesome german food and a HUGE beer selection, and for some good pizza and average beer, I'd say hit Alt Platz too, which is across the street.
 
If you happen to make it up to Hampton, shoot me a PM and maybe we can meet up at the Taphouse. That place rules. Great food and a huge beer selection. I'll be there this Saturday.
 
Phils Grill down at the beach always has good micros on tap (plus a **** load of bottled stuff) and the attack burrito is on point!
 
Dude said:
If you happen to make it up to Hampton, shoot me a PM and maybe we can meet up at the Taphouse. That place rules. Great food and a huge beer selection. I'll be there this Saturday.
If it looks like we'll be up that way I'll definitely check out the Taphouse and send a PM. Thanks!
 
If you make it up to Williamsburg, the Green Leafe is pretty good... around 32 taps and $5 large pitchers on Tuesdays. They've opened another one in New Town plaza which. sometime in May, is supposed to have anywhere from 40 to 100 taps (the rumor mill can't seem to make up its mind).

Edit: Feel free to also drop me a PM if you make it to Williamsburg.
 
Yea i am not a huge fan of pubcrawler what so ever. Biergarden is pretty sweet, but the service sucks pretty bad, BUT from what i have read and what i have experienced, it is the typical service of an european restuarant, so it did not bother me all that much because i knew thats how it was going to be. Abbey Roads down on the ocean front has a pretty good selection of imports, but nothing very crafty if my memory serves me correctly.
 
We still have no brewpub scene outside of Gordon Biersch (although in two years I expect to have changed that! :) )

There are some new production breweries, however. O'Connors in Norfolk has worked out its opening kinks and is putting out solid beers in a few styles. And a new brewery in Norfolk just broke ground on construction. It's supposed to be called Smartmouth Brewery and running a 20-barrel production line.

Beach Brewery in Va Beach is doing bigger beers--IIPA, Imperial Stout, etc.--as their specialty. The advantage there is that they have a taproom for tastings and you can buy for off-premise consumption. I actually talked to the head brewer two Fridays ago; he's a former home-brewer!

There are two other suggestions: The Yard House and Lynnhaven Pub, both in Va Beach. Yard House is all commercial but they have upwards of 50 taps. It's a bit too polished for my taste. The Pub, on the other hand, is a dive bar with limited but excellent and INEXPENSIVE craft beer options (mostly East Coast & Mid-West)) and every Friday night they do "Firkin Night" with local or regional breweries. I believe May 11 is Dogfish Head night.

Hope this helps! BTW, Bier Garden is awesome but Alt Platz closed maybe three years ago.

Cheers,
--pirat
 
Also, and please take this with a huge reservation that I have not been to this establishment but I hear good things about the birch in Norfolk.
 
Vellum said:
Also, and please take this with a huge reservation that I have not been to this establishment but I hear good things about the birch in Norfolk.

Hah! I forgot the birch. They do have beers on tap there that you won't see anywhere else within 100 miles at least. But very limited food options... And bring your wallet!
 
There is also Public House in Norfolk. Ok selection of beer both local and not. The food I though was pretty good both times I have been.

Been trying to get the g/f to go to Yard house for a little while. Her room mate keeps telling us we need to go.
 
Back
Top